Well, WTD10 was over a week ago, and I feel like I’m just starting to recover, and be able to write about it, now.

This was our second year running the WTD blog, and I only have one word: amazing!

For those of us behind the scenes here at the blog, this year was quite different from last. First of all, it was a lot easier. Last year, all the work of setting things up (we have an excellent team of technical Ninjas, here) was pretty intense. Figuring out how we could link everything together, and, in particular, coming up with a method of allowing theatre artists to submit stuff without having to have someone on the computer all the time, was our greatest challenge.

For the most part, we worked most of those bugs out last year, and everything ran fairly smoothly this year. Here are some numbers for you:

Blog: Between Friday (the 26th) and Sunday (the 29th), the blog got about 4,000 hits. 2,500 of those were on actual World Theatre Day, but note that our blog is hosted in London, England.

Facebook: we currently have 2,069 fans. A few days before WTD, we had about 1,500 (note, also that this was brand-new this year: last year we had a group and a fan page called World Theatre Day 2009. The current page is simply World Theatre Day, and will continue for the forseeable future.), and some people put the word out to try to get it up to 2,000 before WTD. We didn’t quite succeed, but we came pretty close.

Twitter: Our WTD10 account has nearly 1,000 followers. The hashtag #WTD10 was used extensively! We were doing a lot of re-tweeting, and having fun watching the Twtiterfall.

Tumblr: We had a bit of a technical fail, here. The whole point of the Tumblr is so that people can send in their photos, text, and video, and no one needs to administrate it: it automatically gets posted. Good idea in theory, but our feed was overwhelmed, and it got pretty chocked. This is on our list of stuff to find a better solution for next year.

Over all, I heard a lot less of “What’s World Theatre Day?” from people this year. I still heard it some, but not nearly as much as last year. People were more aware of March 27 , and were able to plan accordingly. We made excellent forays into South America this year, with contributions and parties in Mexico and Basil, and also Asia, with a contribution from Singapore.

A big thank-you to everyone who participated and helped to spread the word. An even bigger thank you to the WTD facilitation team, who all do this for free, on the side of their own busy lives and jobs and creating theatre.

Here’s to #WTD11!!

Years ago I found a book called “Actors as Artists” by Jim McMullan & Dick Gautier, and gave it to my father who’s a painter. Filled with well-known actors who also paint, I thought the gift appropriate coming from his “actor-daughter”. The book revealed exciting artistic layers of those actors.

A similar opportunity presents itself with Art By Actors, an exhibition/auction at The Stanley Theatre by the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance for World Theatre Day. It is part of the larger Stanley Art Auction.

Since I always loved drawing and painting, it seemed a natural choice for me to interview some of the actors who donated their work, for the World Theatre Day blog.

Cailin Stadnyk, a Vancouver actor who is currently in The Love List at The Stanley Theatre, was instantly humble in her response, denying she was a painter and had just taken on the project for fun. She didn’t feel she should be included here. I pressed further and she conceded.

TJ: “How did you decide on your subject matter, Cailin?”
CS: “I actually just “saw” it in my head.  Our theme was supposed to be “what theatre means to us” and because I’m such a “words” person that’s all I saw.  I wanted to use the words that came to mind but I wanted to do it in a more interesting way than just painting those words on the canvass.  I picked the green because green is my favourite colour. I respond to green so I knew I had to use it as my base colour.

TJ: “What were you feeling as you did the piece and how do you compare it to acting?”
CS: “What I was feeling at first was fear. I thought…”oh god, why did I agree to do this. I’m going to be so bad.” But then I really started to enjoy the process and was quite proud of the end result.  I would say that’s ALOT like the acting process.  Funny enough, that’s pretty much exactly what I go through during a contract!!”

TJ: “Do you have a favourite artist?”
CS: “I do have a favourite painter… John William Waterhouse. His pieces are so romantic.”

Allan Gray, veteran actor of the Shaw and Stratford Festivals donated a drawing. Gray was humble in his response but I sensed a strong sense of peace regarding his artistic work.

TJ: “How did you become a painter/artist?”
AG: “I was always drawing and painting as a child – my dad was an artist of sorts – and I started taking classes in high school, then continued in University – as a minor subject.  I went to Europe on a drawing tour with my art instructor at one point.”

TJ: “How do you compare acting to painting/drawing?”
AG: “Drawing is like a selfless meditation – acting is anxiety, ego and stress.”

TJ: “What is your preferred subject matter and medium?”
AG: “I work solely with pencil on rough paper or canvas.  My colour- blindness made working in oils or pastels rather problematic.  I do portraits and life-studies.”

