Enough To Keep You...

Playing Relentlessly - Jamie Konchak on her role in Sage Theatre's Fool for Love

2012-02-28T21:31:00.002-08:00

Jamie Konchak is playing May in Sage Theatre's production of Fool for Love. And she's pretty excited about it. Back in November she was been away doing a project in Prince George, and now is performing Fool for Love in Edmonton with Shadow Theatre.The cast is bringing the show to Calgary next week and she's thrilled to be coming home. "I've had a great time in Edmonton, but I'm excited to be back home among my friends and well known colleagues in the Calgary theatre community," Konchak says when prompted about her return.

The creative team is adapting Sam Shepard's play to the small space of the Joyce Doolittle Theatre in the Pumphouse Theatre in Calgary, and it's going to be a bit of a challenge. The play tells of the tainted romance between Eddie and May, and looks at how the desires of one generation can wreak destruction in the next."It's intense," Konchak says when asked about what she likes about the play, "it asks a lot of everybody emotionally. It's not a very long play, but you go through a lot in a short period of time while you're on stage. You don't really have a lot of time to breathe," she adds. She explains that it's a bit of a pressure cooker and that's going to be stepped up when in Calgary. "The Joyce is a really intimate space," she says,"and we're confined to [that] small space."


Photo Credit: Rick MacWilliam for the Edmonton Journal

"I really quite like her," Konchak states about her character May, "she's got some serious struggles going on, and she's just trying her dardest to make the best out of this one life we've been given." It's really a struggle that all of us are going through. But it seems that May has a lot of things holding her back. "There are all these things that keep getting in her way," Konchak says, "her past is certainly one of them, Eddy, her lover is definitely a major piece. So when he returns, her past returns with him."

This role is not without its challenges. Even the playwright has a note at the beginning of the play: this play is to be performed relentlessly, without intermission. Konchak opens up about the challenges of playing May, as well as the challenges of being an actor in general.
"It's an emotionally complex role. You have characters who do kind of awful things, or say awful things to people and are going through things that don't feel good as a human. And [my] job as an actor is to go there and to go there everyday, and embrace it with joy and open arms. So I find that difficult. It's hard to call yourself to action, to go to those places everyday"

But she gets by with a little help from her friends. Playing alongside Konchak is Shaun Johnston of CBC's Heartland. And Konchak can't help but rave about him, "oh my gosh, he's so lovely," she says. "he brings such a raw honesty [and] it infuses the rest of the process, and the rest of us with energy as well."
Johnston is revisiting Fool for Love, as he played Eddy in Shadow Theatre's 1989 Edmonton Fringe Festival production and is now back as the Old Man.

"Firstly, I hope it's a good night in the theatre and I hope that they experience it as such," she says when asked about what she's hoping audiences take away. "I think what Sam Shepard does really well in this play is that he asks us as performers and [as a viewer] to look at the grey tones and morality. I hope they are moved in moments," she adds, "whether that be to laughter or to frustration."

"Gosh, it feels like such a political question!" she groans when asked about what she's personally looking forward to in the remainder of the theatre season. "I should answer somehow strategically that will help me in the coming years," she jokes. Konchak doesn't really need help, a Betty Michell winner from her role in The Penelopiad and two other nominations for best actress in a drama are her tract record. "I'm going to say Sweeny Todd, because it's Mark Bellamy's final production and he's given so much to that company," she says. "But now, I'm like, oh my gosh! it's Sweeny Todd, I should mention something more indie!" she quips.

Sage Theatre's Fool for Love opens next Thursday, with a preview on Wednesday. Tickets and more information can be found at sagetheatre.com
Also - check in here for a review.

Nostalgic.

2012-01-31T21:58:00.000-08:00

So there is a valid reason as to why I haven't updated in a little over two months. I was away. In a faraway land. My family, on both sides are from Mauritius. It's a little island, off the coast of Madacascar, in the Indian Ocean. Which begs the question: Why did they come here? Where it's cold almost eight months of the year. Believe me, I ask the questions of why do I live here?? Mostly when I'm scraping the snow off of my car.

The very first things I ever learned how to cook were Mauritian. And I grew up in a odd hybrid of languages in terms of cooking. It took me ten years to figure out that cinnamon and canelle were the same things. One is just in french, which is what it was referred to in my house. But it was kept in a jar with no label on it, so I never knew that they were the same things, until I started cooking myself. Same thing with cilantro.

When I first started cooking I made rougaille and lentils, which is pretty typical Mauritian. Rougaille is simple, it's like a tomato sauce and then you add things to it, like eggs or salmon or any type of fish. The lentils were complicated for me though. I had to burn them completely, and then add too much water to know for sure how you were supposed to cook them.

So I decided to learn from the best while I was in Mauritius. (The best are otherwise known as my Grandmother and anyone else who wanted to show me how to make stuff). And the first thing I wanted to blog was making roti. It isn't really Mauritian roti, as I'm sure other people make it the same way, but we made it in Mauritius, does that count?
Here is the kicker. I don't have a recipe to link to. And I don't have proper measurements, just proportions.

So mixing brown and white flour is fine. It still tastes good. But these rotis are pretty high in fat seeing the amount of oil you put in them.
So I wouldn't make them all the time...

So here is what I documented.
2 cups of white flour
2 cups of brown flour
Pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon of oil
Hot water.

Measure out the flour and add the salt. Then add the oil and the hot water. Mix it with you hands all together. You might need to add more water and more oil but just put it all together so that you have something that looks consistent. Like this.

Then comes the rolling part. The experts (like my Grandma) can roll the dough so that it turns on its own and you get a perfect circle. Me? Not so much. I fumbled my way through it until they took the rolling pin away from me. Apparently, I'm no good at rolling.

So you take about baseball size dough and roll it out. Then you brush it with oil and fold it up into a square and let it sit. Then you roll the oiled dough again, and THEN they are ready to be cooked. Got that?

Heat a frying pan and brush it with oil. Fry for a minute per a side. The experts can touch the roti with their bare hands because they have no feeling left in the tips of their fingers, while I try and flip them awkwardly with utensils. It's a good time.

I would have fulfilled my blogger duties if I had actually taken a picture of the end product. But it was hot, and I had just spent all of this time making them (well, that's a lie, I REQUESTED them, and assisted in rolling two). So I didn't take any picture of it when they were done. Needless to say, they were good.

This whole roti expedition was made possible by my aunt Pom (pictured on the right). She agreed to make roti even though it was crazy hot out and rolling is a lot of work. We actually did the rolling in her garage...

And I searched the internet for what the end product should look like and shamelessly stole this picture, purely for your viewing pleasure. Enjoy.

Updated.

2011-11-23T13:34:00.000-08:00

So I'm late in the October keeping you up to date in theatre reviews and previews.
But here we are.

I reviewed the Soulocentric Showcase, as part of the Soulocentric Festival.

Soulocentric features creative layers.
This showcase featured different artists in different mediums. There were some great and some not so great.


Kathleen Doherty, promo image for the Soulocentric Festival

Downstage Theatre began their season with a poignant piece from a First Nations perspective. I got to chat with artistic director Simon Mallett. Downstage Theatre explores social ramifications through First Nation perspective.


Jesse Wheeler as Jason and Phil Fulton as Harry. Photo Credit: Tim Nguyen

Theatre Calgary opened their season with To Kill A Mockingbird. There were some who really loved it, and some that didn't. Here is my take.


Photo credit: Calgary Herald

Spark, as part of the Fluid Festival was similar to the Soulocentric Festival in that it consisted of several different pieces in one performance. Sparking Creativity


Photo: Naomi Brand

Ronnie Burkett was back in town! He came to Alberta Theatre Projects. His newest work is pretty dark and totally worth it. The world has gone to the dogs in Penny Plain


Photo Credit: Avenue Magazine

Shantala Shivalingappa came for the Fluid Festival. Again, not a strong review due to the whole dance thing. But hopefully it's getting better. Shantala Shivalingappa Brings Namasya to the Fluid Festival


Photo Credit: Laurent Phillipe

And last but not least, I got to interview Shane Koyczan. Seriously. Cool.
He write backwards, and will be back in February. Getting down with Shane Koyczan - The poet opens up about new work and his creative process

Photo Credit: Glenbow Museum

Humble

2011-11-12T00:21:00.000-08:00

All of the past remembrance days, since I've been out of University, I've worked. I got a day off as a trade off, but I always missed not being in grade school and going to a ceremony. This year I could have gone with David to a ceremony, but I decided that in honour of Remembrance Day, I was going to go to Lunchbox Theatre's presentation of Jake's Gift.
The play is a one woman show about a war veteran who returns to the shores of Normandy for the 60th anniversary of D-Day. He meets a charming 10 year old girl who brings out the charm in him.

