Thought Residencies

When was it that we decided to try to fit theatre into the consumerist model of selling a product to the public? As a "product" Theatre has got to be the worst thing to try to sell - it costs a lot to create and has an unforgiving expiry date – if a seat in a theatre is not sold one night, you can never try to sell it again. Whereas a can of soup can sit on a shelf for months, even years.

I think theatre's strength is that it offers an opportunity to be a part of a community and it seems antithetical to try to "sell" that notion in a supply and demand context. I'm hoping we can find alternative economic models that takes the pressure off of trying to sell tickets to meet budget and allows us to focus on making the community experience of theatre truly inclusive and accessible for all.

So the thought today comes after a conversation with a friend of mine, a fellow artist who was telling me about working on a show that required him to use a British accent. He was working with the production's dialect coach and was given a bunch of audio samples of British dialects for him to learn. Now my friend is person of colour, and actually, his family is from England with deep roots in Jamaica. But here he is listening to all of these audio clips that had been brought to him, these sounds and dialects that he was being asked to replicate, and every single person on these audio clips was white. And he said to the dialect coach, well, aren't there any black British people that I could use as samples? And the dialect coach had never even thought about that possibility.

So this brings me to my thought: does it really count as diverse casting if people of colour are being hired and then are essentially asked to play white people?

P.S. If you haven't seen The Shipment by Young Jean Lee's Theatre Company you should definitely do so right here: http://youngjeanlee.org/work/the-shipment/

So I recently went to see a movie in theatres, and it was the first time in a long time that I've seen a popular action film in the theatres. The trailers were playing and I just couldn't believe it. 9 out of 10 trailers were for remakes from the 90's, or a prequel/sequel spin off from a 90's franchise. And I couldn't help but think as I was sitting there: Humanity is doomed. Our fate is sealed. That's it. We're done. Is the future really so bleak and horrible that all we can do is cling to these nostalgic stories from our past? Is the idea of a new story or new narrative so threatening because it forces us to think about the future, which in humanity's case, is no longer guaranteed on this planet? I don't know, but I couldn't help but think, sitting in this packed theatre, this is definitely an End-of-the-Empire moment– sitting here celebrating our past glories while the empire goes up in flames around us.

Hi there, this is Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, I'm the Resident Thinker for March, sooooo welcome.

I'm going to be honest with you, I stayed up really late last night trying to finish a grant. And you know what? I kind of enjoyed it. I've wrestling a lot recently with trying to adhere to a self-imposed 9 to 5 structure for my independent work, I don't know I guess to make myself feel like an adult.

I guess it makes me think about the strength that comes from going with the flow and responding to impulses rather than forcing an imposed structure. Yes, I may wish I were a responsible adult who could get things done in a reasonable manner, but the reality is that I'll waste far less energy and time if I stop fighting my own personal work habits, and just ride the waves when they come. Maybe I should take up surfing…

Hi. It's Kelli again, it's February 28th and this is Thought #12. My final thought for you for February.

Thanks, Sarah, for inviting me to do this, it's been the most extraordinary and eye opening experience to have this responsibility to you all three times a week, to share my thoughts. I'm honoured to have been asked. I began this month talking about the depression I was in the midst of, so I want to end this month talking about the depression that I am now rising out of. This is what they call Season Affective Disorder, and for anybody who's ever doubted it, that's a thing. That's a real thing. I and hundreds of thousands of other people who live in northern climes contend with this every single year. And every single year it takes me by surprise, and every single year I am laid indescribably low by it, and every single year through some mysterious process that I am not really in control of it begins to lift. As the light returns to the sky, and as the warmth returns to the air. And it doesn't hurt to be busy, and to be engaged, as I am now, in projects that I am passionate about, and it really doesn't hurt to be ... to find myself now, back in Calgary. Which, for my money, as I just finally discovered at this late date last year, is one of the warmest and most beautiful theatre communities in this country, and I'm delighted to be here. And, um .... I think, it's important that we remember, those of us who contend with this, because when you're in the midst of it, it's really hard, but it's important to remember, that it will pass. The light will return, the spring will come. Hang on. And as a very dear, and very smart friend of mine once said to me .... Fresh air and forward motion, it'll cure everything. I believe that's true.

