I'm Going Home/Merry Christmas

Hey Abyss,

It is the night before I head back to the Maritimes and I am all prepared. I spent most of the day cleaning my apartment, except for my dishes which I am avoiding at all costs currently. I don't know whether it is the christmas spirit alive inside of me or perhaps my tired body, but I am really looking forward to being back home for two weeks.

I have done most of my Christmas shopping and now just have to figure out how to fit all the presents and two weeks worth of clothes into two carry on bags....

I like to travel as light as possible, I have this suspicious feeling that the airline will always lose my luggage. This trip I am putting my faith in Porter, mainly because you get free food and alcohol. The flight back to Nova Scotia is quite quick from Montreal (only about an hour and a half) and so it is a strange sensation to be in two different provinces in such a short time. I don't think that feeling will ever change for me.

This week was a real gift. We had a lot of final core classes this week, and Nina Lee Aquino staged a reading of David Yee's play Safari with us. It was well received last night and now we just have to wait on the new AD's decision as to whether or not she wants us to mount it as the opening show of our season next year at The Monument-Nationale. Let's hope.

This semester has been so enlightening to me as both an actor and a person. Sherry Bie (the outgoing Artistic Director) is such a wonderful woman and I am sad to see her go. She has pushed me a lot over this last year and a half at the school and I can see how proud she is of my whole class. She is such a selfless woman, and a true artist. I feel truly blessed to have experienced her the way I have. She will be deeply missed.

I am heading to the closing performance of Three Sisters tonight and will say my holiday goodbyes after the show. On that topic, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas as I will be focused on spending time with my family and my beautiful girlfriend over the holiday, so I wont be posting until the New Year.

Here is to another year in the life of a Would-be Actor in training.

Merry Christmas Abyss.

Sunday - A Day of Rest?

Hey Abyss,

Things have been busy over the last four weeks. I can't believe how quickly things are moving, but at the same time I am very anxious to get home to my family and friends in the Maritimes.

My classmates and I had a Christmas Party last night which was great, we had so much tasty food and I felt rather classy with my ugly sweater and glass of Whiskey. All I needed was a cigar and I would have been ready for a segment on the Art of Manliness. Of course being surrounded by all the food and Christmas music playing in the background made me a little more homesick. I am really looking forward to the break this year. The last few weeks have been especially draining, energetically.

The two weeks we had with Tanja Jacobs were interesting, to say the least, I felt I had the most fun in the last few days we worked with her. After those days I am quite interested to see how our process goes after the break.

We then worked with Yael Farber for the last two weeks, she is an intense woman. And I mean that in the best sense of the word. I learned a lot from her, she is a very generous and focused person and offered such wonderful insight into the characters that we were working with. The spine of the last two weeks were the text from After Miss Julie by Patrick Marber, and so it was a very fierce exploration, if you know Marber. The class was very sacred to me so I won't delve that much further into it, but I feel that it was exactly what I needed right now in my journey here at the school.

Another NTS moment that I won't soon forget.

We have been bombarded with many little projects lately, that have to be continually percolating with us at all moments of the day. This has made it hard to come home and relax, but everything is changing next semester because we start to move into productions for the next year and a half. As I stated in earlier posts; we have three studios shows next term.

The Seagull Directed by Tanja Jacobs

Solo Show Directed by Adam Lazarus and Jodi Essery

? Shakespeare Directed by Joe Ziegler

I am completely amped to start doing some productions, they are not fully fledged as they are still explorations but we do have public performances which is exciting in itself.

Today, in a couple of hours in fact, I am filming an audition for a movie that is shooting this summer, it is very much a shot in the dark considering it is an open call but I feel that there is no harm in submitting. I'm nervous about it because this is my one shot, its not like a regular audition where there is option to be directed. I submit one take.

Other than that there isn't really anything else going on. We start working on the staged reading of our text that David Yee has written for our class. I anticipate that it will be a fun week, I have some remaining research to do on the text before tomorrow though.

Wish me luck.

Night Abyss

The Seagull

Hey Abyss,

This week we start seeding work on Anton Chekhov's The Seagull, which my class will be performing in the new year as one of our three studio performances. Our version is being directed by Tanja Jacobs and I am really pumped to meet and work with her for the next little bit. We are working with her for the next two weeks and then will be moving onto work with Yael Farber and Strindberg's Miss Julie. Leaving only one week after that before Christmas Break happens.

Things are moving so fast, its nuts.

