Podcasts – I Don't Get It: Recent Episodes
Fawnda Mithrush, Paul Blinov, Andrew Paul
Paul and Fawnda take in the Sterling Awards remotely, and reflect on the shortened theatre year in their season finale episode.
The winds of change keep blowing. What’s next for Edmonton’s arts scene? Will we start another podcast while we wait for performances to resume? Have you washed your mask lately?
I Don’t Get It is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network.
Actor Natércia Napoleão has shared a number of public letters that call attention to the lack of BIPOC representation in Edmonton’s theatres. Photo by Brandon Hart. In the form of open letters on social media, actor Natércia Napoleão has been asking Edmonton’s theatre companies directly what their BIPOC representation looks like not only onstage, but off as well. In this chat we cover how social media can be used to call in — not necessarily call out — and how Edmonton theatre companies are responding to public questions about representation in their casts, staff, boards, and otherwise.
Links
• Makram Ayache’s post about the Sterling nominations
• Sterling Nominations Full List
• Internal Analysis of Inclusion & Diversity in The Sterling Awards report
• Natercia’s letters to the Sterlings, Citadel Theatre, Theatre Network, Teatro la Quindicina, Grant MacEwan Theatre Arts, and Freewill Shakespeare Festival
• The 3.7% Initiative in Edmonton (hosted in Edmonton by Concrete Theatre)
• Natércia’s Stuck in the House video (with Balki!)
• Globe & Mail article on a wave of Black female Artistic Leadership in Canadian Theatre
A selection of books by Black writers discussed in this episode, including Christina Sharpe, NASRA, and Dionne Brand. Photo by Jason Purcell. We’re starting with something different this week. Off the top you’ll hear the voice of NASRA, an artist, poet, and producer in Edmonton, which was recorded live back in February. Listen up.
The guests on this episode are the founders of Glass Bookshop: Jason Purcell and Matthew Stepanic. In this chat we cover what they wanted to achieve in opening a bookstore, what it means to hold space when physical space is not a feasible option, and what you should be reading and doing to support Black artists now.
The events of the past days must be followed with continued action. Anti-Black racism is a terrible reality, and it is not spoken about enough, especially in white communities. Now is the time to listen, to educate yourself, and to take action.
Here’s the reading list discussed on the show (buy them here):
A God Dance in Human Cloth by NASRA
This is How We Disappear by Titilope Sonuga
An Autobiography of the Autobiography of Reading by Dionne Brand
In the Wake: On Blackness and Being by Christina Sharpe
Policing Black Lives by Robyn Maynard
The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole
So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo
Indigenous Rights by Chelsea Vowel
Fifteen Dogs and Days By Moonlight by Andre Alexis
LinksGlassbookshop.com
Glass Bookshop’s Reading & Resources
Black Voices Podcast Playlist
APN’s From the Archive: Listening for our Time
What’s The Tsismis? episode with Gina Puntil
Sterling Awards Nominations full list
I Don’t Get It is a member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Ellen Chorley (centre) enjoys a typical night at Nextfest.
This year’s festival goes online June 4-14. (Photo by Mat Simpson)
This year’s Nextfest—its 25th anniversary—goes entirely online. We caught up with Festival Director Ellen Chorley to talk about her career path and the wonders of the beautiful, multidisciplinary beast that is Edmonton’s festival for emerging artists. We also cover how she and Fawnda met a decade ago on the dancefloor at one of the legendary Nextfest nite clubs.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Links discussed in this episode:
Nextfest.org
Ellen Chorley at Playwrights Guild of Canada
Send in the Girls Burlesque
The entry image for Tracks, by Vena Amoris Productions It’s been a while, but we actually caught a local show to review! Vena Amoris Productions offered an online choose-you-own-route experience with Tracks. Fawnda and Colleen take the trip together—virtually, of course.
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Along with the rest of us, playwright Vern Thiessen has been a lot of baking bread lately. Vern Thiessen published an open letter to the nation’s professional theatre associations last week, encouraging them to seriously consider what they could be doing during the Great Pause, including reassessing their collective agreements and lobbying for changes to the Status of the Artist legislation. We cover his letter, the meaning of these agreements for working artists in Canada, and what post-pandemic theatre could look like for the foreseeable future (likely, it’s “G” houses). The Governor General Award-winning playwright also offers some advice on letter-writing—which we should all be doing more.