TJ: “Who are your favourite painters, and mentor?”
AG: “My favourite painters are Gustave Caillebotte, Childe Hassam, Edward Hopper, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec,Winslow Homer and Auguste Renoir. My mentor was a terrific artist and teacher, Holly Middleton.

Renowned Canadian actor/director Gillian Barber, whose production of Footloose is currently running at Capilano U, has acted in over 50 plays and musicals across Canada. “A first-time artist, she started this project thinking about budget cuts and show cancellations, but got caught up in the joy of what theatre really is – a jumble of creative, colourful people, all thrown together to produce a piece of work.”

TJ: “What made you a painter?”
GB: “I really don’t paint except for my walls, but I was feeling passionate about funding cuts and wanted to paint something to pour my angst into.”

TJ: “How would you compare painting to acting?”
GB: “Painting is like the 17th time you have read the script to glean sub-textual layers – each one is a different colour, and the paint gets thicker and thicker….and doesn’t dry in time….just like it shouldn’t do on stage.

TJ: “What’s your preferred subject matter and medium?”
GB: “Abstract, oil, mixed medium…”

TJ: “Who’s your favourite painter?”
GB: “My favourite painter?  Monet…love what his work makes me feel.”

Angela Brown, who is performing at the GVPTA World Theatre Day event March 28 at the WISE HALL, her original piece called Upaya, has been involved with drawing & painting for many years.

TJ: “How did you get into painting?”
AB: “I’ve always loved to draw. When I was in elementary school, I was the one who always had my work up on the wall. So I figured I must be an artist.”

TJ: “ How would you compare painting to acting?”
AB: “Painting and acting for me are all about being in the moment – movement of a thought, a gesture or a splash of colour. It all comes from the same place.”

TJ: “What’s your preferred subject matter and medium?”
AB: “Usually, it’s the human form but in an abstract sense…a leap for joy, the feel of an embrace. I like water colour because it’ s full of surprises.”

TJ: “Who is your favourite painter or mentor?”
AB: “ Van Gogh and Micki Maunsell.”

Thank you for letting us all into your artistic stories, and, also, thank you to all the artists/actors who contributed to the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance “Art by Actors” exhibit. Vive Le Théâtre et Vive Les Arts!

Trilby Jeeves is an actor, writer, acting coach. She also teaches Buffoonery Acting Workshops, and is passionate about social media.

WEBSITE: http://www.buffooneryworkshops.com
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/tjbuffoonery
BLOG: http://www.trilbyjeeves.com

From Des McAnuff, the artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival:

It has been my great privilege to work as a theatre director in countries around the globe – in Australia, in Europe, in Russia before the fall of the Berlin Wall and all over North America. Throughout those travels, and in my current position as Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, North America’s largest classical repertory theatre, I continue to be awed by the extraordinary power of this art to engage the mind, fire the imagination and arouse the spirit.
Live performance is necessarily ephemeral: like life itself, it exists as an experience in the present moment, passing through our senses on its way into the “dark backward and abysm of time.” Yet its transitory nature also gives theatre an immediacy and an intensity that few other art forms can match. So potent is the electricity that flows through that live connection between artist and audience that it can change the way we think and feel about ourselves and the world we live in.
Theatre affords us insight and hope. It allows us direct access to the wisdom of the ages. It offers affirmation of our joys and consolation for our sorrows. It opens up avenues of exploration into our own souls, daring us to confront even the darkest truths about ourselves. Tyrone Guthrie called it the oldest social, moral, and political platform in the history of Western culture. And today we need it more than ever.

our website address is: http://www.stratfordshakespearefestival.com
we are on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/StratfordFestival?v=wall
we can be found on twitter: stratfest

It’s March 27: World Theatre Day, 2010!

All over the world, theatre artists will be celebrating. You can follow the celebrations by following:

Our Tumblr Feed

WTD on Facebook

WTD on Twitter (hashtag #WTD10)

And, if you have written something about WTD, recorded audio or video, or taken photographs, please click here for submission information. Share your experiences with the world!

Happy World Theatre Day!

The Internationalists, a collective of directors from around the world and one of the founders of the NYC World Theatre Day Coalition, will also be hosting a ‘La Journée Mondiale du Théâtre’ event in Paris on 27 March from 17:00-19:00 at Le Cavern Club, 21 rue Dauphine, 75006 Paris.

Graphic by John Wise

We invite anyone to join us for drinks and conversation to celebrate the occasion. Dame Judi Dench’s message will be read in English, Spanish, Swedish, French, German, Dutch and Danish at 18:00, followed by Lynn Nottage’s US message, read by The Internationalists Artistic Director Doug Howe. You can find more information, in English and French, on facebook.

