As part of my MFA in playwrighting at the University of Calgary, I needed to write a pre-thesis play. In consultation with my supervisor we thought, “why not a musical?” On April 4th and 5th I was given the opportunity to workshop a truncated version of this new musical with a 45 minute staged reading at the University Theatre at the U of C. Our incredibly cast was made up of Robyn Ord (Susan), Elinor Holt (Dr. Pepper), and Steven Conde (Rex) with Konrad Pluta as music director, led by Christine Brubaker as director. I was so happy with what these imaginative artists were able to bring to this piece, they were a dream to work with! Thank you to them and the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary for making it possible. I look forward to completing the piece!

It feels great to be back at school. After two years of the pandemic and living in Calgary, it felt like it was time to re-invest in some learning. In September I started my MFA in Playwrighting at the University of Calgary. They do keep you busy as a Grad student! But so far I’m having a great time getting to dedicate myself to studying plays, writing plays, oh, and musicals. Drop by the office and say hello!

 It’s hard not to love this place, and after ten years of coming back, it has started to feel like home. I’m lucky to be working back with Rising Tide Theatre in Trinity NL, where I’m acting, as well as arranging music, writing comedy sketches, and music directing the Dinner Theatre and Shenanigan shows. I keep on telling folks to visit, and hopefully these photos might get you interested…

Had the greatest time working on this show at the Citadel Theatre this Spring.  At a time when there wasn’t much theatre going on, getting the chance to act, sing, and dance with such a  talented creative team, cast, and crew was a gift!

I am so honoured to have been included in this project with my long time collaborator Richard Ouzounian. It has been a long pandemic, so when Eclipse approached us and asked us to write a song inspired by this time there was certainly a lot of inspiration to draw from. I’m really proud what Richard and I came up with for this song, and to try something different, I wrote the music for the song first and then handed it over to Richard to write the lyrics.
The project should be hitting the boards sometime later in the year, and I’ll share the details here as they come up!

Had a wonderful time workshopping the new Opera “February” with Opera on the Avalon while out here in Trinity. As someone who has worked in Musical Theatre as a performer and writer it was absolutely fascinating to look at the similarities and differences in the craft. For example: as a librettist you have even less text to work with than musicals! It requires such succinctness. It’s a new world but it was so great to be a part of and to explore the part of Cal for the workshop. Thank you Opera on the Avalon, and novelist/librettist Lisa Moore and Composer/librettist Laura Kaminsky for having us!

Yet again, I feel so lucky to be working at a time like this. I’m back for the summer in Trinity Newfoundland with Rising Tide Theatre, surrounded by a community and natural beauty that I love. I’ll be performing in four shows in rep this summer, including the beautiful “West Moon” by Al Pittman, which does a lovely job of addressing issues around resettlement. Are you around Newfoundland for the summer? It’d be great to see you. Visit Rising Tide for more info!

Clockwise from top right: Patti Neice (Lunchbox GM), Lenette Randall (actor), Bronwyn Steinberg (Lunchbox AD/Director), Kennedy Greene (SM), Grant Tilly (playwright), Jeselle Lauren (actor), David Sklar (actor).

Christmas in April, what could be better?

Like a lot of my artist friends, I’ve been muddling my way through this pandemic. I’ve found work online as a simulator (role play, but for business… not that kind of role play people), but I’ve also been keeping myself busy with my own writing of plays, screenplays, and musicals. It’s been a lot of self motivated work, so how great it was to actually work with a team on the development of a new script during this strange time.

The show I’ve been working on is called “Calling Out Christmas! “Here’s a little blurb:

On his left-leaning podcast, Alex is tackling one of his most ambitious subjects ever: the need to stop celebrating Christmas. His partner Terra arrives, challenging him (in front of the audience) to a debate, with the winner deciding whether they will celebrate Christmas or not.

We had a blast during the workshop (over zoom) and had a chance to really dive into the script. What came out was a new draft of the piece that I am so proud of. Lunchbox is where my musical “Bingo Ladies” first got its start, and this Stage One program for new work leads to a lot of new shows and opportunities. Check them out and (if you can during pandemic times) support what they do here: Lunchbox Theatre.

Thanks to all who attended the live reading on April 3rd! I hope to see everyone in real life soon.

It was sometime in May and I had been in isolation with my Father in Calgary for about two months when I got the call from Donna Butt, the AD at Rising Tide Theatre in Trinity Newfoundland. Though there would be no public performances for the summer, she was bringing together a small core company that would work at the theatre; going through and organizing archives, writing, workshopping shows, and filming segments of productions from past years. As I’d been a member of the company for seven years, with works in development and shows that I’d performed that would be filmed, would I be interested in coming out? Of course.

Trinity Newfoundland is one of my favourite places, both for the scenery and the people (and the freshwater swimming!) so I jumped at the chance. We had to apply for an exemption which was luckily approved. A few days before my two weeks in isolation was over I got a message that the province had approved the theatre to perform for small audiences.

But how!? It was a lot to figure out. We ended up with a small core company that performed to crowds made up exclusively of Newfoundlanders enjoying a “Stay Home” year. I performed in the “Trinity Pageant” (which has been a mainstay of the company since it started performing in Trinity in 1993) as well as a musical variety and skit show, “Shenanigans” which I helped put together some of the music for. Audiences were socially distanced, wore masked when they came in to the theatre, and the cast got to do what we love: Perform.

I don’t take lightly how lucky I was, to be the sole mainlander in the company and to have even gotten into the province given how many friends and even family members who were denied entry. And it was a beautiful summer, performing, fishing, whale watching, berry picking, hiking, bon-firing, and swimming! (Did I mention I’m a fan of the freshwater swimming?!). I was also given time to write a new draft of the play I’ve been working on “A Summer in Newfoundland” which we read at the end of the summer.

It’s great to be back in Calgary with my Father, but I do miss my Newfoundlanders.