Links discussed in this episode:
• Vern Thiessen’s publications at Playwright’s Guild of Canada
• EPL’s Writer in Residence Susie Moloney
• Tracks, the final show of Fringe’s Off Season series, running May 19-24
• The Georgia Straight profile on Canada Council CEO Simon Brault
• The Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield, MA, is busily planning a summer season of live theatre with substantially reduced seats, no intermissions, audience face masks, and one-person shows.
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Nisha Patel is Edmonton’s current Poet Laureate. (Ye Fan) YEG Poet Laureate and PoFest Executive Director Nisha Patel chats about taking literary events online, her #CanadaPerforms stint, the realities of being an artist and festival producer in the gig economy, and emerging standards for compensating artists for online content.
Links discussed in this episode:
• Nisha Patel’s website
• Moon Jelly House, publisher for diverse chapbooks
• Vena Amoris Projects are taking their show Tracks online from May 19-24
• The Globe and Mail talked with several Fringe and festival organizers on the impacts of this summer’s cancellations
• Found Festival has issued a call for proposals for the 2020 festival
• The Revisionist History episode where Malcolm Gladwell slams golf courses
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Alexis Hillyard on the set of the web series Stump Kitchen. (KTB Photography) While the rest of us had to get used to this new era of online connecting when the pandemic was declared, Alexis Hillyard was already an internet star in her own right with her Youtube series, Stump Kitchen. In our chat she covers favourite pandemic meals, how artists can leverage putting their work online, and bringing authenticity to digital space—plus, how a stump comes in handy in the kitchen!
Links discussed in this episode:
• Stump Kitchen on Youtube
• The Avocado Pie Episode
• The Lucky Fin Project
• Alexis’ advice for massaging kale
• Paul’s go-to recipe for buns
• The Stage on what we can learn from South Korea’s theatres, which remained open throughout most of the lockdown
• NY Times on how theatre has to think small after the return
• Shumka’s Isolation Hopak
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
A scene from Confessions of A Reluctant Caregiver, Northern Light Theatre’s final show selection of the season, cancelled due to COVID-19 complications. Pictured left to right: Davina Stewart, Cheryl Jameson, Brian Dooley. Photo: Ian Jackson/Epic Photography
What week are we in again? Seven? Seventeen? Artistic Director of Northern Light Theatre Trevor Schmidt expands on the acceptance of this Great Pause, impacts on small versus large theatre companies, sucker-punch play structure, and staring down a summer without the Fringe.
Links discussed:
• Northern Light Theatre
• Mile Zero Dance’s 3-hour online Dance Blitz for International Dance Day
• Gurdeep Pandher’s Youtube channel of joyful Yukon Bhangra goodness.
• Freewill Shakespeare Festival announces Dave Horak as artistic director
• Stratford Festival is running an online Shakespeare on Film Festival
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Peter Brown (top) captured in-improv with Die Nasty cast members
Stephanie Wolfe, Jesse Gervais, and Mark Meer. (Photos by Jana Hove)
Week five of no live shows, and we’re all still commiserating about it. Funnyman Peter Brown talks with us about the nature of laughter, improv online, creative feelings, and unique uses for toilet paper rolls. Enjoy, all. Stay well!
Here are your links referred to in this episode:
• Die Nasty’s weekly radio show: https://www.dienastyimprov.com/
• Hop on Die Nasty’s facebook page on April 27 at 4pm MT for a live stream recording as part of National Arts Centre’s Canada Performs
• Peter Brown’s website, where you can see what he’s up to (and hire him!)
Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Our pal Liz Nicholls joins us to commiserate on the current dearth of liveness on Edmonton’s stages. It took a pandemic, but we finally caught her! This week, we talk bread-making, online performances, and the surreal weirdness of Edmonton sans live theatre with the one and only Liz Nicholls.
