Ten Minute Play
As some of you may know, I was volunteering at a 10minute-play festival. I experienced it last year and really enjoyed it; it's like reading short stories versus 'War and Peace'!!! I didn't expect to get so much in such a short time.
It's a fairly new festival in Toronto. Nobody is sponsoring it and it pretty much relies on individuals' help. I contacted one of my friends, Ali (who wrote a play for the last year festival) and asked him if they need any help. He introduced me to Dominik, artistic director of the festival, an amazing guy with a passion for theatre, he is the brain (and I guess, everything ells) behind this festival, his goal is encouraging people to write.
I really like the way he talks to people, before criticizing people he tries to point out some good things in them, then he slowly moves to the flairs. For example he says 'I love the way you moved your head there and the look in your eyes was amazing, if you could work on your voice and project more, that would be great'. He is manager of one of YMCA (2) branch in Toronto, he studied business but later on he found out of his passion for writing and then got interested to production. Believe it or not, he is doing this entire festival thing with his own money, time and effort, just because he loves it.
He liked the idea of the 10minutes play (apparently it's big in the States). He wrote couple of plays three years ago and somehow performed them, last year he invited other people to participate, he organized the first 10minutes play festival in Toronto with 6 plays in 3 shows, this year, at the second year of the festival there are 14 plays shown in 10 shows. He has come a long way, doesn't he?
He is really energetic and talks really fast. He has this superstition to wear a particular floral shirt and necklace at the opening night of each show.
The process of choosing the plays starts with inviting people to submit their plays. Dominik scans them and chooses the best ones, this year he received 200 plays. After selecting the plays, and inviting the directors, audition for selecting actors begins. It takes couple of weeks for them to audit people and select the most appropriate candidate for the plays, this year they had over 120 audition; Dominik had to rent a place for the audition and rehearsal. As you see it's a one man show.
All the plays were performed in a very small and down to earth saloon with almost 50 seats, and the least facilities. The saloon is a former garage; wich is rented by Simon, a man with a passion for Shakespeare.
The first time that Dominik contacted me and talked to me about available positions, he offered me two jobs, 'production manager' and 'light and sound technician'. He needed four people to fill out this two position for two weekend performances.
Those of you, who know me, probably know by now that I am afraid of the word 'Manager'. Everything that requires me telling others what to do and what not to do scares me. So I decided to go with 'Light and Sound' position, What a mistake!!! Having word technician, sound and light in one sentence, I thought to myself "that can't be hard, I just have to turn the light on and off, it's just a switch, on, off, on, off…" , but it's not just a switch, I have to listen carefully and be prepared. I have to press the bottom and ring the bell before the actor says, "oh, who is it? Coming"
I have to watch carefully and press the light bottom almost as soon as the actor act as if he is turning the light on. I have to fade of the 'rain' sound before the actor says "oh, look the rain stopped" I have to switch the light in the fireplace slowly as soon as the actor lit the match. Yes, it is just turning the switch on and off, but almost 60 of them and at the right time and right place. It takes a lot of energy; I think I might have lost weight too.
All the people involved in this festival have amazing personality. Simon, a man with a passion for Shakespeare, is an actuarial (1) , he is really smart and knows a lot about the world around him, he was such an interesting guy to talk. His famous quote is: 'Shakespeare is like heroin, if you try it once, you will be addicted for the rest of your life'. He is founder of the theatre and he himself has directed lots of Shakespeare's plays. He lives with his two cats in a small suite at the back of the theatre.
Chuck, one of the directors is an entrepreneur consultant; Samantha is working for an insurance company. Craig is from England who was working in London as a director, mostly on Shakespeare pieces, he had a Canadian fiancé, so he moved to Canada couple of months ago, they got married in December. He has applied for his immigration, now he is working as marketing manager of Rogers (3). Not knowing anybody in his new country he decided to participate in this festival to know the people in the industry.
Eve, originally from Israel, is a film director; this was her first professional experience with theatre. She got very exited when she found out that I am from Iran, she said she had never met an Iranian, which I have found it kind of strange, especially after understanding she was living in L.A. (aka Tehrangeles) for 5 years.
Ken is an amazing guy, working as an employment consultant helping disables to find a job. He started his acting career with 'second city'. He is very polite, and has a very powerful voice; He is acting as a man looking for a job, what a coincidence!!!
Most of the actors (or as Dominik calls them, communicators) are young university student. All directors and actors are working for free; the only people who get paid are the play writers.
Not having the word 'passion' in my vocabulary, meeting and knowing all these fantastic people who took their passion seriously was an amazing experience.
Despite me telling the actors 'Good Luck' (4), the show went well, and everybody was happy.
