What I’m Looking Forward to at The GCTC in 2010-2011

Recently, I  checked out the Great Canadian Theatre Company’s launch of their 2010-2011 season. It was a fun event complete with chocolate fountain and champagne. Here are some of the shows that I am personally looking forward to in this upcoming season and why.

1. Sleeping Dog Theatre’s The Shadow Cutter: by Pierre Brault: This latest show, by the company that created Portrait of an Unidentified Man, tells the story of Dai Vernon, an Ottawa magician reputed to have fooled Harry Houdini, and the quest for the ultimate card trick. I had never heard of this bit of local lore and I think this kind of Ottawa story is the perfect choice for Brault and Sleeping Dog Theatre.  Get your tickets early for this one I have a feeling it will sell out fast.

2. Vimy by Vern Thiessen. This play is about a pivotal battle in WWI and a definitive moment for our nation. This is certainly an appropriate choice for this time of year ( November) given the subject matter. It’s also noteworthy that this production will be put on in collaboration with the NAC’s English Theatre Acting Company. It’s great to see theatre companies working together. I would love for more of this kind of collaboration to happen  in the Ottawa scene.

3. The Middle Place by Andrew Kushnir: This Project:Humanity Production looks like an interesting bit of verbatim theatre (theatre taken from interviews/dialogue with people). This award-winning work was created out of interviews and encounters with the residents of a youth shelter in a tough Toronto neighborhood. Sounds great.

I was also pleased to hear that the GCTC will be putting on a “repertory” festival in the studio space. Undercurrents: Theatre below the mainstream will give independent theatre companies an opportunity to present and develop their work. The festival will open with This is a Recording. This was one of the gems of the 2009 Ottawa Fringe Festival and should be an excellent show. I’m excited to see what else this festival will feature.

So those are the shows I’m personally looking forward to at the GCTC in 2010-2011. Maybe I’ll see you there as well. 🙂

The Facebook

OK I did it.  I’ve joined the Facebook  (pauses for the collective dropping of jaws). I realize it’s shocking. Since it’s inception, I have always been a little leery about putting myself out on this social media platform.  This despite the fact that I am a blogger. You see, a blog I felt I could control since, despite being a public space, I was firmly in charge of the content and could even claim a certain degree of anonymity. (I used to use a generic cityscape photo as my header.) I was less sure this would be the case with Facebook.

FB has always seemed to me like a wierd blur of private/public.  A space that I wasn’t totally sure how to navigate. Do I friend everyone or just my real friends? How do I filter out all the noise and just get information that matters to me? Do I really need more online connections? Wouldn’t real life connections be preferable (Twitter has changed my thinking on this).

I also imagined all sorts of horrific situations where my private life would spill out into my work life. Would this impact my chance at promotion or complicate work relationships?

Later onI became less self-conscious of my Internet image eventually dropping the anonymity from this blog and plastering my face over the top of it in a banner. I also joined Twitter and in a few weeks was making connections with strangers and benefiting from it. After all these revelations, it seemed pointless to ignore this communications platform. In fact, with a Fringe show in the works it made sense to use this tool to reach those who aren’t on Twitter or who don’t currently read my blog and let them know about it. So I signed up for an account.

My first hour was a little overwhelming. I hadn’t even finished  filling out my privacy settings before I had 15 friend requests and 3 wall comments. Suddenly a box appeared with a comment from Jessica. It took me awhile to realize that this was actually a real-time “chat” conversation.

Jessica: There I’ve written on your wall

Wayne: (Thinks to himself. Why is my wall a small square box in the corner of the screen?)

Jessica: It’s sure taking you awhile to respond.

Wayne: Oh! This is in real-time!

That was a lot of fun. Kelly, Nadine (#48 now is off the list) and Sterling were also instrumental in helping me find my way around and getting me to join in the first place.

So what do you think?: Will FB be an effective promotional tool (not the sole tool of course)? Or will this platform just be another time sink/procrastination aid?