The Start of Something

Yesterday, my producing partner, Natalie Watson, and I sat in a darkened room and watched, not the work we had created, but people's reaction to it. And it was pretty fucking cool. The Vancouver Fringe Festival had generously put together an event for a select group of people in order for us to preview our upcoming documentary, On the Fringe. So far, no one outside of the production team had seen what we had been cooking up. While I'm confident in and incredible proud of the work Natalie and director Cory Thibert have been doing, I was still a little nervous showing anything for the first time. There was no need to worry, however, because the reactions were incredible. People loved it and were excited to see more.

And now, I am ready to share that with the rest of you. Click on the image below to see our preview!

This preview is a rough cut of the film's introduction. It is still a work in progress but it should give you an idea of where things are going. It is our hope to have a finished film by the Fall. Are you as excited as I am yet?

You may also have noticed, once you clicked on the image, that it takes you to our Indiegogo page. Thanks to a new program from the crowdfunding platform, past successful campaigns are able to re-open. Until we've built a proper website, this is a great place for you to pre-order the film, get updates on how things are going and help us raise funds for post-production.

If you already contributed to our previous campaign, THANK YOU! We wouldn't have been able get this far without you! You will still be getting your selected film perks once they are ready. If you can contribute again that would, of course, be amazing, but you can also majorly help us out by being our ambassadors and distributing it through your social networks.

We're also looking for some additional help behind the scenes. I need someone with experience in branding, marketing, graphic design and web building who can work within our Fringe budgets. If this is you or someone you know, please contact us.

So check out the video & the campaign, tell us what you think, and share share share with everyone you know.

A year ago, this documentary was just a pipe dream and now we are closer than ever to making it a reality.

Featured image in header "Waiting for Hulot" by blondinrikard licensed under CC-BY.

Documentary Sneak Peek

From May to September 2014, Natalie Watson, Cory Thibert and I travelled from across the country in our sponsored Volkswagen Passat to gather footage for what will eventually become On the Fringe, a documentary about life on the Fringe Festival circuit.

After 10 cities, over 18 000 kilometres, and countless hours of footage, we are finally ready to give you a sneak peak of what we have so far.

...

Tomorrow that is. We are ready to give you a sneak peak, as well as an opportunity to pre-order the movie, tomorrow night.

Stay tuned!

(And be sure to sign up for our newsletter if you would like this preview to be sent directly to your inbox.)

Have YOU Hugged a Germy Moppet Today?

Photo Credit: notanartist via Compfight cc I may have spoken too soon about enjoying my "much-needed" day off. I had gone to the gym earlier that day and assumed the soreness in my body was from that, but when I laid in bed and felt that familiar tickle in the back of my throat, I knew I was in trouble. By morning, it was official: I was sick.

Now, the last time I got sick was at the end of the Victoria Fringe, but this was due to sheer exhaustion and I was over it within two days. But this was different. This was probably the worst cold I'd ever had in my adult life. My body was sore, I got chills, my nose was runny, I was coughing up a storm and would intermittently lose my voice completely. Oh and Aunt Flo decided to pop by for a visit just for good measure. Because timing.

And because the Universe is a HI-larious, this all happened on back-to-back 3-show days.

How could this have happened? Where in the world could I have caught this cold? I haven't been around any sick people. Only hundreds and hundreds of tiny, adorable little children who love to high five and surprise you with hugs... Oh.

Note to self: buy hand sanitizer.

The thing about being an independent artist is that you don't get sick days. There is no understudy waiting in the wings. If we can't do the show, that's it. There is no performance and we don't get paid. So, you suck it up, dope yourself up with meds, and pray adrenaline pulls you through just one more show. It, after all, must go on.

I've been lucky. We do have microphones so I haven't had to throw out my voice in echo-y gyms and we've had some nice accommodations so I could rest up in the evening. But it's been an incredibly frustrating experience. I'm a perfectionist and I hate not being able to give my 100%. I reached my breaking point yesterday when I tried to sing during soundcheck and could barely squeak out the words - did I mention we also have to sing in the show? The sounds coming out of my mouth are alien and weird. My ears have been plugged up so I'm not hearing things properly either. It's infuriating to feel like your body isn't cooperating.

Today, I finally feel slightly better. It's not great, but it's better. And I've been finding ways to sing around my normal register so I can at least hit the notes without cracking.

We had a show this morning in a lovely bilingual school and it was probably my favorite performance of the run so far. Now we're all packed up and on our way to Red Deer. One performance there this afternoon and another tomorrow morning and we'll finally be on our way back to Vancouver for a few days of rest. Hopefully it will be enough time for me to shake this thing.

If anyone has any vocal tips, I'd be happy to hear all about them in the comment section.

On the Road Again

Written a few days ago, just posting it now. Today I am enjoying a much needed day of rest in Calgary, AB. No show and no driving. Just some glamorous glamorous laundry and catching up on bills. Ahhhhh, the life of a touring performer! Enjoying the rest while I can since tomorrow is a 3 show day. Fortunately the performances are all at the same school so we won't have to pack up in between shows.