During this time we have to be working on our Solo Show which will be presented in March of the new year (our second studio show). This is more or less a "moon project" it is always orbiting whatever we presently have going on. I am still trying to find things to write about for this project, but as time goes on I feel that something will inspire me and I will go like a locomotive. The essence of the project is we have full creative liberty over what we want to present, but we have to write and perform alone onstage for 15 minutes. Kind of scary, but also exciting.


To touch on the last two weeks, after Maiko and Antoine, we worked with Nina Lee Aquino and David Yee on a new play he is writing for my class. We basically workshopped for the rest of the week and now have a full text and were asked to continue exploring that until we receive a revised draft closer to December 14th, which is when we are doing a staged reading of it. I really like the play and hope that we will be able to bring it into full production in our third year.

Nina and David are great.

And last week we had the most amazing Shakespeare Voice class with none other than Andrew Wade, who has worked with the likes of Judy Dench and Gwyneth Paltrow. He was so great, I learned so much from him in 6 days and kind of wish that we had him more often. Definitely a memorable moment from NTS.


Not much else has been happening of late, I am getting over a cold brought on by the inconsistent weather changes here in Montreal. So thats nice.

Blackbird is still making its rounds, which warms my heart.

It did well in Warsaw, and is playing in Rome these next few days. It will make its theatrical release in Paris during the month of February. A North American release has not been decided yet.

My break from reading the two versions of The Seagull, has been used to write this entry so I am going to go back to reading.

Thanks to all the readers who continue to read my ramblings, it means a lot.

Night Abyss

Here are some neat links:

Yael: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/edinburgh-festival-reviews/9480925/Edinburgh-Festival-2012-Mies-Julie-The-smash-hit-of-the-Fringe.html

Nina: http://kapisanancentre.com/2011/07/20/reasons-why-you-should-know-who-nina-lee-aquino-is/

Andrew: http://www.actorsworkout.org/2009/11/andrew-wade/

Halloween

Hey Abyss,

Thanks for staying with me through my strange photo uploads of late, which include pictures of (my now healed) athletes foot and my cats modelling portfolios.

Hopefully I can provide something more entertaining this time.

These last few weeks have been super intense working with Maiko Yamamoto and Antoine Bedard on Archipelagos, which went really well. The experience has left a lasting impression on me as a performer. The basic structure of the piece was each actor had a specific, self created movement score that they repeated for one roatating audience member 11 times over the course of 45 minutes. It was a combination of ensemble and solo work, providing for a very intimate and diverse journey for each audience member depending on which actor they start with.

As an actor it was just as intimate and diverse, because each audience member who came to your "island" reacted completely differently, which in turn altered your performance slightly. The day of the show we performed out individual pieces 44 times for 44 different people. I was initially intimidated by the number of rotations but found that the stamina training we have been working on for the last year came into effect heavily in this project. It's amazing how much energy is in the human body, and when you harness it how much of an asset it is.

Maiko and Antoine were pleasures to work with and I hope to see them again, whether it be within the school or the industry.

This week we are back to working with Nina Lee Aquino and David Yee, the last few days have been great and I am stoked to see how the rest goes.

Honestly, I am still really exhausted from all the physical work we have been doing and am wanting 2 days rest and a massage from a pro, none of these feeble "theatre school" massages. Due to our intense schedule at the school (12 hours a day, 6 days a week) we barely have time to do laundry so it gets tiring very quick, especially with little recovery time. I am not looking for pity, just expressing my fatigue.

Nothing else has been going on... I was excessively pumped about getting my Eggplant Coloured tie clip today in the mail (http://www.thetiebar.com/).

Sad, I know.

Simple Pleasures.

Blackbird is currently in Poland, which is cool (http://www.wff.pl/en/filmy/blackbird/).

I had myself a gluten free pizza tonight and am currently burning my cat's nostrils with the intensity of my continuous flatulence.

I'm off to watch Hocus Pocus.

Night Abyss

Settle Down

Hey Abyss,

I still do not have internet, so I am using the school's instead.

Bell was supposed to come install my internet on Sunday, but of course I gave them the wrong address. I told them that my address was 5389 when it is 5289, which I didn't know until one of my friends came to my new apartment the other night.

Looks like I will be waiting another week or more before I can have the luxury of internet at my own place...sigh.

It has been kind of cleansing to not have access though. I feel like it is always a nice choice so free yourself sometimes.

Just to clarify; my lack of internet is the reason I have not written in a while.

