EclectEcon

Neville's Island Opens This Week

Neville's Island by Tim Firth is a dark, biting comedy, full of sarcasm with tonnes of weirdness thrown in. It will make you laugh in some parts, cringe in others, and in still others make you scratch your head as you contemplate the near-total cock-up in the lives of these four men.

When four middle aged men on a team building exercise become shipwrecked (well... rowboat-wrecked?), their pathetic attempts to get themselves rescued are hampered by their inability to co-operate as much as by their ineptitude in the great outdoors.

I play Roy, Finance Manager for Pennine Spring Water Company.

Princess Avenue Theatre, St. Thomas.

Show Dates:

April 30, 2015 @ 8pm, Sold out
May 1, 2015 @ 8pm GALA OPENING NIGHT!
May 2, 2015 @ 8pm
May 3, 2015 @ 2pm
May 7, 2015 @ 8pm, Sold out
May 8, 2015 @ 8pm
May 9, 2015 @ 8pm
May 10, 2015 @ 2pm

More on Women in the Broadcast Booth

Eric mentioned in the comments to this post that the Yankees have had a female radio announcer for over a decade. We get many of the Yankee telecasts here in London, Ontario, but not their radiocasts.

Eric then sent me this link, providing the biographies of the Yankee broadcasters.

An award winning journalist, Suzyn Waldman joins John Sterling in the radio booth as the Yankees' color commentator on WCBS-AM radio in 2005, becoming the first woman to hold a full-time position as a Major League broadcaster. Waldman has spent the greater part of two decades overcoming all the obstacles that go along with being a female sports broadcaster, and has risen to the top of her profession. ...

Waldman's life and struggles have been the subject of hundreds of magazine and newspaper articles, and chapters in books, including the "MacMillan Book of Baseball Stories," "You Go Girl" and "That's Outside My Boat" both by Charlie Jones and Kim Doran. She has been profiled on the Today Show, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather, ABC's 20/20 and NBC's Dateline.

But check out her other interests: economics and theatre! Sportscasting, baseball, economics, and theatre: a perfect combination! But I haven't been able to ascertain her views on sabremetrics yet.

A native Bostonian, with a degree in Economics from Boston's prestigious Simmons College, Suzyn spent 15 years on the Broadway Musical Stage, and is proudest of her two years starring opposite Richard Kiley in "Man of La Mancha."

Midsummer Night's Dream Opens Tonight!

Midsummer Night's Dream, produced by Funeral Pyre Theatre, opens with a preview performance this evening and continues the rest of the week at The Arts Project. A lot of very fine young actors have worked diligently to perfect their craft for this production. The performances dates and times are:

• Tuesday, April 7th 8pm
• Wednesday, April 8th 8pm
• Thursday, April 9th 8pm
• Friday, April 10th 8pm
• Saturday, April 11th at 2pm [note that there NO evening performance on Saturday]

The setting for this production is contemporary with some intriguing staging.

[disclosure: I play Theseus, Duke of Athens, in this production]

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Shakespeare: a really awful writer?

Theatre Tag

The Political Economy of Envy

Shakespeare: a really awful writer?

For over 40 years I have enjoyed going to Stratford to watch plays, including many by Shakespeare. Before that I saw Hamlet at the Tyrone Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis, and King Lear at Carleton College. I've read many/most(?) of Shakespeare's plays, and I even played a Shakespeare scholar in one of my first mystery dinner theatre shows.

I remember quite enjoying reading Julius Caesar in 10th grade and Macbeth in 12th grade in high school.

But never have I acted in a play by Shakespeare.... until now. I will be playing Theseus, Duke of Athens, in a production of Midsummer Night's Dream (The Arts Project, April 7-11).

Here, slightly edited, is my take on this endeavour, as I wrote it to Jack and JR:

Not that you need this advice, but never NEVER agree to do a Shakespeare role. You may disagree with this, but that guy cannot write for crap: his words and word orders are so messed up that it is nearly impossible to learn the frickn lines.

For example, "and as imagination bodies forth the forms of things unknown.... blah blah blah. "

I know what it means, but trying to learn those words in that order is quite a challenge (at least for me).

As I said to Jack and JR, "Never again, unless it's a really small role."