This play is a simple story of a Canadian war veteran coming back to the shores of his past. The 'petit' Isabelle strikes up conversation with him and this develops into a friendship. Jake's Gift is compelling and warm, funny and touching. Created and performed entirely by Julia Mackey, the story carries the audience along in the palm of its hand (if it had one). Mackey transforms seamlessly from one character to the other, not even changing costume between changes. The characters are outlines by her demeanor, accent and expression and her performance is flawless. Isabelle is a curious and innocent little girl and Jake is an old man whose humour has not entirely left him, and the audience completely forgets that these two characters are played by one woman. Their bond will warm your heart and bring tears to your eyes. (This evening's performance was rounded off by the little boy in the audience who said 'Dad, don't cry!')

Jake's Gift is a contender for one of the top plays I've seen this season and is not to be missed.

Collaborative

2011-11-07T13:23:00.001-08:00

Though I stopped running a business of dog sitting for the past year, so that I could focus on writing and the arts and marketing, I do favours for friends every once in a while. So for the past two weeks I've been dog sitting in Bridgeland. (For Mandy, actually).
My friend Erin is also in that neighbourhood, so we've been walking dogs at the off leash park.
Which has led me to really notice that the geese are flying south.

Have you ever noticed that if they are flying south (or coming back) you hear them as they go by? I learned in one of my commerce courses that there is actually a reason for that. The geese fly in a the form of a V, so that they don't all have to battle the air resistance. So the dude in the front is basically working the hardest because he's breaking the resistance the most. So why are they so loud? Because all the other geese are cheering him on. Encouraging him. Telling him he rocks (in bird talk of course). But what craziness in terms of collaboration. It's a total illustration of how working as a team and collaborating can create better results. How working together will get us further along then trying to do everything alone.

Something to think about.

Up to Date.

2011-10-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

September!

I write a lot of reviews and previews for Downtown Calgary's Blog. So I thought I would link them here, so you're not missing out on some of the great (and not so great) theatre going on in the city.

I got to interview Dave Kelly! Getting Down with Dave Kelly.
He was a lot of fun. Also, the first candid, from the first person, interview I've written.

Photo Credit: Avenue Magazine

I then reviewed True Love Lies.
Not the best I've written, but the play was super quick, so I had trouble keeping up.

Photo Credit: Trudie Lee Photography

I also reviewed my first dance piece Marie Chouinard's The Golden Mean
Dance is difficult to write about.

Photo Credit: Sylvie- Ann Paré

Amazed.

2011-10-04T14:19:00.000-07:00

Summer of My Amazing Luck is a novel published in 1996, by author Miriam Towes, also the author of A Complicated Kindness. Chris Craddock, is a playwright who adapted the novel for theatre.
Sage Theatre has remounted the touring play, putting an intimate spin on a big story.

Summer of My Amazing Luck tells of single mom Lucy, who is struggling to take care of her son in a housing project in Winnipeg. The story unfolds and the audience is thrown into the story of Lucy and the people who are in her life.

Sage Theatre creates an amazingly intimate story using unusual props and mutiple role changes. At the Pumphouse Theatre, where space is limited anyway, the narrative fills the theatre to the brim. The play opens with Lucy telling us, that we may think we are in a theatre, but we're actually in a car. I'm always weary of plays that openly address the audience, because I'm afraid they will verge on corny. Which isn't to say that I haven't seen plays that do well in that style, just that I've seen quite a few that haven't. But Summer of My Amazing Luck is anything but corny. It's touching and hopeful and funny.The babies in the story are substituted by teddy bears. Toys litter the floor and the entrance way. All of the props are based in child's play, and they simply get integrated into the narrative. One of Lucy's friends is always smoking and the audience sees a crayon. But as the play progresses, you don't see a crayon, you see a cigarette.
Lucy introduces her father, her best friend and the people she lives with. She tells of how she got be where she is, (mom died and I didn't grieve right; we were in the arms of Canada!) and director Kelly Reay manages to incorporate flashback and humour and heart in a small little space. Summer of My Amazing Luck is a warm story of the struggles of a single mother and is a realistic examination of the challenges and hardship that this particular demographic faces. The play isn't without political commentary. The fact that social programs and assistance are in existence is juxtaposed by the judgement and ill treatment this part of society experiences. Lucy mentions that she's trying to survive on nine thousand dollars a year.
The many characters that are played by the same actors, often in the same span of motion is impressive. Graham Percy is spectacular both as Lucy's soft spoken father and then as her love interest. Myla Southward's performance as Lucy's mom and then as Lish is strong. Caley Suliak is great as Lucy.

Summer of My Amazing Luck is compelling and funny and full of heart. It runs until Saturday.

Strategizing.

2011-10-03T12:40:00.000-07:00

"All of us are engaged in a fundamental realignment in culture and communications"
-- Ben Cameron, on performing arts

Thursday was the first annual Calgary Arts Congress. It was a gathering of people who are in any way stakeholders in the arts. Administrators, artists, politicians, enablers. It was organized by Calgary Arts Development. The keynote speaker was Ben Cameron, and you can see his Ted Talk here.
I missed the entirety of his speech. But I caught his Q and A, which was worth it.

The day was divided into different sessions and you chose which ones you wanted to go to. First off, for me was the budget under $500,00 session. Probably the most engaging and well organized session for me. The group wasn't super huge so that conversation was impossible. People deviated into different branches of discussion and it was all very interesting. I'm keen to hear what CADA puts together and what comes our of this discussion. We brushed on sharing and collaborations and partnerships. Going beyond the reach of the usual audience. Artistic autonomy.
Interestingly, I had a great chat with Ellen Close of Downstage Theatre about one of the ideas that came out of the discussion. Someone brought up that it would be great to have a pool of professionals that could be 'shared' so to speak in the arts world. So like, contracting publicists and marketers and stage managers and so on. It's a novel idea, but I was thinking about the concern of the professionals who are contracting. I work two jobs currently and they are both semi part time and they both create a security for me, that allows me to pick up contracts when available. The thing is, that's all well and good, but I still have these ambitions to be able to buy a house and pay for retirement and the arts, and especially contracting in that style would not provide for those benefits. I'm all for collaboration, but it's difficult because the industry simply doesn't pay well. Which just means we need to get creative.

After lunch I skipped out on Ben Cameron's follow up to go to the Arts Marketing Lab.
This session was disappointing to me. Mostly because I went in with expectations of discussion of how to tap into the market of people in the City interested in the arts but who aren't participating. Is that market particularly large? Is there a way to access it that we can discuss? Are there options for cross marketing and publicity that we can do as an industry?
The panel discussion were composed of interesting people. Nicole Mion is the director of the Fluid Festival, a dance festival in Calgary. Bradley Walker is the vice president of Bottom Line Productions, the publicity and marketing company for the arts in the city. Jessica Dollard is the programmer for Fairy Tales Presentation Society.
But the setup and the number of people in the room made the session a little chaotic. Marketing is a really broad topic and it was difficult to cater to what everyone wanted to discuss.
Someone asked to a talk about what marketing is. In my opinion, CADA isn't here to educate. If you require that, go take some courses. There are plenty available. Brad was talking about media relations and potentially partnerships within marketing. I'd be interested in that. Even a arts marketing support group! :)
There was a LOT going in the session, so we'll see what CADA comes away with.

Overall, I think the beginning of discussion and strategy is a good idea and there is a need for it. Just as long we move forward and create something from it to enable culture and the arts to thrive in this city.

