Life Interlude

I was planning on either writing about our recent trip to Stratford (quite fun, even though the plays were certainly on the depressing side!) or the massive Fringe catch-up post.  However, as we were grabbing food at Union Station after the bus ride back in from Stratford, my wife said that my cousin had messaged her and said that the funeral arrangements were underway.  I was very sad, but not totally surprised.  Then I had a second to think about it and wondered why my cousin would be involved at all.  I took another look at the message and realized that it was my other cousin, Adam, and not my step-brother who had just passed away.  This was certainly a shock to me, even though he had not been taking care of himself.  And also was a fairly heavy drinker.  I tried to estimate his age and decided he was about 48, though when the obit came out, it turned out he was only 46!

Very very sad.  I certainly wasn't close at all to him, and slightly closer to my other cousin, but in small families, you try to go to weddings and funerals, so I started looking into it.  At first, I thought it would be cheaper to break the flight up and buy tickets on Porter to Chicago and then on United or Southwest from Chicago to Moline (in the Quad Cities), but I was reading things wrong and the price was completely jacked up.  (My friend in Chicago tells me that this is Lollapalooza, which I had no idea was even still running, so that's probably why the prices are so high!)  It ended up being cheaper to do it all on United.  What I finally worked out was flying from Toronto to Chicago to Moline next Friday.  The visitation and memorial service and everything will be Sat., and we'll spend time with what's left of the family.  My brother has work trips that he can't get out of, so he's going to try to rearrange things so he can make most of the service and then head back to the airport to go on to his next destination!

I'll leave pretty early on Sunday, fly into Chicago, but then the Chicago to Toronto leg will be in the evening, so I'll have pretty much the whole day in Chicago.  I will say that it is possible if Trump had started his latest ravings about Canada and that the wildfires are our fault and how ungrateful we are and that he is going to try to put more tariffs on our goods and bring us to our knees, I would have told them, sorry I just can't justify going down under these conditions.  (And indeed, if my step-brother passes away in the next month or two, it will be an even tough decision to go down.)  However, as long as I am going, I might as well do something in Chicago to make the trip worthwhile.  I plan on checking out the Art Institute for a few hours and then the MCA and meet a friend for dinner.  I had wondered about theatre, and while there is The Importance of Being Earnest playing, it is in Oak Park, which is a bit of a trek.  And for some odd reason, Tuta is doing Crime and Punishment, but not at all on that one weekend!  The most interesting was Stoppard's Leopoldstadt.  However, it was in Glencoe(!), so I would have to convince my friend to go.  And then I would have to stay over and leave Monday morning.  If it had been in downtown Chicago and it really only involved/inconvenienced me, I probably would have done it.  (My friend is a theatre buff but not quite to the same degree as me and she figured she needed her sleep more...)  If I hadn't managed to see it in New York (after it didn't turn up in Toronto), then I would probably have gone ahead and done it, but I don't have to see it again.  Anyway, I'll get more than enough museums in during my one day in Chicago.

Starting to work through the books I'll take on the trip, trying to prioritize books I can read and leave behind.  I actually should be finished with Coupland's Microserfs by then, and I'll try to pass that along to my brother.  So that's what's on the agenda for next weekend.

World on Fire

I was going to write about something else, but this merits its own post.  The skies over Toronto were dull orange yesterday, and most of the day it was almost like going through a partial eclipse.  It was really hard to focus, as it felt like early evening for pretty much the entire working day.

I probably shouldn't have biked in, but I did, and have some shots I took along the way.

 

 

The CN Tower is barely visible between a few buildings in the third picture.  I didn't apply any special filter to the shots, and indeed I think the camera did amp up the orange a bit, but it looked pretty much like this, especially this fourth shot.

My son was going to join me at the Jazz Bistro to see Nathan Tran but decided it made more sense to stay home, and I decided it wasn't a great idea to come home and turn right around and go back out in this, so I worked another hour, ate at Ginger and then went over to the Jazz Bistro.  I only stayed for the first set. 

