Are You Ready for This?

A couple of days ago, mere hours before opening night, I get a call. "Can you be back in Ottawa on August 6th to meet with the Director of Photography of a major motion picture starring Elisabeth Shue in the hopes of getting a month-long job as a stand-in?"

Uh. Whaa?

This caught me a little off-guard.  Sure, I had heard that they needed experienced stand-ins, but since I was in Calgary, I never thought I would even be considered.

I had hoped The Last Goddamned Performance Piece would have been accepted into the Edmonton Fringe Festival, which would have kept me out West until at least August 22nd.  In between Calgary and Edmonton, I would have visited with my sister in Red Deer.

Since we didn't get into that festival and I had no return ticket home, I was still going to visit family and join the rest of my crew (who have now confirmed work with various other shows) in Edmonton for a bit.

But now?

I checked flight schedules. I called my mom.  I talked to my cast & crew.  If I leave right after our final (Goddamned) performance on Friday, I can just catch the last direct flight from Calgary to Ottawa.

I'm writing this from my sister's place in Red Deer.  I've used my one day off in Calgary to come down and visit her and her new baby.  I'll be heading back soon because I have a show to perform in tonight.

This feels so crazy sometimes, this business.  Can you be consistently available?  Can you drop everything and turn on a dime when a work opportunity presents itself?  I know I can.

Welcome to the wonderful life of an actor!

In other news, Ottawa, I'll see you soon!

It's Midnight, Cinderella

It's midnight, Cinderella, but don't you worry none. / 'Cause I'm Peter Peter the Pumpkin Eater /And the party's just begun. - Garth Brooks

(Being in Calgary, I felt like country music would be appropriate.)

So our Opening Night in Calgary was good.  Crazy good, but still good.  Heck, we had a reviewer that night and we were anointed later on with a lovely 4 Star Review from the Calgary Herald!  If you don't want to read the whole thing, here's my favourite section:

Basically, The Last G-D Performance Piece is a comedy about an incomprehensible performance art piece where everything that possibly can go wrong, does.

And on opening night, guess what? The lights blew out!

And we (the audience) hardly noticed. I mean, I noticed a few odd lighting cues, such as the time one of them flickered, and then left both actors standing onstage in total darkness. But since the show was about a disastrous theatre performance, I didn't give it much thought at all. Meuser and Kenny both delivered such strong, confident, funny performances that I just figured it was all in the script.

So the first show was done and all the adrenaline in my body had left in one big giant rush that left me teetering between giggling uncontrollably and practically crying with relief.  I went to the Swans for a beer with the director and ran into the gang from Dale Beaner and the Turtle Boy, which I had decided I would watch that night.

It's a fun show that really isn't getting the audience it deserves.  Please come and check it out!

After the show, the Turtle Boy gang, the Peter n Chris duo and I made our way down to what I have now dubbed "The Happiest Place on Earth" (take that Disney!) - The Fringe Club!

The Calgary Fringe Festival doesn't have a beer tent or beer gardens, but on Saturday night they opened up an awesome new venue in the back of an art gallery.  In true Fringe fashion, you have to go through a sketchy alley (made less sketchy by the string of Christmas lights along the wall).  The place has WiFi and beer.  The only thing missing is some cheap food, but one thing at a time.

The place was filled with performers, volunteers, techs and friends, all there for the new late-night cabaret event called The Stroke.  We walked in just in time to catch the end of Paul Hutcheson's stand-up set/bits from his show.  There's a nice big stage set-up and the folks from The Goodtimes helped provide additional lighting, which they conveniently had stored in their awesome and thematically painted van.

It was just pure fun and magic.  And it was so nice to know that there was now a place for all of us to get together and relax and be silly.  Other bits included a chat with Cameryn Moore, The Phone Whore, the house music by The Ben Rose Wedding Band (which is apparently one guy who I'm going to assume is named Ben Rose), some brilliantly fun accordion music from Bob Wiseman, and even more awesomely hilarious music from The Goodtimes, with special additional accompaniment from Bob Wiseman.

A huge round of applause goes out to Nicole Zylstra & Peter Strand Rumpel for putting all of this together and hosting every night.  This little hotspot was probably the only thing missing from an already pretty great festival.

Friends, if you're in Calgary, you should stop on by 1222 9th Ave SE (after you've seen The Last Goddamned Performance Piece at 922 9th Ave SE, of course!) around 11 pm as I am signed up to do something at The Stroke...

I better start figuring out what that something is going to be.

Baptismal by Fire... or Lack Thereof

Ah, opening night!  The butterflies are flopping around in my stomach.  My scene partner and I hug and randomly giggle at the identical looks on our faces: part terror, part adrenaline, part I-so-want-to-puke right now.  It's like slowly going up the first hill of a roller coaster when you know that big drop is coming up.  Whatever happens now, you're strapped in for the long haul. We are prepared though.  We've done everything we could.  We've done this show before, so we know we can handle whatever gets thrown at us in this crazy little business called "theatre".

Honestly, I thought the worse thing that could happen would be no one showing up.