Sunny

2011-09-11T21:59:00.000-07:00

I had an epic potluck fail on Friday. I wanted to bring something Mauritian. There are these appetizers, (well, Mauritians also eat them for breakfast) called gateaux piment, and I've never made them before. My MOTHER has never made them. But I'm ambitious sometimes. To my detriment.
I went by a recipe in my mom's Mauritian recipe book, and by this one as well.
Nothing would keep together. It all fell apart. Literally and figuratively.
So I went to the store, bought hummus, and went to my potluck.

So yesterday was Julie's Pie Potluck. And again, my ambitious self was going to make pie.
For the first time. Pecan pie, no less. (My first food post ever, I said I would eventually try Pumpkin Pie). But pecan is up there as well. So I begged my roomate to teach me how.
Saturday morning, we started. J. has a pastry board. It's this really cool thing you can roll the dough on so you know how big it has to be to fit in your pie plate. So cool. We used Julie's recipe here.
J. made a lemon pie at the same time, so I in essence made the whole thing myself, with her assistance.
I've never baked a pie before. But it was surprisingly not as hard as I thought it would be. Make sure everything is cool. We didn't use a food processor, we just did everything by hand.

We used this recipe for pecan filling here.
I think it's the orange zest that made the difference. Though really you need to turn your head to the amount of sugar and butter there is in pecan pie.

So I took my pie to Julie's potluck. So many pies. So little time. I met Vincci from Ceci n'est pas un food blog amongst other bloggers, and not bloggers. I ate lots of pie. Drank lemonade with mint. Had sour ice cream.
It was lovely. I had a pie-over. I always find it quite reassuring and amazing that Julie can invite the internet over and just have her house filled with great friendly people.

My pie was also quite a hit and everyone was a fan. So it made up for my massive previous potluck fail. It was all thanks to my roomate. I couldn't have done it without her.

Pie devoured. I think that next potluck should be soup and bread. Then I can try split pea. And making my own bread. (How about that, I reach goals and just create new ones)

Fulfilled

2011-09-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

The world's greatest meatballs. I found them here.

It seems that this has got to be the greatest food ever, or she just takes really good pictures.

So Mandy and I got together to try this out. And I was dog sitting, so the dogs got to run around and play for four hours straight. It was a good time.

Mandy defrosted meat and did the meatballs. I don't have any documentation of her labour, or any photos really, to show the making of the meatballs, so you'll just have to trust me when I say there were meatballs, and they were good.

I went about making the marinara sauce. I chopped up onion and garlic to which Mandy remarked that it was no wonder I take so long to cook, because I make sure everything is done meticulously. Uhhh, I'm not like that, so that's an odd compliment for me.

The recipe calls for about half an hour of simmering, but we used that as a guideline an only really did about fifteen minutes. There is always this debate I have when I try out pasta. I could go to Lina's and pick up high quality, authentic Italian ingredients. Then perhaps my food will taste the same as in some of those fancy Italian restaurants. Or maybe it's just the recipe. We put CO-OP bought tomato paste and a basic can of tomatoes to the test. Mandy says that she doesn't have a distinct enough taste palette to notice the difference. I'm not sure if that's true.

We didn't exactly measure in terms of oregano. I think the longer you simmer and let sit, the better the dish is. We were quite pleased with this recipe and I would probably say that these are awesome meatballs. Maybe next time I would use less oregano, or maybe MEASURE oregano. And cut down on the sugar and salt. But maybe then it just wouldn't taste as good.
And I'm not sure I'm comfortable demoting world's greatest meatballs to better than average meatballs.

Frenzied

2011-09-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

So I had my folks over for dinner.
On the menu? Guacamole and hummus as appetizers and Pad Thai for main.
I had bought avocados on Monday, anticipating that they would be ripe by the time Friday rolled around. Not so much. Total fail.
So I crushed them up best I could, and put them in the refrigerator.

My roomates have a Vita-Mix, so it
made making hummus really easy. (All hummus recipes are basically the same, so I didn't link to the one I used) That being said, my mother made it, while I focused on Pad Thai. But side note to hummus. It tastes way better if you have Tahini. I could make tahini, I suppose, but that seems like a whole lot of time and effort I don't really have. So I searched the grocery stores for it, and I DO mean stores plural. I went to Superstore and in that giant maze of stuff I couldn't find it. So I went to CO-OP and thought I would have better luck. The first person I asked, asked me what Tahini was. SERIOUSLY? you work in a grocery store? It isn't that freaken complicated. Nevertheless I was quite annoyed that help is hard to come by. It turns out that CO-OP gets their Tahini from Cedar's Deli. In future, it might just be easier and cheaper to get it from there.

As for the Pad Thai, there were also some ingredients that I had never used before. Like tamarind concentrate. I used tamarind paste that I found at CO-OP. I used Julie's recipe here.
I bought the fatter rice noodles but was still disappointed to find that you still risk eye injury when breaking it apart. Picking up peanuts and bean sprouts was totally worth it. In the end, the dish was quite good. Like really good. Not as good as restaurant Pad Thai, but I think mine was healthier anyway. I started everything at 7, and wasn't done until 9. So we weren't eating until 9. How do people do it? Cook a large meal and have it be nice and all that, and eat at a reasonable hour??
I would totally make this again. Plus now I have all the ingredients in my fridge.

I'm not sure if you can tell from this photo, but the kitchen was a disaster. I put everything everywhere. Lots of clean up. Plus, my parents brought our dogs over. So three dogs in one space, one of which is like three thousand years old. I felt a little frenzied. But dinner was worth it.

Next! Mandy and I are going to try the world's best meatballs.

Feeling pleasantly Sour.

2011-09-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

I've finally found some time to cook. And there seems to be a theme to this blog. Mostly it seems that all I ever cook are noodles or pasta. Well, I do eat other things. I just don't blog about them. And my roomate is a great cook, so I only really do new things when she's not around. Which generally tends towards pasta, because it's easy and doesn't take a lot of prep.

So I found this at Smitten Kitchen and I thought I would give it a shot.
I used fettuccine instead of spaghetti. I wasn't sure how much a pound of pasta was and was too lazy to look it up. Mostly, I was thinking, really? Three lemons is only that much rind?
And I did something slightly stupid. I got distracted and forgot about the sticker on the lemon. Totally started grating the sticker. Awesome.
Despite all this, it turned out okay. Super lemony. Like hello lemon! here you are!
So next time I would add less lemon. And measure out the cheese instead of just throwing it in. But other than that it was pretty good. Oh, and take the stickers off the lemons. Noted.

Next! I'm having my folks over for dinner (to which my mother was like, but you live with roomates!) and am planning on making a meal that doesn't have meat, fat, cream or gluten. Should be interesting.

Drawn In...

2011-08-09T11:36:00.000-07:00

So the Calgary Fringe Festival was on this past weekend, and the weekend previous to that.
I was away for a the long weekend, so I didn't get to see as many shows as I would have liked. (But then again, I didn't have that much money to go see all the shows I would have liked!)
Within my limited time, I managed to see "These Men" and "Take a Bite".

I was attracted to "These Men", because it starred Denise Wong, whom I saw last year in a David Mamet fringe show entitled Sexual Perversity in Chicago. I also saw her in Some Girls and thought she was quite outstanding. "These Men" is about two ladies who wind up living together who are from two very different perspectives on romantic relationships. Shelley (Kristin Swirles) is casual in her approach and is the master of non commitment and non attachment. Or so she thinks. Cloris (Denise Wong) is neurotic and wants to be loved and needed. Or so she thinks. The two form a bond in living together and neurotic and casual collide in close living space. "These Men" has a storyline told before. Both actresses put in great performances. But the play could be tighter, the feelings more poignant, the friendship and love between the two more certain. "These Men" is a good entry in the Fringe Fest, but it has the potential to be great.

I decided on "Take A Bite" mostly because of Bob Clark's review in the Calgary Herald.(I would link it, but the Herald apparently have moved their blogs). "Take A Bite" tells of Vera, a 33 year old women who wakes up in a room with Dion a young 18 year old man. She doesn't know how she got there, she doesn't know who he is and there doesn't seem to be a way to get out. As they slowly begin to get to know each other, the audience get pieces of information, bit by bit. It soon is very clear that these two are not in a jail cell and that their last memory was of being killed. With reverence of "No Exit", the play is poignant and sharp, it pushes and pulls and is a compelling story that roots you to your seat for the entire duration. Bob Clark was not wrong.