Our first week of shows for The Little Prince was in the Vancouver area. It was pretty nice to be able to go back home, especially after a two show day. Early on I hit what Tara Travis affectionately dubbed TYA-lag. For those who are unfamiliar with the term, TYA stands for Theatre for Young Audiences. The lag part refers to jet lag.

As if getting over the New Brunswick to British Columbia jet lag wasn't enough, here I was feeling loopy for a completely different reason. On show days, my alarm goes off at 5:30 a.m. to get ready for a 7:30 local pick-up. Then we head to a school, set up, perform, pack up, have lunch, drive to another school and do it all over again. While this gets me home by 3-3:30, it means I'm already passing out by dinner time. I'm not much of a morning person, so this has been quite the adjustment.

On Friday, as we left a school in Langley, we officially started the "touring" portion for this production. We arrived in Vernon for our first community show and here's where I discovered some major differences between the school performances and our public ones.

School shows typically take place in a gym. We have about half an hour of set-up time and our lighting design consists of finding a guy with keys to turn off a bank of fluorescents. Community shows normally take place in a theatre. We get a proper tech time (usually around 11 a.m. Which is downright civilized) dressing room and they put us up in hotels. In Vernon, we got an incredible fruit basket that we took with us to munch on the road. In Nelson, we got chocolate and wine.

You'd think the perks would make the community shows my favorite, but that's not necessarily so. I like the energy that emanates from the school shows. Community shows are filled with parents and kids, so they tend to be a bit more reserved. School shows have a bit of rowdiness that I enjoy. They're also more intimate since the kids sit on the floor and we're not separated by any kind of stage.

All that said, my favorite part of any show is the Q & A we have at the end. I love hearing all the questions the kids have and hate that we have such a short time we can't get to them all. But that is a blog post for another day.

The Kids Are Alright

Photo Credit: UV Fedor via Compfight cc Sidenote: I'm going to apologize now for all the swearing. As I can't really swear on tour, I'm using this as my fucking outlet. Ya dig?

Don't tell the gang at Monster Theatre, but I think performing for children is the most fucking terrifying type of work any actor can do - and if anyone from Monster Theatre is reading this, you already hired me so you're stuck with me. Suckers! No takebacksies!

While I have done a school tour in the past, twice actually, with A Company of Fools, it was for high school kids, who are already way too cool for this shit. It wasn't unusual, especially at 8:30 in the morning, to see tired and cranky teens rolling their eyes at four grown ups in pantaloons. I can deal with that because I expected it. And we always won them over in the end.

But this production is for the kindergarden to Grade 7 set. These are children. Scary, impulse-driven children. While teenagers are too cool for your shit, children just won't take your shit. Worse yet, they will be VOCAL about it. Are you boring? They will tell you. Are you mean? They will tell you. Did some technical function just fuck up? Oh you bet ya they will tell you. It's what I imagine doing theatre in Shakespeare's day must have been like except no one is passing around rotten tomatoes for them to throw at you. (Thank Jeebus!) We've even had, in the past 4 days, one child drop his pants and pee on the floor as we were setting up and another burst into uncontrollable sobs as soon as the show began. Because critics.

You might be asking yourselves why I would put myself through this? Well, that's a pretty easy question to answer. In my day-to-day life, I am a control-freak. I love planning and knowing exactly what's going to happen next. But as an actor, I need to listen to my impulses, go from moment to moment, and enjoy this crazy ride of life without a safety net. The real reason performing for children scares me so is that they truly are the greatest actors. They somehow know how to do all those things and society hasn't beaten it out of them just yet, though you can already see it happening with the older kids. Basically, children are just fucking rocking at this game of life because they innately get that it's all a game.

That kind of pure, innocent self-actualization is powerful and fucking scary to me.

While they will be direct when they don't like something, I should also add that they will be just as loud when they love it too. Is your character sad? They will try to cheer you up. Are you saying goodbye and going offstage? They will scream at you not to leave. And man, let me tell you that there is nothing quite like a room of 600 kids in stitches at something you did or said to make you feel like the funniest fucking person in the whole fucking world.

In one post-show talkback, as I was taking one last question, a little girl looked me right in the eye and said: "I love you." No pretence. Just love. On another day, a little boy was following us around as we packed up. I remembered him since he had sat in the front row and I had chosen him for a question. He told us it was his birthday, so Tara pulled out one of our puppets and had it sing him happy birthday. A teacher who was watching then offered us a birthday cupcake. I may never see that kid again, but he is for sure going to remember us. And I will remember him.

I can only hope my presence in these shows will have some kind of impact. That I will inspire a few kids do to something or other. But at the end of the day, I think I have way more to learn from them then they do from me.

Ready or Not

I was hoping my next post would be about all my new projects coming up in 2015, but for the past two weeks I have been absolutely swamped with rehearsals for Monster Theatre's adaptation of The Little Prince, a family show that we will be touring in schools and communities across Alberta and British Columbia. It's been a quick learning curve. My days are spent at rehearsals, my nights are filled with learning lines and songs. Even my day off was taken up with a costume/props shopping trip. As it's been months since I last performed on a regular basis, I feel out of shape doing such a physically demanding show - you try running around a gym 6 or 7 times with a bushel of birds. And I still feel shaky with the text.

