Theatre By The River

2015 Winnipeg Fringe!

 
After a 3 year hiatus from any fringe related work outside reviewing, I've plunged head first into things this year, with 3 projects. There is quite literally something for each of you.
 
Clink -- A new play by Hannah Foulger(Venue 11) - showtimes available here:https://www.facebook.com/events/495770420572675/
- This is a fantastic 4-hander which I've directed, world premiere. A brand new play by an emerging playwright, featuring four emerging actors from the city. It takes place at a wedding, and we've staged it in a surprising way, where the audience get to be the guests at the wedding! Come ready for a party. Drinks not included, but a pre-show drink is heartily encouraged. You'll feel like one of the wedding party.


Sea Wall - by Simon Stephens
(Venue 27) - showtimes available here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1627940270776127/
- Theatre By the River's offering for the fest. This is the opposite end of the spectrum -- a play by recent Tony award winner Simon Stephens, one man show featuring Rodrigo Beilfuss before he heads off to a season with Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory. I've co-directed this piece. It is only 30 minutes. Beautifully written, a devastating piece of theatre.
 

popART: Project Vapour -- Sunday July 19 from 1-4pm
- Finally, this is an odd little project of mine, the first in a series of installations I am doing. I call it theatre, some may argue that point... Essentially it is an immersive installation project that lasts 3 hours. You can come and go. It features music from John Norman, and a physical video installation by Pixel Pusher, all curated by me. The goal is to re-create that feeling of disorientation you get when you go into a movie or theatre in the daytime, then emerge into the light again, but in this instance you immerse into a warehouse party in an alley in the exchange. The whole thing takes place in the alley beneath artspace on Arthur Street. Stay tuned, there is another one of these coming for Nuit Blanche too, just learned we're an official selection for the next in this series, popART: Intersection!
 
Anyway, hope you can make it to one (or all!) of my projects.

UPCOMING: Special Reserve - A Wine & Words Launch Event -- Nov 19 @ ACI, presented by Theatre By The River


I'm very excited to share with you information about my first directing project with the company since joining Theatre By The River earlier this year. For those unfamiliar, the annual TBTR fundraiser is Wine & Words - a night of new writing read dramatically by local actors and celebrities. The Spring event this year had so many fantastic submissions that we've held on to what we're calling our "Special Reserve" and holding a smaller, more intimate event this month as a launch to the 2015 season including the Spring Wine & Words, as well as some other upcoming projects.

There are many performers to be excited about! Virgin 103's Pamela Roz, Winnipeg Free Press writer Bartley Kives, Singer/Songwriter Süss, as well as local performers such as Justin Otto (Armstrong's War - MTC Warehouse), Ellen Peterson (The Small Things - PTE), and the TBTR company who have just wrapped Cock & Bull in rep are joined by a host of others.

Prior to joining the TBTR fold, my own writing has been featured (in the 2013 event) and in the Spring 2014 event I was honoured to read a poem by Christine Fellowes. I'm very excited to get to lead this event this time around!

Please join us for a unique and informal night of words, wine, and music.

Tickets are $15 and available at www.theatrebytheriver.com 

Cock by Mike Bartlett - Theatre By The River

At only 34, Mike Bartlett's writing has been produced by some of the top theatres in London on top of seeing productions around the world, after emerging from The Old Vic New Voices programme in 2005. Cock premiered in 2009 at The Royal Court, a theatre famous for "breaking" new playwrights (you know, like Caryl Churchill, Tim Crouch, & more). The story is one of a man at odds with his feelings; John is in a relationship on the rocks, and has an affair with another partner. His first partner is a man, the second, a woman. But what matter?

Bartlett's play challenges us through John's seeming indecision; why must a decision be made about WHO to love based on some ideal? Why do we feel this necessity to pigeon-hole people into descriptive boxes? Truly, why does it matter who we love? Bartlett won the coveted Olivier award for this intellectually stimulating yet visceral play.

