The 2012 SDA Provincial Festival is officially off to the races after four productions this evening. All of the plays seemed to go on without a hitch, so let's jump right in...
LOST CONNECTION by Kay-Lynne Collier - Presented by North Battleford Comprehensive High School - This was an original play, written by a student who also happened to be the stage manager. Any time there's an original script in a festival, I have to hand it to the playwright for having the guts to put their own work on display in a competitive setting. Kudos to the director for all of the theatricality in the staging. An ensemble of actors portrayed the inner reason and fear of the main character, and their choreography definitely made a strong impact on the audience. I also appreciated the visual design of the show; it was simple, but effective. I especially loved the bright white table on stage, which they used in a number of interesting ways.
WITH REGARD TO COOPER CLAWSON'S CONSCIENCE by Bryan Starchman - Presented by McNaughton High School - By far, this was the most technically challenging show of the evening. They had a tremendous number of lighting and sound cues, in addition to a set that transformed into a surprising number of different locations, and everything ran smoothly from one cue to the next. A special mention to Trevor Poole for his humorous portrayal of C.C. and Justin and Jordan Bradley as the two nerds. They really had the audience in the palm of their hands from start to finish. And you have to appreciate a show with not one, but two hysterical dance breaks.
THE MOST MASSIVE WOMAN WINS by Madeleine George - Presented by Swift Current Comprehensive High School - This is a very mature play that was appropriately handled by its four young actresses (who were also the co-directors, by the way). While not specifically a monologue play, there are a lot of monologues in the piece, which poses quite a huge challenge for actors of any age. The fact that high school actresses bravely tackled a play with extremely emotional monologues is reason enough to be impressed. My favorite moment of the play came when the characters changed clothes behind four mobile screens; I wish there had been more variations in the setting like that one because it was very unexpected and you could feel the audience react positively to the variety.
HAIRBALL by Lindsay Price - Presented by Rosetown Central High School - This is a deceptively simple vignette play, until you look at all the technical requirements. Or rather, costume requirements. Or even more specifically, wig requirements. Holy wigs! Wigs, wigs, wigs, wigs, and more wigs. The director must have looted every Merle Norman in Canada to outfit her large cast with all the wigs that are required to pull off this show. I also have to point out the lovely painted backdrop of a forest. Clearly a lot of work went into this scenic element, so I was pleased to see it used several times throughout the play. My favorite scene in the play is a monologue by a crazed hairdresser named Gladys and Michelle Hettrick had the audience in stitches with her strong comedic timing.
LOST CONNECTION by Kay-Lynne Collier - Presented by North Battleford Comprehensive High School - This was an original play, written by a student who also happened to be the stage manager. Any time there's an original script in a festival, I have to hand it to the playwright for having the guts to put their own work on display in a competitive setting. Kudos to the director for all of the theatricality in the staging. An ensemble of actors portrayed the inner reason and fear of the main character, and their choreography definitely made a strong impact on the audience. I also appreciated the visual design of the show; it was simple, but effective. I especially loved the bright white table on stage, which they used in a number of interesting ways.
WITH REGARD TO COOPER CLAWSON'S CONSCIENCE by Bryan Starchman - Presented by McNaughton High School - By far, this was the most technically challenging show of the evening. They had a tremendous number of lighting and sound cues, in addition to a set that transformed into a surprising number of different locations, and everything ran smoothly from one cue to the next. A special mention to Trevor Poole for his humorous portrayal of C.C. and Justin and Jordan Bradley as the two nerds. They really had the audience in the palm of their hands from start to finish. And you have to appreciate a show with not one, but two hysterical dance breaks.
THE MOST MASSIVE WOMAN WINS by Madeleine George - Presented by Swift Current Comprehensive High School - This is a very mature play that was appropriately handled by its four young actresses (who were also the co-directors, by the way). While not specifically a monologue play, there are a lot of monologues in the piece, which poses quite a huge challenge for actors of any age. The fact that high school actresses bravely tackled a play with extremely emotional monologues is reason enough to be impressed. My favorite moment of the play came when the characters changed clothes behind four mobile screens; I wish there had been more variations in the setting like that one because it was very unexpected and you could feel the audience react positively to the variety.
HAIRBALL by Lindsay Price - Presented by Rosetown Central High School - This is a deceptively simple vignette play, until you look at all the technical requirements. Or rather, costume requirements. Or even more specifically, wig requirements. Holy wigs! Wigs, wigs, wigs, wigs, and more wigs. The director must have looted every Merle Norman in Canada to outfit her large cast with all the wigs that are required to pull off this show. I also have to point out the lovely painted backdrop of a forest. Clearly a lot of work went into this scenic element, so I was pleased to see it used several times throughout the play. My favorite scene in the play is a monologue by a crazed hairdresser named Gladys and Michelle Hettrick had the audience in stitches with her strong comedic timing.
Thanks for all the positive feedback and we really enjoyed your work shop. McNaughton
ReplyDeleteHi, I'm Kay-Lynne Collier, the playwright of Lost Connection. My friend Emma-Leigh Gerlinsky told me about your blog, and it's super funny and interesting. Thanks for coming to the festival, and I didn't get to go to your workshop. Which one was it? I only got to go to the 360 theatre one. Anyway, thanks for the feedback, and I really hope you had a good time at the festival, I know I did!
ReplyDelete-Kay-Lynne Collier
Thank you so much for checking out my blog. I had a great time at the festival and am happy to hear that your experience was positive as well! I really enjoyed your show and think it's so fantastic that an original work advanced to the provincial level. You must have been so pleased with the performance; everything seemed to run smoothly from where I was sitting and I know the audience responded very positively. I actually hoped that I would get the chance to meet you in one of my playwrighting workshops because I love having the opportunity to chat with other playwrights. Perhaps our paths will cross in the future. I hope you keep writing and please do keep in touch. Congratulations and thanks again for your production!
DeleteI'm really happy that you enjoyed it. I've been reading some of your scripts, and they're really awesome, so I'm thinking that I'm going to suggest that North Battleford's drama club perform one of your plays for next year's Regionals. Are there any scripts of yours that you'd particularly think would go over well at Regionals, or that you'd like to see performed? Or, what is your favourite play that you have written? Just a few suggestions would be nice... And then I'll check out the sample text, and pick one out to buy for performance, if my drama club agrees with the selection. :) Thanks!
ReplyDeletePS: I'd love to meet you too! I don't meet a lot of playwrights- it'd be nice to do one of your workshops.
That's so nice of you. Just shoot me an message at haywardb@hotmail.com and I can email you anything you'd like to read for free. I'd be thrilled if your school ever produced one of my plays. I've always been impressed by the NB drama club. I'd have to say Split is the play I know would go over very well at festival. It's already won a few in the USA and could be done very creatively. On the comedy front, Drama Geeks has won every festival that it's entered so far. As dramas go, I'm particularly proud of The Waking Moment and Twinkle Toes, but because they are fairly serious, they don't get produced as much as I would like. Thanks for asking!
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