Trust me, I'm not complaining. I am thrilled to be working with such amazing people on a fun show that will make people happy. But I simply cannot believe that we are already previewing the show tomorrow and opening the next day.

I find myself falling into that silly "if only" trap that I am sure many theatre practitioners fall into: If only I had one more week to rehearse. If only I had one more day. If on I had a few more hours!

Well, no point in worrying about that, I guess. We are professionals. We will make it work.

This show is going to be beautiful. It's incredibly tech heavy with lots of projections and music. My partner Tara Travis is an absolute gem and I love working with Ryan Gladstone as a director because he has such a strong vision for what he wants to see onstage. It's all going to fall into place. It always does.

Now to get used to those early morning school shows...

Looking Back on 2014

Feature image credit: Takashi(aes256) via Compfight cc I usually try to get my year-end recaps out by the end of December, but my December 29th was spent on planes to Vancouver where I had to jump into rehearsals for The Little Prince the very next day. With rehearsals, New Year's and settling in, things have been pretty hectic, so blogging had to, once again, take a back seat. But on one of my few days off, I find myself enjoying the sun and mild weather as I reminisce on the past year.

Dear 2014, you were really good to me. Crazy, crazy good. It started with a shot-ski bang after a closing performance of You're a Dead Man, Charlie Brown and a massive hangover cured by a delicious breakfast from a generous roommate. Then there were rehearsals and the run of Pop Fiction in Ottawa where I got to wear the coolest costume of my entire acting career so far.

Experiencing one of the biggest cold snaps ever in Ottawa, I was thrilled to head out on vacation to Thailand with a close pal. It was an absolutely life-changing experience and opened my heart and mind in ways I still feel affecting me to this day. It also gave me a major travel bug. Which is a good thing considering how the rest of the year went.

From March to May, I was back in Ottawa getting ready for the biggest project of my life thus far. If you've been any kind of regular follower of mine, you know I'm talking about the cross-country tour of Roller Derby Saved My Soul, as well as the accompanying feature-length documentary, On the Fringe.

I had to get back into shape for the show and I found the best outlet for that was through the Ottawa Stilt Union. Their acro sessions were just the kind of fun workout and training I was looking for and it's one of the biggest things I miss about Ottawa these days. If you ever have the chance to work with them, I highly recommend it.

Creatively, while I was working on rewrites for Roller Derby Saved My Soul, I took some classes early in the year with the incredible Alix Sideris, the same pal I traveled with to Thailand, in Laban work. I'd never tried this type of work before and it really opened up new possibilities for me as a performer. Oh and I finally took my violin out of storage and buckled down with some classes. Though I by no means became an expert, I can muddle through a passable 'twinkle twinkle little star' that would make the parent of any 8 year old proud.

Spring also a period of massive fundraising, where we managed to not only raise over $10,000 through an Indiegogo campaign, but also create a wonderful partnership with Hunt Club Volkswagen in Ottawa who became our official travel sponsor for the tour.

I never would have been able to accomplish this without the incredible team I had assembled. Yes, 2014 was the year I put on my big girl pants and expanded my operations by hiring staff. Best decision I ever made.

And then there was the tour!

From the end of May until the end of September, I found myself of the road, hitting up a different city every 10 days or so, documentary team in tow. It was an unbelievable adventure and an incredible opportunity.There were plenty of sold-out houses, good reviews and awards (including a Canadian Comedy Award nomination for Best One Person Show), but there was also some heartbreak, tough notes to take and a few health concerns. It wasn't always easy, but it was definitely worthwhile. If you want to know more about all that, please feel free to check out the play-by-play in the blog archives.

By September, I was in Vancouver, finishing up the tour and taking acting classes with my favourite teacher. Then in October I hopped in the car and took a mostly solo trip back across the country where I returned the keys to VW Passat *sniff* and headed to the family home back East for some quality downtime.

In November, I took my first trip to Los Angeles to once again study with my acting teacher and her incredible team, before settling my affairs up in Toronto and heading back to the family home. At this point, I was pretty burnt out and looking forward to the comforts of home before the craziness know as the "Holidays" began.

Once there, I was finally able to sit with all my administrative work from the summer and gear up for the next chapter in my journey, which brought me back to Vancouver on December 29th.

Though this year may have started with a bang, it ended in a quiet night with friends and colleagues influenced by jet-lag and wine. The perfect way to end a year filled with so much movement and excitement.

Goodbye 2014! You were a gooder, that's for sure. Hey, 2015! Tag. You're it.

Up next, What's Up 2015!

Thank you for being a friend

When I reach this time of year, I usually like to pause and reflect on everything I've accomplished and everything I still aspire to do. This year was definitely a big year for me, but the crazy thing is (and this is where I think something in me might be broken) it doesn't seem like enough. I know that I am a very ambitious and at times incredibly intense person. This gives me some kind of laser focus when working on specific projects and I usually manage to channel that energy into something positive, but this constant striving for more also leaves me with a deep sense of dissatisfaction in my own life.

I've had to come to terms with this deep-rooted dissatisfaction in multiple areas of my own life this past year and it wasn't always pretty. When I fall down that well, I can quickly become anxious, bitter, insecure, jealous and resentful. And those negatives become present with the same amount of intensity as the positives, which make me absolutely unbearable to be around.

