Otherwise

A few people have asked me what the play is about, and not wanting to give it all away, I’ll give you the publicity blurb I’ve sent the different Fringe Festivals which includes a very nice quote from PT’s Mr. Reed:

“Tina’s writing has the vitality and theatrical instincts she brings to the stage as a performer, combined with a poetic sensibility and imagination that is distinctly writerly. With each new work she moves from strength to strength.” Ron Reed, Artistic Director, Pacific Theatre.

An unforgiving victim of war. A naïve, lonely Vancouverite. Join two characters, one vibrant actor in a captivating story of blood, dreams, and jewels.

Yesterday was the second reading of THE SADDEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. I was very suprised at people’s responses to the piece in progress; there were very few comments about things to work on. Usually I walk away from a reading with three pages of notes and hundreds of questions to be answered (especially when it’s a reading of LUDDITES!). There are still a few aspects of the play that need strengthening – one character’s stakes (Ava’s) need to be clarified and a sense of isolation brought back into her journey.

I was very encouraged by the positive feedback I recieved yesterday. One person stated the piece was beautiful, another e-mailed me to say she was simply delighted by it, and yet another told me how she, as an immigrant, really enjoyed, got caught up in, and empathized with Natya’s story. The overall concensus yesterday was that TSGW is ready for the next step in the process.

So, after making the few changes in the script, Dirk and I will begin rehearsals next Tuesday. Very exciting!

I am excited about the next reading of TSGW, especially because I feel that so much progress has been made since the last reading. Much of this progress is due to my dramaturg’s urgings. (Well, okay, I did have to do the hard work of scrapping old passages and writing new ones!) There is still so much work to be done before Tuesday, however, so I definitely need all time available on Monday to concentrate on whether the journeys are clear, ensure the stakes are high, and be honest with my characters.

One thing that has bothered me this past week is the reality of publicity and marketing needs. I often feel so pulled between my desire and need to write, and the infinite demands of publicity. Neither can be ignored; if my writing is abondoned, there won’t be a play, but likewise, if the publicity work is shrugged off, there won’t be any people to see the play. And I’m not the kind of artist who writes or acts in a vacuum. Although I truly love the process of playwriting and rehearsing a play, the work is for other people to participate in, engage with, and enjoy. So, I simply can’t slough off publicity work. I have to remind myself that when I toil with marketing, I am not abondoning my baby (my art), but rather building a playground in which my toddler will one day play with others. That does, of course, assume that I spend lots of time to nurture and feed my baby so that she, indeed, grows to be a toddler!

On Friday, a trio that included myself, the lovely and organized Alison Chisholm and gifted photographer Colin Mills, held a photo shoot. Aurelia Jewels (Fir & 2nd) were incredibly generous to offer us their space for taking pictures, as well as their beautiful jewelry to wear. My favorite thing they said to me: “If you’re not gonna film it, you gotta wear it!”. If you look at the pictures, you can see I very gladly took up their offer.

Here is a link to some of the pictures taken by the incredibly talented Colin Mills:

If you’re not in the theatre business, you’re probably asking yourself, “what the heck is a dramaturg?” A dramaturg can be many things; an editor, researcher, encouraging critic, and even director. My dramaturg, Kathy Parsons, is a story guide and structure analyst. She looks at the overall journey of my characters, their needs and wants, and works to strengthen character and plot. She will often draw out existing but weak plot points and suggest that I make them clearer.

For instance, a few weeks ago, Kathy spread before me several pages of graphs and charts. Basically, the charts and Kathy’s analysis showed that one of my character’s journeys was not clear. Questions were asked, such as: “What does — really want?”, “What does — overcome?” and “How does — grow or change?”. The character’s story was very muddled; was it about becoming independent from her mother or about dealing with the disappearance of a dream or about the journey from blaming others to seeing herself as responsible? I walked away from the dramaturgy session overwhelmed with questions, my mind churning with possible answers.

Part of my artistic process is actually not thinking about my work. It seems that while I go for a walk, converse with ESL students, hang out with friends and spend time with James, my sub-conscious turns gears. Suddenly, at some point during Easter weekend, I knew what Ava’s story was. (The solution seemed to drop down from the sky like a gift strewn from an ally plane during war-time. It really did seem to “thud” as it hit the ground of my mind.) I quickly jotted down the essence of the journey, which wasn’t any of the possibilities I’d previously thought of listed above, and went back to enjoying my Easter weekend. Monday morning, I began to write, aware of what mistakes my character had to make, what she wanted and needed, and where her journey had to go.

If Kathy had never charted my writing and honestly shown me that my character’s journey was unclear, the story would have stayed muddy. It would have been produced and performed, and people would have walked out of the theatre wondering, “What the heck was that one girl’s story all about?”. Now, there is a strong, tangible, and beautiful tale for this character; one that captured my heart, and will hopefully enthrall yours.

Kathy does more than simply save my play from peril. She also finds books for me to conduct my research, guides my eye to key images and elements within the play, provides feedback about any changes that I make, and encourages the best in my play.

So, thank you Kathy. You rock!

The team of TSGW are pleased to make another exciting announcement: Erin Davies, an experienced local stage manager, will be tech-ing the show at Carousel Theatre! We are happy to welcome Erin on board, and look forward to working with her in August. Tina would like to shout out her appreciation to the passionate, hard working techies and back stage personalities of Vancouver; thanks for all your unsung artistry. It is much appreciated.

The creative team of THE SADDEST GIRL IN THE WORLD are pleased-as-parrots to announce an independent production of the play at Carousel Theatre in Vancouver from August 26th-30th. We are very excited!

The first reading of the first draft of THE SADDEST GIRL IN THE WORLD occured some week and a half ago. I am happy to declare that it went splendidly. There were some tears shed (in character!), and afterwards, some great brainstorming and critique. I honestly love recieving critique about my playwriting, so I was very happy to walk away knowing some of how to make this piece even more astoundingly terrific. Many thanks to Dirk, Kathy and Alison for your creativity, insight, intelligence, passion and sensitivity!

Out of the changes needed, the most pressing is that of time and length. The reading went an hour and a half, without any action or movement, but there is only an hour of alloted time for my production at the Fringe Festivals. Considering that any on stage action or movement would add yet more time, I am currently working to edit my writing by half. I have already cut out some passages I truly love, but that are not necessary for the flow of story or plot, or as exposition to the nature of character. Sometimes I am more than happy to cut words, as I think “Oh well, this is pretty mediocre anyways”, but when the writing is really beautiful or powerful, it is difficult to chop, chop, chop. But necessary. So, I steel myself and exile some truly lovely or arresting images and phrases.

Maybe after all the performances of TSGW are finished and the production simply a memory (boooo!), I will post some of my favourite passages that were cut, like a film-maker posts their deleted scenes on a DVD.

I am pleased to announce that THE SADDEST GIRL IN THE WORLD has a newest edition to its trio of artists; Alison Chisholm. The lovely Alison, an actor, theatre administrator and visual conceptualist, will create the poster and program for THE SADDEST GIRL IN THE WORLD. I’m so happy to have her join our team for TSGW!

In other news, the first draft of TSGW will recieve a read-through this upcoming Thursday. That means that I need to hustle to make sure the writing is where I want it to be!

Since I’m number eight on the waitlist at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, I have been thinking seriously about Bringing My Own Venue so that I can perform this piece in my hometown. I’m particularly interested in the Havana Theatre, especially after seeing the disturbing but beautiful MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE last night. The space at the Havana is very intimate, which works excellently for a one woman show. Stay tuned!