Mini update!

Hello all!
It is exhaustion here in Montreal Fringe land for JP. Wednesday night we had an absolutely LOVELY audience of people who seemed to really enjoy the show, which helped us really enjoy doing the show.

I managed to catch "How to Solve an Existential Crisis". Jake Smith is a wonderful performer who engages the audience in his discoveries toward leading a satisfying life. I couldn't wait for him to pick up his guitar, and my only wish is that there was more music. I've been trying to catch the sold out "Jesus Jello". I will keep trying.

Tonight we are heading to Confabulation- the Fringe edition. I went to the first Confabulation last month, and it was a sweet evening of great people with dynamic stories to tell. Michelle will be telling a story about performance. I can't wait.

After that- a midnight show! We have no idea if people come to midnight shows at the Fringe. We've offered the incentive of a mini gin and tonic for the audience who show up.

Last night we did our two minute stint at The 13th Hour, and are very confused about how it went. Because it is an impossible play to describe in two minutes, because we'd already introduced a game that went over very well, we did go for the visual of the mess. One shower later and I'm still finding jello in my hair. As the queens of overanalyzing- we're still trying to figure out if it was a giant bomb, or if it was just a little two minutes that no one will remember/won't prevent them from seeing our show?

We have three performances left. The festival is drawing to a close. I am happy because I will be able to SLOW DOWN, but sad because that means having my amazing London women around me is also coming to an end. I have learned so much over the last two weeks- about collaboration, about developing a process, about my relationship with performance (acting?), and about writing.

Much love Montreal Fringe. To be continued!

Fringe for All

Here we are, all jP awkward in our Fringe for All. 

Photo stolen from Flickr- I assume Cindy Lopez or Louis Longpre- both excellent. 

In the photo: Michelle Toner, Lorna McGinty, Naomi Bennett and Meg Deere

Recess

Last night I saw "Recess" at the mai space. It is indeed wonderful- Una Aya Osato successfully uses only herself to portray five young children (6 and 7 year olds) and their teacher Miss White in a Bronx public school. The use of film was perfect, the characters all have lives of their own, and while at first I was surprised at how BIG she was playing children (I've seen too many adults overdo performing as children- they're not cartoons, they're not animals and they're not stupid), they were very well cared for and realistic. 

Very good points are made about the current education system in America- and of course there are incredibly similar problems here. I would recommend this show to anyone, and there are only two performances left. Go go go. 

In the selfish news- jointPredicament has a show tonight! We're at 9:45 in Venue 8 (Mission Santa Cruz). Come see!

Sunday!

Today we had a day off. It was nice to sleep in after a crazy dance at the 13th Hour on Saturday night, and a long and often stressful week putting finishing touches on the play. It's lovely to wander Montreal without having to purchase a prop, to put up a poster, or running my lines out loud and looking crazier than usual. 

We saw our first show today: Uncalled For's Hypnogogic Logic. It was wonderful- very clever, fast-paced.  A great topic to focus on- that moment between awake and asleep and all the things that happen within. The four lovely men in life jackets (who shared a rehearsal space with us last week) are great performers, and I've admired their improv and their previous sketch shows. Truly wonderful sketch comedy- and this is spoken from someone who would proclaim to not like sketch comedy. 

A show I've become quite excited to see is "Recess." I spent some time on the website, and it seems to encompass beautiful performance as well as demonstrate and comment upon the American education system.  As an arts educator, I think about how to use theatre to share more than stories- to open discussions and to create new dialogue through creative thinking. (Yeah yeah, Meg, wanky wank wank). 

Our next show is on Tuesday evening. I'm really looking forward to it, now that we've had a little rest. 

And so it begins!!

Montreal Fringe 2010 kicked off last night with some amazing music (Kalmunity! Wonderful!) in the beer tent, and the Out of Towners Fringe for All, where we performed our one minute piece and then were merry.

Because we've been busy rehearsing, my research into what shows to see has been limited.
Right off the bat I know I'm excited about "Hypnogogic Logic" by Uncalled For- I loved last year's "Today is All Your Birthdays". Also looking forward to more Jem Rolls, to Heart-Strings, to You and Me and Me and You, and Just Us in the bedroom.

There are more (so many more!) but those are the first performances to be circled in my Fringe program.

We open this evening (BUTTERFLIES IN MY STOMACH!) at 7:15.

Happy fringing, and we will be efficient Montreal Fringe bloggers starting demain!

xo

Please Excuse the Mess- photo by Tristan Brand

Michelle Toner, Naomi Bennett, Meg Deere, Lorna McGinty

Montreal Fringe Details!

