We are finally back and we have a special treat for you in four parts. Sit back, relax and enjoy as Ceris talks to some actors watching the theatre LYTE production of Alice in Wonderland and then has a chat with Marque, the musical director for Alice in Wonderland. We then take a second to chat with the kids of Gypsy, which is playing now at the Palace Theatre.
We are a few weeks into our process at Original Kids and the troupe is picking up the material quite quickly. When actors are young like that, they are often very sponge-like. The material gets soaked into their brains super fast and with great clarity. So, the director is ploughing ahead with all the blocking and character work and the music director is already reviewing material and refining their singing. This means it’s the choreographer’s turn to jump in there and give the kids some movement vocabulary. Time for something new and fresh and NOT THE SAME AS EVERY OTHER PETER PAN?!?!?!? What?
Yeah, that’s a challenge, you know? Making it fresh and fun and organic when it is for a story that has been told 1000 ways in 1000 different cities with different songs and versions of the story and yet, certain movement just seems to be dictated by the characters, the story and the situations of the Lost Boys, the Indians and the Pirates.
So, what do you do? Do you force choreo into a situation, just so it can be different? Or do you accept your fate and go with the tried and true movement that you know has been done before? Well, for this very youthful version, I opted to go with what is going to work for the performers – and that’s simple, effective and funny choreography and blocking.
We are already close to having finished the initial blocking and choreo for the show and the kids are loving it. There are a pile of jazz squares, (a move that is classic! – and in this case quite funny) as well as some silly hijinks in the movement, because that is what the director wants. Ms Kerry Hishon enjoys the silly. The sillier the better and for this show and these kids, it really seems to be working.
So, here’s hoping those 7 or 8 jazz squares with the crazy eyes and sparkle fingers work for the audience, too!
The members of TLTDAY have been going in a variety of directions lately and we had to arrange our schedules so we could even find a chance to meet and re-connect, (and even then one member messed up the schedule!). But as a team, we are hoping to reinvigorate our podcast and blog with some new themes and ideas in 2014. So, what is a better way to get the ball rolling than to have a guest blog – from the delightful Kerry Hishon? Read on to see what her suggestions are for reinvigoration…. maybe we’ll even put some ideas to use!
10 Ways to Reinvigorate Your Creativity
It’s January, it’s cold and crummy outside, and you’re feeling uninspired. What’s a creative person to do? Shake things up, of course! If you’re feeling the January blahs, take a look at this list!
- Have fun in the snow. Don’t let snow bum you out. Like the song says… “Do you wanna build a snowman?” Help a neighbour shovel out their driveway, or make a fort with your friends. Or draw happy faces with the snow on peoples’ cars! Fresh air will get your muscles moving and your brain thinking!
- Immerse yourself in culture. Go see a show or a movie, check out a museum, hit up a concert. Just get out and get inspired!
- Plan a creative get-together. Arrange a time to spend time with some of your most creative friends and go get some food and drinks. Leave the cell phones at home.
- Revisit a childhood hobby. Colour in a colouring book. Make friendship bracelets. Finger paint. Let yourself reminisce about the good old days.
- Get out and about. Go for a walk or a bike ride. Spend some time in nature. Bring your camera and take photos of interesting things you see.
- Rest. You may be feeling burnt out – take some time for yourself and take a nap!
- Take a class. Is there something you’ve been dying to try? Find a class and sign up! Painting, trapeze, modern dance, Cantonese cooking… there’s something for everyone!
- Mix things up. If you’re a costume designer, try volunteering to run lights on the next show. Are you an amazing ASM? Try making props! Are you an actor extraordinaire? Perhaps you’d enjoy being an assistant director!
- Do something mundane. Sometimes people get the best ideas when they are doing a seemingly mindless task. Clean the bathroom, cook some soup, sort and de-clutter your craft room. Side benefit: you’ve done something productive!
- Make a list of everything you like. No holds barred. Teddy bears, professional wrestling, yellow roses, sailing, dubstep music, fuzzy blankets. Now take the list, cut out each item into small strips, throw them in a hat, and pick out three. Figure out how to combine them in a ridiculous way: a professional wrestler goes sailing with his childhood teddy bear. Now you have the start of a play, story, drawing, improv situation, song… even if it doesn’t work out, you’ve at least written created something!
Disney’s Peter Pan Jr.
This is going to be an adventure – hopefully a fun and interesting one, for the actors involved as well as the artistic team. This is, after all, a youth production of a full scale show created on 8 hours of rehearsal per week in a mere 9 weeks.
Working with Original Kids is always an adventure. It’s is always an excercize in flexibility and creativity and Disney’s Peter Pan Jr. will be no exception.
For this project I am the choreographer for approx. 30 wonderful kids between the ages of 7 and 14. This week they came into that first rehearsal with excitement and energy and enthusiasm. They performed their audition pieces with all the professionalism they could muster and they’ve been cast – as fairies, indians, lost boys and pirates and we are off together on our adventure to create this show.
They are going to learn so much from this experience, but it always amazes me just how much I learn from them while going through this process. I suppose that’s part of the draw of theatre, each show and each team of people have something to offer and it is always different. Even if the team is the same, or the show is one you’ve explored before – it is ever changing.
What a great life lesson.
So, here we go… Off to Neverland!
We are back with our friends Joe Recchia and Andrew Rethazi. We talk about the massive creative endeavour that is Oklahoma! presented by Musical Theatre Productions and coming soon to the Palace Theatre. Ceris is directing so the tables are turned as we talk about the motivations behind the show and the challenges it presents. Tune in for an in depth discussion of set design in theatre and the challenges presented to a musical director on such a classic show.