What is so incredibly dispiriting is that we are almost at the point where even the climate change deniers can no longer deny things are badly out of whack, but there is still no push to make any meaningful change and most countries, esp. in North America, are badly off track and in fact going in reverse when it comes to implementing policies that would improve matters.  An entire generation betrayed by the current political leadership, including Carney.  It does seem to me that western democracy (and the underlying institutions that so clearly favour the weathy and powerful) has completely failed this test.  I really don't see any reason for hope at all.

Life Away from Fringe

The Toronto Fringe wrapped up Sun.  I never did get around to posting my Fringe schedule, so I will do it retrospectively at some point with comments on what I saw.  I would say I enjoyed pretty much everything I saw with one unfortunate exception.  I will also post a few thoughts on my show and how things went and what I might do differently the next time.  (Each time at Fringe you learn something new...)  But I'll just write down some non-Fringe thoughts for now.

My son came down from Ottawa (admittedly in order to see my Fringe play).  He was scheduled to leave tomorrow, but with the extreme heat, Via is saying that the trains will have multi-hour delays(!), so it looks like he will stay until Thurs. or maybe even Friday.  It has been quite hot here.  Last week wasn't so bad, but the first week of Fringe there was a massive heat wave.  Which is back now.  I'm still planning on biking to work tomorrow, but will try to set up before the worst of the heat, and then perhaps I'll go swimming on the way home, which might help a bit.

I haven't done too much other than Fringe for the past two weeks.  I had wanted to see Silent Running over at the Paradise.  But it overlapped with Galen's Grocer: the Musical, which was amusing but quite goofy, and Night Journey, so I really couldn't make it.  I also had thought very seriously about catching the first set of Kirk MacDonald with Neil Swainson at the Rex.  This is very similar to the group that I saw at the Jazz Bistro, though Neil wasn't sitting in.  In the end, my wife and son went to an Indian restaurant (after coming back from You Choose), and then I biked off to see 2076 at Sweet Action Theatre.  While I would have enjoyed the set, 2076 was pretty good, and I wouldn't really wanted to have missed it.  I'll probably be going to the Jazz Bistro once or even twice this week, so it's not like I won't get my jazz fix in.

That day I also took them to the AGO (in between my Fringe show and You Choose), so that was at least something different.  The current exhibition is Impressionist paintings on loan from Dallas.  The exhibition runs through mid Oct., so I'll go back several times.  The room with the two Monet's was definitely the most popular, and it was very hard to see the paintings at all.  Here's one of them:

Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond (Clouds), 1903

My favourite was probably this painting by Pissarro:

Camille Pissarro, The Fish Market, Dieppe: Grey Weather, Morning, 1902

I really have not been able to keep up with my reading.  I did read Sayaka Murata's Convenience Store Woman (in the course of a single day!) for Book Club, but didn't care for it very much.

I am midway through Copland's Microserfs, and this is a bit more to my taste.  It explores a world that I remember, even though I was never particularly into coding in the late 80s or 90s and mostly just used computers for course work.  I'm pretty sure I never took a course in computer science or computer engineering, though by the late 90s I was using quite specialized programs for work (and indeed the need to move back and forth between work and home computers led me away from Macs in the late 90s, as they were not compatible with these programs).

I finally gave up on Dorfman's The Last Song of Manuel Sendero.  It just felt so incredibly static with all these unborn babies trying not to be born to stick it to the (Chilean) dictatorship, but nothing happened at all even as I skipped ahead.  (In some ways, Midnight's Children also deals with a large cadre of children, albeit those that were born, but then these children get up to all kinds of things in the real world.)  Apparently, there is this whole meta-fictional thing going where thousands of years in the future, they are trying to uncover the truth about the events in the book (not unlike what happens in Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play) but either I didn't reach that stage or more likely I didn't understand what Dorfman was trying to convey.  I just found it all intentionally obscure, and I generally can't bear books like that.  My recollection is that Fuentes's Christopher Unborn, which came out a couple of years before Manuel Sendero, is far more interesting and engaging.  I'd like to try to read it this year, though I am certainly worried that I won't like it nearly as much this time around.