If you were around during any of those times, I'd like to sincerely apologize for anything I put you through. Please know that I am aware of this behaviour and I am actively working on it every day.

Not only was 2014 a big year in terms of accomplishments, but it was also pretty huge in terms of personal growth. If I learned anything this past year, and this is still scary difficult for me to admit, it's that it is enough.

I am enough.

It doesn't mean I'm going to stop striving, but it does mean I can stop being so hard on myself about my place in the world.

Thank you for joining me on this journey. Your love and support has meant the world to me and carried me through when the dark times and doubts come along.

I'm very much looking forward to 2015.

Next up: a recap of 2014 and what's in store for 2015. Stay tuned!

The Little Prince

I'm not a fan of winter. Scratch that. I'm not a fan of cold. I'm the kind of person who will grab her hair dryer and blast it under the covers to warm up the blankets before going to bed. In July. Though I got to work on some fun projects last winter in Ottawa (like Lucy in You're a Dead Man, Charlie Brown! and an alien in Pop Fiction), they did not make up for the bitter bitter cold.

So when the opportunity to head out to Vancouver for an entire winter doing children's theatre presented itself, I jumped at the chance. And the fact that I would get to work with some of my favourite Fringe folk was just icing on the cake.

At the end of this month, I fly off to the aptly named Terminal City to start rehearsals and a tour of a new adaptation of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's The Little Prince with the fabulously funny folks at Monster Theatre.

I'm very excited for a variety of reasons. For one, Monster Shows are always a ton of fun and I look forward to getting an inside look at their creation process with Ryan Gladstone at the helm as our director. For another, it will be nice to do a show where I actually get to talk to someone else on stage. And what a someone else! I will be playing the Little Prince and the incredible Tara Travis will be playing everyone else. I remember the first time I saw Tara on stage, a few years ago, at the Toronto Fringe in The Shakespeare Show. I was just blown away by her ability to transition seamlessly from character to character. Now I get the best seat in the house to see how it's done! And if that wasn't enough, our touring duo is actually going to be a touring trio with Fringe veteran Jon Paterson as our stage manager. This is going to be such a good time! Oh and I've been told that I will actually get to stay true to my own roots, as well as the book's by doing some of the show in French. If you're a long time reader of this blog, you know how important that is to me.

But it's not all stars and roses (see what I did there?) The company wants to up the production values and build some new puppets for the show and they can't do that without your help.

Click on the widget to watch the video - see how I totally beat out an old lady for the role of the Little Prince - and find out how you can help. If you haven't finished your Holiday shopping (and I know you haven't), your donation could leave you with some pretty cool gifts to give away, like a custom puppet video for your loved ones.

In the meantime, check out this up-to-date tour schedule to see if we're coming to a community near you.

No Fringe for You

I didn't want to tour again next summer. I'm still burnt out from this past one and I've been tapped out creatively. Only now am I starting to feel alive again. To not sign up for any Fringe lotteries after the epic tour I just had was a bittersweet decision. After all, it's the glorious devil I know. So I cheated a little bit. I signed up for one Fringe lottery and only one, my favourite on the circuit, my home base: the Ottawa Fringe Festival. But the odds, they were not so much in my favour and I ended up 9th on the Local Waiting List.

I'd be lying if I didn't say I was slightly relieved. I have an idea for a new show that I want to work on and 9th is not that bad. I heard that last year the 10th person on the waiting list got in and there is always the possibility of a BYOV. But right now it just feels all too soon.

I've been reading and writing a lot lately and it's nice to just get back to creating without a specific deadline in mind. I've got so many projects running through my head that the days just don't feel long enough to get to it all. This is also the first time in a long time that I don't know what my summer will hold. I've been doing Fringe almost every year for the past 12 years and I'm excited to see what else might be out there for me.

Back to Me

Forgive me, Internet, it's been about a month and a half since my last post. After this whole summer, I just found myself getting more and more burnt out. I write this now from the family home in New Brunswick were I hope to recharge my batteries over the next month. That said, it hasn't all been watching Netflix and eating candy, though there has been plenty of that. I made it safely back to Ottawa after my cross-country road trip to return my wonderful Hunt Club VW Passat (sniffle), but the travelling didn't stop there. Part of my journey took me to Los Angeles for the very first time where I attended an incredibly inspiring and work redefining acting class through Lonsdale Smith Studios (their website is being updated but email them for information on classes in Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Los Angeles and New York. You will not regret it!) and helped me lay some groundwork for future distribution of On the Fringe. I also ended up back in Toronto where I sold the furniture I had in storage and finally let go of my storage locker since it doesn't look like I will be settling there again any time soon - though when am I really going to settle, that's a different story.

I find myself reading a lot of books these days, which is so great. I recently finished off the Steve Jobs biography, which had my synapses firing with ideas about design, branding and marketing (something I am very much going to be pushing in the near future for Broken Turtle Productions and the film) and I recently started on Amanda Palmer's book, The Art of Asking. Which is another great read for any entrepreneurial artists out there. On deck, I've also got Creativity Inc. by Ed Catmull, one of Jobs' co-founders at Pixar and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. It feels like forever since I've read a whole book and all this non-fiction from successful people has really been inspiring me to think bigger.