But they did show up!  31 people to be exact.  And if you are not familiar with the logistics of Fringe, having 31 people for our first show at a small festival where no one knows us and we've received no advanced press?  That's really really good.

(And on a positive side note, I was proud to notice that a good half-dozen of the people in attendance, maybe more, were people I had flyered earlier that day.)

So if the worse thing that could possibly happen didn't happen, everything else is just gravy, right?

Right.

Though I never could have predicted what happened next:

The lights went out.

All of them.

Gone.

It was weird because at first I didn't notice.  I did notice that a lighting cue seemed a little off, but I shrugged it off as an opening night jitters thing in the booth.  But then, a lighting tower flickered out.  And then the other.  Two minutes into the show and we are entirely in the dark.

Um.  Ok.

Well, we weren't ENTIRELY in the dark.  The venue is a converted gym that has garbage bags on the windows.  Since the sun never seems to set in Calgary, trickles of light were coming in.

So we kept going.  I managed to comment on the lights at one point in the text.  I thought a guy in the front row was going to piss himself at that one.  There was one beautiful moment too when my scene partner delivers a "message from God" when one single light just flashed back on.  You seriously cannot write that shit.

I didn't realize it at the time, but we'd been handed a gift.  The show is about a performance piece where everything is just going wrong.  Heck, when things do go "wrong" in the script, we flat out tell the audience it's part of the show.  Even as our technician is running around trying to fix the lights during the performance and turning the fluorescents on so that people can at least see what we are doing, most people in the audience thought it was all part of the show.

At some point the lights did come back on properly but it didn't matter anymore.  We're still not sure what happened.  Rebooting the whole building seemed to have reset everything back to normal.  I wondered if maybe I was cursed since my opening night in Winnipeg last year was also plagued by massive technical failures.  Our technicians felt bad, but honestly, unless they took a giant knife to the lighting board, this was not their fault.  My scene partner ate a fortune cookie earlier in the day which predicted that things would not go as planned, so personally, I blame the cookie.

The audience was incredibly lovely and supportive.   They were with us the whole way.  Even with all of this happening, I don't have a single complaint about the Calgary Fringe Festival.  It is well run, well organized, well appreciated by the patrons and I couldn't be happier.

Or so I thought.  Last night, I discovered the Fringe Club - more on that in my next post.

Oh and guess what?  The Last Goddamned Performance Piece is now OPEN!

One Fringe

You have to enjoy being alone. Sure, there are people with me to put on a show, but at the end of the day it really comes down to one.

One on one interactions with the public to try and charm them into thinking your show is THE ONE THING you do not want to miss at this festival.  Listen, pay attention to what they are saying and how they respond so that your pitch does not become robotic and mechanical.

And then, run.  To the next venue. Pit stop along the way because you notice this prime section of fence that does not have a poster on it. One more poster on the wall.

Lather, rince, repeat. Once again.

Connections.  It's all about connections.  Say hi to the volunteers. The board members. Anyone in a funky black t-shirt with backwards writing.  Introduce yourself. Learn their names. Remember their names. One more name.

This festival likes hugs.  The executive producer doesn't want to shake your hand. She will give you a hug. I believe handshakes are for diplomats and business associates. She's my kind of gal.  One more hug.

Go see your friend's show.  Be supportive. Laugh hard.  Don't forget to flyer on the way out. One more flyer.

Run lines. Remember the lines. Forget about the lines. The lines are not the show. Breathe. Try not to puke. One opening night. Tonight.

One more Fringe underway.  Are we having fun yet?

Calgary - Day 1

At my billet's house, waiting for the shower (who knew boys took so long?) after a really great morning run.

So far so good.  We're a stone's throw away from the Calgary Fringe Festival area, though I don't know if this festival has a beer gardens or a festival plaza of sorts where people gather.  We have our technical rehearsal this afternoon, though the Fringe doesn't start until Friday.

My first show is this Saturday at 7 pm - here are the details if you happen to be in town.

There's four of us living together with one billet who works lots and won't be around much.  The place comes with free WiFi courtesy of the nice landlady upstairs, which is great.  I don't need much, but I do need my interweb.

Though I haven't met anyone from the Fringe yet, I've been very impressed with their web presence.  They've got a good looking website, they are all up to date on their social media stuff and, best of all, they've got their own iPhone app!

My one minor complaint (and since the festival is really small, it is fairly minor) is that there is no venue map anywhere.  Not online, not in the printed program, and not even on the app.  If anyone from the Fringe reads this and would like to have a chat about additional functions, please feel free to get in touch with me. I love talking web!

Coming soon: my 2010 Calgary Fringe Festival MUST SEE List!

L'habit ne fait pas le moine, sauf que...

A good translation of my blog post title for all my anglo readers is pretty much "Shoes don't make the man, except..." I had an audition yesterday.  I refuse to refer to it now as a "big, French audition" as a friend kindly pointed out that even though it's for a lead in a TV series and even though it's in French, it's still just an audition.  No need to make a big drama around it.

Many, many moons ago, I really worried about what I would wear to an audition.  So much so that I think a lot of my preparation went out the window for this superficial aspect.  These days, I had gone all the way to the other end of the spectrum: good preparation but not much of a clue when it came to what to wear.