I know I have many friends who are likely to disagree with my assessment of Shakespeare's plays; and I know I will likely still enjoy watching performances of them; I might even enjoy (re)reading some of them, but I really do not enjoy trying to learn the lines.

I realize the word order is driven, at least in part, by the "need" for iambic pentameter; but lines like,

"I wonder if the lion be to speak,"

just don't roll off the tongue. And metre cannot possibly be the explanation for this line:

Now is the mural down between the two neighbours.

unless you really want to mess with the emphasis on the syllables:

now IS the MUral DOWN beTWEEN the TWO neighBOURS? HUH?

Maybe it's just the Philistine in me, re-emerging. After all, I am the self-declared chair of the Philistine Liberation Organization.

 

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Theatre Tag

Theatre Tag

My friend, Kerry Hishon, posted these questions along with her answers on her blog.

Here are the questions, along with my answers:

1. When did you start getting into theatre? I was 12 years old in grade seven (or, as we called it in the US, 7th grade). I played Pete Thursday in a junior high school mystery play. 

2. How many shows have you been in? Difficult question. Counting mystery dinner theatre shows, probably hundreds. Stage shows, maybe 20 - 25. Films, maybe 3-4.

3. Favourite role ever played? Martin Dysart in Equus was an amazing role. I will be forever grateful for having had that opportunity.

4. A tip you always give to new theatre people? Speak up and enunciate clearly. You can tell my roots are in community theatre with this kind of advice.

5. Biggest theatre pet peeve? nah, I think I'll pass on this one...

6. Biggest strengths, biggest weaknesses? Strengths: sensitivity, ability to learn quickly. Weaknesses: getting into the character.

7. Biggest Inspiration in theatre? Several. Dabbs Greer and Patrick Cronin to name two.

8. What's your dream role? Something small and easy, yet with a fun cast and crew.

9. Do you prefer plays or musicals? I would like to be, and have been, in both. I think my singing voice dictates, though, that I primarily do plays or maybe luck out and make it into the chorus for musicals.

10. What is your favourite improv game? I hate improv, which may seem odd, since we do so much of it in mystery dinner theatre. But those shows are different from improv games. In the shows, I have thought long and hard about the background of the character, and though much of each show is unscripted, it is all part of that preparation.

11. What is your favourite show? Play: Death of a Salesman or Equus. Musical: Sound of Music. Film: Three Days of the Condor.

12. What has been your most awkward onstage moment? appearing in female lingerie at the end of "Academia Nuts". That, or trying to jump scenes in one performance of another play (a very embarrassing moment which another actor saved, fortunately).

13. What has been your best off-stage moment in theatre? The amazing cast party put on by the director of Norm Foster's "My Darling Judith". Or maybe the first audition I had in London many years ago.

14. What has been your most challenging role to play? This is going to seem weird to some people. Dysart had over 600 lines, many of which were monumental monologues, but I'm finding it much more challenging to try to learn the role of Theseus for "Midsummer Night's Dream." The words in Shakespeare just don't flow for me.

15. What would you be doing if theatre didn't exist? Undoubtedly writing more about economics and world affairs.

This is a self-tagging game. Play if you wish by posting in the comments here, in a note on Facebook, or on your own blog.

Busy Day

This afternoon I'm playing in a concert with Encore: The Concert Band [2pm, Central Secondary School] in which we're playing a number of really fun pieces.

This evening I'm doing a knock-off of Sean Connery for an event at The London Club.

Tomorrow I begin to hang my photo show at The Arts Project. I've been coasting up 'til now, but life will be hectic for the next three months.

"Tongue of the Dragon"

Playwright David Mamet on the Role of Gubmnt

An insightful comment posted today by Don Boudreaux at Cafe Hayek:

…from page 188 of David Mamet’s 2011 book, The Secret Knowledge (original emphasis):

Government is only a business.  Past the roads, defense, and sewers, it sells excitement and self-satisfaction to the masses, and charges them an entertainment tax, exacted in wealth and misery.  It cannot make cars, or develop medicines.  How can it “abolish poverty” (at home or abroad), or Bring About an End to Greed or Exploitation?  It can only sell the illusion, and put itself in a position where it is free from judgment of its efforts.  It does this, first of all, by stating inchoate goals, “change, hope, fairness, peace,” and then indicting those who question them as traitors or ogres; finally, it explains its lack of success by reference to persistent if magical forces put in play by its predecessors and yet uneradicated because of insufficient funding.