I hope this month will be a chill one as I lay the ground work for all the cool projects I've got running through my head. Lots of writing coming up, budget work on the film for post-production, searching for a marketing agency, ect. And of course, family time.

I also plan to be back to blogging a bit more so stay tuned!

Audio Inspiration

If you've never driven across the country, I highly recommend it. The scenery is gorgeous and changes drastically on a daily basis. And if you're doing it by yourself, you should definitely download a bunch of stuff to listen to since you won't have access to any sort of reception, be it phone, WiFi or radio, throughout much of the trip. For myself, after consulting the Facebook hive mind, I checked out tons of new (to me) podcasts. Now, although I've recorded my own podcast during my time at the Ontario Arts Council, I never really got into listening to them. I feel like I miss out if I have them on in the background and I don't have enough time to give them my undivided attention. Well, if you're spending a week driving in a car, that problem pretty much resolves itself.

A couple great ones to check out if you ever find the time: WTF with Marc Maron (although I stuck to interviews with people I actually knew, this great post by Sam Mullins makes me want to listen more). I've always been a big Alan Cross fan ever since I first caught the Ongoing History of New Music on radio, so his Geeks and Beats with Michael Hainsworth is a treat. Be sure to check out the one called the Ongoing History of Alan Cross if you want to know what's happening with OHNM now! CBC's This Is That is great for a laugh and Serial, by the same folks who also created This American Life, is an ongoing true crime story that has me anxiously waiting for the next episode. - Side note: while I was in Vancouver I got invited to a live talk by Ira Glass and sat in the second row even though I had no idea who he was.

But there were two specific podcasts and episodes that really got my synapses firing and I would highly recommend any creative types out there check out when the need for inspiration hits. In my case, that was somewhere between Wawa and Sault Ste-Marie.

The first one was a Kevin Smith interview on The Nerdist Podcast - another podcast where I saw the host, Chris Hardwick, live at JFL 42 a few years ago yet had no idea who he was or what I was watching... I've always been a huge Kevin Smith fan ever since I saw Clerks in University. My friends and I used to quote it and Mallrats all the time. That last one was why we started calling ourselves the Caférats since we spent all our time in this one coffee shop on campus. I've seen all his films and loved his hour-long talks, which I think you can now find on Netflix. But this interview was super special to me. He talks a lot about social media and how it now affects the movie-making landscape, how he's done with the Hollywood system and how he's just going to go out there and make what he wants to make because he just doesn't give a fuck. Honestly, it's way more crass and eloquent than what I am saying, but that's because KS (may I call you KS? Ugh, never mind, that sounds stupid) is a much better writer than I am. But the one thing I really took away from that talk was how we have to stop saying things like "Wouldn't it be nice/cool/awesome if someone did X." If you catch yourself saying something like that? That someone is you.

The other one is a podcast run by a guy named Tim Ferriss who wrote a great book called The 4-Hour Work Week. That book changed my way of thinking a few year ago, so when I found out he also had a podcast, I decided to check it out. And am I ever glad I did! I highly recommend you listen to the one with Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis on Thinking Big. It blew my mind and made me realize that I can take everything I do to an even higher level. Drive and ambition know no bounds, people!

Let's get to it!

The Voyage Home

I left Vancouver on Wednesday. I repeat this statement like a mantra because I have long since forgotten what day it is.

My travel companion and I left Vancouver on Wednesday and drove approximately 5 hours to Salmon Arm. The next day, we made our way towards Lake Louise, which I had never seen before. Now, on my way to Vancouver for Fringe, we came from Jasper and the road through the Rockies was nice, but ZOMG the road towards Lake Louise and Banff was nothing short of spectacular!

And what's the point of a road trip if you can't make it special? I booked a room at the Fairmont Hotel in Lake Louise and I was super excited at spending the night there, especially since it was right next to the lake. I had booked the smallest and cheapest room they had available, but I didn't care... until I walked in. Now, I've stayed at a few Fairmonts in the past and it's always been a great experience, but this room was just bad. There was some kind of ink stain on the comforter, trash that had probably fallen out of the can when it was emptied but never picked up, hair around the toilet bowl, a grape under the bed and a coffee stain on the table. I called down, received an apology and told someone would be up "right away" so we stood in a corner not wanting to touch anything and waited... and waited... 20 minutes went by and no one showed up. We finally grabbed our things and headed downstairs. Now, I know I had reason to complain but I still felt bad. Fortunately, I was rescued by Super Geoff who immediately jumped into action. He apologized profusely and told me that I had no reason to feel bad because "every room should be perfect every time." He then personally escorted us to a new room. And what a room it was! I almost cried when I walked in because it was so beautiful. Not to mention bigger than most apartments I've stayed in. And the view!

I wasn't in any hurry to leave the next day, but leave we must since the room was booked for someone else that night. We stopped for lunch in Banff and finally checked out the Theatre Centre that I had heard so much about.  Then we kept going to Canmore and stopped in an art gallery. Now, I like Banff, but I don't love it. I've been there a few times now and it always feels so busy and commercialized. But Canmore was different. It was everything I had always thought Banff would be: this beautiful small town surrounded by mountains and with an incredibly artsy vibe. I really want to go back there someday. And finally, we ended the day in Calgary where I was hosted by some great new friends, offered a fabulous home-cooked meal and given plenty of wine and board game entertainment.