Entertained.

2011-07-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

The past several weeks have been concert filled.
And I'm behind in posting about them.
Meagan Smith was in town. She came to play at the Ironwood, and her show was really great.
She won the Juno for best new artist. She is from Nova Scotia.
I took my roommate, and we were close enough to touch her.
She played almost her entire album, and it was quite great in front of the giant crowd in the Ironwood.
Tickets were really cheap, at only 10 dollars each. And Meghan and her band had to run away from Vancouver because she was supposed to play the very night of the riots. So she had a ton of merchandise the night she played in Calgary.
Her visit was lovely and I highly recommend her when she comes back.

Hawksley Workman also came into town and played an acoustic concert at the GRAND Theatre. I've never seen him in concert before and boy can that guy talk. R and I went to see Arcade Fire last year and they barely said anything to the crowd. Hawkley didn't ever stop talking. We were an hour and a half in and he had only completed nine songs. By his words he was screwed. His concert version of You and the candles was amazing and he forgot the words half way through and launched into a story mid verse. The beauty of the acoustic concert was that it was all about his voice and his guitar. And it totally amazed me that he could change any song to any octave and still sound great. It was quite great, complete with Hawsley sounding out the drum lines.

Waiting...

2011-06-30T15:52:00.000-07:00

So the Betty Mitchell Awards nominations were announced this past Tuesday.
They are like the Oscars for the theatre industry in Calgary.

The Betty Mitchell Awards Nomination Commitee is an anonymous jury of twelve theatre professionals who select nominees in sixteen award categories from the eligible shows. The input is then tabulated and a list of nominees is then produced. The final ballots are then distributed to the same twelve member Nomination Committee and to anyone who has seen twenty five of the eligible productions.

There were 56 eligible productions this theatre season, and to get a vote you had to have seen 25.
I saw 29. So I filled out the passport to get a vote.
My ballot is in the mail (which hopefully means I'll actually get it) and I can vote in any of the categories in which I've seen 3 or more plays.

Here are my thoughts and analysis on the nominations that I can vote for:

Outstanding Set Design
▪    Terry Gunvordahl - Girl In The Goldfish Bowl - Sage Theatre
▪    Terry Gunvordahl - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Terry Gunvordahl - The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Pam Johnson - Much Ado About Nothing - Theatre Calgary
▪    Deitra Kalyn - Reasons To Be Pretty - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions

(I didn't see Vertigo and Sage Theatre's entries)

This category is hard to vote on. The Penelopiad's set design was pretty simple allowing the audience to focus on the many ladies on stage. I remember the nooses hanging from the ceiling, then falling to the stage on cue. Much Ado's set design was complex by comparison, complete with fake trees and water well. The entire set rotated to reveal different scenes. Reasons To Be Pretty was also simple design. One long stage, that had a bed in the one corner and didn't change throughout the entire play. The set was a bedroom, a food court, a lunchroom and a baseball field. That play was hinged on the actor's ability to convey what the audience couldn't see.
R. tells me to vote on what set served best to tell the story. I keep going back and forth, but I'm going to go with the Penelopiad. The set just suited the theme of the play, 10 women playing everyone and a simple set that helped to convey the mood.

Outstanding Sound Design Or Composition
▪    Andrew Blizzard - Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Anna Friz - 300 Tapes - Public Recordings with Alberta Theatre Projects & The Theatre Centre
▪    Allison Lynch - The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Richard McDowell - Smash Cut Freeze - One Yellow Rabbit
▪    Matthew Waddell - ONE - Ghost River Theatre

I didn't see Vertigo's Play.

So I did a major preview piece for 300 tapes so I know that work inside out. They composed the pieces from scratch on the Penelopiad. There were some crazy interesting things going on in Smash Cut Freeze and One. There was a demon in One who had sound work performed so that her voice was distorted. All of these entries are great and this category is full of talented people.
I'm going to have to go with Ghost River's One.

Outstanding Performance By An Actor In a Supporting Role
▪    Duval Lang - Goodness - Downstage Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Grant Linneberg - Nisei Blue - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Graham Percy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre
▪    Kevin Rothery - Girl In The Goldfish Bowl - Sage Theatre
▪    Trevor Rueger - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre

(Again, I didn't see Girl In The Goldfish Bowl. I didn't even HEAR about it. It must have been good though)

So I had to look up who Graham Percy and Trevor Rueger played in Cuckoo's nest. Turns out Graham played Dale, and Trevor played Billy. Theatre Calgary's Cuckoo's Nest was well done. I would venture to say one of the best in their season. I didn't actually review it because I saw it on a comp ticket. But both those actors did amazing jobs. I'm a Duval Lang groupie. I went to see ATP's the Erotic Anguish of Don Juan just to see what what he would do with it. I saw him for the first time in Goodness and his performance was poignant and intense. My review for Grant Linneberg can be found here. He put forward a strong performance, maybe even better than Duval Lang in Nisei Blue. This is a hard decision, because all of these are really great performances. Though Lang was outstanding in Goodness, I think Trevor Ruger's portrayal of Billy outshines the rest by the slightest bit.

Outstanding Costume Design
▪    Bretta Gerecke - Nevermore - One Yellow Rabbit/Vertigo Theatre/Catalyst Theatre
▪    Raven Hehr - Kung Fu Panties - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Deitra Kalyn - The 39 Steps - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Deitra Kalyn - Mom’s The Word: For Crying Out Loud! - Theatre Calgary
▪    Deitra Kalyn - The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects

I haven't seen The 39 Steps or Mom's The Word

I didn't post a review for Nevermore though I saw it, and my Kung Fu Panties review was pretty short. As far as costuming goes, I have to go with Nevermore on this one. It set the mood for the gothic Edgar Allen Poe tale.

Outstanding Choreography Or Fight Direction
▪    Denise Clarke - The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Tracy Flye - The Drowsy Chaperone - Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre
▪    Laura Krewski - Nevermore - One Yellow Rabbit/Vertigo Theatre/Catalyst Theatre
▪    Karl Sine & Nathan Schmidt - Macbeth - The Shakespeare Company
▪    Adrian Young - Kung Fu Panties - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions

I didn't see Drowsy or Macbeth.

I would have to say that the Penelopiad made great use of outstanding choreography. Women played men, and this was illustrated purely by their movements. You could saw men get killed by bow an arrow on that stage and that was all choreography. Though Kung Fu Panties had some great fight direction, it wasn't as convincing as the Penelopiad.

Outstanding New Play
▪    Denise Clarke - Smash Cut Freeze - One Yellow Rabbit
▪    Darrin Hagen - With Bells On - Lunchbox Theatre
▪    Rebecca Northan - Kung Fu Panties - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Cathy Ostlere & Dennis Garnhum - Lost–A Memoir - Theatre Calgary
▪    Mieko Ouchi - Nisei Blue - Alberta Theatre Projects

I didn't see With Bells On

This is such an interesting category. My review for Smash Cut Freeze is here. It was a great little play. Full of irony and great images in black and white. Kung Fu Panties was a lot of fun and was well written, but I didn't think it was the best in the category. Nisei Blue was interesting but still needed some work. Lost, also needs some work but was the most compelling out of all of them, so I would go with that.

Outstanding Direction
▪    Mark Bellamy - The 39 Steps - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Ryan Luhning - Reasons To Pretty - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Kate Newby - 12 Angry Men - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Vanessa Porteous - The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Eric Rose - ONE - Ghost River Theatre

I didn't see the 39 Steps

Okay. So this one is difficult. My Reasons To Be Pretty review can be found here. And my review of One can be found here. Let's start with 12 Angry Men. It's a great story and Vertigo did a good job with it. I was right there in the trial. The Penelopiad was such a different piece, and Porteous did a remarkable job with the script. Then there is Reasons To Be Pretty. It is the only play that one of my twitter followers went to see based solely on my 140 character recommendation. I loved that play. The acting, the set, the story. It was lovely. But One was so visceral. I took my roomates to see it and they thought it was the best play they've ever seen. It was so magical and gut wrenching. And the direction along with all the other elements is what makes the play and to a certain extent you can't compare the two. Arg. After much debate... I'm stuck. I can't decide. I can't decide between the two. And I don't know anyone who saw both. Hmmm. Decision at the end of the post.

