Linda Grass stars in The Look, presented online by Northern Light Theatre.
Happy new year? Paul, Fawnda, and return guest Colleen delve into Northern Light Theatre’s online presentation of The Look by Alexa Wyatt. Note: At the 12-minute mark, there is a brief description of the END of the show. Skip ahead a minute to avoid the spoiler.
Is this a lonely pandemic street before me? Alberta Ballet’s Kelly McKinlay in The Nutcracker. Photo by Paul McGrath
We’re back! And a little rusty. But we’re here to warm the cockles of your isolated hearts with a chat about what it means for performing arts companies to lose their big-box, holiday cash cows this year.
Paul and Fawnda take in the Sterling Awards remotely, and reflect on the shortened theatre year in their season finale episode.
The winds of change keep blowing. What’s next for Edmonton’s arts scene? Will we start another podcast while we wait for performances to resume? Have you washed your mask lately?
Actor Natércia Napoleão has shared a number of public letters that call attention to the lack of BIPOC representation in Edmonton’s theatres. Photo by Brandon Hart.
In the form of open letters on social media, actor Natércia Napoleão has been asking Edmonton’s theatre companies directly what their BIPOC representation looks like not only onstage, but off as well. In this chat we cover how social media can be used to call in — not necessarily call out — and how Edmonton theatre companies are responding to public questions about representation in their casts, staff, boards, and otherwise.
A selection of books by Black writers discussed in this episode, including Christina Sharpe, NASRA, and Dionne Brand. Photo by Jason Purcell.
We’re starting with something different this week. Off the top you’ll hear the voice of NASRA, an artist, poet, and producer in Edmonton, which was recorded live back in February. Listen up.
The guests on this episode are the founders of Glass Bookshop: Jason Purcell and Matthew Stepanic. In this chat we cover what they wanted to achieve in opening a bookstore, what it means to hold space when physical space is not a feasible option, and what you should be reading and doing to support Black artists now.
The events of the past days must be followed with continued action. Anti-Black racism is a terrible reality, and it is not spoken about enough, especially in white communities. Now is the time to listen, to educate yourself, and to take action.
Here’s the reading list discussed on the show (buy them here): A God Dance in Human Cloth by NASRA This is How We Disappear by Titilope Sonuga An Autobiography of the Autobiography of Reading by Dionne Brand In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo Indigenous Rights by Chelsea Vowel Fifteen Dogs and Days By Moonlight by Andre Alexis
Ellen Chorley (centre) enjoys a typical night at Nextfest. This year’s festival goes online June 4-14. (Photo by Mat Simpson)
This year’s Nextfest—its 25th anniversary—goes entirely online. We caught up with Festival Director Ellen Chorley to talk about her career path and the wonders of the beautiful, multidisciplinary beast that is Edmonton’s festival for emerging artists. We also cover how she and Fawnda met a decade ago on the dancefloor at one of the legendary Nextfest nite clubs.
The entry image for Tracks, by Vena Amoris Productions
It’s been a while, but we actually caught a local show to review! Vena Amoris Productions offered an online choose-you-own-route experience with Tracks. Fawnda and Colleen take the trip together—virtually, of course.
Along with the rest of us, playwright Vern Thiessen has been a lot of baking bread lately.
Vern Thiessen published an open letter to the nation’s professional theatre associations last week, encouraging them to seriously consider what they could be doing during the Great Pause, including reassessing their collective agreements and lobbying for changes to the Status of the Artist legislation. We cover his letter, the meaning of these agreements for working artists in Canada, and what post-pandemic theatre could look like for the foreseeable future (likely, it’s “G” houses). The Governor General Award-winning playwright also offers some advice on letter-writing—which we should all be doing more.
Nisha Patel is Edmonton’s current Poet Laureate. (Ye Fan)
YEG Poet Laureate and PoFest Executive Director Nisha Patel chats about taking literary events online, her #CanadaPerforms stint, the realities of being an artist and festival producer in the gig economy, and emerging standards for compensating artists for online content.
Links discussed in this episode: • Nisha Patel’s website • Moon Jelly House, publisher for diverse chapbooks • Vena Amoris Projects are taking their show Tracks online from May 19-24 • The Globe and Mail talked with several Fringe and festival organizers on the impacts of this summer’s cancellations • Found Festival has issued a call for proposals for the 2020 festival • The Revisionist History episode where Malcolm Gladwell slams golf courses
Alexis Hillyard on the set of the web series Stump Kitchen. (KTB Photography)
While the rest of us had to get used to this new era of online connecting when the pandemic was declared, Alexis Hillyard was already an internet star in her own right with her Youtube series, Stump Kitchen. In our chat she covers favourite pandemic meals, how artists can leverage putting their work online, and bringing authenticity to digital space—plus, how a stump comes in handy in the kitchen!