Ceris is off to the Puppeteers of America Festival in Philadelphia, and she is eager to share her experience with you. Tune in to hear all about Ceris’ trip, the people she’s met and the inspiration she’s found.
Tonight was our first foray into a puppet centric event at The Palace Theatre here in London, Ontario.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I had a great time. So many lovely people came to the theatre to make a puppet and to watch puppetry on our big screen. It was a really special evening.
I know the youngest person there was 3, and with some assistance, she made 2 puppets. I’m not going to guess the top age of our guests, but I know we had folks of every category in the theatre and I know that everyone there was definitely young at heart.
There was a young man there, who was so very intent on his creations. He made his own stuff, no matter what. And no matter what, all of his stuff was inspired by Jim Henson’s creations. This young man hasn’t made it to double digits in age yet, but he knows all the shows that Henson ever created, all the guest stars and the performers who are behind, (or underneath) our famous felt friends. He regularly visits fan sites and I watched him draw a Kermit and Piggy and turn them into wonderful shadow puppets within 10 minutes and then perform them against our walls of the lobby. He stayed to enjoy our screening of Being Elmo and was thrilled to watch the show. His mother saw a lot of her son in the explanation of Kevin Clash’s determination to create. I could see it in his eyes and hear it in his voice. This young man will create something wonderful in his lifetime and it will have been largely inspired by the work of Jim Henson.
Another guest happened to be a designer for the new video game of My Muppet Show. It was great to meet him and share with him some of my enjoyment of his creation. He painstakingly worked on his puppet creation and had come prepared with more materials as he knew exactly what he wanted to make – just like our determined fan above. If you’ve not seen his work yet on this great app – then pull out your smart phone and start playing. It’s a great fun, free app!
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/my-muppets-show/id618376844?mt=8
We only have two more nights of our celebration of puppets, and I sincerely hope that we are financially successful enough to put together something similar next year. It is quite clear that the fans are out there. And I was so honoured to meet them.
So it has been a while….
It has been an intense Spring and early Summer with all the shows and projects and while it is supposed to calm down in the summertime and I generally look forward to that – it really hasn’t happened this time around.
To kick off the season we decided to spend some time in New York City. I registered for the Broadway Teachers Workshop and we visited with friends from the Art of Combat Workshop. It was a super time with lots of shows and lots of exploring the city. We did have a little dampener on the whole trip when our car broke down on the way to New York and for some strange reason New York mechanics could not (even given a full week) figure out what was wrong with it to repair it. (More on that later – details and such)
We saw some great shows including: Once, Peter and the Starcather, Pippin and Alan Cumming in Macbeth. We explored a number of Muppet related locations in the city and that was delightful. Also, we met with some friends from toughpigs.com and it was pretty cool to meet those folks in person – next time we will have to plan for a longer visit!
After making it home (that was an adventure with the car) I had a short, but lovely trip to Niagara-on-the-Lake with my Mum to see more shows. Still an adventure, but a lovely time. This was after another puppet building workshop at The Palace Theatre, which was another great time with more lovely monsters coming into the world!
And now… I’m deep in the process of building puppets for the City of London. I’m not sure how much I’m allowed to say about the project at this time, but I’m sure they’ll be making a scene around town seen enough, so you won’t have to wait too long to see what they are about.
And next week, I’m off to the Puppeteers of America Festival in Philadelphia. I’ve never been there – and I really hope that my car makes it there and back with no troubles this time. It’s going to be an intense, busy and exciting week. I just hope that I can take it all in and savour the experiences.
It’s been anything but a slow, sedate summer. But what are you gonna do? Take what life brings and make the most of it all, right? I know I’m certainly lucky to have all these experiences, so I’m taking it all in and savouring it. It goes by fast.
We are happy to be back behind the mic and talking inspiration, creativity and spare time (or lack thereof). We chat about where we’ve been, what we’ve been doing and how we’ve been keeping ourselves creative these past couple of months.
So, the final show in my long list of shows has opened. Avenue Q had it’s first preview on Thursday and Opening on Friday. It was great. Really, truly great. The performers have worked so hard and paid so much attention to the details of puppet manipulation. They developed such strong characters and worked diligently to find ways to let the puppet be the star. It isn’t an easy thing for a performer to do – have you ever thought of that? A piece of felt on your hand needs to get all the attention and applause and adoration that you would normally get. The thing is, once they got the hang of giving the puppet the focus, the overal performances improved exponentially. There has to be a lesson in there, somewhere. Something about relinquishing control, or giving over to a higher power, or letting the show be more important than you are… I’m sure there are several lessons in there. I’m just glad they learned them.
I’m not too proud to admit that at certain points in the show, I well up. Not because the story is so moving, but because the puppetry is so moving. These performers picked up felt and fur only a few weeks ago and we spent time working on manipulation, eye focus, lip sync, character, breath, gravity and all of that sort of stuff that makes a piece of fur on your hand suddenly seem to come alive. Also, we had the great privilege of having a guest come to one of their final rehearsals to offer some pearls of wisdom – did you ever watch Fraggle Rock? Zoboomafoo? Well then, you know that the guest we had was someone of influence with these young actors. They took his words to heart. As I always do – and I hope he gets the chance to see what they’ve accomplished. It’s pretty miraculous.
If you get a chance…. go see it. Be prepared to well up… if you know how hard it is to learn to puppeteer. Or not, just well up cause it’s good. And worth it. Go.