Outstanding Performance By An Actress In A Drama
▪    Vanessa Holmes - The Blue Room - Sage Theatre
▪    Karen Johnson-Diamond - And So It Goes - Downstage
▪    Jamie Konchak - Macbeth - The Shakespeare Company
▪    Jamie Konchak - Reasons To Be Pretty - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Esther Purves Smith - Girl In The Goldfish Bowl - Sage Theatre

I can't vote on this one, I haven't seen enough.
But Konchak is the only actress to make me cry. Just sayin.

Outstanding Performance By An Actor In A Drama
▪    Haysam Kadri - Macbeth - The Shakespeare Company
▪    Robert Klein - 12 Angry Men - Vertigo Theatre
▪    Trevor Leigh - Richard III - The Shakespeare Company
▪    Patrick MacEachern - Reasons To Be Pretty - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions
▪    Shaun Smyth - One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre

I didn't see anything by the Shakespeare company this year.

I saw 12 Angry Men and I looked up who Robert Klein played: Juror #3. That's helpful.
The summary says he was the aggressive one who bases the case on his relationship with his son. Nothing is really springing to mind. I'm sure Klein did a good job, but it wasn't forefront in my brain. It doesn't help that 12 Angry Men was back in September. Shaun Smyth was McMurphy. He did a outstanding job. Standing ovation performance. But Patrick MaEachern (along with Konchak) made me cry. His performance was subtle and versatile. He has my vote.

Outstanding Production Of A Play
▪    12 Angry Men - Vertigo Theatre
▪    The 39 Steps - Vertigo Theatre
▪    ONE - Ghost River Theatre
▪    The Penelopiad - Alberta Theatre Projects
▪    Reasons To Be Pretty - Ground Zero Theatre & Hit & Myth Productions

Uh oh. Okay so we're down to Reasons To Be Pretty and One. Again.
So, since I have to decide, this one goes to Ghost River's One.
Best Direction goes to Reasons To Be Pretty.

We'll see who actually wins. The awards ceremony is in August.

Next season, I'm the official reviewer for Alberta Theatre Projects, Downstage and Ground Zero at getdown.ca
Anything else I see might be posted here. Looking forward to another season!

Pleased.

2011-06-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

As previously mentioned a while ago, I love Jamie Oliver.
And he's really big into making his own bread. And I'm not quite there yet. But I thought I would make my own pizza dough from scratch.
Oh and I would have people over.
Who are far more competent at baking than I am.
Good idea!
So I don't have a link to the recipe because my roomate had it on her computer. But it was pretty close to this
It went pretty well. Baking things from scratch is a lot of work. And the dough actually needed more kneading that I thought. It was definitely a touch and go kind of deal. You always need to have flour. And it gets everywhere. I'm surprised I didn't get it in my hair. Making dough from scratch is messy and kind of a labour of love. Seriously.

The recipe called for yellow cornmeal, and apparently that keeps it from sticking? I'm not sure. As previously mentioned I haven't done this before. The actual baking of the pizza didn't take long. Somewhere along the lines of 15-20 minutes, which was surprising to me. I thought it would take a lot longer.

So this is a start. Browsing Jamie Oliver recipes for pizza he has a bunch featuring some strange things. Like fried egg. And lemon dressed rockets.

It really doesn't have to be complicated. (I'm one to talk... cooking sometimes seems super complicated to me). But it would be nice to try so crazy off the wall things that not everyone can make you know? Pizza isn't really one of them, but it's nice to check it off my list.

Guessing.

2011-06-11T21:24:00.000-07:00

This post is a little late.
It's about an event I went to, not last Thursday, but the Thursday previous to that.
But it was so interesting and so crazy, that I had to share it.

It was first Thursday. Which means that it was the first Thursday of the month. Every first Thursday of the month is when the arts community in Calgary promotes whatever is going on in the City. Art galleries are cheaper, some restaurants give deals, theatres give free viewings of dress rehearsals. If you're interested in learning more about first thursdays, learn more here.

Anyway, this event the Subliminal Rabbit presents was an event that took place on First Thursday, but had nothing to do with first Thursday. My friend sent me the link to the Fast Forward article and I had heard about it on Twitter. Apparently, I was in for a short film. Okay. All I knew was that it was taking place in Victoria Station. And so we walked in to find this.

I wasn't really going in with expectations, but I wasn't expecting the event to take place IN the train. But the train wasn't moving, and they were all decorated. The Subliminal Rabbit Presents had teamed up with Calgary Transit and they had stopped southbound trains. I guess. (I don't think that trains could pass the immobile train at the station)

There was an admission fee. Which was worth paying for complete and total surprise. And honestly any group who can get something like this off the ground deserves my five dollars. They were serving pop, but they weren't serving alcohol, which was probably a good idea, because getting a liquor license would be an almost impossible thing.

There were dancers, drumming, balloons, a guest sign in list and a bunch of people. I assume most people heard about it through Fast Forward and CJSW. There were probably people there who just happen to run across it. Like, what is going on??
I'm sure the lady in the train in the picture below was thinking just that. (you can see her! just squint!)

So music and drinks and dancers. How could you go wrong? I almost forgot about the whole point of why people were there. There was a short film. Right? Right.

So about an hour and a half after the dancers stopped dancing and the music stopped, they dropped the curtain and had a projector and guys playing the music. This was the short film. I can't actually say whether the film was good or not because I didn't have a great view. That whole being short thing doesn't usually work to my advantage. But I assumed that I would get a handout so I knew when it was going to open officially, or where is would be featured, or what film festival it would be in.

Unfortunately, it kind of closed up when it was done. Well, after the totally awesome dance party. People were just dancing. The DJs took over, playing music from the movie, and people just started dancing to it. It was great.
The whole event itself was quite great.
It engaged people, it was mysterious and just as importantly it tried to revitalize an area of Calgary that isn't really a place to hang out. Victoria Park isn't regarded as the City's safest station.

I didn't get any information about the movie or it's screening, but I did leave with a little handout in my pocket. And that little handout leads to the Subliminal Rabbit's blog. And that has all their publicity there.
Want to know more? Check out their blog here.

Contented.

2011-05-30T19:57:00.000-07:00

So a fellow blogger had a potluck. A fellow blogger - as in Julie Van Rosendaal
If you don't know who she is, she is the food and nutrition columnist on the Eye Opener on CBC Radio in the morning. But more importantly she has made a living doing what she loves, making food and talking about it and writing recipe books. I met her a couple months ago on Calgary's first food crawl, organized by her.

So Julie decided she wanted to have a potluck. And she invited the internet.So I think about twenty five people gathered in her house in Ramsay. We met, brought food and had conversations in the kitchen.

It was great to hang out in the sunshine, gather in a great community of the internet - no invitation required. I met some really interesting people and ate lots of food.

There were a lot of salads, and macaroni with bacon (!) and amazing bread and tasty cookies.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon. And if anyone can thrown a potluck, it's Julie. It was incredibly brave of her to throw an invitation out there, into the abyss of the internet and hope that lovely people would show up at her door bearing dishes of wonderful things.

This is a picture of Julie, washing dishes next to the large supply of drinks. There was wine and beer and some amazing lemonade. Oh, and Prosecco. Prosecco is amazing. Seriously.

Confused.

2011-05-17T15:25:00.000-07:00

Yes, so it has been a very long time since I updated this blog.
Which doesn't mean I haven't been writing (or cooking either), I've just been super busy lately.
BUT my reviews for numerous theatre performances has been up on getdown.ca

It's the opening of Ghost River's "Reverie" this week. And after their last entry of "One", my expectations were really high. "One" was spectacular. "Reverie" opens on Thursday, and I went to see the preview. As pointed out I can't review a preview, because it more than likely to change quite a bit when they officially open on Thursday. So opening night might be a COMPLETELY different show. I totally forgot to mention that on this original post. "Reverie" opens on May 19th and runs until the 28th. These are my thoughts on the bare bones of the preview. They may not be valid when the show opens on the 19th. Or opening might change my mind completely. I will follow up with what official reviewers in the media are saying about the show as compared to my thoughts on the preview.