I have started Jennifer Offill's Weather, and this is far more to my taste, so I plan to read this and a few other short books that I am fairly sure I will like, including Narayan's The Vendor of Sweets and perhaps rereading Iris Murdoch's Under the Net and perhaps Denis Johnson's Train Dreams (which I am less sure I will like, but it is quite short whenever I can actually get it from the library) to try to get back into my reading habits.  I guess that is enough for now, as I do need to get back to work.  My next posts will probably be those Fringe round-up posts, but I definitely don't have time to tackle them now.
 

A (Nearly) Sold Out Show!

Yesterday afternoon was the best ticket sales so far.  I knew it was going to be a big crowd, but I was expecting around 75 people.  In the end, with a few last walk-ups, we had 101!  

Here we see people actually wrapping around the corner, waiting to get in!

Alumnae is one of the bigger theatres, seating 123 (or so), so it wasn't sold out, but very close.

It was a solid show, though we had some problem with the sound cue between scene 1 and 2, and then a rushed entrance midway through scene 2.  But people seemed to get the jokes and generally had a good time.

I didn't hang out with the actors this time around, but I talked briefly to the Fringe staff (one of whom wants to do more producing of her own, so we may connect) and then biked up to Tarragon to see You Choose (again).

I haven't had much luck passing out postcards at Soulpepper, but I have always had better luck at Tarragon, and tonight was no exception.  In fact, as I was passing out the cards, one guy said that he didn't need one, he had seen the show.  I asked if he had liked it, and he said yes.  Then I passed out the postcard to the next person, and he said to her that it was a fun show.  So that's amazing, and that's exactly the word of mouth we need for a strong second week.

In fact, sales for this second week of Fringe are pretty good, with the exception of tonight, where sales are on the low side (20) but I'm expecting some late sales and walk ups.  I think every show after tonight is at least 30 and usually 40 or more, so we should have a strong second week to close out Fringe.  As ever, more info and a link to buy tickets to see the show yourself can be found here.

I've kind of personally hit a wall, and am a little tired of all the hustling.  I wouldn't say I really want Fringe to be over, but I don't want to feel responsible for stirring up more ticket sales (or trying to break even, a more or less impossible task) or if anything goes wrong at one of the shows.  I'd rather just focus on the shows I have booked to see and let everything else go for now...

 

2nd Show over

There is so much more I wanted to write, but I am running so late today (and I absolutely need to get my time sheet in before I run off to MOCA!).  I'll see if I can add more tonight after I am back from our 3rd show and You Choose.

We have our own mini Fringe tent right outside Alumnae Theatre. This does attract a few passers-by, which is great.  We're pretty close to the Fringe Hub, but Berkeley is still a little bit out of the way.

 

 

Last show of the night at Alumnae

Last night was always the lowest in terms of sales, but the Daily Discount helped.  In fact, we had been stuck at 9 for days.  Then I got word right before the start of the show that we were up to 20.  There were a few people buy tickets at the door and had two more volunteers get rush tickets (which is itself a good sign).  In the end, we had 27, which is not bad for an evening show on Sat.

It was a very good performance of the show, and the audience was engaged (and laughed at the funny parts).  It ran 54 minutes, which is incredible.  I think we're pretty much in the groove from here on out, and I'll see if we want to add in any shout outs tonight.  Still, it is tight, and there are always a few people that run out immediately after curtain call.  There was also one guy who left mid-show, which is a bit odd, though I wouldn't be surprised if he thought Eric Peterson was involved and then wasn't so interested after that...

Definitely looking forward to the rest of the run. Link with more info (and tickets) here. 

Edit: I really thought I would make it over to MOCA today, but I think it's just one too many things.  I'll get ready to go swimming, then see Medusa at Soulpepper and then make sure to run off a few more programs, as today's show will have close to 100 people!  I don't think I'll have time to hit MOCA.  I'll see if I can go another time, or wait for the first weekend in August when it will be free (again).

Dialing Back (Slightly) on Fringe This Weekend

Our show has two shows over the weekend, and one on Monday, so I definitely won't be cutting back much, but I was toying with the idea of sneaking in Camp or Such Ado around 3 pm today (when I had a gap in my schedule), and I just don't feel like it.  I may see if I can do one more pass by Fringe Central and pass out postcards, but I'm kind of tired of Fringe at the moment.  (Maybe due to seeing 3 yesterday, including a late show last night...)  I'll write more about what I got up to on Friday later.