The next day, I was to drive my companion to Lethbridge, but there was one place I just NEEDED to see first. Ever since I knew I would be heading to Alberta this past summer, there was one place I really wanted to visit: the Dinosaur Museum (aka the Royal Tyrell Museum) in Drumheller. And since seeing Kira Hall's maddeningly gorgeous Paleoncology on tour, that desire has only gotten stronger. Now, we simply didn't have the time to stop on my first drive through the province but I wasn't going to pass up the opportunity again. So my friend indulged me as I unleashed my inner SQUEEEE at the sight of all the dinosaur bones and introduced me to another gorgeous piece of Canadian topography I had no idea existed: the Badlands.

It was like being on another planet! Oh and speaking of other planets, the detour to Drumheller on the way to Lethbridge also let me indulge some more in my inner nerd:

Finally we arrived in Lethbridge and I was disappointed to find out I had just missed the wonderful Julia Mackey and Dirk Van Stralen of Jake's Gift. The next morning, after a hearty breakfast, I said goodbye to my friend and carried on my way East. Now finally alone for the first time in a long time, I felt a strong sadness come over me. It hit me that the tour, this amazing adventure that's taken up a whole year of my life, was over. Yes, the logical part of me knows that this is just a chapter coming to an end, but still...

I drove almost seven hours straight all the way to Regina. Maybe it was due to the scenery that barely changed or maybe it was the copious amounts of podcasts I have been listening to but time just flew right by. I was greeted here by an old elementary school friend I hadn't seen in almost twenty (20!) years and grateful for the invite to her beautiful home.

Now I write this as I'm getting ready for bed, wondering if tomorrow I should stop for the night in Winnipeg or keep on driving all the way to Kenora.

I'm hoping to be back in Ottawa by Thursday.

I left Vancouver on Wednesday.

Break on Through

On Thursday night, I finished my last class of an inspiring, heart-opening and at times humbling acting class with Michele Lonsdale Smith. She is one of my favorite teachers and I usually study with her every summer. With the tour, it wasn't looking likely that I would be able to study with her this time, until I lucked out with some Vancouver dates set to start the day after the Fringe Festival closed. These classes are always what I need to reset my artistic focus and to take my work further and deeper than it's ever been. I've reconnected with old friends and made some super cool new ones. I'm incredibly grateful to be a part of that community. As I walked to the indoor lot where I had been parking for the last two weeks with some classmates I was driving home, I was tired and sad as my adventure was now officially over. Well, be careful what you wish for. I arrived at my car to find this:

It took a minute for my brain to process what I was seeing. A quick look around the lot showed that I was not the only one with this problem. I called security as my friends took pictures. An hour later, I drove them home where they taped up my window with garbage bags until I could take it in for repairs the next day.

Honestly, what happened sucks, but it could have been soooo much worse. The thief/thieves walked away with a pocketful of change, a flashlight from the dollar store, a Petro Canada gift card with only $12 left on it that is only usable in Alberta and a Roller Derby Saved My Soul t-shirt. Had they taken the time to look in the trunk, they would have found 2 sleeping bags and air mattresses, two pairs of roller skates & derby gear, a violin and a shit-ton more t-shirts (since that's obviously what they were gunning for). I had forgotten to double-lock my trunk that night:

I was very lucky. I had friends with me to support me and help clean up the mess and the glass repair place got everything fixed in a few hours. Special shoutout to the great folks at All Set Auto Glass for also taking the time to vacuum 4 months of touring out of the car. The inside has never looked better. And now that that's taken care of, let us return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Next up: Post-production on our documentary film!

The Gratitude List

Wow. Wow. Wow. Guys, we did it! We really did it! Step by baby step we climbed that mother fucking mountain and the view up top is pretty darn spectacular! (It is Vancouver after all.) The money was raised, the car was found, the tour was successful and the film is more or less in the can. I say "we" because I couldn't have done it without an absolutely brilliant community of people. First and foremost, my biggest thanks go to Irene, Doug, Gwen and the team of fabulous people at Hunt Club Volkswagen in Ottawa. The entire tour would have been nigh impossible without you.

To the hundreds of people who donated to my Indiegogo campaign, as well as all those who sent in contributions once it was all over: Thank you! Your support has meant the world to me and my team and I am excited to share the finished product with you all. An extra special shoutout to our new Associate Producer, Douglas Beaton, as well my beautiful friend, Peter Janes, for going way above and beyond the call of duty in order to make this all happen. We've also started sending out perks so please be on the lookout for those in the next few weeks.

To the Roller Derby Saved My Soul team: Tania, Steven, Trish, Jess, Mikaela, Richard, Emily, Madeleine, JP and Nick. This show's successes are as much yours as they are my own.

To all the producers, staff members, volunteers, my fantastic technicians, and, yes, even the critics in each and every city: Your dedication to this little thing called "Fringe" is second to none. These festivals would absolutely not happen without out and the arts community in Canada owes you a great deal for that.

