Ep. 20 – Creation Addiction in the Time of Quarantine

Theatre needs an audience and that audience needs to be in the same space as the performers for the act of theatre to exist. But with stay-at-home orders and venues shut down for the time being, a lot of theatre makers are finding it hard to stop making stuff. There is a desperate grasping to adapt projects for shoddy online experiements like zoom play readings, facebook live performances, releasing Instagram posts of old footage and production photos to remind subscribers and patrons we’re still here and so on.

Oh, fellow theatre-makers, avoid the low-hanging fruit of online projects and take the opportunity, during the Covid-19 situation, to shake the yoke of creation addiction and chill for a bit. Really reflect on what the future could be.

 

NOTES | Media mentioned:

• The Empty Space by Peter Brook

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Ep. 19 – Shakespeare and The Rock

William Shakespeare was one of a kind. He wrote hugely popular works during his lifetime, had an insane work ethic and a stupendous entreprneurial streak.

Nowadays, these attributes show up in an unlikely, but fitting counterpart… Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

 

NOTES | Media mentioned:

• The Age of Genius: The Seventeenth Century and the Birth of the Modern Mind by A. C. Grayling
• 1599: A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare by James Shapiro
• All Is True (Director: Kenneth Branagh). 2019
• Skyscraper (Director: Rawson Marshall Thurber). 2018
• Dwayne Johnson’s Instagram

 

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Ep. 18 – Creating The Beast of Hyperborea, Part 2

I created a new one-man show recently. I essentially wrote, designed and rehearsed it in about 5 weeks. In this episode I discuss the reception after opening night. I also talk about handling creative burnout.

This is a two-parter. If you haven’t listened to episode 17, I recommend doing that first.

 

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To read a review of this performance go HERE or HERE

 

Ep. 17 – Creating The Beast of Hyperborea, Part 1

I created a new one-man show recently. I essentially wrote, designed and rehearsed it in about 5 weeks. In this episode I discuss that process leading up to the world premiere opening night. In particular, I discuss the resistance I came up against that drained my time, energy and concentration,  and how I saw this project through, despite teetering on creative burnout.

This part one of a two-part installment.

 

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Here’s a link to the book I reference in the episode: Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories by Christopher Booker

Ep. 16 – Low Audience Numbers

Dealing with small audiences can sometimes be a problem, but sometimes it is inevitable. Best to have a healthy mindset when it happens.

 

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Ep. 15 – Countering Idea Debt

Idea debt is a concept coined by graphic novelist Kazu Kibuishi. The concept could be described as holding onto ideas until they lose their luster and the psychic weight that comes with the burden of hanging onto them. We tell ourselves we’ll get around to this or that idea, and a backlog forms, putting us further and further into this creative sense of debt.

In this episode, I talk about this concept and some steps that can be taken to counter it.

 

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Here’s a link to Jessica Abel’s podcast Out on the Wire, where I first heard about Kazu Kibuishi’s phrase Idea Debt… HERE

 

 

Ep. 14 – Influences Both Immediate and Grand

In this special episode I welcome my colleague Jeff Hernandez as we discuss our immediate obsessions as well as people that have had a wider influence on us as artists.

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If you wanna check out the Bike Soccer Jamboree Podcast that Jeff and I recently ended, here’s the LINK.

Ep. 13 – The Structure of Comedy

A little talk about Comedy as a genre of theatre and how the structure of it has changed through the centuries.

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Here’s a link to Christopher Booker’s great book: Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories

Ep. 12 – Fringe Touring and Not Losing Sight of the Forest for the Trees

There’s an old adage that one should not lose sight of the forest for the trees. It basically means one shouldn’t lose sight of the bigger picture. This certainly true of fringe touring.

I have been traveling around to present my shows – ones I write and perform myself – to “fringe” theatre festivals all over North America in the last several years. I have observed within myself, and in others, how difficult it can be to keep the real reasons one is at the festival in the first place in mind, especially once one is in a new city and in the midst of a big arts festival. A fringe fest can feel overwhelming sometimes.

In this episode I talk about how difficult, but how necessary, it is to keep one’s eye on the prize. Once at a festival, after travel and preparation and all the energy to get the show up on its feet, the impetus is to relax a little. To retreat a bit away from the less fun responsibilities (or opportunities) which are often the real reasons for even coming to that festival. I cover the uncomfortable importance of marketing, of choosing to network and of maintaining a really high production quality among other tips and techniques.

 

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Ep. 11 – Lessons from Weckesser

A professor I had as an undergraduate recently passed on. I considered him a sort of indirect mentor on mine. He had quite an impact on me.

This episode is dedicated to John Weckesser (1941-2018).

[NOTE: This episode was originally released March 2, 2018 via SoundCloud. I am re-releasing the first season of episodes here on this site.]