I spoke to Ruthie Dworin from the University of Chicago about her approach to directing my one-act comedy 500 bucks and a pack of smokes.
The Blog
Deathtrap at Vertigo Theatre: An Interview with director Jamie Dunsdon and actors Mark Bellamy and Tyrell Crews
I sat down with director Jamie Dunsdon and actors Mark Bellamy and Tyrell Crews to talk about weapons of choice and Vertigo Theatre’s production of Deathtrap.
Interview with playwright, screenwriter, blogger, and novelist: Maryanne Pope
I spoke with writer Maryanne Pope a playwright, screenwriter, blogger and novelist about her work and her company Pink Gazelle Productions.
Interview with Playwright Wendy Froberg: Queen of the Ring – The Story of Johnnie Mae Young
Interview with Playwright Wendy Froberg about her play Queen of the Ring – The Story of Wrestler Johnnie Mae Young.
Matt Dy: Director of Script Competitions Austin Film Festival
The Austin Film Festival is a celebration of film and television that focuses on story and the people who write the screenplays and teleplays. I gave Matt Dy, the Director of Competitions for The Austin Film Festival, a call to talk to him about how the festival began and what participants can expect.
Interview with Barb Mitchell – Do What You Love
You might know Barb Mitchell as the cohost of Calgary’s first morning show for Global back in the early nineties. Or you might remember her as Miss Calgary back in the early eighties. Or more recently you might have seen her on television as a judgmental church lady in the gritty Depression-era drama Damnation. I sat down with Barb, just after this year’s Calgary Stampede, to talk with her about her experiences as a broadcaster and her career as a stage and television actor.
Interview with Haysam Kadri: Artistic Director The Shakespeare Company
I sat down with the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Company Haysam Kadri to talk about Hamlet, theatre, and just how the Shakespeare Company’s Madness in Great Ones season came about.
Interview with Artistic Director of Verb Theatre Jamie Dunsdon: The Wolves
The Wolves is being produced and directed by Jamie Dunsdon the Artistic Director and founder of Verb Theatre. I sat down with Jamie to talk about The Wolves, her experiences running a local theatre company and her approach to directing.
Red Rock Diner is Summertime fun at Stage West Calgary – Interview with Red Robinson & Ben Cookson
Red Rock Diner by Dean Regan is a rockabilly jukebox musical that celebrates the music of the fifties and features plenty of classic hits like Johnny B. Good, Who Wrote the Book of Love and Great Balls of Fire! The play is loosely based on the early career of Canada’s champion of rock ‘n’ roll music DJ Red Robinson who started spinning rock ‘n’ roll records on Vancouver’s CJOR while he was still in high school in 1954.
Newmarket National 10 Minute Play Festival Celebrates Canadian Theatre
“We’ve received submissions from every province in Canada and from Canadians from around the world. We’ve received scripts from China, Tasmania, Australia, Ireland, many states throughout the U.S., and so on, and I think that Canadians are catching on to the idea that this is their festival.”
Uncensored, Unexpected, Unforgettable Theatre: Calgary Fringe 2018 – Festival Director Michele Gallant
The Calgary Fringe has become part of the cultural fabric of the city and is a welcome addition to the theatre season providing Calgarians with the opportunity to see and experience local, national and international artists. I spoke with the current Festival Director and Producer of the Calgary Fringe Michele Gallant.
The Hemingway Solution, Parts Unknown, and Anthony Bourdain
We’re not supposed to talk about suicidal thoughts – that’s taboo. Especially if you’re a man. It means you’re weak, right? And unfortunately, if you don’t talk about it and you don’t get the help you need the end result could be deadly. And that’s why we need to talk about Anthony Bourdain.
Interview with Actor Braden Griffiths: 21st Annual Betty Mitchell Awards
On Monday, June 25th the Calgary Theatre community came together to celebrate the Twenty-first annual Betty Mitchell Awards. I sat down with actor, playwright, and current President of the Betty Mitchell Board Braden Griffiths, who was just finishing his run as Sherlock Holmes in the Vertigo Theatre production of Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem, to talk about the awards and theatre in Calgary.
