Closing Time: Edmonton Musicians On Saying Goodbye to the Elevation Room
“There’s a sonic point on the stairway, where it’s just hushhh. All of a sudden it’s quiet. It’s quiet and now you’re in this place.” Joe Gurba’s voice grows calm […]
Category Archives: Commentary
The Emotional Roller Coaster of Summer and Smoke
At the first read of Summer and Smoke, Mary-Ellen told an incredibly powerful story about how she first discovered the play several years ago at the Shaw Festival. In my […]
Epilogue: Life After the Circus
As the dust settles on the stage of the Jubilee Auditorium, the stage stripped of all of its rough striped canvas, and the gritty floors detached from the foundation that […]
Media Bias and The Mad Among Us
In August of 2012 a Leduc county peace officer posted a cease and desist order to the door of the on-site offices of Mad Hatter Music and Arts Festival, which […]
How Social Media Destabilizes Identity
I’ve written and re-written my Twitter bio roughly twenty five times since I opened the account. Ridiculously, it is one of the most difficult things I have ever written. I have […]
All Aboard! Going on-deck
Summer and Smoke moved “on deck” in January and, similar to going off book, it made the rehearsals seem much more recognizable as a play. Going on deck means moving […]
Throw That Script Out! (or, going off book)
Summer and Smoke is a very dialogue-intensive play, especially for the two main characters – John (Justin Deveau) and Alma (Erika Conway). Dialogue-intensive plays are always challenging, but add the […]
Experimenting With Subjectivity Part I: Is There Singular Truth?
For some time I have been perturbed by the unfair treatment of many an artist by way of the totalitarian weight of the ‘album review’. Yes, sometimes a band/artist receives […]
Act II: The Women of Hoffmann
Photo Credit: Teiya Kasahara When I initially contemplated the ending in the Tales of Hoffmann, I found myself a bit heartbroken. He spends the Acts of the opera detailing the […]
Act I: Opera Staging
This last week of Opera activity has encompassed the staging process for the Prologue and Act I of Edmonton Opera’s production of “Tales of Hoffmann.” Suddenly, the rehearsal hall was […]