I have returned to Montreal and have started my second week in second year, which I am still getting used to. It is weird to know that I am not a first year anymore, that I am exactly in the middle of my education...

My apartment is great for what I need and the location is perfect, it is such a relief to come home during lunch and shower and eat quality food, rather than starve myself.

Since I am heading back into the school year there isn't going to be a lot of news about auditions and things but I will try to keep it interesting.

Last night Blackbird premiered to a full house at TIFF 2012. I wish I could have been there to support and see it. The director invited me to come but alas, I cannot miss school. He comforted me with information about the National release of the film in November.

So, if you did not see it at TIFF and cannot see it at either the Cinefest in Sudbury or the Atlantic Film Festival in Halifax, you may be able to see it near you in November (only in Canada).

My class and I are working with Nina Lee Aquino and David Yee this week on an original project for our final year. I am stoked to work with them both again and am really looking forward to what David writes for us. It is also kind of awesome to know what one of our shows are going to be next year way in advance.

We are headed to Sratford this weekend, which I have never been before, I am looking forward to seeing theatre on the big stage, especially where Sratford is so renowned. We are seeing: Cymbeline, The Matchmaker, Much Ado About Nothing and another which escapes me right now.  I am hoping to catch up with my friend Leah Doz, who is a huge inspiration to me and is working at Stratford right now.

I have to work on  project now, I apologize for the vague post.

Here is some info on Blackbird, see if you can spot me:

http://arts.nationalpost.com/2012/09/10/jason-buxton-talks-about-his-film-blackbird/

http://thetfs.ca/2012/09/09/tiff-review-blackbird/

http://thetfs.ca/2012/09/09/tiff-interview-jason-buxton-director-of-canadian-feature-blackbird/

http://thechronicleherald.ca/artslife/133557-chester-filmmaker-flying-high

Night Abyss

Sunny Days are for Sitting in Bed

Hey Abyss,

It's Wednesday and I am thinking that this may be a good day to get into the habit of writing on. At least for the rest of the summer, which is going by so quickly!

Not much has changed since my last post, I am still doing the readings for Mr. D which has been awesome. Hanging out with the cast and just being treated so equally has been really encouraging.

Not that I have been rejected my whole life, just its nice to feel like part of the team.  There is really no way I can make what I said sound less pathetic so lets just leave it as that...It has been a really wonderful experience.

I went into see my agents yesterday and I potentially have a feature film audition coming up, it just depends whether I can get into audition before I leave for Guysborugh, which is where I am teaching next week. So, that is good news, It would be a day player spot, which is perfect because I am not in the position to have anymore than a few days on set. I say this only because after my frugal two months of living off my girlfriend I will finally have a surplus of money from teaching for the last half of the summer, so I don't want to have to bail on the kids.

I am really looking forward to teaching again this year, I feel after being away at school and just coming into my own a little but more I have a clearer image of how I want to teach and what things to start instilling in the talented rascals that give me company every year for four weeks. Kids really teach me so much about my own craft, they are so true to their emotions and provide such a blunt and unfazed view of reality. They tell you straight up if you are bad or good, or funny or stupid and its with this honesty that you learn as an adult to stop being in your head so much and just let life move through you.

Teaching them truly is a continual inspiration.

Yesterday we received out tentative itinerary for the upcoming school year and I am beyond excited to work with the people we are which includes: Nina Lee Aquino, David Yee, Adam Lazarus, Jodi Essery, Wenyi Mengesha, Maiko Bae Yamamoto, Antoine Bedard AKA Montag, AndrewWade, Jill Kiely and Many others.

I feel so blessed to be attending a school that gives me such opportunity to explore so many facets of this profession.

Last week I went to see a show called She Has A Name, and I was rather disappointed with it. I paid 27 dollars for the show which had an amazing premise so I felt I was going to be blown away. The opposite happened and I was continually distracted by the moving fabric of the set pieces, instead of the text. The show is currently touring Canada and the company is based out of Red Deer. The piece is about sex trafficking in Bangkok, but never really delves into the sheer madness of what occurs there. They raise awareness with the piece but does not leave me with nightmares about what the poor boys and girls go through everyday. And in my opinion, if you are going to do something controversial I expect to see controversy. But perhaps that is just me. The text was written by Andrew Kooman and was produced by Burnt Thicket Theatre.

Then I went to see Shakepeare by the Sea here in Halifax and I was blown away. Perhaps it was due to the disappointment of the last show, or perhaps the cast was just phenomenal. I think it was bit of both.


Thats it for now,

Night Abyss.