Before my audition yesterday, I had a little meeting with my agent.  Talking about the audition, she said: "So you're going to wear heels?"

Oh. My. God.

How did I not even think of that?  The show revolves around the local hockey team.  The character I was auditioning for is, for lack of a better word, the local town "sexpot" who works in the sports bar.  OF COURSE SHE WEARS HEELS!

I had chosen an outfit that morning, but I realized I had made a very safe choice.

And here's the weird part: this was not a stretch for me.  I LOVE wearing heels.  I own at least a dozen pairs so why wouldn't have brought some for this character?

Resistance in one of it's simplest forms.

Shoes are one of the most basic things you learn about in acting school.  When you rehearse a play, it's one of the first costume pieces you want brought in because how your character walks says a lot about who they are.

Since I had plenty of time, I went back home and rethought my outfit.  I knew exactly what it was going to be this time.  Instead of just a short skirt and a cute top with my sandals, I went for my teal ankle boots with the silver stiletto heel (second-hand boots that are lovingly worn out), a wide white belt to go over my skirt around my hips, and a top that I took from a friend just in case I ever needed to go to some kind of hoochie bar.

The result:

Though I felt confident in my preparation and in the lines, I now felt confident in the person I was trying to be.  She was me, only amped up to 11.

I won't go into details about the audition except to say that I was happy with my work.  So many external factors that you cannot control go into the casting process so I won't worry about it anymore.  I will, however, say a big thank you to my awesome agent for making sure that all those factors I can control were taken care of.

My First Day at the Toronto Fringe

We finished the last matinee performance of The Amorous Ambassador (what is with ending a show on a matinee?) on Sunday and had hit the road to Toronto by 4 pm. While I was hoping to be in town with plenty of time to catch a late show, the holiday traffic on the 401 made sure that was not meant to be.  7 hours later, after many bouts of going 20 km/hr on the highway, I finally arrived at my friend's condo in TO. Ok, no Fringe for me that night.

Monday rolled around and after a delicious brunch at a place called Insomnia (OMG SO GOOD!), I found myself at the very empty Fringe Beer Tent.  Well, it was early afternoon, so I guess that makes sense.

I caught three official Fringe shows that day: The Shakespeare Show, Fruitcake & Carnegie Hall.  But the highlight of my day really came that night with a special one-off presentation of Uncalled For's Hypnogogic Logic.  You see, Uncalled For didn't get into the Toronto Fringe (like most festival's across the country entrance is through a lottery system) and, since the guys were all in town with other projects, they presented their new show at The Second City.  It was absolutely brilliant!  Keep your eyes and ears open for this one next year on the circuit, people, you'll be in for an incredible treat!

Today, I am taking another break from the Fringe.  Daily work life calls.  In addition to stuff I'm doing for the GCTC, I've picked up a marketing contract for Odyssey Theatre's upcoming production of They All Do It (expect to hear more on that particular one very soon).  Somehow, I think my Ignite the Fringe presentation (now available through Ottawa Tonite) had something to do with landing me the gig.  So a big thank you to Heather-Marie Scheerschmidt and the Ottawa Fringe for that one!

Now, however, with work done, I'm off to an acting class. But fear not, fellow #FringeTO members! I'll be back tonight for more.

Ignite the Fringe!

I'mnervous. So nervous my space bar is s h a k i n g. Tomorrow, at lunchtime, I get to give a presentation in the Ignite the Fringe event.

An Ignite event is actually a very specific thing. According to my Wikipedia bible, it can be summed up as: a style of presentation where participants are given five minutes to speak on a subject accompanied by 20 slides. Each slide is displayed for 15 seconds, and slides are automatically advanced.

Basically, I'm giving a Power Point presentation (or Keynote - thank you new Mac!) and I'm nervous about that.  I know, I know, I'm a professional performer type who gets up in front of people all the time.  Would you believe I get ridiculously nervous every single time then too?

Though I've seen the event in Ottawa in the past, I've never done it before.  Here's a few things I've learned from the process so far:

• Creating slides is A LOT of work - not only do you need to know what you are going to be talking about, but you need some good visual to go with it as well.  Google Images has been my new best friend.
• 15 seconds is not a lot of time to say something and yet when I practiced my presentation at home it seemed to take forever.
• Keynote is a really great program.
• I've now know how to take screenshots.

I hope people think it's funny and entertaining and don't throw things... unless it happens to be money.   You can throw money.

See you at lunch!

Danger, Will Robinson!

My brain exploded this morning. The June theatre overload (overdose?) has finally caught up to me. Last night, quite sober and lucid, though tired, I went to bed knowing that I had my regular Tuesday staff meeting at the GCTC at 9:30 a.m. I went to bed at 1 a.m. and woke up at 8 a.m. for a reasonable 7 hours of sleep. Somehow, I looked at my clock this morning and felt very pleased with myself that I didn't have anything to do until I had to leave for Morrisburg at noon for my SUNDAY matinee. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Today is not Sunday, is it?

