I Have Tricks in My Pocket

 When I was eight years old my dad took me to the set and prop shop at Theatre Calgary where he worked as the head scenic artist, and he showed me the props for their upcoming production of a play called The Glass Menagerie. My dad showed me this tiny glass unicorn which broke and lost it's horn in the play, but then showed me that each night it was 'fixed' and ready for the next performance. There was something very intriguing about the notion of this single glass unicorn being broken each night and then like new again, only to be broken again. A couple weeks later, my dad took me to see the play and I feel in love with it. I didn't fully understand the play, but loved it nonetheless. It is one the first stories I remember not having a happy ending.

 I am currently directing a production of The Glass Menagerie for Black Box Fire, which will open in about a month. I know it is one of the most produced plays in amateur theatre and that it is a classic which is loved by many, which does  make it somewhat of a daunting task. I do however, have a wonderfully talented cast who are as dedicated as I am to telling this beautiful story. And that's all I really want to do. I don't want to re-invent the production, I am not concerned with doing something that has never been done before; I just want to tell the story. Who doesn't want to hear lines spoken like " blow your candles out! - for nowadays the world is lit by lightening", or "For time is the longest distance between two places", and "I give you truth in the pleasant disguise of illusion" and my personal favourite "Unicorns, aren't they extinct in the modern world?"

Cast and production team
Thanks to Damian Ali for the photo!