World Theatre Day – A Message from Lynn Nottage from Theatre Communications Group on Vimeo.

My Name is Mawuli Amedofu, of the Springverve Theatre Company.
Spingverve is an arts company based in Kumasi, Ghana, currently mainly on the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology Campus. We are a company with a vision of producing high quality thought provoking theater pieces that not only entertain but also educate and encourage. Currently we have stage 2 major plays on the same campus in collaboration with the department of english and the Center for Cultural and African Studies all departments of the same university. Money Galore (Amu Djoleto’s novel adapted by us for stage)  and In The Chest of A Woman (Efo Kodjo Mawugbe) are the names of the productions we have staged so far.
On the 27th of March we are staging MONEY GALORE — a play that takes a critical look at the social life of politicians (before and during power). We had no idea that 27th was World Theater Day but we are highly encouraged that we have chosen that day to stage money galore.
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?v=info&gid=84287813088

All the best and we are really glad to be part of this experience.

Regards–

Mawuli K. Amedofu,
C/o Prof. G.K. Amedofu,
Department of EENT,
School of Medical Sciences,
KNUST, Kumasi, Ghana
http://alaska414.wordpress.com/wp-admin/index.php
http://glory2god-mawuli.blogspot.com/

VISION: IS TO BRING TO BEAR TRUTH WITH LIFE TOWARDS THE WAY.

Check out the Tumblr feed for photos of these two shows

To whom it may concern,

Regarding participating in World Theatre Day.

We are Casa Nova, a theatre group from Indonesia, we will be celebrating world theatre day with live public performances on the street; including Butoh dance theatre performances, costume festivals, traditional theatre performances and improvising performing art.

The following night we will also have a musical concert based on the original music from our theatre play, “Song of Ravana”.

For details just click or copy and paste the link below;

the Flyer;

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=247877&id=100000133417193&ref=mf

Song of Ravana;

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=359849368966&ref=ss

Our profile;

http://teatercasanova.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/teater.cassanova?ref=profile

All the Best,

Theatre Casa Nova

Last year I attended the popular Backstage with Bernard panel and did some blogging here about it.

This year it’s back with a new host.  Jackson Davies is a Vancouver based actor who appeared on The Beachcombers, 21 Jump Street, and Street Justice.

I’m sitting in on the 1pm panel and will be live blogging here and also live tweeting as @WTD10.

This afternoon’s panelists are:

Pat Smith – Head of Wardrobe, Vancouver Playhouse

Kenji Maeda – Actor, founder of www.vancouveractorsguide.com

Heather Redfern – Executive Director, Vancouver East Cultural Centre

Tanja Dixon-Warren – GVPTA President, Co-Artistic Director of Hoarse Raven Theatre

(not pictured) Manami Hara – Actress in film & theatre

———————————————————————————————–

1:58pm – The 1pm panel is wrapping. There’s two more this afternoon: one at 2pm & one at 3pm. World Theatre Day is Saturday – check out the theatre happening in this city this week.

1:52pm – Jackson Davies “If you really want to freak out the parents of the people you are dating, tell them you are in the arts.”

1:45pm – Audience question: “Does needing to sell to people change the art?”

Tanja Dixon-Warren: “I wish I was a super creative person & could write my own play…What has worked best for us is when a script keeps us up at night and we just WANT to do, those have sold really well. When we’ve picked shows because we go ‘This will sell well!’ then blegh…I was so focused on trying to balance the money that it didn’t sell the way we thought it would sell and that goes back to the heart of why we did it….When you do a show that you love you can’t help but do it justice.”

Heather Redfern: “If it’s bad, nobody’s going to come. I don’t care if it’s West Side Story. You have to put the best work on the stage that you possibly can and then you have to market it the best you possibly can.”

Manami Hara: “When I start assuming something will sell…then yes, I think the art suffers because there is something that is not based on what you are really connected to.”

1:38pm – Audience member: “It really bugs me that fantastic actors have to leave here to get recognized… They should be able to make a living here. There are fantastic plays here…I just wish you good luck.”

1:37pm – Talk a little bit about Hive

Kenji Maeda – “As an audience member you go in – you buy a ticket – and then you find your way into one of the rooms. There are some that happen within the lobby area and three that are outside….Being able to see so many shows at once was so exciting. The energy in the building, of being able to choose, was fantastic.”

1:28pm – Jackson Davies: “What about Vancouver audiences? What kind of audiences are Vancouver audiences?”