At 9:30, I got out of bed in a big "oh shit!" panic. How the heck did I think it was Sunday? Trying to get through my morning routine, I stumbled and often re-did actions I had already done. My billet was a little worried and so I decided going in to work was probably not the best idea in my frame of mind. I sat around outside for a few minutes, cleaned the filth off my balcony windows, took the car for gas and then headed down to the Fringe Courtyard for another lunchtime artist event.

The coffee from Bridgehead did me some good. I still feel a bit foggy, but it's settled a bit more. I think all I need now is rest and reading through a few blogs, I can see I'm not the only one.

While this unfortunately means I won't be fringing tonight and possibly tomorrow, I really need to just take care of myself right now (and finish my Ignite the Fringe presentation for Friday).

To my fellow Marathon Fringers out there, be safe and well. I'll see you in a few days.

Ignite the Hype

If someone had told me ten years ago that I could have a successful career as a marketing professional, I would have laughed in their face. These days, however, it seems to make perfect sense. As part of the Ottawa Fringe Festival's Lunchtime Artist Series, I've been asked to participate in the Ignite the Fringe event on Friday June 25th at noon.

My topic is on "Branding the Artist" - though I'm not going to spoil it all here because I'd love for you to join us in the Fringe Courtyard (or "Beer Tent" as I sometimes hear it's called), I am going to tell you that my mind has been wandering towards promotion, buzz and hype lately.

On Friday night, I had the privilege of seeing the Shadows opening night. This show came with a lot of hype. Amazing professional production team, award-winning actresses, incredible promotional material, and a curiosity factor around this being the writer's first solo produced play. Fortunately, it beautifully lived up, in my mind, to all of that. I was incredibly moved by this piece to the point where I just needed to be alone for a little bit afterwards to decompress (My apologies to anyone whom I may have been rude to and ignored while running away from the venue. I just wanted to settle for a moment before the craziness that is the beer tent.) I also know that I am adding to the hype just by writing this, but if you can get tickets to this show (it's been selling out!), go and see it. It's fucking awesome.

I've also been thinking a lot about my own hype lately. I mean, I'm "nancykenny". I've been somewhat taking it as a joke around the beer tent, but part of me wonders how much weight that actually carries.

Tonight, I will be doing my one and only performance at the Ottawa Fringe Festival in Jayson McDonald's The Last Goddamned Performance Piece at 11pm in Venue 5 - Studio Leonard-Beaulne. The marketer (and ego hungry individual) in me worries that I won't live up to the hype and the only people in attendance will be the director, the performer I'm billeting, and that guy who stalks me on Facebook (OMG! What if my stalker DOESN't come?). It is after all a late show and tomorrow is a work day.

Realistically, I know there will be more people than that. And my artist is simply thrilled to be performing this beautiful play, no matter how many people see it.

There is no way to control who will or will not come, no matter how good your promotion is, which is such a weird situation to be in. However, though the marketer can build up the hype, the only thing the artist can do is the best job she can. My artist is now taking over and she doesn't care about the hype.

So, if you come and see my show tonight, I will do my very best to be present, truthful, and entertaining for your viewing pleasure.

I hope to see you there!

The Highs... and the Lows

I saw my first Ottawa Fringe Festival show last night: Art DeXo. I chose it at random from the program. I figured since it came from out-of-town (heck out of the country), they could probably use the attendance for an 11 pm slot on the opening night of the festival. I was right. There were only ten people in the audience of this 100+ seat theatre. A quick glance around at the 10 and I knew two were billets, two were Fringe staff and the people with notepads where probably media. All in all, I'd be surprised if more than 2 people paid to see that show. So, these four dancers who came in from New York probably made $20 last night... $10 if those two used the 2 for 1 deal. It breaks my fucking heart.

This is a dance show. The extent of my dance experience comes from gyrating in front of my mirror as I get ready to go out, bopping along to tunes in the car and watching So You Think You Can Dance. Basically, I don't feel qualified to review this show because, frankly, I didn't understand it.

I have so many questions about it still: Was I suppose to look for a narrative or should I have taken each individual piece on it's own merit? Why did they choose this weird music? Why did some pieces include vocabulary, but some didn't? Why was there so much neon? Talking with some of the others who saw it last night, I realized I wasn't the only one who was confused.

The best bit of the show was this incredible dance solo by the blond in the gray dress (a dress which I actually covet). Again, I don't know what was going on, but I liked that part.

The great thing about Fringe though is that I can get exposed to stuff that I normally wouldn't go out to see. I wish Art DeXo all the best with the rest of their run and I hope they have a lovely time in Ottawa.

Not Missing Out

Following up on my list of shows that I don't want to miss at the Ottawa Fringe Festival this year, I wanted to add a few comments. First of all, you may have noticed a heavy number of local productions. This is not because I think any less of the touring shows. I hope to see lots of local work in Ottawa because that's pretty much the only way I would ever get to see it. I'll be at the Toronto, Calgary and possible Edmonton Fringes this summer and so will most of the touring performers. I'll get to see those shows on the road, if I haven't already. Stay tuned in the coming months for what I hope to see at those festivals as well.