Some links discussed in this episode:
• Liz Nicholls’ blog: 12thnight.ca
• Die-Nasty’s weekly improvised Radio Hour, new episodes out every Monday
• Citadel Theatre’s Stuck in the House web series
• Paul’s sketch on The Great Gatsby
• Nick Cave’s The Red Hand Files
• Cancellation of the Ediburgh Fringe will be felt around the world
• The Wooster Group’s Hamlet from the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013
• Gia Kourlas, dance critic for the New York Times, on how we navigate the pandemic with our bodies
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Ben Gorodetsky’s Biblioteka was set to be shown as part of Mile Zero Dance’s mainstage earlier this month. Now cancelled, like everything else. It’s our first foray into remote recording! We tracked down Ben Gorodetsky to talk about Biblioteka, which was cancelled (among everything else) with the order to shutdown gathering spaces. We cover the ideas behind his show, how artists are coping these days, and plans for Ben’s future creative output.
Also, many recommendations for things to see online below. See some shows, everyone!
Links of note:
• Dan Savage’s SPLIFF Film Festival, where you can watch Munchies Massacre
• Folk Lordz web series
• Malachite Theatre’s Shakespeare Sundays
• The full cut of Grindstone’s musical hit ThunderCATS
• Die-Nasty’s weekly improvised Radio Hour, new episodes out every Monday
• Chase Padgett’s Digital Fringe (where you can actually pay to watch or rent 2019 Fringe faves like For Science! and Reality Crack)
• Actor Jamie Cavanagh’s online campaign that petitions Disney to cast him as the next Wolverine.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
An eerily appropriate image for The Children, running (at time of press) at the Roxy on Gateway until March 22. Here we go, all: It’s a pandemic. We managed to catch The Children in preview, and sat a healthy distance from each other while discussing the impacts of COVID-19 on the arts community. We provide some tips and pointers for making the best of this challenging time, including what you can do for your local out-of-work theatre folk.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Beth Graham and Michael Tan in Girl in the Machine. Photo © Marc J Chalifoux Photography Our fears of the end times are quelled with a soothing soak at AGA’s Nests For the End of the World exhibit with curator Lindsay Sharman, followed by a trippy dip into the über-immersive visuals of Bustle & Beast’s Girl in the Machine at Telus World of Science. Finally, we catch the documentary Cunningham at Metro Cinema, complete with a meta-Merce dance piece by Jen Mesch and Gerry Morita. Whew! At least we’ll all go out feeling a little more relaxed.
The Blue Hour is the mainstage presentation at SkirtsAfire this year.
The play and festival run until March 8th.
An articulate and insightful discussion on the themes of the award-winning play, The Blue Hour, by Michele Vance Hehir.
Our panelists in this episode are:
• Michele Vance Hehir – Playwright of The Blue Hour
• Candace Fehr – Co-chair of the Family Advisory Council with Child Adolescent and Family Mental Health
• Clare Gallant – Vice President of Community Services with The John Howard Society
• Andrea Moen – Retired Judge from the Court of Queens Bench
• Nikki Bernier-Singh – Director of Community Engagement for the Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton (SACE)
• Christine McCourt-Reid – Communications Manager for the YWCA
Please be advised this episode includes discussion of themes pedophilia, child abuse, sexual abuse, suicide, religious content, and some definite spoilers.
Special thanks to SkirtsAfire and APN for partnering up on this episode! And to the trusty technicians and staff at the ATB Arts Barns.
Across the universe, straight through to Lotus-land:
As You Like It runs at Citadel Theatre until March 15. (Photo by Dylan Hewlett)
Guest Breanne Byrne of Emily Missed Out drops by for the Citadel’s oh-so-satisfying hippie trip in As You Like It, and Colleen Feehan returns to for a night on the town at Alberta Ballet’s triple-bill, Unleashed (featuring two intermissions!).
To claim your $5 discount to The Blue Hour at SkirtsAFire, enter panelfive at checkout when you purchase your tickets at the Fringe Box Office. And come catch our live episode recording at the fest on March 1st!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
During the live recording of panel at Chinook Series on February 16. In photo, left to right: Fawnda Mithrush, Allan Morgan, Chris Dodd, Marynia Fekecz, NASRA.
© Marc J Chalifoux Photography
An insightful conversation with an incredible panel of artists discussing lived experience in art creation, featuring SOUND OFF founder and playwright/performer Chris Dodd, Polish choreographer Marynia Fekecz, Can-theatre legend Allan Morgan, and NASRA, former YEG Youth Poet Laureate and Director of Black Arts Matter.