To our amazing billets who took in a bunch of, probably, dirty, smelly artists, thank you for being crazy enough for giving strangers keys to your home. I don't know why you do it, but I am sure glad you do!

To our "Tour Mom" Lizzie Watson: thank you for taking care of us all along the way. You opened your home to us and made sure we were fed and caffeinated. You honestly can's ask for more than that.

To everyone who came out to see the show, including all the incredible Roller Derby men and women who showed up, you blew me away this summer. You have helped me grow both as an artist and as a person. With all the incredible talent and productions found on the Fringe, I am incredibly grateful that you chose to spend your time with me.

To my beautiful Fringe family, your love and support is unparalleled. The level of talent on the circuit is unreal and each and every one of you inspires me every day. Thank you for sharing the joys and for sharing the tears. Friends old and new, we are all in this together. I believe in magic because of you.

An extra special thanks to everyone who allowed us to film them for the documentary, but especially jem rolls, Martin Dockery, Vanessa Quesnelle, Morgan Murray, Danielle Spilchen, Robert Grier and Graham Kent. Not everyone would allow a film crew to invade their lives for a whole summer.

To Randi Strickland who answered the call of duty and joined our team in Calgary and Edmonton: Your talent and skill is undeniable. Thanks lady for picking up the ball and gleefully running with it.

And last, but definitely not least, to Natalie and Cory... I don't even know where to begin, except to say thank you for believing in this crazy adventure with me. You were the perfect team and words cannot express how much gratitude I feel and how much you both mean to me. You were an absolute joy to travel with and I am proud to consider you both my colleagues, my peers and my friends.

And thanks again, dear reader, for sticking it out with me. Lots of big things still to come. Stay tuned!

Last Time, With Feeling

I'm just a few hours away from my very last performance of Roller Derby Saved My Soul of the summer, as a Pick of the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and for the foreseeable future. Sitting here in my special tank top, though I'm feeling a bit nervous, as I do before any performance, I also feel a great sense of accomplishment and gratitude. What an adventure I've been on! Four months on the road, 55 performances in multiple cities across this beautiful country, tons of friends old and new, two very special colleagues who helped me realize my vision of a feature-length documentary in one awesome little car from the amazing people at Hunt Club Volkswagen in Ottawa... Man, do I ever have a lot to be grateful for. A more personalized list of thank yous will be coming soon, but for now, I just want to let all of you reading this that I couldn't have done it without your support.

Thank you thank you thank you. And I will see you on the flip side.

P.S. Don't tell Tania Levy that my last performance takes place on a raised and very lumpy stage. She worries ;)

Terminal City, Last Stop

I arrived in Vancouver not really knowing what to expect with this Fringe. I've always loved the city and Granville Island in particular, but I had never performed here before. My last three cities (Calgary, Edmonton and Victoria) had been just fine, so I expected just as much here. But both the weather and the festival went well above and beyond my wildest expectations. I arrived in town to what I quickly discovered was some mad media buzz. In addition to the Georgia Straight review from the Victoria Fringe, I got to attend a media call and I was named a festival pick in almost every local publication, both online and in print. I once again thank my lucky stars for my amazing promotional pictures, which I am sure played an important role in getting me noticed.

I started flyering and right away the response was incredibly positive. Still, I had no idea what to expect on opening night. Let me tell you I was pretty blown away when I found out that my show had sold out and there were multiple people turned away at the door. My family almost didn't make it in. I kept working it throughout most of the week and ended up with virtually a sold out run in Vancouver. But the good news doesn't stop there! I was selected as a Pick of the Fringe, which means I get an extra performance on Sunday, September 21 at 5 p.m. So if you are in Vancouver or have friends who are, this is probably your last chance to see Roller Derby Saved My Soul this year.

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As I write this, Cory is now on his way to the airport to board a plane back to Ottawa. Most of the filming on the documentary is done, though Natalie will be around to talk to me after my last performance on Sunday. It's been quite the adventure traveling across the country with these two and I honestly couldn't have had a better team. We not only worked well together, we travelled well too, which I think is important. And although a chapter in our journey is now coming to a close, we still have all of post-production to get through first.

But more on that and my own travels back to Ottawa in my Hunt Club VW Passat in another post. And if you would like to have access to some exclusive content and information in regards to the tour and the documentary, please feel free to sign up for my newsletter here.

We can rebuild her, we have the technology

Roller Derby is a very physically demanding sport and injuries are common. One of the main reasons I don't play in any actual games is, in fact, to avoid injury at all cost. After all, if I get hurt, I wouldn't be able to do my show. It never really occurred to me that I could get hurt doing the show. First of all, I'm by myself, so there's no chance of getting knocked down hard and all the falls I do do are carefully choreographed. But I'm doing a show on roller skates practically every day for the past 3 months. In some cities, like Edmonton, I would even flyer on my skates, spending 4 to 5 hours a day in them. Like runners training, there's bound to be some wear and tear overtime.