After attempting to make things beautiful last year with ‘Sorry…’ jointPredicament returns from the UK to explore spontaneity, frivolity, order and structure. Please Excuse the Mess transforms our everyday attempts to create logic from chaos into intricate theatrical moments.

jointPredicament is from London, UK, where Meg Deere, Alice Field, Lorna McGinty, Victoria Storey and Michelle Toner met in the strange, hallowed halls of the Central School of Speech and Drama while doing MAs in Applied Theatre (drama in the community and theatre in education). They all make their livings as artist-educators in a variety of community settings. jointPredicament strives to make honest and simple theatre while exploring stories, text, movement in as many ways as possible. The addition of one kind, beautiful and talented Naomi Bennett has made this performance particularly music-filled. On this side of the ocean they add the lovely, hilarious Lucy Segal as 'Canadian director'.

jointPredicament has developed a collaborative devising process that allows all members to be involved, even when living across an ocean. All their work is completely new and created by the ensemble.

Come see it. Come out for a drink with the company following. We'd love to meet you and talk about chaos and everything else.

Friday, June 11th- 7:15 pm- Free for Fringe volunteers!
Saturday, June 12th- 12:45 pm- 2 for 1!
Tuesday, June 15th- 9:45 pm
Thursday, June 17th- midnight show!!
Friday, June 18th- 8:15 pm
Saturday, June 19th- 1:15 pm

Tickets- $9 general, $7 students (plus Fringe service charge)

Please Excuse the Mess

Time did that flying thing, and one week today the UK component will land in Montreal for a crazy month of making things happen.

Our performance is called "Please Excuse the Mess" and it hits the Montreal Fringe full throttle starting June 11th.

More things to follow.

Title

We have the play. It just requires a title. We have a shortlist of ideas, but nothing that is leaping out and screaming YES I make sense and am relevant and clever and accessible and shorter than last year and a little bit funny and something that will make strangers read more about us and...

What is it about?
Ask us that in a few weeks.

Treacle?

So a play exists!
We talked and we gestured and we wrote and we compiled and we continue to do so!

Maintaining momentum

As the member of jP that lives across an ocean (how inconvenient am I?), it is always a whirlwind, our creation and rehearsal process. Days of moving and talking and writing and coming together with ideas and friendly debates and slightly less friendly debates and tea breaks... and then I hop on an airplane and go home. And the girls go straight back into their ordinary routines.

That momentum is difficult, and wonderful (creating because you HAVE to and if you don't there will be an audience watching you fumble).

I get home... and immediately fall into the habits that DON'T include creating. When there is time free I spend it having coffee with friends, sleeping, looking for work (freelance, ugh), watching crappy television on the internet, tidying the apartment. Anything but MAKING. I want to identify as an artist, and profess to others that you must for it to be true. I DO write, I DO perform. Am I a writer and performer? Kind of?

Anne Bogart (bless her) says we cannot wait for conditions to be right to make work. They never will be. So just do it. Whiner. (she doesn't say that last bit). Absolutely Anne. But where do we find the courage to trust that we can make things that others will want to see? Be a part of?

That's my personal challenge.

jP now has a structure, many words and big concepts. We are excited and scared. In theory everything works. I love theory. Practice won't come for awhile, when they arrive on my side of the ocean for rehearsals. I can't wait.

I'll leave you with something we love. And that we're not sure why we love...

In rehearsal!

jointPredicament on the mezzanine, writing in notebooks, playing obnoxiously loud games and dancing about.
An unnamed play is almost in existence.

Going to turn it into... something?

Five more sleeps until I wake up in London!
Five more sleeps until a week of tossing ideas around, forced creativity, red wine ideas, of making something beautiful, blabla.
Five more sleeps until I'm back in friend love!

A schedule has been made.
An agenda has been drawn up.
I am bringing my favourite Anne Bogart book, my nerdy Moleskin, something Canadian (tourtiere? A lumberjack?), an excellent playlist, four funny stories, necessary gossip and news and EXCITEMENT. And a toothbrush.

We're going to take on some theatre-making.

And we return...

Fresh faced and bushy tailed we prepare for another mad week long development and rehearsal period.
Except the first half of that sentence was a lie. We are not fresh faced, nor do we have any tails (unless we are shaking our tail feathers in a kitchen dance party). While we all love working together and creating and the efforts to find the best way to portray whatever beautiful thing we are thinking about, we are all knackered.

We're teachers, counsellors and freelance drama educators/applied theatre practitioners- jobs that we love, that we feel blessed give us a living, that introduce us to amazing people. Jobs that require hours and hours of unpaid preparation, that drain us of emotional energy, that leave us frustrated with educational systems and never ever enough funding. I am very thankful to have work 'in my field'- many people don't. I just wish I could prioritize developing my own creative practice once in awhile. There are many artists who do so successfully, if you are one of them and have any helpful lessons, hints or books to read- pass them our way!

I've been referring to my "Creative Habits" book by Twyla Tharp, a book that simultaneously drives me INSANE (she's a bit much), but also has some extremely helpful reminders about how art doesn't make itself.

jointPredicament's next venture is a second appearance in the Montreal Fringe Festival. I've written about what a magical time we had last year, about the things we learned. The play has moved forward- two UK performances in December. This year we are so, so pleased to bring two more lovely ladies to Canada- Michelle and our MUSICIAN (!!!) Naomi.

The plan (as I'm sure all blog makers plan) is to update this space often as we roll into spring. Check back.