This episode was recorded from a live salon session at Chinook Series on February 16. Special thanks to Workshop West Playwrights Theatre, our ASL interpreters, and the swift-thinking technicians at the ATB Arts Barns.
A transcript of this episode is available here. Please email idgidance@gmail.com to request a pdf copy.
To claim your $5 discount to The Blue Hour at SkirtsAFire, enter panelfive at checkout when you purchase your tickets at the Fringe Box Office. And come catch our live episode recording at the fest on March 1st!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Stephen Christopher Anthony and Jessica. E. Sherman as the Hansens in Dear Evan Hansen. This scene completely stole the show. Photo by Matthew Murphy. Valentines, Galentines, and mom-love: Evan’s mother steals the show in Dear Evan Hansen, Shakespeare’s wife wins in Shakespeare’s Dog, and Shay Kuebler’s Radical System Art gets heady and physical in Epilogos. Special thanks to our guests Colleen and Laura for hopping on board this week, and to the moms who prove that love can truly be unconditional (cue the ugly cry here).
To claim your $5 discount to The Blue Hour at SkirtsAFire, enter panelfive at checkout when you purchase your tickets at the Fringe Box Office. And come catch our live episode recording at the fest on March 1st!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
The cast of Catalyst Theatre’s The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare.
(Citrus Photography)
Buckle up, folks: Content warnings abound in this one! Colleen returns with thoughts on Catalyst Theatre’s anticipated all-female musical, The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare. Then our pal Laura drops in to chat about the Citadel’s surprising Every Brilliant Thing and Theatre Network’s ketchup-heavy production of The Society for the Destitute Presents: Titus Bouffonius. (Note: This episode discusses themes of suicide, depression, sexual assault, and graphic violence.)
To claim your $5 discount to The Blue Hour at SkirtsAFire, enter panelfive at checkout when you purchase your tickets at the Fringe Box Office. And come catch our live episode recording at the fest on March 1st!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Edmonton Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro runs until Feb. 7. Photo by Nanc Price. It’s a loaded ep this week: First up we catch Edmonton Opera’s delightful The Marriage of Figaro, followed by thoughts on Shadow Theatre’s Happy Birthday Baby J, and The Crucible at MacEwan University. Plus, we discuss the 2020-21 season announcements from Edmonton Opera and Citadel Theatre, the Alberta Queer Calendar Project, details on two LIVE episodes we’ve got in store, and general upcoming happenings. It’s February, folks: We made it!
Check out the Aria Code episode on ‘Dove sono’, one of the arias sung by the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro, which features Dan Savage talking about infidelity and forgiveness.
We’ll be at Chinook Series on February 15 for a LIVE episode discussing true life experiences in art-making with a panel of artists involved in the fest. Come hear their stories, and say hello! https://chinookseries.ca/event/thats-me-in-the-spotlight/
To claim your $5 discount to The Blue Hour at SkirtsAFire, enter panelfiveat checkout when you purchase your tickets at the Fringe Box Office. And come catch our live episode recording on March 1st!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Los Angeles-based acro-archi-dance troupe Diavolo came to mainstream fame
with their top-ten run on America’s Got Talent in 2017.
We saunter out to the Jube once more to catch Alberta Ballet’s recent guest troupe: Diavolo. Athletic dancers, abstract moving sets, and one very buoyant artistic director (Jacques Heim). Think Cirque du Soleil meets I.M. Pei.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
The cast of StoneMarrow Theatre’s Crave. Photo by Mat Simpson. It may be a cold as hell, but YEG stages are blazing with activity. We cover all manner of January offerings this week, including Northern Light Theatre’s Everybody Loves Robbie, the Citadel’s Cost of Living, and StoneMarrow Theatre’s Crave. Finally, mom-and-daughter team Karen and Elizabeth from That’s a Thing?! step in to finish off the episode with their thoughts on The Malachites’ first ever Winter Shakespeare Festival, wherein they caught Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and the best Bottom they’ve ever seen. Whew! Pull up your wool socks, folks.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Paul and Fawnda look back on the 2010s in #YEGtheatre, going back to their early days at Vue and how contemporary dance kicked off this whole podcasting habit.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Sara Porter in Sara Does A Solo. Photo by Jay Tse. Our bestie guests Laura Raboud and Colleen Feehan take a trip to Spazio Performativo for Sara Does A Solo, and then Fawnda does a solo of her own to see Shumka’s Nutcracker (thanks to Andrew for asking questions!). Happy holidays. Every. One.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Happy—erm—Merry Christmas! Every. One. (Photo Ian Jackson/EPIC Photography) We head to the Citadel to preview the shiny new production of A Christmas Carol, and then to another memory-soaked romp through The Simpsons’ greatest hits in Mr. Burns: a post-electric play. It’s a nostalgic time of the decade, isn’t it?