Manami Hara – “Vancouver audiences are really well educated…[local companies] bring in such fantastic shows so the audiences are ready for something new and out side the box…but they are really laid back at the same time.”

Heather Redfern – “I don’t think there is ONE Vancouver audience. And there isn’t a lot of cross-over between audiences. You don’t get a lot of Bard on the Beach folks going to the Cultch UNLESS it’s a Blackbird theatre show or something in their meileau…My job in programming is to find the people that each show is for.”

1:21pm – Question to Pat Smith: “What would be your dream piece to do from a costume perspective?”

Pat Smith – “It’s sad to me that there are no period pieces now…I love to get a bolt of fabric and then make it into 3D. I get a real kick out of that…The more yardage the better.”

Heather Redfern – “I miss that. I started out as a designer…and that sense of creating something that you’re basically sculpting is extraordinary. I really miss that.”

1:19pm – Question: “Do you see theatre becoming closer to new media?”

Kenji Maeda: “I think that using new media or projections or new techniques brings in new audiences which is very important. I think if we are not adapting to what the community – or younger audiences are seeing – if they think theatre is only Shakespeare or kids wearing flowers or being a clown, then they are going to be turned off of theatre. I think new media is one way of doing it. But I also think that marketing traditional theatre in a new way is another angle. Theatre is about reflecting what the community is at a specific time.”

1:14pm – Question: “Can people specialize in theatre? Do we do these things because we want to or because we have to in order to survive?”

Manami Hara: “I didn’t choose to become a theatre artist. It somehow was always there – ‘come. come.’ And you answer that call and there’s no turning back.”

Tanja Dixon – Warren: “I think some people can afford to “just” be an actor. I wish I was one of them…I don’t think I would have survived in this industry if I didn’t wear all these hats.”

1:08pm – None of the panelists want to use the microphone. They’re actors & know how to project.

1:08pm – Why is Jackson doing this? “As an actor that’s probably my favourite time. Right before the lights come up and you’re standing backstage. I love that kick of adrenaline.”

1:06pm – The panels today are being video taped and will be available online in the days to come.

1:05pm – Trivia: Jackson has been in over 110 Theatre productions.

1:04pm – The panelists are starting to take their place.

12:43pm – The panelists & audience are beginning to arrive for the 1pm panel.

From The Theatre Communications Group website, an alternative, or an addition to, Dame Judi Dench’s World Theatre Day message:

It’s been said that the role of an artist is to keep their eyes open, when everyone else’s are shut.

It’s a beautiful and simple sentiment.  We are cultural watchdogs.    We stand at attention, observing and reacting. We excavate, uncover, interpret and unravel.  We protect tradition and shape new ones.  We look inward…and then outward to find ways to better understand our selves.
We live in a world that has become increasingly interconnected through the ascendancy of new media, yet paradoxically more fractured by racism, religion, politics and economics.   Our venerated financial institutions are crumbling and petty partisan fights paralyze our governments. Our insatiable need for oil and precious minerals fuel deadly armed conflicts in places like Iraq and the Democratic Republic of Congo.   Poverty and suffering have become givens in a world of abundance, and women continue to fight for basic human rights and dignity in most countries.  Hate, not love, fuel religious revolutions, poisoning generations of young men and women merely searching for meaning.   We look for solutions in the recycling bins, and turn on the television to drown out our woes.  This is our world, shaped by our own design, chaotic and unruly, yet beautiful and infinitely fascinating.
As artists and global citizens, the world continues to demand our attention, and as such we must be intrepid explorers, daring to venture into uncomfortable zones to unearth difficult truths.  We must be unafraid to look honestly at the human condition and try to come to terms with its contradictions and flaws.    That means approaching our work not as journalists, but as fabulators, storytellers, breaking rules to help reimagine the world.  We must be truthful, while spinning yarns.  It is the paradox of our creative process that gives us access to places we dare not go in our everyday lives.  It emboldens us to ask difficult questions about war, race, religion, poverty, love and hatred.
Theatre is a place where we can collectively share our laughter, shed our tears and loudly demonstrate our joy or frustration. Theatre has the incredible capacity to be soul healing; it allows both the audience and artist to purge toxins and exorcise collective demons.
I challenge all of us to sustain the complexity of our world; to invite a multitude of diverse voices onto the stage.  We must open the doors and windows of our theatres to let the world in.  It is our responsibility; it is our burden and our gift.
We are fabulators….we are cultural watchdogs.

Download the message in:
Arabic | English | French | Spanish

Bio for Lynn Nottage, winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Ruined