IN THE GARDEN OF THE SELFISH GIANT by Sandra Fenichel Asher - Presented by Sacred Heart High School - I knew I was going to love this play before it even started. The stunning, albeit simple, set immediately drew me into the play. When the lights came up I was already invested in the lives of the characters because I wanted to know how the setting played a role in the story. The acting was top notch all around, with a special shout out to Corrigan Fafard as Brianna. I was shocked to find out that she is 17 years old in real life because she brought to life a very believable 9 year old girl -- so much so that I assumed she had to be in junior high. She's a natural.
JUST A TEENAGE WASTELAND by Leanne Griffin - Presented by Hanley Composite School - This was an original play, written by the director (with input from the cast), and I enjoyed it quite a lot. Weaving contemporary songs with stories of teenage angst was a great device, especially because it helped feature a very strong cast of actors in their vignettes. All 7 actors had very strong characterization skills and remained true to those characters throughout. As "New Kid," Morgan Lester really went the extra mile in bringing an energy to the show that kept us all entertained. I also thought the visual design of the show was incredible! The set was simple, but effective, and the costumes really popped against the black curtain. These types of plays are my bread and butter as a high school playwright, so it was awesome to see one done from a whole other point of view.
CUT by Ed Monk - Presented by Campbell Collegiate - Campbell always does a great job with their plays (I think this is the 12 consecutive year they've been to provincials) and Cut was no exception. The ensemble of actors worked beautifully together and the pacing of the entire show was spot on. This is one of those shows that I've seen performed a ton of times, but it's one that never seems to get old. There are so many opportunities for physical comedy that I'm aways interested to see how each director decides to stage it. This production went with a more dry humour approach, which I think worked quite nicely. I still think the scene with the 2 techies is one of the best ever written, and Conor MacNeil and Kris Dreger killed it!
BOY MEETS GIRL: A YOUNG LOVE STORY by Sam Wolfson - Presented by Lampman School - I saw this production a few weeks back at the Region 1 festival and it was cool to see how much it had grown in that short amount of time. As two youngsters in love, Maya Branyik-Thornton and Sam Paxman had incredibly chemistry and had the audience in the palm of their hands from the word go. What I loved most about this production is that it never slammed the audience in the head with the idea of "young love through the eyes of kids...haha." No, it treated their love as real and that really came across, which was actually quite moving. Toward the end of the play there was an unfortunate technical glitch, but stuff like that just happens in live theatre, which is part of the reason I love it so much. Anything can happen, and Maya and Sam absolutely rolled with the punches and kept on moving forward. Terrific job!
VAMP IRE by Bradley Hayward - Presented by Carrot River Jr/Sr High School - Once in a lifetime...maybe twice if you're lucky...an actor, director, playwright will be a part of a production that magically creates electricity in the air and vibrations in the rafters. For me, this was that production. Carrot River took my words from here on earth and carried them into a completely new galaxy that I didn't even know existed. Directors Dean Armstrong and Serena Palmer saw something in my script that I did not know it had, and completely knocked it out of the park, as well as the park after that, and the one after that. I have never, ever, in my entire career been with an audience that was literally buzzing with excitement. In fact, the audience eventually became part of the play itself, which kept the energy building more and more, allowing the actors to use that momentum to bring the whole thing home. When the play was over, the feeling was incredible -- like I had just ran a marathon! I was so proud of the cast when they received a standing ovation. Then in the lobby after the show a stranger came to congratulate me for writing the play and told me that she could not help but leap out of her seat after it was all over. I asked why and she said that she felt drawn toward the stage somehow, and that she had never felt anything like it. Needless to say, it took a long time for me to come down to earth from a high like that. At this point, winning or losing the festival doesn't matter one tiny bit. What matters is that the students from Carrot River, those in the audience last night, and myself, were all part of a special, once-in-a-lifetime experience...together.
Congratulations to all of the schools who presented plays today! It truly was a phenomenal day of theatre and I look forward to seeing what tomorrow has in store. I'm sure it will be amazing!
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