Winnipeg's Theatre By The River, under the direction of Rodrigo Beilfuss, bring this beautifully written and challenging piece of theatre to Winnipeg audiences in only the second Canadian production (Toronto beat us by a few short months...).

This is a different kind of theatre. One that doesn't rely on sets or props, or anything - simply words and their power
. Challenge yourself. Prepare to think, and try something new.

Cock runs in rep with another of Mike Bartlett's plays, Bull (same cast, different plays, different nights) through October 4th at the Platform Gallery.

For tickets head over to Theatre By The River's website.




16,000 views. . . and upcoming adventures

How exciting to see that 16,000 people have viewed (lurked) this page. Someone other than me knows it exists, even if by accident!

I suppose some folks have taken notice, anyway, because I've had some great developments recently.

First, I was horribly busy over the winter, and didn't share the link to my very first published academic piece by Brunel University's Body, Space, Technology Journal! The piece was an artistic statement about my play Dear Mama performed at Sondheimfest in early 2013. You can navigate to the Journal's page here: http://people.brunel.ac.uk/bst/vol1201/kendrajones/home.html

Second, I have recently joined Theatre By The River (http://www.theatrebytheriver.com) as a member of the Artistic Company. My first adventure for the company was to host a panel discussion about their upcoming production of Mike Bartlett's Cock and Bull, being performed in Repertory this fall. We've got loads more in the works, so stay tuned for info about a project in the late fall and things into 2015.

Third (and final for now), I'm very pleased to be joining the review crew for CBC Manitoba's coverage of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival! I'm definitely looking forward to sparking conversations and debate about the shows in this year's fest from a more formal point of view. That does mean, however, that the majority of my reviewing will be found over at the CBC site rather than here. Keep an eye out, I'll link to them, too.

The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov - Theatre By The River & Little Echo Theatre

The Cherry Orchard is an ambitious play for any company, with its enormous cast, 4 acts, and famous Chekhovian brooding. Local indie companies Theatre By The River and Little Echo team up for the festival to bring us this promenade piece, directed by Suzie Martin. Situated in a beautifully dingy arts warehouse, each space is artfully designed by Daina Leitold, who also plays Charlotta in the production. The feeling of space being lived in, constantly changing and yet staying the same was a unique feature of the production. And the lengthy play certainly benefits from the promenade nature of the production; where some stagings of Chekhov's full length plays can see audience members flagging, forcing us to get up and move provided a nice sorbet of sorts. 

The performances from the large cast were uneven, and at times felt un-matched in terms of style. That said, some did shine; Tobias Hughes as Petya was every bit the strong-willed and shining idealist, and Kevin Klassen as Lopahkin was a seedy wheeler dealer, almost like a travelling salesman. Melanie White was flippant and scatterbrained as a fabulous Ranyevskaya, whom we see each misfortune coming to, and yet share in her pain at a world changing too quickly around her. Finally, Justin Otto deserves mention for his hilariously snarky and scheming Yasha and Kevin Andersen's Firs was heartbreaking and lovely.  

Although the promenade was beneficial in keeping audience members engaged intellectutally, it did take us out of the world of the play each time once the stage manager began to usher us to the next space. In a play so heavily populated with servants, I would have loved to see this become a moment of audience participation each time, allowing Yasha or Firs (for example) to have the enjoyment of moving the audience along. 

Wine & Words - Fundraiser for Theatre By The River

So, there is this snappy little theatre company in Winnipeg called Theatre By The River. It was formed by some awesome folks whom I was in undergrad with at the brilliant University of Winnipeg Theatre Department (seemingly ages ago...).

They are having a fundraiser! For only $20 you can have wine and listen to actors read brand new play excerpts. This year, I am honoured to be one of the writers whose work is featured in this year's event, as a piece of my new play in development Trying will be read.

Please come out if you can to support art, local theatre, and wine.