And I'm not quite sure if that's what it was? Overuse and bad posture maybe? Or maybe the floors in the Falsecreek Community Centre were just harder than what I've been used to - I've been told it's a sprung floor but it doesn't feel that way. Or maybe, this one time, I landed funny? But during my tech rehearsal for the Vancouver Fringe on Wednesday, when I practiced my jump and landed on my skates as I zip around my makeshift track, something felt off in my right knee. With the limited amount of time you get to tech, I brushed it off, finished the rehearsal, and with a half hour to spare, tried it again on different skates, since my outdoor wheels have more cushioning than my indoor ones. Then I tried it one more time on my regular skates before thinking that maybe I should stop now...

I called my director. Her first suggestion was the sensible one - "Cut the jump." - So of course I didn't want to hear it. Thoughts of a Calgary Fringe review ran through my head: "The novelty of wheel-powered theatre eventually wears off." 

I'd worked damn hard on that jump and I wanted to show it off, but ugh... Yup, I was letting my one meh review from the summer dictate my personal safety because I was scared of losing any more Wow factor from the show.

I met with the team and started icing my knee. It did feel better. But I didn't want to take any chances that it could get worse. My greatest fear was that I wouldn't be able to do the show at all. Or at least not skate in it. So I managed to get a last minute physiotherapy appointment. And am I ever glad I did!

My physiotherapist was amazing! She immediately noticed there was swelling in my knee, but after some light testing deduced that it was a minor injury. My knee got tapped up. I was given some exercises to work on, as well as some kind of electrotherapy, told to keep icing it when it hurt and Just. Be. Careful. It was really awesome to talk to someone who worked with athletes and knew how important it was for them to be able to perform the next day. She made me feel at ease and like I had options.

Opening night in Vancouver. A sold out house! I really was not expecting that at all! My knee is feeling better so I decide to go for it with the jump. Boom! Nailed it. No twitch, no pain. I feel relieved. After the show, other then residual muscle stiffness, I feel pretty alright. Five more performances to go so let's keep it that way.

Blink and You'll Miss Victoria

Hi Victoria Fringe Festival, so nice to meet you... hey, where did you go?? After our all too brief mental health day in Jasper, we hopped into our Hunt Club Volkswagen Passat and drove all the way to Victoria; arriving with just enough time to say hello to our new billets - for the first time this tour we were all being billeted separately - and head on down to Fringe grounds for the mid-week preview showcase, where all the performers who came in from Edmonton got to strut their stuff on stage.

I had my tech rehearsal the very next day and jumped right into my first performance almost immediately after... and every day after that. Phew!

I was placed in another awesome venue with a fantastic technician and, although I was further away from the main Fringe grounds, I found the audiences in Victoria to be some of the warmest on the circuit. In Edmonton, possibly due to the sheer volume of shows happening at the same time, it often felt like a struggle to, not only get people to your show, but to enjoy your show without suspicion - in the "ok, show me why I'm here and not next door" kind of way. But in Victoria, though it could take some work to get people through the door, once they were in, they were ready to have a good time with you. It felt like we were on the same team and I think my show got exponentially better because of it.

The show also got some great reviews and was nominated in 3 Pick of the Fringe categories: Favourite Solo Show, Favourite Comedy and Favourite Female Performer.  Not too shabby!

But time flies when you're having fun, and so after barely 6 days in town, we once again packed up the car and headed off to catch a boat that would take us to our final festival city. Vancouver, here we come!

Mental Health Day in Jasper

Well, the Edmonton Fringe was alright after all. Though I haven't added up my final numbers, I don't think I ended up losing any money though I didn't make as much as I did last year. I also closed the show to my biggest house of the festival, filled with an incredibly appreciative crowd of Roller Derby players, including the famed "Roxy Balboa" & "Justin (now going by Dixon) Cider". That said, knowing that we would have a brief window between the close of the Edmonton Fringe and the mid-week preview night in Victoria, I decided the best thing for us was to take a mental health day. And since I had heard amazing things about Jasper, but had never been, I knew that was exactly where I wanted to go. So, after dropping off the fabulous Randi, who joined us in Calgary and followed us to Edmonton to work on the documentary, and Cory's always awesome heterosexual lifemate Tony at the airport for 5 a.m., I packed up the car and a few hours later we were on our way to the mountains.

Now, a "mental health day" should entail no work being done whatsoever, but of course that didn't happen. On our way, we stopped a few times to film some more footage for our Hunt Club Volkswagen Road Trip Diaries, there were plenty of discussions about what/who to film in Victoria and we've started talking about post-production & distribution of the film. But when the scenery around you is so beautiful, is it still really work?

Cory and Natalie had no idea where we would be staying because I wanted to surprise them. Weeks ago I decided I would splurge a bit and ended up with a great deal on a room at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge. Of course, we couldn't tell anyone Cory was with us, since there was an extra charge for an additional person in the room.

The Lodge was, of course, pretty fantastic. We went swimming in their heated outdoor pool, had a great dinner and enjoyed some free smores by a campfire. It was everything I needed to relax.

The next day we woke up early, said goodbye to our awesome room and made it to Victoria in good time. For the first time, we were all being billeted separately, but fortunately all our places turned out to be really nice. Cory headed off to pick up his girlfriend (and my assistant) Emily from the airport while Natalie and I got ready for preview night.

And the next chapter of our journey continues in Victoria...