>>PREVIEW
RANDOM ACTS
Theatre Junction
Runs until May 13
The Studio (The Grand)
Before a production ever sees the light of a stage, it begins with its creator or creators, trying to craft an idea into something more. For the fourth year, Theatre Junction is presenting a series of these works-in-process as part of Random Acts, a mini-festival devoted to giving performers the opportunity to present their evolving creations to live audiences, and the audiences the opportunity to see an otherwise obscure part of the creation process.
"For most of these pieces, it’s the first time on their feet, and they have the advantage of trying it in front of a live audience," says festival co-producer Andrea Bradley.
This year will see 12 productions over three days, hosted by AJ Demers and including work from established and developing artists in a variety of disciplines, all selected from more than 40 submissions to the festival’s selection jury. Beginning as little more than applications and synopses or incomplete scripts, the festival provides its performers and creators with technical support and a venue to develop their work, similar to the level of support provided during a fringe festival.
Missteps and unforeseen successes are bound to be a part of any creation, which is exactly why a live audience can be such a valuable tool for a show’s creator.
With all four of each day’s shows performed twice – first at 7:30 p.m and later at 10 p.m. – the festival’s schedule encourages creators to use their time to try new permutations on audiences.
"After the first show, the actors might tweak things and try it a little differently," says Bradley. "(They) see what reaction they get from the audience at that point as well."
In addition to each night’s particular nuances, the larger festival has been designed to include a range of performances, from dance to clown, to fill each night’s hour-long program.
"We don’t want one evening that’s comprised of two 30-minute pieces," says Bradley. "We look for variety of genres. For some, we can see that they’re headed for great things, but we take a look at the scripts and we can usually tell when there’s that spark, even if it’s not completely perfect – if there’s something there that we think the audience will appreciate and can see it turning into something more after Random Acts."
While the festival is still relatively young, recent examples of Random Acts productions that have been expanded for larger-scale production include Lindsay Burns’s Dough: The Trials of Martha Stewart – which will also enjoy an expanded run in Ground Zero Theatre’s 2006-07 season – and Sean Bowie’s Drunken F**cker. Both plays premiered this year as expanded productions as part of Ground Zero Theatre’s Groundbreakers series.
In addition to success beyond the festival, Random Acts itself has been provided with funding from two very disparate sources – energy giant Enbridge and The Ship and Anchor pub – to offer awards for innovative contributions. Not a "first prize," per se, the $2,500 Enbridge Emerging Artist Award recognizes outstanding emerging artists who have expressed a unique artistic perspective, while the $250 Ship and Anchor award is granted to an artist whose work is seen as especially risky – a tall order in a festival already based on the risks of a limited production and on-the-fly changes to its script.
"There’s an element of risk to the whole festival, for sure," says Bradley, "but there will probably be one or two that will stand out to the jury."
While both awards represent continued involvement from both organizations, the Ship and Anchor award hearkens back to the festival’s first two years, when the event was hosted in Theatre Junction’s basement rehearsal space beneath the 17th Avenue 7-11 – scarcely a block from The Ship. Now, with Theatre Junction’s new location in the historic Grand Theatre, and despite early uncertainties about the festival’s post-move fate, the company has moved Random Acts into their studio space. It’s a first-time attempt apropos for a festival based on experimentation, as 12 new works are set to premiere in a space that is itself untested.
"This will be the very first time we’re using the studio for a performance at the Grand in any real capacity," says Bradley. "So it’ll be about finding what the beauties of using that space are and what the challenges are." |
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