Who Goes to These Concerts?

Yesterday my daughter suggested we go to see "Jersey Boys" which is playing in town this weekend. "Jersey Boys" comprises a story about Franky Valli and The Four Seasons along with songs from that era. I listened to a lot their music in my younger days and was interested in see the show, but I told her I didn't really want to shell out $75 or $100  for a ticket.

So I looked online just to see what the prices were.

HOLY CRAP! The tickets are $174 - $223 EACH.

• I can get two tickets at The Grand Theatre [live, professional theatre in London, Ontario] and have dinner for two people for the price of  just one of these tickets.
• Or I can pay full price for the best seat to see a play in Stratford AND have a nice dinner for the price of one of these tickets.
• Or I can donate that money to some charity.
• Or I can put it into savings accounts for our grandchildren.
• Or.... you get the idea.

I'd sort of like to see the show, but not enough to give up whatever else I might use that money for. [the fundamentals of "opportunity costs"]

I simply cannot imagine spending that kind of money to see a live show, but all the performances are sold out or nearly so, and I know I have friends who have seen the show.

Ms Eclectic says I am out of touch with how much people pay to see live musical groups on tour. I'm afraid she is right.

Update and correction: Leigh pointed out those were dinner-and-theatre ticket prices. The tickets for the show only range from about $80 - $125 or so. [expensive dinners, eh?]

Sean Connery, One of My Next Roles

In late February I'll be playing Sean Connery in a celebrity red-carpet affair. Maybe with careful makeup and some lifts in my shoes, I can pull it off:

According to Wikipaedia,

In 1989, he was proclaimed "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine and in 1999, at age 69, he was voted "Sexiest Man of the Century".

Typecast again? Okay, I can dream anyway.

Rapid Transformation

This afternoon I played horn with "Encore, the Concert Band".

And this evening I played Joey Gambino, a 30-year-old gangster:

Both were lots of fun!

White Elephants and Zoos

Many years ago, I heard someone say,

One problem, among others, with white elephants is that once you build them, you then find you need to build bigger zoos to keep them in.

I was reminded of that quote today when former student/colleague/co-author John Henderson sent me this:

The city of Timmins finally closed its white elephant Shania Twain Centre. Had never heard of it myself, then again I can't imagine ever listening to a Shania Twain song. This, unusually informative bit, from Wikipedia:

Annual attendance for the Centre was originally projected at 50,000 but never reached above 15,000.^[1] Annual subsidies to the center cost the city of Timmins $7 per resident, or $33.72 per centre visitor.

 For more on the closing of the centre, see this:

A failed tourist attraction in Timmins is set to become the gold mine the city always hoped for.

The Shania Twain Centre permanently shut its doors Friday.

International gold miner Goldcorp will officially acquire the property in June. The company plans to demolish the structure to make it part of a massive open-pit gold mine.

City councillors decided several weeks ago the centre was too big a money pit to keep subsidizing....

The centre has racked up more than $1 million in operating deficits ...

Goldcorp, which will officially acquire the property June 28, plans to demolish the structure to make the gold-seeded land underneath part of a massive open-pit mine being developed adjacent to the town.

Recent media reports have suggested the centre cost as little as $3.7 million to build. But a May 2011 analysis by PKF Consulting Inc. in Toronto says the figure was actually about $10 million for all construction, including the building, site development and upgrades to the co-located gold-mine tour attraction.

The entire 65-acre site is to be razed, including the gold-mine tour facilities, and added to Vancouver-based Goldcorp's planned open pit.

Here's hoping local politicians everywhere use this as an example before committing zillions of taxpayer dollars to more white elephants.

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Unforgiven

I Would Like to Thank....

In 15 years, Shania Twain Centre went from idea to reality to rubble

I Would Like to Thank....

I will never again groan so loudly or so much when I hear the words, "I would like to thank...." during a major award ceremony or telecast of election results.

