I’m directing for Sage Theatre!

A Beautiful View, By Daniel MacIvor, NOVEMBER 7-15

This is my first show directing for Sage Theatre’s mainstage! Normally, whenever I’m doing a show I post it here on the blog, so here we go. I also have to praise Rare Results… this poster design is fantastic.

And I’ve been blessed with an amazing team. My designers are inventive and passionate, and my actors are a perfect mix of fearless and questioning. We’ll try anything, but we’ll always ask questions to make sure it works. And my crew knows what needs to be done before anyone else realizes it.

Show synopsis and information below:

A quirky, comic tale from Canadian theatre stalwart Daniel MacIvor, A Beautiful View intimately examines the relationship between two contemporary women. From beginning to end, awkward introductions and random meetings turn into tentative romance. Mistakes are made as our brave heroines strive for connection. Each moment becomes an examination in trying to better understand their relationship. Oh, and did we mention the bear?

Directed by Jason Mehmel
Set and Lighting Design by Kathryn Smith
Costume Design by Kathryn Smith
Sound Design by Aidan Lytton

https://tickets.vertigotheatre.com/TheatreManager/1/login&event=0

 

Nerd Culture Invades Sports Church

Recently I was at the Red & White Comic Expo, put on by Phoenix Comics. Named so for the event hall, called the Red & White club. It overlooks a football field, and this club is where the wealthier patrons will often dine.

It’s not lost on us that a gathering of nerdy pop-culture invades a sports-church. The demographics involved don’t often overlap.

I was selling copies of my books, FIGHT COMICS, sharing the area with friends and collaborators. It was a good day, but the best part was probably wandering to all the creators tables and buying their books. Not the prints, or comics from their own collections, but their own comics. The ones they made themselves.

I’m a sucker for indie comics. You can find some amazing stuff, and it’s so unfiltered. There’s no publishing wall to break through; if you’ve made the book and you’re at the table, you’ve broken in.

The voices of the stories can be amazing as well. Sometimes it’s an artist that has some amazing visuals in their head, and they’re building a story just so they can get it out in front of people. The dialogue might ring a little hollow, or the characterizations won’t make complete sense, but you don’t care because you can see that vision they’re trying to show you.

Other times, you’re holding in your hands a book that they have thought through extensively. Each page has been carefully considered and developed. Nothing is just thrown out for fun; in fact, the fun was in building the details and making sure everything held together flawlessly. Even if the story doesn’t work for me, I turn each page with deep respect.

There’s also many creators who having so much fun that you can’t help but smile as they turn out joke after joke in each story. I don’t write a lot of humor, so I’m pretty jealous…

I love a lot of comics, and I enjoy stuff published by the majors, don’t get me wrong. But nothing quite has the excitement of bringing home a stack of books that I have exactly zero preconceptions on. I have no idea what I’m in for.

So I buckle up, and turn the page.

Some personal favorites from the show are below. They’re both examples of the kind of work I wouldn’t find anywhere else, which proves the importance of these comic shows.

Jillian Fleck
http://jillianfleck.tumblr.com/

Emily Chu and Christian Frederiksen
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1280999284/hymn-graphic-novels-nocturnal-the-last-city