Become a Patron!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Like our new show art? It was designed by Michael Nunweiler
(he also designed the art for I Don’t Get It)
We have been working for the past year to produce a brand new limited-run podcast series: A Tale of Two Weeklies is about the historical rivalry of Edmonton’s two alternative weekly papers, SEE Magazine and Vue Weekly.
You can subscribe to the series at http://taleoftwoweeklies.ca. But for now, we wanted to share a piece of it with our IDGI subscribers. Here’s Episode One of A Tale of Two Weeklies.
Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. turns feminism on its head in the
University of Alberta’s Studio Theatre season.
Paul and Fawnda attempt to make the “award-winning” pie recipe handed out at the Jube for Broadway Across Canada’s Waitress as they discuss the hyper-sweet and delightfully raunchy sentiments of the show. And they can’t stop thinking about the language-lashing in Studio Theatre’s Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again. In fact, they might just go see it again.
Note: Spoilers on Waitress start around the 11:00 mark.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to our new podcast, A Tale of Two Weeklies, at taleoftwoweeklies.com.
Mathew Hulshof and Chris Pereira in Theatre Network’s Bed and Breakfast, running through Dec. 8 at the Roxy on Gateway. Photo by Ian Jackson/EPIC Photography Paul is back! We take a trip to cottage country with Theatre Network’s charming season opener, Bed and Breakfast by Mark Crawford.
The episode ends with a special announcement about our new limited-run podcast series: A Tale of Two Weeklies.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
You can find, subscribe, and listen to the trailer for A Tale of Two Weeklies at taleoftwoweeklies.com. Episode 1 drops on November 28.
Kate Stashko and members of the Good Women Dance Collective in Cheers and Tears: A Journey into Whiteness. Photo by Marc J. Chalifoux. So many women! So much whiteness! Fawnda and Colleen head to the Good Women Dance Collective’s annual Convergence showcase, which featured Cheers and Tears: A Journey into Whiteness by choreographer Pam Tzeng, and Ruminate—an exploration of giraffes’ necking—by Meredith Kalaman.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Brittney Mack (centre) as Anna of Cleves, along with the fierce cast of Six,
running at the Citadel through Nov. 24. Photo by Liz Lauren.
This week we get a crack at the hotly anticipated musical Six and its pop-concert tribute to the tragic — yet funny and empowered and glitzy — lives of Henry VIII’s sextet of wives. Then we settle in the mysterious and unsettling world of The Ballad of Peachtree Rose at Workshop West Playwrights Theatre (be forewarned, spoilers start at
22:50).
Extra special thanks to our special guests Karen Unland and Colleen Feehan for sharing their thoughts on the shows!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Zacharie Dun as the monster and Kelley McKinlay as Dr. Victor in Alberta Ballet’s Frankenstein. Photo by Paul McGrath We’re joined by two of our favourite baby mamas in this episode! First, Raina (Fawnda’s sister) pops in to review Alberta Ballet’s newest cinematic venture in Frankenstein, and Colleen briefly escapes her newborn to weigh in on Punctuate! Theatre’s The Particulars.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
EVE 2050: Montreal’s Van Grimde Corps Secrets provide a thrilling technical display.
Photo by Romain Guilbault.
This weekend featured a hot take on the work of Isabelle Van Grimde and her stunning Corps Secrets, with special guest reviewer Raina Mithrush (Fawnda’s sister finally sees a show!).
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Ralph Escamillan and his eerie doppelgängers in Hinkypunk. Guests abound this episode! Laura Raboud joins us for Brian Webb Dance Company‘s season kickoff with the marvellous visuals of Ralph Escamillan’s Hinkypunk. Then, we receive a very special drop-in review of Studio Theatre’s Richard III from our Alberta Podcast Network pals, mom ‘n’ daughter team Karen Unland and Elizabeth of That’s A Thing?!.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Karen and Elizabeth’s podcast, That’s A Thing?!, is also part of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB, and can be found at thatsathing.transistor.fm, or under “Pop Culture” at albertapodcastnetwork.com.