Interview with Lunchbox Theatre Director of Marketing & Communications Lauren Thompson
“Have fun and be creative. If you won’t find it interesting to read why is your audience going to find it interesting to read? If you don’t like the way it looks, chances are your audience won’t like the way it looks. So, trust you and do what you want to do. Marketing is the place where you can be creative and do your own things. Financial people have to follow a budget – have to follow numbers, but marketing is that world where you can have your creative juices flow, if you will.”
Urban Stories: Social Justice Issues for the Stage
Helen Young is the Artistic Director and one of the founders of Urban Stories Theatre. Her theatre, film, and television work goes back more than 30 years and includes acting, singing, dancing, stunt work, writing, teaching, and directing. I spoke to Helen about her thoughts on theatre’s place in our culture and this year’s festival.
Interview with Playwright Neil Fleming: Spare Parts
Neil Fleming is a multi-talented, award winning Calgary designer, playwright and television producer. In our hour and a half chat last Friday Neil and I talked about all kinds of things including playwriting, depression, Chuck Wendig, poltergeists and ADHD.
Playwright Wendy Froberg: A Woman of a Certain Age
A Woman of A Certain Age is an entertaining and insightful play about six women who are trying to cope with the demands of family and career as they struggle with the physical and emotional challenges of growing older in a culture obsessed with youth and beauty. I sat down with Wendy to talk with her about her play and how she got into playwriting.
An Interview with Playwright Dale Lee Kwong: Ai Yah! Sweet and Sour Secrets
“It’s been my goal to have a play at Lunchbox Theatre since 1978. I was in grade twelve when the Stage One program first started, and I don’t even know how I ended up going to all the Stage One readings but I did, and I made a mental note to myself that someday I would like to have a play at Lunchbox.”
A Stephen King Christmas: On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft
You learn by doing but you also learn by reading the work of others and by reading books about the craft. And if you’re a writer then a good book to read because it’s fun and it has some great advice about the writing process is Stephen King’s On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft.
A Christmas Carol by James Hutchison premieres at the Carriage House Theatre
A Christmas Carol by James Hutchison at the Carriage House Theatre
An Interview With Playwright Maria Crooks: The Mary Mink Story
An interview with playwright Maria Crooks about her new play: The Mary Mink Story.
An Interview with Playwright Meredith Taylor-Parry: Book Club II
“I enjoy writing humour and I like the challenge. At the same time, if the story doesn’t have heart, if nothing serious is going on underneath the humour….what’s the point really? I want my plays to address some aspect of the human struggle that hopefully people can relate to. That’s what I want to see when I go to a play so naturally I aspire to that in my writing.”
Montparnasse with Kathy Zaborksy and Carolyn Ruether is Must See Theatre
We go to the theatre to experience something about the complexity, beauty, heartache, joy and tragedy of life. So when you see a play that delivers…that has a wonderful script, mesmerizing performances and takes you along for a ride, where you completely forget about the time, you have to tell others. You have to share the news. You have to let people know they need to go and see this show before it closes.
QUOTA Gets a London Production in the British Theatre Challenge
I wrote QUOTA while I was doing a little research for another play about the internment camps that the Canadian government ran during World War One and World War Two.* It’s always bothered me that we were fighting dictatorships that put people in camps while we were doing the same thing. Of course our camps weren’t concentration camps but once you have a different set of laws and rules applied to one group in your society – how do you keep it from going to the extreme?
6 Guitars by Chase Padgett is a Fun and Uplifting Tribute to Music
6 Guitars is a one man, six character, tribute to music, with plenty of laughs and lots of heart.
The one man standing on stage playing six characters and six different styles of music is Chase Padgett. Chase is a multi-talented musician, actor and story teller who switches effortlessly between this cast of diverse characters as they tell their stories and play their kind of music.