Hi there, it's Kelli, it's February 27, and it's 8:30 in the morning, and I've just realized that I spent my whole day yesterday so buried in a Hamlet edit that I forgot all about you! The good news is, life is incredibly busy, and there are lots of projects on the go, and uh ... I find myself once again apologizing. So I"m sorry, I hope your February has been fantastic, mine certainly has. Heading into my last week on Lonely Diner rehearsal, and loving the company here in Calgary, and enjoying things. Here comes the spring! Yeah! Depression lifts.

Hi, it's Kelli again, it's February 22, and this is thought # 10. And, ok, this is a little weird, little random, but here goes. I happen to have a somewhat famous sibling. And about 30 years ago there was an event involving myself, and this famous sibling, and the National Enquirer. And weirdly, randomly, the National Enquirer has been in touch with my agent, and let her know that they would like to re-visit that piece, they'd like to follow up on the lies they told 30 years ago, and they'd like to know if I would like to contribute a few thoughts. The short answer to that is no. Thank you. No. But it's had me thinking all day about the fact that that event was the beginning for me, that planted a seed of my deep, deep distrust of celebrity culture. It's a large part of the reason that I chose to remain in Canada, on stage, where I could just do my work and not have any of those weird distractions. But more importantly than that, there's a thing about celebrity culture that really makes me kind of puke. I can't stand the fact that people can't seem to be in a room with someone who was on television, and be themselves. I can't stand the fact that a little bit of celebrity profile seems to add extra weight, and probity, and value to every word that drops out of a persons mouth. That culture put Donald Trump in office in the United States. And I would hazard a guess that that culture played a large part in putting Justin Trudeau in office in Canada. Celebrity culture is not our friend, and we have to get over it. That's what I 'm thinking about today.

Hi, it's Kelli Fox again, it's February 21st, and this is thought # 9.

And today, I really can't stop thinking about those kids in Florida. I can't stop thinking about their bravery, and their unbelievable strength, in the face of political apathy, and obstruction, and obstinacy from the adults around them. I'm so, so impressed with them. And today I learned something about them that I didn't know before which is that they mostly know each other through the theatre group at their school. Those kids are artists. And it kind of kills me .... but it affirms something that, of course, we all know. The theatre, the arts, teach empathy. They're vital in our schools. That's what I'm thinking about today.

And thought # 8 is about this amazing little thing I got to witness this afternoon. I've always heard about Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary, but I've never been able to see anything there, and I saw a play this afternoon ... at Noon ... an hour long. It was a play, really at bottom it was a play about coming out, it was also a little bit a play about culture clash, very much a play about family, full of heart, full of love, and depth, and hilarious. and about an hour long .... and, I swear to god, people leave their office buildings, all these towers in downtown Calgary, and they come down there, and they look for a different kind of nutrition on their lunch break. And I think that's amazing! And I congratulate Calgary for making that happen, and I congratulate Calgarians for keeping it alive.

Hi. It's Kelli again, it's February 15th and this is thought #7, and what I am thinking about today, what I'm wondering about today, is whether or not there is any such thing as social progress. I found myself in rehearsal today, listening to the words coming out of Al Capone's mouth in the play, and for all the world, all I could hear was Donald Trump. It was extraordinary. I was a teenager, and a young woman, in the late 70's, early 80's, and I knew for certain that I lived in a different world than my mother had. I grew up in a different world, even than my older sisters. And what all of us knew for sure was that we were never going back to that old world. The forward march of social progress was irreversible, and irresistible, and we were embracing it. And sometime around the late 90's, turn of the century you just started to feel this pull, this drag on that forward progress, and then that drag began to feel like an actual reversal. And now we live in a world where Donald Trump is President of the United States, and it just makes me think, what have we been doing for the last hundred years? We've circled right back around. Is there any such thing as social progress?