"Reverie" is thoughtful, but misses the mark.The play has its roots in music and makes use of video and light in an interesting way. It tells of a girl who works at a grocery stores and wants to put her earphones in, using music to push through the mundane of life. She goes out after a long day of work and dances in a club and comes back to a world of revolution and chaos. She is left looking for her sister, who was looking for her help when she was out.

The set is just two screens, that move around the stage and feature different projections. The technical aspect and creativity involved is impressive. When the main character is on a bus, the passing scenery and the way the other characters stand are the indications. The lights flash by when she's in the elevator. It is quite intriguing to watch.The addition of live music is also a nice touch, but the narrative doesn't really engage the viewer as much. It isn't quite compelling, it misses the mark, leaving the audience a little lost. It's a play with a lot of metaphors embedded in the music but the point is lost among the poetry.

What the critics are saying:

"Unfortunately, in the context of the ambitious and characteristically unique Ghost River Theatre show that premiered there on Thursday -Reverie -there may be thunder to the coming storm, but not much enlightening.
The show smacks of careful and thorough rehearsal, even if its polished parts don't quite add up to a gleaming whole.
The lighting and sound designs of Kerem Cetinel and Matthew Waddell, respectively, work well in establishing contemporary lines, as do the succinct costume and video designs of Erin Gruber.
A high point from the visual angle, too, is the movement design attributed to both Decidedly Jazz Danceworks resident choreographer Kim Cooper and Rose himself, who directs.
Thanks in great part to their work, even when the story fades, the storytelling never really does."
-- Bob Clark
Calgary Herald

Amused

2011-03-31T14:56:00.000-07:00

Kung Fu what?

Ground Zero Theatre has taken the movies and put it on stage.
With quick dialogue, irony and some interesting takes on relationships, Kung Fu Panties is a whole lot of fun.
Sexy woman, with guns and tight clothing.
It appeals to the average non-theatre goer.
As for the average theatre goer.
It's quick with the lines and satirizes the thriller, heist movies out there. (But also pays tribute to it)

Kung Fu Panties has sold out for the rest of the run.
Which kind of goes to show that just because something is popular, doesn't necessarily imply that it's of high quality.
I'm hoping that this gets people through the door, interested and at least willing to try more.

Unfulfilled.

2011-03-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

So I've been on a bit of a Martha kick, since her Mac & Cheese.
And this recipe looked good, so I thought I would give it a shot.
Find it here
I substituted whole wheat spaghetti for rice noodles.

I bought this one. You can't really see it as much, but it come bunched in a plastic bag.
DON'T BUY IT.
Not because it isn't any good. It is. Rice noodles are rice noodles. But trying to separate the rice noodles so that you can boil them is rather frustrating. They break and snap and then there are rice noodles all over the floor. Or you could get it in the eye. Hey! it could happen!

So this recipe is pretty simple. Combine ingredients. Go.
It's not that it didn't taste good, it just wasn't amazing. It was kind of... eh.
Maybe sesame noodles are not my thing. Potentially.

It looks okay. And it was.
But I think I'm looking for more.

Enraptured.

2011-03-01T21:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow TEDxCalgary is doing a day of TED Talks.
Essentially, talks that are though provoking and delve deeply into various topics.
Apparently TEDxCalgary is different from TEDxYYC. I have no idea what the difference is. But TEDxYYC is hosting a TED talk in Calgary though tickets are $100. I don't really have that much money lying around.
But, there is a day of TED Talks at the Central Library tomorrow for those who want to watch the live broadcast. Cool idea. For those graced with working downtown.

As for those of us who don't work downtown, there are still TED Talks on the internet.
I'd love to really get into the ones that are worth my time, (because let's be honest, not ALL of the pertinent topics are of interest to everyone)
So I started browsing with what I care about. So under theme, I looked up art, specifically creativity.
Because lately, I've been wondering what fosters creativity and what needs to happen for creativity to take place. I haven't painted in a really long time. About a year. And the last time I did it was under pressure of putting something in an auction. I stressed about it, didn't like it in the end and was disappointed that it didn't make much money. I haven't painted since.
I'd like to pick it up again. But I need to feel inspired and get into a creative space. I feel that creative space has to be a focus, so I don't think I can paint now, when I'm trying to write and work and jump start my career. But maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I can BE creative in those little pockets of time that I have to spare.
So this posting is from watching Elizabeth Gilbert's TED Talk on Nurturing Creativity.
The author of the wildly successful book Eat, Pray, Love. I only got through past the Pray part.
It isn't a success because it is a book that is written well. There are plenty of books out there that make greater use of language. I think it's a success because it deals with an issue that a lot of women can relate to and not a lot of people talk about. It is deeply personal. And I could only drag myself through to the second part.
But I'll give her talk a try. And see what I can learn.
Follow along here

I like her idea of not having so much pressure and giving that burden to something else.
Just show up and that other should as well.
It's nice. And it's so true. Our notion that creativity and suffering are inherently linked and that is not treating us well and we should abandon that idea. Just being rid of all that anxiety would make the world an easier place as a creative person, even if you don't make millions doing it. If we practiced that idea, would we be able to foster creativity and value it for what it is? Without the incredible emotional risk that Gilbert talks about? Is that possible?

Satisfied

2011-03-01T19:13:00.000-08:00

The Heartland Cafe (used to have two locations, one in Kensington and one in Bridgeland, but now only the Bridgeland one exists) makes REALLY good Mac and Cheese. They managed to put tomatoes in it and it wasn't sun dried tomatoes. So I've been on a mission to make a Mac & Cheese dish like it.

I tried once when I was housesitting and it was a disaster. I tried to bake breadcrumbs on it but they were too big and the whole thing was pretty bad.

But I then found Martha Stewart's recipe. Yes, Martha Stewart.
Find it here.
It's quite good. I've made it several times (I'm not sure if R. is sick of it yet)

I've made it with cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes and both are good though grape/cherry are better.

I like to make it pretty simple. No nutmeg, or anything like that.
Thicken with white flour. I find it great comfort food.
SO bad for you though. White pasta, cheese. I'm sure the tomatoes makes it a little more nutritious.

Now, the mission is to bake it, probably with breadcrumbs and I will feel satisfied in my quest to make Mac & Cheese.
I think.

Exhilirated.

2011-02-04T14:38:00.000-08:00

The Lost Fingers were in town Wednesday night at the Rozsa Centre.
They are a jazz manouche style band, which is a style of jazz invented by Django Reinhardt in the 1930s.
Reinhardt severely burned two of his fingers but learned to play the guitar anyway and the member of The Lost Fingers used that, as inspiration for their name.

This band quietly came to Calgary, dressed in matching black suits with white bow ties and played to a small crowd of whistling, adoring and encouraging fans.
The greatest part was when they played their cover of Billie Jean and beat boxed the beat. They asked for a volunteer to moonwalk. A guy in the back just KNEW it was going to be him and he waltz to the stage, moonwalked back and forth and waltz back, all to the thunderous applause of the audience.

Their only media coverage, as far as I can tell was an article in the Sun and a listing in Visit Calgary.
So it left me with this question, how many times does Calgary have a gem performance like this and no one knows about it? No wonder people often think that there is nothing to do in Calgary.

Seeking.

2011-02-01T20:43:00.000-08:00

So I haven't really been cooking lately because I've been so busy doing contract work for a couple shows. But I've moved (again!) and things have calmed down in my world so I jumped back into it.
I was having a discussion the other day about how I LOVE listening to Julie Van Rosendaal on the Eyeopener on CBC, but I'm not as much of a fan of making her recipes. I tried her portabello mushroom pizzas. They were okay.
But I saw this and I had to try it.

So here is my blog confession. I can cook (no really!) reasonably well. I can follow directions. I make a LOT of pasta, because that's what I know how to make.
So... I've never really cooked with bacon. My family doesn't eat it, so I've never cooked with it. Same with kale, except my family just didn't cook with it. They would eat it just fine.

So I made this recipe and got to the point where I had all this bacon drippings and didn't know what to do with them. And I had all this bacon.

