Oh hi there. So, in the past three weeks, I’ve had the distinct pleasure of working with Sky Gilbert, Volcano Theatre, and a brand new awesome group of people known The Mission Business, on a fun little project called Zed.TO. So, life has been awesome, long story short.
With Sky, I was working on a show called Kitchen Party Nervous Breakdown Reality TV Show – it was a fantastic opportunity to create with other queer theatre artists. One of the things I loved most is that it made me more aware of the dualities that exist in the performing world for non-straight artists: while I still often get pereceived as heteronormative, in truth I am anything but, and I still often am far more drawn to the ‘quirky’ characters rather than the normal ones. Which, really, explains a lot. (If anything, I have had more unique sexual experiences than most people I know – but more on that in a second.)
The Volcano piece was created through Informing Content, an awesome two-day seminar about site-specific theatre, location/dislocation, Lawrence Welk, zombies, democracy, gypsies, and laying prostrate on the floor. It was intense in ways I didn’t expect (mostly, a lot more cerebral than most of my theatre work as of late) but I am very proud of the outcome. I think my problem was that I had too many ideas, was frustrated that I was unfocused, and was frustrated that I didn’t get to use a lot of my ideas… but I don’t think it could’ve come out better if it had been planned. We basically spent the first day brainstorming, the second morning choreographing, and the afternoon/evening rehearsing and performing. People were overwhelmed, I heard some amazing life histories, and I am now suffering serious glitter withdrawl. It was exactly what I needed.
Zed is my current big project, and is pretty much the best ‘theatre’ piece I have ever worked on. I always feel a bit disloyal to old projects when I fall in love with something new, but it’s seriously – in terms of scope, people, plot – something I am seriously smitten with. We have a NXNE, a Fringe, and a Nuit Blanche event… plus one more after that. I found the audition originally by accident through a friend’s FB post, and in an event of amazing synchronicity this is pretty much everything I could’ve hoped for. I have the best fucking sandbox ever to play in, and all of you had better come out to the Fringe event at least one night to experience the event at least one of the ways you might see it. I’m being a little cryptic here, admittedly… your best bet is to check out ByoLogyc’s VIP site, and tell them a lady named Dahlia Joss that I sent you.
Lastly, I’ve got MORE good news – I am piloting a show called SexYOUality on Remic.TV. Basically, it’s the show with no taboos, and we’ll be talking about everything to do with sex and sexuality with an array of amazing guests. I film my first few episodes tomorrow, so stay tuned for more info on airtimes soon!
Here’s to summer!