Thought Residencies

Thought Residencies

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Thought Residencies episodes

  • Liam Zarrillo - Thought #4 - Playing Pretend

    Hey, it's Liam, and this is my fourth thought. So, often when I tell folks what it is I do I'm met with the response: "Ah, that's so awesome! You get to spend your time playing pretend! That must be so fun." And... yeah! I tell stories, I have SO much fun doing it. Um, but when I think about it... I think, actually, my favorite thing about theatre is that it offers an opportunity to tell the truth. To take the most challenging, and the most difficult, the most uncomfortable, but the most honest things we encounter and share them with whoever's willing to listen.

    1 min
  • Liam Zarrillo - Thought #3 - Who's It Really For

    Hey, it's Liam, and this is my third thought.

    I met a new student today and when I asked him what his name was in the presence of his grandma and ah another teacher, he got really flustered and seemed super torn about what to say, and so I just asked him, "Okay, well what do you like to be called?" And the way that his face just, y'know, lit up, and it was so clear how much appreciated such a simple question, um, I found it to be ah both really beautiful and really tragic at the same time. Y'know, as trans people we are always often, often always just so accommodating to so many people and it just has me wondering: who's it really for and what does it even accomplish?
    1 min
  • Liam Zarrillo - Thought #2 - Sylvester the Cat

    Hey, this is Liam, and this is my second thought.

    It's the first day back for teachers today and I was having a chat with a new colleague about, just, beginnings of things and anticipation and what other words there might be for that... Kind of like that sick, twisted, nervous feeling when you're, y'know, about to talk to a stranger. You go up to them and then what happens when you don't get the nerve. I had a professor back in theatre school who would refer to it, that feeling, as Sylvester the Cat about got pop his way through the fence. Making his way through that hole in the fence. And then just hoping that you find what you are looking for on the other side.
    1 min
  • Liam Zarrillo - Thought #1 - Giving Way to the Night Time

    Hey, it's Liam and this is my first thought.

    Uhh it is the last day of summer. And I spent it laying on the beach, my favorite beach in the world, with one of the best people I know and it was ah really sunny and really nice and warm and uhh I tried to drink a beer but I mostly just ah just laid there and was just wondering and I guess worrying ahh about what's to come. Because it has been a minute. Umm and I think, uh I think that summertime is what saved me. That and I just keep thinking about when my Auntie Joy told me about when Hektor said "It is a good thing to give way to the night time." Which I think is right. I think... transitions are hard.

    1 min
  • Liam Zarillo - Thought #1 - Last Day of Summer

    Hey, it's Liam and this is my first thought.

    Uhh it is the last day of summer. And I spent it laying on the beach, my favorite beach in the world, with one of the best people I know and it was ah really sunny and really nice and warm and uhh I tried to drink a beer but I mostly just ah just laid there and was just wondering and I guess worrying ahh about what's to come. Because it has been a minute. Umm and I think, uh I think that summertime is what saved me. That and I just keep thinking about when my Auntie Joy told me about when Hektor said "It is a good thing to give way to the night time." Which I think is right. I think... transitions are hard.
    1 min
  • Mariah Horner - Thought #14 - Working on Relentlessness

    Hello, this is Mariah Horner and this is Thought #14, my last thought.

    Today I'm thinking about rigour. I'm thinking about um...the...artists and the people and the peers that I look up most...that I look most up to are those who are rigourous.

    And I think that rigor is so sexy. Finishing a thing all the way to the end of it and being relentlessly curious about something that you explore all the corners is, for me, one of the most admirable traits about people.

    And I want to challenge myself to be more rigourous, be more rigourous in every aspect of my life. Be relentlessly curious. Do the thing all the way to the end. Just like this residency.

    Thank you all so much for listening. If you did, it's been a hoot.

    1 min
  • Mariah Horner - Thought #13 - Running Isn't a Skill

    Hello, this is Mariah Horner and this is Thought #12 (no it's 13).

    And last night I went for a run having not ran in a very long time and it felt terrible but also felt amazing and um...I was thinking about one of the reasons I love running so much is that I love...I've never been a very athletic person and I love with running that you always get back exactly what you put in. You just have to show up, you just have to try and you just have to run and every time you run it gets easier. It doesn't matter about your skill it really just matters about you showing up.

    And...I think more things in life are like this than we give credit for? You know so many things just require you to show up and just putting yourself in those running shoes or putting yourself in that room....you'd be surprised at the output you get depending on how hard you try.

    1 min
  • Mariah Horner - Thought #12 - Patrick Conner

    Good morning this is Mariah Horner and this is Thought #12.

    And this morning I'm thinking about Patrick Conner. I didn't know him before, but I know him now. He was a very celebrated artist - an actor, a director - he worked in Toronto but he also came from Kingston and he worked a lot here.

    I'm thinking a lot about him...because...you know...I'm thinking about what it means to really change the world through your work. And I know we all think we're doing that. We put something out there and it affects people and it affects imagination and it comes back to us and we see that the world has changed and you know...one thing I'm really moved by Patrick, and you know his work with Big Carrot, it's about created a healthy society it's about understanding that the work that you put out in the world can affect a civil imagination. It can affect more than just one person at a time, it's about a society, it's about a culture, it's about something that is nurtured.

    2 min
  • Mariah Horner - Thought #11 - Gone Swimming

    Good morning this is Mariah Horner and this is Thought #11.

    And I don't know if this happens to any of you but sometimes I wake up and I have an immediate thought about something that is gonna happen during the day. Often for me it is breakfast....immediately when I wake up I know what I want for breakfast. But TODAY when I woke up it was a beautiful fucking day, it is blue skies all around in Kingston.

    And uh...I'm lucky enough to have an office that is very close to the Gord Edgar Downie Pier which is an awesome new public urban beach that the city of Kingston built. SO when it is a beautiful day that means I go swimming. At lunch! Swimming! at Lunch!

    So today I woke up thinking how fucking lucky I am that I get to jump in the lake, the St. Lawrence, on a beautiful sunny day in the middle of August, in the middle of my workday. Have a great Thursday everybody.

    1 min
  • Mariah Horner - Thought #10 - How Do I Tell You I'm Proud of You?

    Hello this is Mariah Horner and this is Thought #10.

    And...this morning I'm very tired [laughs]...and I'm really tired because I stayed up very late with a friend of mine who is going through some very difficult stuff and as I was leaving his house I wanted to tell him how proud I was of him but I stumbled all over my word choice because....I feel like the word proud carries some patronizing tones...and I think about this all the time...that I wish there was another word for pride... for for being proud of somebody who's like the same age as you or proud for somebody who's in the same moment as you.

    Adoration? Admiration? I don't know.

    1 min

About Thought Residencies

From the publisher's feed

The Thought Residencies are back! This season, hear four long-form conversations between artists about theatre, creation and community. All hosted by b Current Artistic Director and FOLDA Co-Curator, Marcel Stewart.