So I googled, yes Googled, what to do with everything. I figured I could freeze the bacon but I didn't know how long it would keep. (Um ya. I didn't think pouring oil down the drain was a good idea either)

This is why cooking isn't the easiest thing all the time. I don't want to screw it up. But I lower my incompetence level by trying.

As for this recipe, it was alright. Kind of blah. Not blow you away.
But then I had the leftovers for lunch and it was pretty good. Maybe I'm just too judgemental.
So decent. Maybe cream would make it a little better next time...

Hey! Mine looks a lot like hers. Minus the pepper. (Couldn't find it in my new abode)

Included.

2011-01-05T14:44:00.000-08:00

January in the city of Calgary means that it's time for the High Performance Rodeo, an outstanding theatre festival. The Rodeo runs from the 6th to the 30th.

This year, I'll be reviewing some shows for Downtown Calgary's Blog
But I thought I would breakdown my picks for this year.

One Yellow Rabbit Theatre

Smash Cut Freeze

I'm slightly biased when it comes to this production because I went to school with Chris Duthie. He's incredibly talented and I haven't really seen anything from One Yellow Rabbit that hasn't been entertaining. Last year's OYR production of Kawasaki Exit was outstanding. Probably my favourite of the Rodeo. And this year's submission is sure to be successful. The play is about a family in full disfunction in the 1950s. It will probably have a great combination of humour and insight.

Swallow A Bicycle Theatre
Freak Show

Ok. Now this is shameless promotion. I'm the marketing coordinator for Swallow A Bicycle, so I'm absolutely biased. That being said, there is nothing else in the Rodeo like Freak Show. Freak Show is a guided tour through the depts of the Epcor where you see five performances. You would never know there were so many parts to the Epcor Centre.
You could see anything in the tour, everything from a sword fight in a hallway to dancers in an elevator. Freak Show was unscripted and really builds on the actor's creativity and inspiration from their chosen space. Unique, freaky and different everytime, Freak Show is an affordable option at the Rodeo.

Downstage Theatre

10 Minute Play Festival

The Ten Minute play festival has the playwrights stay up all night. They are given one line of dialogue and one prop and they have to come up with a ten minute play.
I saw this last year and it's always a treat. It's lovely to see how each company deals with the same sets of prompts. R. and I still refer to things we saw in last year's plays. The Ten Minute Play Festival doesn't get much press but I highly recommend it.

Other Plays of Note:
Theatre Junction Grand presents Tom Waits

Only worth it if you are familiar with Tom Wait's music. If not, I don't think this would be a wise pick for everyone.

Catalyst Theatre's Nevermore

All about Edgar Allen Poe, this piece has won many awards. It would probably be worth a lookthrough. The buzz is that's it's going be outstanding.

Downstage's In the Wake

Downstage productions tend to deal with heavy subjects though very well put together. I've heard buzz about In the Wake. Not for everyone out there, but if you are looking for a serious analysis on a complex subject, this would be your choice.

Enthralled

2010-12-21T14:58:00.000-08:00

Ghost River Theatre's production of One was incredibly successful. It ran last week and was sold out most of the time. I reserved a seat for a Saturday matinee performance and struggled to find parking at the packed Pumphouse Theatre.

One is many things. It is raw and breathtaking, visceral and minimal and a performance that you could watch multiple times and still see something new. One is loosely based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, where our main character Philistine goes into the underworld to search for her lost lover.

One is a combination of dance and theatre and the two melt together. We are told the story of the true love of Philistine and George and how they make the stars shine. They weave their story, drawing constellations in chalk on the stage floor and creating a dance among them. George is then lost at sea and Philistine goes to the record keeper to see where she can find a lost person. Here the audience creates the vision of walls and walls of records of memories and we follow the Philistine on her quest.
Philistine then chooses to go down into the underworld to find George she encounters many demons, whom to the audiences eyes were men (or women) in dance costume with simple masks on. But there quick, creature-like movement made the audience cringe in the darkness at the intangible pain, as Philistine is being dragged deeper and deeper into the shadows of hell.

The themes of stars and red permeated the whole performance and as the last gut wrenching scene came to a close you did know one thing. Sometimes, all you have to do is let go.

Connected

2010-12-11T12:25:00.000-08:00

CivicCamp 3D took place last Saturday. CivicCamp is a basically a collection of people from all occupations and places with one thing in common. They want to make Calgary a better city.
Whatever that means to you, better transportation, more access to community gardens, less traffic or a more open process of making decisions in Council. CivicCamp is less about membership and more about what we can get done together at a grassroots level, starting the conversation that spawns action. Non partisan, and leave your job at the door. You participate as a citizen.

So after a late night on Friday I was trudging through the cold to the Central Public Library. Warmed with coffee I sat down to a couple sessions about what CivicCamp has done in the past. They covered the civic election and just an overview of past action.

Then after a short break the group broke off into separate action groups depending on what you were concerned about. Open data, community outreach, great public spaces. It's all about making this city what you want it to be.

I think that Calgarians in particular feel pretty disconnected with their city and the recent elections was a real movement towards working to engage people to improve our city. A lot of those engagement opportunities were presented by CivicCamp as a lot of the aldermanic forums were initiated and hosted by CivicCamp. It's mostly about starting the conversation. Start talking about what concerns you about this city and what you would like to change. Meet your neighbours. Participate!

On that note, the group focusing on Community Outreach was the one I participated in. They wanted to put their efforts towards meeting your neighbours. Though I support civil engagement, I'm moving yet again in about a month, so I'll put effort into that one when I'm a more stable location.

I think this kind of involvement in the greater community is important and therefore I am thinking of hosting a discussion that deals with the CivicCamp questions: " In the coming year, what do you think are the best opportunities to make Calgary a better place?"

Videos of the event are here!

Unconvinced

2010-12-10T07:59:00.000-08:00

Theatre Calgary has long put on A Christmas Carol. It has been featured for ten years during the month of December. This play is supposed to be familiar and warm and launch audiences into the Christmas season. It's also the show that brings in the most money.

Everyone knows the story. Scrooge is a surly old man. He counts his pennies and doesn't see the value in relationships. He is visited by three ghosts and he changes overnight.

This is theatre. The appeal and pull of theatre is engagement. And even if you have put the same play every year for the past ten years it should still have that element of joy in it. The play should not be tired. I shouldn't be rolling my eyes when Tiny Tim utters the words "God bless us everyone." There was plenty of funding for the fireworks but they ran out for the ghost of christmas past's glowing stick and wig.

The production was tired. This is the story. You know it. Watch it and be merry.
If I spent a lot of money on the theatre I want to be challenged, presented with a fresh new spin on an old familiar tale. Not waiting for the lights to come on.

And I may be alone in this view because Theatre Calgary is targeting an audience that doesn't include me. And people may very well be happy watching the same tired thing every year. But I'm looking forward to next year when Theatre Calgary's christmas production is White Christmas. Maybe they will take the opportunity and mix things up.

Looking.

2010-12-08T22:55:00.000-08:00

I had Soba noodles on the shelf and tofu in the fridge so I thought it might be nice to try a new recipe. I've looked at 101 Cookbooks recipes and decided to try this recipe here
It seemed fairly simple and healthy.
I cut up tofu.

I wasn't sure it that was too much, but I probably wasn't going to be using the package of tofu again so I just cut up the whole thing. I used my food processor instead of a mortar and pestle. Put all the ingredients together and this is what it looked like.

It doesn't look bad. But the garlic is way too strong in the dish and there isn't very much sauce. It didn't really work well for me. I don't think the balance of ingredients were off. Maybe it's supposed to taste that way.

I'll try another recipe from this website sometime soon because they do look promising. But this one was definitely not a success. Too strong and too much lime.

Attempting.

2010-11-28T21:48:00.000-08:00

Time to stir something up.
Risotto seemed like one of those dishes that would be pretty difficult to make. I must admit it is kind of intimidating, but really, it's just a labour intensive dish of love. That's right. I said it.
I was following this recipe here.