I don't know that I have ever won any award or election after which I was expected to make a speech, and so I didn't understand how heartfelt the thanks really are for most people who thank everyone. .... until recently.

Two weeks ago, I was named the "Best Actor" in the London One-Act Festival for 2014 for the role, Ivan, in Unforgiven. I had another commitment and wasn't present at the ceremony. If I had been there, here is what I would have wanted to say. I wouldn't have said all this; doing so would have taken far too long. But this is what I'd have wanted to say:

Thank you very much.

I would like to thank Rhonda Allen, who performed opposite me in the play. She was a joy to work with and a joy to rehearse with. She brought important insights to her role, my role, and to the play. She had and showed a depth of understanding that went far beyond mere acting; she convincingly played the person and moved everyone in the audiences.

I would also like to thank our director Diane Haggerty. She took a risk on a very difficult play, turning it into a show that clearly affected everyone involved with it, both on and off stage. She experimented along with us, trying various interpretations, and she convinced me to play the role the way I did. Without her input, my performance and the show as a whole would not have been the success it was.

I also owe a deep debt of gratitude to my wife, Ms Eclectic, for working with me and with us. Ivan was a very hard role for me, and (as with other shows) she put in many long hours helping me in so many ways.

Also I want to thank Kathleen Sykora for her patience and dedication. She was in the play, but she also served as assistant director and general support person.  And Aiden Lee, who joined us at the last minute but who added insight and crispness to her role as well as levity backstage.

In addition, some of the people who have directed and worked with me recently deserve mention.  Through their feedback they helped me become a better actor: Steve Stockwell (Out of Sight Productions), Jason Rip (Nemesis Theatre), and Paige Miller (Fusion Productions), along with all the actors I have worked with in those and other productions, including so many mystery dinner theatre shows.

Finally, I would like to thank Maridon Duncanson and all the organizers and volunteers for the London One-Act Festival for their time and effort in bringing about this event.

Thanks again to everyone for everything.

Let me emphasize that the role of Ivan was really hard for me; it was likely the most difficult role I have ever played (including Dysart in Equus two years ago). The word usage was just slightly different for me; and the ideas overlapped within each set of sentences, interrupting the flow of thoughts constantly. Also there was a lot of drama, requiring me to scale back the emotions at times so as not to overdo them.

Apparently, the adjudicator who made the awards said that she had read all the plays and knew from the script how challenging the role of Ivan would be. Also apparently, she talked about how I met the challenge. I couldn't have done that without the help from everyone else. Believe me, I now understand how sincere most of those long, thanking speeches are.

Here I am, holding the "Loafie" [cf LOAF: London One-Act Festival]:

As I said, thanks again to everyone for everything.

Unforgiven

Tomorrow evening is our final performance of "Unforgiven", an entry in this year's London One-Act Festival at the McManus Theatre in London, Ontario. Tickets for this (and three other shows altogether) are only $15.

To be honest, I was less-than-enthusiastic about the script when I first read it. But with creative insight from Diane Haggerty (director) and Rhonda Allen (co-star), it has turned into a very moving piece. I will be quite surprised if they don't win awards for their work on this play.

Willy Loman's Commission Structure

What kind of commission structure is Willy Loman working under in Death of a Salesman? It certainly seems strange to me.

Willy: I did five hundred gross in Providence and seven hundred gross in Boston...

Linda: ... That makes your commission .... $212!....... How much did you (really) do?

Willy: .... it came to roughly two hundred gross in the whole trip....

Linda: Well, it makes $70 and some pennies.

Apparently, when Willy doesn't sell much, he earns a commission slightly greater than 35%. But if he sells a LOT of merchandise, he earns only 212/1200 or 17.7%.

That is a really incentive-incompatible commission structure. No wonder Willy never sold much -- he had an incentive to make more, smaller sales trips. As a result, the company did less business and paid Willy more per hour (despite his growing failures as a salesman). Usually commission structures are designed to encourage salesmen to make more, bigger sales, not fewer or less.

Maybe Linda's math skills are weak?

That, or Arthur Miller (and his editors and publishers) were innumerate.

More Photos from Death of a Salesman

Taken during a dress rehearsal by Ross Davidson:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Charley in Death of a Salesman

Death of a Salesman: It Just Keeps Getting Better

I have a small role (Charley) in the London Community Players' production of Death of a Salesman, so I claim no credit for this. And I make no claim to being unbiased, though I do my best.

