Preview
THE 2004 BETTY MITCHELL AWARDS
August 30
Stage West
It isn’t easy being the new girl in town. You walk a little differently, talk a little differently and it certainly doesn’t help matters that you’ve had to admit to being from Edmonton in a city that prides itself on a certain playful, venomous contempt for the provincial capital. If only there was some way to fit in….
Twenty-six-year-old Adrienne Smook is a recent addition to Calgary’s theatre scene who made her debut here last September as a member of Theatre Junction’s ensemble with The Constant Wife after only one previous professional season, in Edmonton, under her belt. And yet, in less than a year, she has garnered a Betty Mitchell Award nomination for outstanding performance by a supporting actress for her portrayal of Teenie in Morwyn Brebner’s new comedy The Optimists. Not bad for a fresh face in a familiar crowd.
However, the August 30 ceremony will actually mark the second time she has attended Calgary’s theatre awards. "It was the first day of rehearsals (for The Constant Wife), which was the same day as the Bettys," recalls Smook, "and Mikey (Gesy), our assistant stage manager, said, ‘I have an extra ticket to the Bettys, do you want to come?’ And I didn’t know that many people at the Bettys, maybe a couple of people who I had known from Edmonton. But Theatre Junction just gave me the opportunity to become part of a community right away. And I felt really embraced, not only by Theatre Junction and this sort of family that they are, but also by the community as a whole; so welcomed in."
As with many emerging artists, Smook has found herself constantly struggling with her artistic identity and her place in Alberta’s arts community. From ballet to high school drama to a stint studying psychology at the University of Alberta, her route to a niche in the theatre community has been anything but straightforward.
"When I graduated high school, I went to the U of A to take psychology," she says. "I knew then that I really wanted to be an actor, but I tried to convince myself I didn’t want to be. I told myself, ‘I’ll do psychology.’ Then I said, ‘I’ll do drama therapy.’ Then I said, ‘Ah, screw it, I can’t do that, I guess I’ll just have to be an actor.’ Finally I just couldn’t convince myself to do anything else."
Still largely a newcomer to professional theatre with only two seasons behind her, Smook has already begun plans to help create a festival designed to assist emerging artists new to the scrutinizing lights of the professional stage.
"I’ll be working pretty heavily helping to organize and produce the Ignite Festival with Sage Theatre," she says. "It’s modelled after NextFest in Edmonton and it’s intended as a multidisciplinary festival solely for emerging artists. It’s for people who are either still in training or just going into training or just getting started, people who are just starting their professional careers.
"For myself, NextFest was the very first play I was ever paid for," she adds. "You really get a chance to work on your craft in a professional situation with a lot of support and feedback all the way along. That’s something that’s really important to me, to continue the mentorship throughout everyone’s career. I know I keep getting amazing mentorship from everyone I work with, and it’s important to me to put it back in."
While Smook acknowledges that the award provides a welcome feeling of acceptance, she explains that, in the end, it is the recognition of a community of artists that provides a feeling of inclusion. She admits, for instance, that a recent request for her to present the Betty for outstanding sound design/soundscape or composition is, in many ways, as important an assurance as her own nomination. Everyone wants to feel needed, don’t they?
The validation comes every time another opportunity comes around," she says. "Every time either someone calls you because they want you to audition or calls you because they want to offer you a part, or they call you because they want you to come down and help them out with something. That’s when you go, ‘Oh, good, they want me here. They want me to be involved.’
"Hopefully that’s happening for the rest of my career," she adds with a laugh. |
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