So I went and got the ingredients (organic chicken broth is expensive! but typically it has way less saturated fat and sodium content, so worth the extra dollars). I found mine at Sobeys, but I think Safeway sells it as well.
I use as little butter as possible and opt for extra virgin olive oil instead.
The first time I made risotto it was a little hard, I ran out of broth and wine and wasn't sure how long to cook it for. The critical thing about this dish is practice really. My room mate just throws it all together and it is amazing. He doesn't stir as much as I do either. What was I doing wrong?

Then I went to Jamie Oliver's recipes. Seriously, I'm in love with Jamie Oliver. He always points out the important things to do within a recipe.
His take on risotto is here
He points out that you can use boiling water if you run out of stock and wine. And the key to a nice risotto is letting a sit for a couple minutes after adding the Parmesan.

My second attempt at risotto was much more successful. I used red wine instead of white and added mushrooms and a little bit of butter. Broccoli would be great in there.

Remembering.

2010-11-22T21:47:00.000-08:00

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I came out last week.
I seemed to have missed the hype and hysteria that comes with the movies because I don't own a TV and therefore missed the media frenzy.
But I did find myself in one of those super luxurious movie seats in Cross Iron Mills Saturday to watch the second to last installment of the Harry Potter series.
It has been three years and a half since the book was released and since then, there hasn't been much talk about Harry Potter. I enjoyed the book and waited with baited breath for its release. I almost threw the 6th book out the window when I was finished it (What? you mean he died? and I have to wait a YEAR for the rest of it?).
Watching the movie was a bit anti-climatic. Not that I didn't enjoy the books but the story has been concluded and I'm over it. The movie is like an echo of a memory.

Characters are introduced and I don't remember who they are, or why they were significant to the story. As the story progressed, I started remembering what would come next, sometimes as they were happening. Nevertheless the movie is a dark and accurate portrayal of the books and doesn't deviate from the story or leave large gaps. But as it is with most of the movies, it helps to have read the books.

The biggest disappointment for me was what they left out of the movie. I think one of the major successes of the book is the parallels that are drawn to the second world war and how the major cause of terror towards Voldemort is how he causes distrust within everyone. People are truly hopeless on their own and I think that fear of betrayal is a important theme in the book and I didn't feel it within the movie. The movie illustrates the evil lord, the person who is killing people, but it didn't show how people were turning on each other.

Our famous actors have grown into their own, though their acting skills are not outstanding. It's actually Oliver Phelps (George Weasley) who displays his outstanding comedic abilities in a very brief moment at the beginning of the film.

The Harry Potter movies are for the fans. This film with its complicated plot and intricate weaving of characters stands pretty strong on it's own. I didn't walk out of the theatre wanting to throw it out the window.

Grounded.

2010-11-11T16:53:00.000-08:00

Went to see Ground Zero Theatre and Hit & Mith Productions presentation of Reasons to be Pretty at the Vertigo Theatre.

Neil Labute is in the air.

Labute is a playwright introduced to me last year. He devises the most wicked characters, awful, despicable people who create emotional genocide. Mostly it's the male characters in his plays who sink really low, but the females are definitely not exempt.

The story tells of two couples. The two guys, Greg and Kent have a discussion about the new girl at work, and Greg lets a comment slip about his girlfriend Stephanie that gets back to her. The play deals with the fallout of that one comment. Having dealt with Labute before, I was expecting both guys to be awful people. But Greg (the one who made the comment) seemed to have good intentions. Yes, he did say something that was quite cutting and brutal, but I didn't feel that he didn't care about his girlfriend, or his rotten character got found out in any way. It felt like he was just this guy, who got mixed in with the wrong 'friend' and he did something dumb. Really dumb. And he has to pay dearly for it.

I've seen Jamie Konchak (Stephanie) in both Ground Zero's My First Time and ATP's The Penelopiad. She has been outstanding in everything so far and this play was no exception. She shined in the last scene, paired with Pat MacEachern. The latter stumbled on his lines a couple times, but the subtlety of his delivery made up for it. I left the theatre with tears in my eyes.

Reasons to be Pretty runs until the 20th.

Full.

2010-11-09T22:40:00.000-08:00

So preservatives are bad for you. But the thing is, when you're running around, trying to get everything done, sometimes preservatives are the things that make you not spend a fortune on eating out. I used to buy guacamole at the store. But my friend J. makes it herself. But she's like the goddess of cooking. I'm not kidding. She makes pies and granola and yogurt as if it's the easiest thing on the planet.

Now I wouldn't say that I don't know what I'm doing in the kitchen. I can make Mauritian meals. I can follow a recipe and get a feel for things. So, we'll start small. Then we'll go to the end goal of pumpkin pie. Once I can do that I officially am doing more then just getting by.

So I got together all the ingredients together to make guacamole. The recipe can be found here.
It tried it. It was okay. But I've tasted better. R. didn't say that but that's what I thought.
Then I found one that has all those ingredients plus one kicker that makes it amazing. Cilantro.
Throw it all together, and I really mean mush it all out. Don't need any steps involved really.

My roomates approve. In fact they finished the whole thing. I was told that if you keep the pit in the middle it'll help it from going brown. I wonder if you can freeze it.

Involved.

2010-11-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

R. And I went to see Rogue's presentation of Neil Labute's 'Some Girl's at the Pumphouse last night. I have to admit I was going in with low expectations. The last production I saw at the Pumphouse was sub-par, R. called it pretty awful. I was hoping that this production would be okay.
I was in for a treat. Rogue theater was diligent in picking their actors and making the play poignant and effective. Labute's play is not his most heart wrenching (for that check out In the Company of Men or The Shape of Things) but I must admit that there were time when I wanted to strangle the male character. Labute has an uncanny way of creating characters that are so despicable that you wind up feeling terrible after his plays, in this incredibly morbid way.
'Some Girls' is a play about a man about to get married, so he is flying to many places across America to find his old girlfriends.

There is so much truth that rings in this play. Like with the first ex girlfriend who wants the name of the girl (just tell me what page of the yearbook she is on!) who was better than her. Even if she is married with children. It's like someone mentions a boy you used to know and you're back there again.
And with the last girl in the play, the one that I thought was the most intense of the four, that in the end still has this shred of empathy for him. Like it is beyond her to accept that the carnage of his past is his apathy to anyone's feelings. And the real reason he is trying to 'wrong a right' is entirely so he can feel better about himself. It isn't a selfless act.

And one last comment, with a play that is this morose and a little bit deranged why are so many people laughing? Like at the scene where I'm fearing rape, you're laughing? Why?
Oh and the Pumphouse atmosphere is interrupted more than periodically by the sound of the train passing by. If the play is good enough you don't even hear it.

Some Girls runs at the Pumphouse until Saturday, so there is not much time to see it!
It flies under the radar but it is worth the trip.

Engaged.

2010-11-03T15:56:00.000-07:00

It's always great when you get to go to those gatherings that are filled with people who are involved in community and are doing something they believe in. I went down to Forest Lawn to be a part of a gathering of people to bake pizzas in a cob oven.

I didn't know what a cob oven was either. So I asked around meekly, admitted to having no idea other than the oven part and gleemed straws of information.

This is what my pal Google tells me.

It is a wood fired oven made from a mixture of mud or clay, sand and straw, which is what "cob" is. It is built to retain the heat from a fire built inside of it.

Huh. Good to know.
Anyone with hands and feet can make one. It seemed to keep warm for a very long time. This particular oven was shaped like a turtle.
So we made delicious pizzas, dressed in Kale and corn and nice peppers, while outside (Hello Cold! I'd like to say we are friends, but we are so not). I met some really interesting, engaged people who are looking to make a difference in this City.

One fellow works for Community Natural Foods during the day. But by night (actually not, I just threw that in for kicks) he is working on a project developing hemp into a building material. It would be really insulating and a good material to work with.

The lady who was also the host of the event with a little one on the way lives in the basement of this house in Forest Lawn that is owned by her mother. It allows her access to the land so that they can garden and put a cob oven. She was talking about how expensive owning a house is in Calgary and how this a choice to be able to do what they want to. Like being involved in community projects.

There are a lot of organizations around the City that are working to create change. Leadership Calgary is an interesting one. Civic Camp is a group looking to improve where you live. There are many methods to reach social innovation in this City. And I just found out about more.