Also, as I go through my Fringe availability schedule, one show has actually stood out in the "must-see" category that I had not previously added to the list. It's called Heroes Past & Present. This is another local show in BYOV #7 - The Ottawa Public Library (I think this venue is a first for the festival - someone correct me if I'm wrong). It's a cute little amphitheatre.

I don't know the people involved with this production, which surprises me. It has puppets, which also intrigues me, but that's not the only reason I'm going to check it out. No. The reason this show is now on my radar has to do with the times it goes up. The show has 11 a.m. performances!

I have no idea if he or she will get a crowd, but that time slot is absolutely perfect for me! With my crazy schedule and unwavering need to "see everything" day times are the best!

With the Ottawa Fringe on a continuous growth spurt, will we be moving towards more day possibilities like the rest of the country? Or is this city just too much of a government town to care?

Nancy’s MUST SEE List at the 2010 Ottawa Fringe

The Ottawa Fringe Festival is less than a week away and the excitement on the interwebs is absolutely palpable! But with 60 shows in 16 different venues, what in the world should you see? Well, my typical response would be "everything" but I know that's just not possible for everyone. So, as a courtesy to anyone looking for insight on what they should check out, I bring you, once again (my most popular blog post of the past year), Nancy's MUST SEE List at the Ottawa Fringe.

I won't be able to see as much as I'd like to this year, but here's some stuff I definitely don't want to miss:

First up, of course, my ONE NIGHT ONLY appearance in The Last Goddamned Performance Piece. Tickets are on sale NOW The show takes place in what is probably the smallest venues at the Fringe. I really don't know what my draw factor is, but you may want to buy your ticket in advance by clicking the big bold NOW in order to avoid disappointment. That said, if you miss my performance, you can still catch the show, with a great script by Jayson McDonald, with a different actress, the lovely Celine Fillion.

Also, the same company that is producing TLGDPP is also remounting Daniel MacIvor's Wild Abandon with Zach Counsil giving an awesome solo performance. If you missed it last year, be sure to check it out this time around.

Throughout the festival, I will be hosting Fringe performer Sharon Nowlan of Burlesque Unzipped. I met Sharon this year when I was in London for The Big Comedy Go-To. She is an incredibly talented lady and the show was directed by Paul Hutcheson, so you know this is going to be good!

Now, in no particular order, on with the rest of my list:

Shadows Written by the award-winning Margo MacDonald and featuring MacDonald and the always delightful Sarah Finn, this is one of those who's who pieces of Ottawa theatre that has the potential to be another Blood on the Moon. Plus the publicity photos from Andrew Alexander are just so smoking hot that I can't help but put one up here. A really great example on how an image can sell a show.

The Sterling Lynch Triple Bill And I thought I was busy... Sterling Lynch will be a hard guy to miss at the Ottawa Fringe. He's performing in G-Men Defective & Deliver'd from Nowhere and wrote Prisoner's Dilemna. I think you kind of HAVE to see at least one of them, if not all three (which also include the talents of some awesome people like Ray Besherah, Tim Ginley, Wayne Current, and my not-so-secret Fringe crush Nadine Thornhill.)

The Beer Tent: Reflux Obviously, the title of this piece is a play on my own blog title. Therefore, I'm just going to go ahead and think this show is about me, which makes it a good enough reason for anyone to see it. Oh! And because they are tricky (or possibly drunk), though called "The Beer Tent" the show is actually taking place in the basement of the Royal Oak on Laurier and not the actual Fringe Beer Tent.

Here's a promo for the show that talks about me some more:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2239MNbCGA]

Six: at Home I absolutely love site-specific theatre and this one takes place in Laurier House. It was also created by many of the fine folks in the Ottawa Stilt Union. There will be no stilts in this piece, though I'm still very much looking forward to it.

Mixing Boal: Kitchen of the Oppressed The theatre nerd in me actually quite enjoyed Pirate Jenny's Interactive Circus from last year and so I'm willing to give this one a shot as well. I'm curious to know if food will be served during the performance...

Though I don't know as much about the touring performances coming to town, here's a few pieces that I would like to put in the "pretty much a sure thing" category:

Archy and Mehitabel Saw this one in Winnipeg last year. Jeff Culbert is an amazing performer. I'd also like to point out that the show was directed by Jayson McDonald who wrote the TLGDPP that I am appearing in. Fair warning though: this is a very intelligent show. I don't recommend seeing it if you've already had a few beers because you will need to focus. Cactus: The Seduction... Jonno Katz is back again and never disappoints. The Sputniks I've never seen this show but I've heard absolutely amazing things about it and Elison Zasko from people on the Fringe Festival Circuit. I really really really want to see it.

Well, there you have it. Without counting my own show (and by combining Sterling into one entity), you've got 10 shows that you should check out at the Ottawa Fringe Festival this year. Now go get your Frequent Fringer Card, make your schedule and get ready to go!

Countdown to Fringe: 6 days

Mono-doh!

The audition breakdowns for theatre are all the same: "Please come prepared with two contrasting monologues." Sometimes, they might jazz it up a bit: "One of them should be Canadian." "One of them should be classical." "One of them should involve an intergalactic bunny."