*For those of you who are not familiar with North American culture:
(1) A job in insurance field, involve with statistic and math, and it is between the top 10 high paid job in North America
(2) A well-known recreational center in north America
(3) One of the telecommunication company (cell phone, TV cable, Internet and etc.) in Canada
(4) Apparently telling actors 'Good Luck' before show is considered bad luck, more common phrase is 'Break a leg'!!! (which I have found out later)
It's a fairly new festival in Toronto. Nobody is sponsoring it and it pretty much relies on individuals' help. I contacted one of my friends, Ali (who wrote a play for the last year festival) and asked him if they need any help. He introduced me to Dominik, artistic director of the festival, an amazing guy with a passion for theatre, he is the brain (and I guess, everything ells) behind this festival, his goal is encouraging people to write.
I really like the way he talks to people, before criticizing people he tries to point out some good things in them, then he slowly moves to the flairs. For example he says 'I love the way you moved your head there and the look in your eyes was amazing, if you could work on your voice and project more, that would be great'. He is manager of one of YMCA (2) branch in Toronto, he studied business but later on he found out of his passion for writing and then got interested to production. Believe it or not, he is doing this entire festival thing with his own money, time and effort, just because he loves it.
He liked the idea of the 10minutes play (apparently it's big in the States). He wrote couple of plays three years ago and somehow performed them, last year he invited other people to participate, he organized the first 10minutes play festival in Toronto with 6 plays in 3 shows, this year, at the second year of the festival there are 14 plays shown in 10 shows. He has come a long way, doesn't he?
He is really energetic and talks really fast. He has this superstition to wear a particular floral shirt and necklace at the opening night of each show.
The process of choosing the plays starts with inviting people to submit their plays. Dominik scans them and chooses the best ones, this year he received 200 plays. After selecting the plays, and inviting the directors, audition for selecting actors begins. It takes couple of weeks for them to audit people and select the most appropriate candidate for the plays, this year they had over 120 audition; Dominik had to rent a place for the audition and rehearsal. As you see it's a one man show.
All the plays were performed in a very small and down to earth saloon with almost 50 seats, and the least facilities. The saloon is a former garage; wich is rented by Simon, a man with a passion for Shakespeare.
The first time that Dominik contacted me and talked to me about available positions, he offered me two jobs, 'production manager' and 'light and sound technician'. He needed four people to fill out this two position for two weekend performances.
Those of you, who know me, probably know by now that I am afraid of the word 'Manager'. Everything that requires me telling others what to do and what not to do scares me. So I decided to go with 'Light and Sound' position, What a mistake!!! Having word technician, sound and light in one sentence, I thought to myself "that can't be hard, I just have to turn the light on and off, it's just a switch, on, off, on, off…" , but it's not just a switch, I have to listen carefully and be prepared. I have to press the bottom and ring the bell before the actor says, "oh, who is it? Coming"
I have to watch carefully and press the light bottom almost as soon as the actor act as if he is turning the light on. I have to fade of the 'rain' sound before the actor says "oh, look the rain stopped" I have to switch the light in the fireplace slowly as soon as the actor lit the match. Yes, it is just turning the switch on and off, but almost 60 of them and at the right time and right place. It takes a lot of energy; I think I might have lost weight too.
All the people involved in this festival have amazing personality. Simon, a man with a passion for Shakespeare, is an actuarial (1) , he is really smart and knows a lot about the world around him, he was such an interesting guy to talk. His famous quote is: 'Shakespeare is like heroin, if you try it once, you will be addicted for the rest of your life'. He is founder of the theatre and he himself has directed lots of Shakespeare's plays. He lives with his two cats in a small suite at the back of the theatre.
Chuck, one of the directors is an entrepreneur consultant; Samantha is working for an insurance company. Craig is from England who was working in London as a director, mostly on Shakespeare pieces, he had a Canadian fiancé, so he moved to Canada couple of months ago, they got married in December. He has applied for his immigration, now he is working as marketing manager of Rogers (3). Not knowing anybody in his new country he decided to participate in this festival to know the people in the industry.
Eve, originally from Israel, is a film director; this was her first professional experience with theatre. She got very exited when she found out that I am from Iran, she said she had never met an Iranian, which I have found it kind of strange, especially after understanding she was living in L.A. (aka Tehrangeles) for 5 years.
Ken is an amazing guy, working as an employment consultant helping disables to find a job. He started his acting career with 'second city'. He is very polite, and has a very powerful voice; He is acting as a man looking for a job, what a coincidence!!!
Most of the actors (or as Dominik calls them, communicators) are young university student. All directors and actors are working for free; the only people who get paid are the play writers.
Not having the word 'passion' in my vocabulary, meeting and knowing all these fantastic people who took their passion seriously was an amazing experience.
Despite me telling the actors 'Good Luck' (4), the show went well, and everybody was happy.
*For those of you who are not familiar with North American culture:
(1) A job in insurance field, involve with statistic and math, and it is between the top 10 high paid job in North America
(2) A well-known recreational center in north America
(3) One of the telecommunication company (cell phone, TV cable, Internet and etc.) in Canada
(4) Apparently telling actors 'Good Luck' before show is considered bad luck, more common phrase is 'Break a leg'!!! (which I have found out later)