Alberta Ballet’s season opened with Taj Express, a feast of Indian dance, music, and Bollywood nods. Guest reviewer Soni Dasmohapatra joins Fawnda for a rollicking review of Alberta Ballet’s presentation of Taj Express, a straight-from-Mumbai Bollywood ballet/musical sorta show. Also: We get the crash course in Indian dance styles that we’ve always wanted. Thanks Soni!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
More on the screening event that Soni mentioned:
Seconds, Please! Piyush & Hansa Premiere Screening
Nov. 6, 6PM at the Edmonton Community Foundation
Featuring traditional Indian performance, interactive Bhangra dance workshop, DJ Gulzar, and tasty South Indian delights!
Visit www.secondspleasetv.ca for more info.
The cast of Teatro la Quindicina’s Vidalia. Paul’s had a busy week! In addition to some reflections on being part of Play the Fool’s cabaret spectacular, he also caught Teatro’s season closer, Vidalia. Did you know that onions have layers? Enjoy!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Fawnda and Paul kick off our sixth season with a review of Broadway Across Canada’s production of Rent and look ahead to what’s coming up in Edmonton’s 2019/20 performance season.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
It’s closing weekend of Where the Wild things Fringe, and Fawnda is joined by a panel of writers from Beer Tent Reviews to discuss highlights, lowlights, and happenings at this year’s festival grounds. Their discussion includes: holdovers, Sterling Award bets, star-rating bell curves, classics vs. new works, audience participation issues, and other monsters. It’s a DOOZIE. Enjoy!
Special thanks to our guests:
Jean-Paul Fournier
Danielle LaRose
Paul Matwychuk
Alejandro Moreno
Mel Priestley
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Laura Virella in Mercury Opera’s Carmen. Fawnda and Paul venture downtown to try out Carmen (again)! Following their road trip to the Badlands last summer, this year’s Mercury Opera production was set in two historic haunts: Act one was set at everyone’s favourite greasy spoon, The Commodore, followed by Act two at Chez Pierre. Also, the official Fringe fuss has begun—all ~~258~~ 257 shows are now live for ticket sales. Exciting times!
For context on that missing show, here’s some reading: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-news/fringe-theatre-pulls-play-involving-david-belke
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Quinn Dooley and Jonas Shandel in The Citadel Theatre’s production of Ring of Fire. Photography credit: Ian Jackson, Epic Photography The Citadel Theatre’s summer experiment, Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash, is up and running, and Andrew joined in to notice that the titular song wasn’t even written by Cash—among other things. Also, Paul gives a full report of his time as a performer at the Toronto Fringe. Bring the heat!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Gina Puntil and Matthew Hulshof shared hosting duties at the 2019 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards on June 24.
Backstage portrait by Ryan Parker Photography.
It’s the end of the theatre season—which means it’s time for Paul to join the Fringe circuit! On the way to the airport we re-cap favourite moments and winners from the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award show, and other happenings throughout the #YEG performance year.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Ensemble cast of Freewill Shakespeare Festival’s The Winter’s Tale.
Credit: Ryan Parker Photography
It’s an all-Italian Summer for the Freewill Shakespeare Festival this year. Fawnda takes guests Matthew Stepanic and Andrea Anderson on a jaunt to the (very damp) Hawrelak Park for the company’s re-imagined Two Gentlemen of Verona, and the endearing pastoral clime of The Winter’s Tale. Do the ladies make it out okay? With ol’ Bill, well, never. But the laughs are there… right?
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
It’s an extravaganza of improvised delights this week as Fawnda takes guest Andrea Anderson on her very first foray into contemporary dance at BWDC‘s The Liminal. And, it wouldn’t be an improv episode without taking in a night at Improvaganza, Rapid Fire Theatre‘s annual fete of the comedic form (also, that’s where you can find Paul until June 22). Enjoy!