Whatever. It all boils down to the same thing. If the breakdowns all ask for two monologues, why the fuck do you wait until you've "got" an audition to learn one (or *gasp* two!)?

I had an audition today. The first thing they wanted was for me to read through a section of the script. This is usually my favorite type of audition: the cold read. However, this cold read needed to include an accent for which I am not the greatest at learning in four days. I would say that bit of my audition was merely "Ok". I'm not bummed though because I took direction well and had fun with it.

Then, I had to present a monologue.

My feelings suddenly changed from that was merely Ok to that was frickin' awesome in 3.2 seconds.

You see, I know my monologue. I've used it as an audition piece many times now. I've received coaching from great teachers and feel it all the way down to my core.

In other words, I was prepared.

With preparation comes confidence, with confidence comes fun, with fun comes an enjoyable audition experience (both for you and the people watching).

When you know that a dozen or more people might be auditioning for the same part as you, why would you give yourself only a few days to prepare when you could start getting ready right now?

My First Fringe

Picture it: Sicily Ottawa 2002 A young and naive theatre student by the name of Nancy Kenny answers an audition notice posted on a bulletin board (where audition notices went long before this thing called the "internet" existed) in her Theatre department at school.

The show: Tuesdays and Sundays by Daniel Arnold and Medina Hahn

(Little did I know at the time that this was a huge hit on the Fringe Festival Circuit back then. Heck, I didn't even know what a Fringe Festival Circuit was. I just wanted to be in a play outside of school. The director of our production saw it done somewhere out west and got the rights for it in Ottawa. I believe that this was the only Fringe Festival that wasn't done with the original creating team.)

The show is rehearsed over a few weeks and put on in the Alumni Auditorium at the University of Ottawa (which is no longer a Fringe venue at this point in time).

Attendance? Is terrible in this 300 seat auditorium. One midnight show pulls in only 4 people for this cast of 2. (Fortunately, the next Executive Producer of the Fringe, the awesome Kevin Waghorn will later make some very beneficial changes, including cordoning off a section of the theatre so everyone sits in one clump and abolishing midnight performances. But, until then, shitballs for us.)

The company also only gets 5 performances instead of the usual 6 since Nancy Kenny's scene partner had to attend a wedding in Windsor at the end of the week.

However, the reviews are incredible and rave about the performances of the two young students from the University of Ottawa Theatre Department. Nancy Kenny has fun, discovers something called the "Beer Tent" and makes friends with lots of performers from out of town. She also meets a bearded man with a big laugh who tells her really nice things about the show and has been an avid follower of her career and a dear friend ever since.

Somehow, the show wins the coveted Best of Venue prize and gets an additional performance on the closing night of the festival. The director had rented risers for the performance and had returned them by that point thinking the run of the show was done. Milk crates and planks were used to replace them.

(I still remember sitting backstage, 15 minutes to showtime on a Sunday night, wondering where the heck my partner was as, upon hearing the news we had an extra show, he guaranteed he'd be back from the wedding on time. I also remember how relieved I felt when he ran in, out of breath, with less than 5 minutes to spare.)

No money was made by anyone, but the director bought her actors a beer and an Ottawa Fringe Festival hat. The run NOW officially over, everyone really went their separate ways. Nancy Kenny ends up at the Beer Tent and sits around for the closing festivities. As awards are handed out, she is shocked to hear her and her partner's names called out in the "Outstanding Performance" category.

Nancy Kenny starts to think this "Fringe Festival" thing is not bad. Not bad at all.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Airport Security Opens Tonight!

A few months ago I had the pleasure of participating in a film shoot for Airport Security with Gruppo Rubato. Now, the videos were in anticipation of the play which opens tonight. They consisted of scenes that were cut from the play but still were worthy of being seen (and used as one of the best marketing tools I've seen for the theatre in a long time).

I've included the video with myself in it at the end of this post.

In the meantime, be sure not to miss the play!

************* Airport Security, the newest play from Ottawa’s Gruppo Rubato opens tonight at the Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre Studio Theatre. Can’t wait that long? Visit our website, www.rubato.ca, to catch our 4-part short film, Airport Security, before we open!

Following the stories of five passengers as they navigate their way through a busy airport, Airport Security poses the question: does increased airport security make us safer, or just make us feel safer? Playing on our insecurities and overconfidence in a system destined to both convolute and demystify air travel, from shuttles to baggage carousels, departures to arrivals, Airport Security scans Canada’s growing obsession with “security”.

Written and directed by Patrick Gauthier (Winner of the 2010 Council for the Arts in Ottawa’s RBC Emerging Artist Award; Rideau Award – Emerging Artist nominee; and director of the multiple award-winning production Countries Shaped Like Stars), the cast features Ottawa actors Simon Bradshaw, Kris Joseph, Catriona Leger, Tania Levy, and Kate Smith.

Set design is by John Doucet; Costume and Prop Design by Sarah Waghorn; Lighting Design by Pierre Ducharme; Sound Design by Kris Joseph; and Original Music by Ann Walton. Production dramaturgy is by Emily Pearlman.