I am about to head off to the gym.  There is a bit of a break in the rain, and it's cooler.  I suspect it feels much better outside than inside...  Then I am going downtown.  I think I'll try to hit the AGO, but only to see one exhibit, then stop by City Hall Library to get a couple of DVDs that should be on the shelves.  Maybe put in an hour or so at work, as I am quite behind on one project, and it is starting to weigh on me.  On the other hand, I could just hit 401 Richmond and then get to Factory early (I have a 5:30 show there) to pass out more postcards.  (I probably should have cut the order in half when I reordered them.  I am going to end up with a lot left over...)

Then I'll grab something to eat (maybe at the Well) and then make sure to get to our show around 8:30.  That might give me another hour or so at work.  We'll see.

Sunday is a little simpler, but it does depend a bit on good weather.  I am planning on leaving around 9:30, getting to MOCA a bit after 10, check out the exhibit there, then come back to Regent Park and go swimming, making sure to wrap by 12:45, to get over to Soulpepper to see Medusa at 1:30.  Then we have our show at Alumnae, and I have one more chance to check out The Howland Company's You Choose at Tarragon at 7.  And that will be a wrap on the weekend.

Gotta run now.

Opening Night!

I think, all in all, it went off incredibly well.  There were a few snags, as always.  They let us in 5 minutes late, so we scrambled a bit.  Next time we'll set up the stage first and then get into costume.  The sound was a bit low at the very start, but they fixed that.

There were a few line drops but nothing too significant and nobody froze.  The most significant misstep was when an actor skipped pretty close to a whole page, leaving out a song!  (In fact the only song, though intentionally it wasn't an amazing song.)  Amazingly, the other two actors in the scene were able to keep going, even after he realized his mistake and redirected back to the song.  (I would have been upset for the actor who is supposed to sing if his whole moment was lost.)  So it feels like things are under control, and I can probably just leave the script at home from here on out.

One slight downside is that while Alumnae is air conditioned, it is so loud, they only run it between performances, so the audience did start to wilt and I think the second scene suffered a bit due to that.  But there were good laughs in the first and third scenes.  

We had over 40 people for the opening, which is terrific.  Most night we are doing pretty well, though Sat. evening is low, so I will make it one of the Daily Deals.  We have 75 people booked to show up on Sun., which is incredible.

We're sitting at just over 240 seats sold (plus passes).  I will have to adjust my expectations somewhat, as I thought we would be doing pretty well if we got to 250, and we will clearly surpass that.  Maybe 300, with 350 as a stretch goal.  We still won't actually break even, that would take probably 500-600, but it isn't going to be a complete financial disaster...  I thought there was an outside chance we might be Patron Pick at Alumnae, but we are up against a ringer -- Every Fringe Show You've Ever Seen All At Once.  I think the only way we would get it is if they had too many schedule conflicts (as they are already performing on Sunday!) and bowed out, which they would be crazy to do.  So I think I will likely be able to see Whose Lineage is It Anyway again on Sunday, but again I will hold off for a while.  Hopefully that performance doesn't sell out.  (I mean I do have an unused voucher, so I could book it anyway and pass it to someone else if we somehow do end up being Patron Pick for Alumnae.)

Today, I am off to see Little One, by Leroy Company.  I'm still looking forward to it, but am still also annoyed that they moved the venue from Bloor down to Queen, so getting between Little One and Fray will be challenging, particularly if this when we get hit with the sporadic thunderstorms in the forecast.  I wouldn't have constructed my schedule this way if I had known beforehand what the ultimate venue would be.  Interestingly, Fray is in a tiny black box theatre not far at all from Aluna, where we did all our rehearsing.  There is an outside chance that I will hit Potato Potato Saves the World at Soulpepper.  (It's more or less on the way back, though I would have to dip a bit further south, but it is at the brutal time of 10:30 pm.  In fact, I see they made this show a Daily Discount, though I would use my rush pass, given I don't want to commit to going until I know how I feel, and if I get soaked in the rain...)