SummerWorking

While I was in rehearsal and production for This Wide Night, I was also in rehearsal for the SummerWorks show I stage managed: Oh, Ryan.

Oh, Ryan was a one man show, written by and starring Shawn DeSouza-Coelho. The co-directors were Emma Dines and Chai Lavie.

I enjoyed the fact that I was working on two shows, one of which was a two hander with one director, and the other a one man show with two directors.

They were also both in Theatre Passe Muraille's Backspace — which meant more time with Colin Harris in the booth! There was also a second technician who I've run into a few times in the past around town. Her name is Erin, and she also did an excellent job.

Our lighting designer was Raha Javanfar, whose design really created several different atmospheres on a bare stage.

It was my first time participating in SummerWorks and I had a great time. Of course, Summerworks losing (or not receiving) a large part of its funding this year affected the mood, but I'd say it created a sense of camaraderie and community. We artsy types band together under pressure or threat.

SummerWorks was ten days long, and we performed Oh, Ryan seven times. At first, we had shows every other day, but then for the final four days of the festival we had four performances. It was nice to have so much time off during the first half of the festival, but I preferred the four days in a row. I'm not really used to taking time off between performances, and running the show every day helps me keep my head in the game. When we were performing it every other day, it felt like we were coming back to it after a long break. 

Oh, Ryan is about someone dealing with grief and loss. The character of Ryan loves to tell stories, and connect with his audience. Shawn, the writer-performer, is also a magician, so there was an element of magic to the show. There were three audience participants in every show, and it was interesting to see the different ways they contributed to and reacted to the magic on stage. The third audience member had the task of giving something a name. The names chosen covered a range of experiences... from cloud to joy to awkward, from grass to lark to perfect, it was a moment I looked forward to in every show.

The play was very poetic and metaphorical. Throughout the play, Ryan builds a constellation out of white paper balls. To Ryan, stars represent people, and moments in his past. Constellations represent the connections forged between people, or else linking the moments in Ryan's life. The final star in the constellation is created by the entire audience, and represents the connection they made in the theatre. Ryan tells his audience that the most important thing is believing, and in the climactic moment of the play, he levitates the final star.

The absolute best part of working on this show was the amazing people I got to work with. It was one of those incredible experiences that happens between theatre people where the friendships are formed fast and strong. I looked forward to my Oh, Ryan rehearsals, and they were even worth enduring the awful commutes to Etobicoke and Kitchener.

So, during SummerWorks I ran the sound board, called the lighting cues, and watched seven performances of Oh, Ryan. But I also saw another five performances. More on that to come.