Tickets are $25 ($20 for students), with a $15 preview performance on Thursday, June 3, and a Pay-What-You-Can matinee on Sunday, June 6 at 2:30 pm.

Tickets: $25 ($20 students) Box Office: 613.236.5196

Friday, June 4 7:30 pm (Opening Night!)

Saturday, June 5 7:30 pm (Social Media Night: Facebook Friends and Twitter Followers get in for $15 – at the door only)

Sunday, June 6 2:30 pm (Pay-What-You-Can Performance)

Tuesday, June 8 7:30 pm

Wednesday, June 9 7:30 pm (Talkback Performance)

Thursday, June 10 7:30 pm

Friday, June 11 7:30 pm

Saturday, June 12 7:30 pm

Airport Security, Ep 1: Passenger Protect from Kris Joseph on Vimeo.

Wouldn't Miss It For the World

I love June. It's my favorite time of year. It marks the beginning of Summer Camp Fringe Festival season. This week, the Ottawa Fringe Festival launched it's new season and I couldn't be more excited! You can read up on some of the wonderful new developments in store all over the web, but I'll also make a point of commenting about it here over the next few days. Also, stay tuned for my 2010 list of Must-See Shows at this year's festival. It was my most popular blog post last year and I'll be putting one out soon as I now have my hands on the program.

...

"But Nancy, aren't you in Morrisburg appearing in a show at the Upper Canada Playhouse from June 10th to July 4th? How will you get to enjoy the Fringe since it runs from June 17th to 27th?"

Really, people, I'm Nancy Kenny. Do you think I'm going to let a little thing like "time" and "space" prevent me from doing something?

I've performed in every single Ottawa Fringe Festival since 2002. I'm not going to miss out on it now.

I'm going on tour with a Fringe show this summer. We'll be in Calgary and, hopefully, Edmonton. The show is actually taking place in Ottawa as well, but since I am performing out of town another lovely lady will be taking on my role... that is... mostly.

The show is called the Last Godamned Performance Piece. It was written by the amazing Jayson McDonald and is going up in Venue 5 - Studio Leonard-Beaulne.

As I do not want to arrive in Calgary without having ever performed in front of an audience, I will be appearing for ONE NIGHT ONLY in one of the performances of this show.

That's right, ladies and gents, Nancy Kenny will be appearing at the Ottawa Fringe Festival (in an actual show instead of just the beer tent) on Sunday, June 20th at 11 p.m. in the Studio. Mark your calendars now!

Also, I'm very honoured to have been asked to participate in one of the of the amazing lunchtime artist series. This pay-what-you-can event will take place on June 25th at noon.

And of course, my insanity does not end there. Though it will be impossible for me to beat my record viewing of 35 shows from last year, with so much going on, you can be sure I'm going to try and squeeze as much as I can into a limited time-frame.

See you in the Beer Tent (both the real one and the show!)

Funny Is Work

Think all theatre is the same? Think again. Shakespeare is different from LaBute; a clown show is different from a restoration piece; comedy isn't drama... The basics are there (actor and audience) but as a performer you need to really on completely different skill sets for each one.

Currently, I am working on a Farce.

In theatre, a farce is a comedy which aims to entertain the audience by means of unlikely, extravagant, and improbable situations, disguise and mistaken identity, verbal humour of varying degrees of sophistication, which may include sexual innuendo and word play, and a fast-paced plot whose speed usually increases, culminating in an ending which often involves an elaborate chase scene. Farce is also characterized by physical humour, the use of deliberate absurdity or nonsense, and broadly stylized performances. - Thank you Wikipedia.

My blog post today should begin almost exactly the same way as this one that was written two years ago by Kris Joseph. Except replace How the Other Half Loves with The Amorous Ambassador.

(The Amorous Ambassador) is one of the most technically challenging plays I have worked on in a long time. One week into rehearsals, we’ve ... blocked the play — “skeleton-blocked”, I’d say — and we’ll spend the next two weeks of rehearsal polishing it and refining it and playing with it until it shines and gleams like it should, so that we can provide a fitting and fun opening (for the fine folks at the Upper Canada Playhouse.)

It's been a crazy week. The theatre has an odd shape (the audience practically surrounds you on three sides) and the blocking has to be very specific in order for everyone to be able to see everything. Also Farce requires such precision in all your movements for all the gags to work that I feel like all my concentration has been on choreography (though with all the entrances and exits, should it be called "dooreography"?) instead of character development. The energy, the pace, everything is heightened. Don't stop to think or you might discover a plot hole! It's a lot of hard work.

However, running through the entire performance on it's feet has made learning my lines a breeze. With lines and blocking in the bag, I feel like I can now turn my focus towards my character and her wants.

What does she want? To get laid. And later, to hide her boyfriend from her father, who she thinks is a moral and upstanding citizen. This being a Farce, of course he's not. Hilarity ensues.

If you'd like to see the fruits of this labour, go to the Upper Canada Playhouse website and book your tickets now. This theatre sells-out entire runs on a regular basis and this one is going to be no different!