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Cody Porter, Elena Porter, and Chris Cook in Broken Toys Theatre’s production of Betrayal, by Harold Pinter. Pip-pip, we’re back, and off to Pinterland! Classical correspondent Colleen Feehan visits to discuss Broken Toys Theatre’s mounting of Betrayal, while Paul and Fawnda venture out to cake their shoes in hair and salt at Zero Gravity, a new performance art festival held in collaboration between dc3 Art Projects and Mile Zero Dance.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Cast members from the Citadel Theatre’s The Tempest.
Photo by Ian Jackson, Epic Photography.
‘Twas a night of saluting Billy Shakes, moving storytellers, and also lovers/haters of whatever you think iambic pentameter is, was, or could be. We took in the Citadel Theatre’s The Tempest this week, which boggled and delighted all the senses.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Darrin Hagen in Theatre Network’s The Empress and the Prime Minister.
Photo by Ryan Parker Photography.
On the heels of last week’s election, we go on aptly timed flashback tour to 1969 as drag queen activist ted northe rubs shoulders with an ambitious Pierre Trudeau in Darrin Hagen’s The Empress and the Prime Minister.
Then, to wrap up Easter Weekend we’re joined by multidisciplinary performer (and famed pysanky painter) Larissa Pohoreski to chat about the latest offering in the Brian Webb Dance Company’s season: the up-and-comers in Next Generation South Asian Dance.
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Notes to episode: In the audio, we refer to Darrin Hagen’s induction into the Q Order of Canada, which isn’t actually a thing. Hagen was inducted into the Q Hall of Fame Canada in 2013.
Also, the red dye for dancers’ feet and hands as mentioned in the discussion of Next Generation South Asian Dance is called Alta. And now we know!
Paul returns to the co-hosting chair to discuss Plain Jane Theatre‘s production of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home. And Fawnda is joined by her belle soeur to recount their fiery experience at the Edmonton Flamenco Festival featuring Tierra Flamenca.
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Martha Burns and Kevin Bundy as the Straughans in Citadel Theatre’s The Candidate.
Photo by Ian Jackson/Epic Photography.
Colleen Feehan joins Fawnda for a whole week of theatre; please enjoy as we mess up character names, toss aside our election fatigue, and try really hard—so darn hard—to not give away anything that happens in The Party/The Candidate. And then we sob our way through the incredible and deeply affecting performance by Vanessa Sabourin in Northern Light Theatre’s 19 Weeks.
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The case of MAN UP! in Heroes, presented as part of Mile Zero’s Dance Crush series. We’ve been off for a while, so we thought it’d be fun to do a nice fat episode this week! Guests abound, too: First, Matthew Stepanic comes in to cover MAN UP!‘sboy-lesque extravanganza in Heroes at Spazio Performativo. Then, Colleen Feehan offers some quick thoughts on The Party at the Citadel (first of a two-part review—we’ll be seeing The Candidate next week). And finally, Jane Ogilvie visits the ECF studio to dish about all the addictive qualities of flamenco in anticipation of the third annual Edmonton Flamenco Festival. Whew! Enjoy!
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Artists performing in Mercury Opera’s La bohème at Chez Pierre. Photo by Anna Kuelken. We wrapped up the coldest February in decades with the anticipated return of Mercury Opera to Chez Pierre; this time the company impressed with La bohème set as a 1979 East Village artist-romp. And poet Brandon Wint’s Alive! collaboration at Mile Zero Dance brought tears to the eyes of special guests from Let’s Get Lit (Edmonton’s delightful poetry podcast). Keep those mittens on, and enjoy!
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Milton Lim & Michelle Lui in Hong Kong Exile’s Room 2048. Photo by Remi Theriault The week in dance left us stunned and slack-jawed. We caught Wen Wei Wang’s all-male Dialogue, juxtaposed with the incredible light-play in Hong Kong Exile’s ROOM 2048 (thanks to Laura Raboud for hopping in on that hot take!). Finally, Andrew and Fawnda took a pilgrimage to Banff to see the preview of Kidd Pivot’s newest full-length foray, Revisor.
I Don’t Get It is a proud member of the Alberta Podcast Network, powered by ATB.
Bonus note: For those who like books about dance history, the Nijinsky/Isadora Duncan riff at the top of the episode appears in The Chosen Maiden, a novel about Nijinsky’s younger sister, by Eva Stachniak.