The First Day of School (Part 2)

For Part 1, click on the link. It's so beautiful out, many people are sitting outside the theatre. They say hello and smile. Everyone is really nice. The stage manager starts giving me a tour. There's snacks. I quickly realize as I sit down for our first read that everyone here knows each other and have multiple shows at this theatre under their belts.

I'm the new kid.

And the new kid gets to say the first line in the play. No pressure.

Personal insecurities aside, we have fun. The play is called The Amorous Ambassador. It's a farce with an eight person cast and we laugh a lot throughout.

Then, after the break, we do something I've never experienced before on the first day of rehearsal: we move onto the set. Though the finishing touches aren't there, since we're the first show in this theatre company's season, the set already built onto the stage and we immediately start blocking (i.e. deciding where we will be walking across the stage) the show. Since, like any good farce, there are a million entrances and exits, this is a very good thing.

I'm thrilled and shocked at the same time. We're just going to do this? Now?!? Alrighty then.

I take one look at my "boyfriend" in the show. We do a lot of kissing right off the top.

"So, uh, should we just do the smooching now?" He responds with an "I was just going to ask you about that."

We decide it's best to, ahem, dive right in. No, literally, I dive right on top of him at one point.

I just met this person less than three hours ago. My life is awesomely weird.

We spend the rest of the day blocking through the first half of the show. We have all sorts of rehearsal props to play with. It's so great not to have to mime anything. I wish I was off-book (i.e. knew all my lines) right now so I could play more. I try my best to just enjoy myself and not let my doubts and insecurities get the better of me when I have to repeat something over and over again (You know the inside voice: Did I do something wrong? Why is my voice so high-pitched? What does he mean when he says keep the line up? Everyone knows what they're doing! What am I doing here? Where am I?)

We finish an hour early. The director beams at me. "Good job! Wasn't that fun?"

I giggle. Yeah. It totally was!

The drive back is just as lovely as the drive there. Regardless of the record heat wave, the waterfront air is cool. I'm back in town right on time for an Evolution Theatre meeting. I duck into Arts Court and take a few minutes to freshen up before heading into the Market. I actually know where all the clean bathrooms are in downtown Ottawa. My life is so glamorous.

The meeting was great. There is so much going on with this theatre company that I can't wait to discuss. Stay tuned for more this coming June.

Blissed out from such a wonderful day, I head back to my car. It's about 9 p.m. I feel light because I suddenly realize that, for the first time in a long time, I don't have to do any work once I get home. And that's when the day, the sun, the fun all catches up to me. As I sit in the car, I feel the fatigue wash over me. I drive home. I take Montreal Rd. because it has more character than the highway. It's so peaceful, I don't want to stop. Sorry environmentalists, but I really enjoy driving.

As I get home, I remind myself that I get to do this all over again tomorrow and pull into my parking spot.

I take a shower. As the cold water hits my back and my muscles relax, I start to cry because I am so happy.

This is why I do this.

The First Day of School (Part 1)

I couldn't sleep last night because I was so excited. It was almost 1 a.m. by the time my eyes finally shut. I had set my alarm for six. I had set two of them actually, but I wouldn't need either. At 4:50 a.m., I noticed the first few rays of light creeping through my window. Wait. If I just noticed that then... yup, there goes the incessant meowing.

"The suns out, meow. I'm hungry, meow. Come on, meow. Get out of bed, meow. FEED MEEEEEEE!"

Of course you're hungry. You're always hungry. It's something we have in common. But we've talked about this. Not before five. Please.

I roll over and see if I can ignore Winston for another 10 minutes or so. He knows what I'm doing so he pulls out the big guns: he starts licking a plastic bag. He knows how much that irks me, but I leave it one out for him out of guilt. He has so few things to do in this apartment. If licking a bag brings him joy, who am I to take that away?

I get up and feed him and go back to snoozing. It's almost six. The little lazy voice in my head tries to tell me I could sleep longer if I didn't go for a run, but I don't listen. I put on my gear, eat a piece of toast and I'm out the door before the radio turns itself on.

Perfect running weather at this time in the morning. It's glorious.

I get back and get ready. I put on the outfit I picked out three days ago because I am that much of a nerd. I get on the bus and pick up my Vrtucar behind the Bridgehead near work. I grab a coffee - decaf because I'm still off the caffeine, but love the taste. As I try and unlock the car door, I spill coffee all over my pretty dress.

It's a sign.

The Universe is saying "Chill out. It's not like you're about to do brain surgery. Oh, and by the way, remember how you always carry that Tide To-Go pen in your bag? You're welcome."

I get in the car and I'm off to Morrisburg. I'm taking a route I've never used before. I'm super giddy. Everything is perfect. Even the radio is playing everything I need to hear.

The windows are rolled down. I'm car dancing to Kardinal Offishall when suddenly I smell it. Is that...

Oh my God! WATER!

This picture doesn't do it justice. It's so green right now. And the sun was making everything sparkle.

The biggest, most impressive bridge I've ever seen in my entire life. It's so long I wonder how it could possibly be man-made. And all around it, the Saint Lawrence River. It's all so beautiful, I can't believe I never knew this was here. I can't believe I'm actually here.

A short time later, I arrive at Upper Canada Playhouse.