This production is one of the best you could ever see. I'll stack it up against any professional production of Death of a Salesman. And last night's performance was the best yet.

The production takes place in Procunier Hall of The Palace Theatre, a too-small standard black-box-type performance venue, but Jason Rip (director), Steven Mitchell (tech and staging consultant), and Tia Morin (stage manager) have worked tirelessly and flexibly to bring off a tour de force in the venue.

The more we work on the play, the more I fail to see it as a critique of the American/Canadian dream or an attack on greed, success, or materialism. Rather, I see it as an exploration of the early onset of dementia in a man who never faced reality, about himself or much else.

To me, the hero of the play is Biff, who finally comes to grips with who he is and who his father was, after years and years of anguish about it all.... sort of a prolonged identity crisis.

Sure, Charley is a kind, sympathetic, generous guy and in some sense is a testament to the American/Canadian dream that success comes to those who work hard and who are honest and kind. Also his son, Bernard, who grows from being a nerdy (anemic, Willy calls him) kid to become a hot-shot lawyer arguing a case before the supreme court, is something of a hero. But they aren't the real heroes of the play.

Willy, of course, is a tragic hero. You want to grab him, shake him, tell him to stop lying to himself and everyone around him. 

Linda (Willy's wife) is a tragic heroine. She lives with Willy's lies, trying to put bandaids on major wounds everywhere, going along with him and not forcing or even asking him to face reality very often. She keeps Willy from going to Alaska, and I'm not sure but what I wish Willy had gone there. Yet there's a good chance that if they had gone to Alaska, Willy still would have been a failure. After all, he was rejected and abandoned by his father and his older brother and likely would not have dealt with the challenges of Alaska any better than he dealt with the challenges of being a salesman in a changing market.

No matter whether you agree with my take on the play, you will be in awe of the performances. The audiences clearly are moved by the performances, and people have used phrases like "stunningly good" or "brilliant" or  "mesmerizing" or "deep and moving" when talking about the show.

Rob Faust (Willy) and Deb Mitchell (Linda) are simply amazing, having captured the essence of their characters [not to mention having learned such taxing roles and the physical strain of actually performing them]. And the support from James Roberts (Biff) and Marshall Lemon (Happy), Willy and Linda's two sons, is terrific. Beyond those four main characters, the rest of us have supporting roles. And, to tell the truth, everyone in every role does a tremendous job.

See this play. It is one of the best productions you will ever see of Death of a Salesman.

Remaining performances:

• September 21 2pm
• September 24-27 8pm
• For tickets, call 519-432-1029

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Charley in Death of a Salesman

On the boards: Death of a Salesman, by American playwright Arthur Miller, presented by London Community Players, directed by Jason Rip

Death of a Salesman

Sunk Costs and "The Death of a Salesman"

Charley in Death of a Salesman

Here is a photo of me as Charley in Death of a Salesman. The photo is by Ross Davidson taken during Monday's dress rehearsal.

The preview is tonight. We have our official opening tomorrow. Friends who saw the rehearsal last night were VERY moved by the performances.

Procunier Hall, The Palace Theatre.

Related articles

Sunk Costs and "The Death of a Salesman"

Death of a Salesman

Sunk Costs and "The Death of a Salesman"

Here is a short exchange from the play, Death of a Salesman  by Arthur Miller:

Charley: When a deposit bottle is broken, you don't get your nickel back.

Willy: That's easy enough for you to say.

Charley: That ain't easy for me to say.

Charley is telling Willy to recognize that he can't change the past, but Willy holds onto his dreams for himself and for his son, Biff. Charley tells Willy, "Let him go," referring to Biff. And then Charley acknowledges that it is difficult to give up on past dreams.

It's like the old adage, "Don't cry over spilt milk." You can't undo the spill. You can rue the loss, you can clean up the mess, you can buy more milk, you can even learn to be more careful in the future; but you cannot get the milk back.

It's an example of the sunk cost fallacy that we talk so much about in economics: Costs should be based on forward-looking decisions if people are rational maximizers.

For example, what if I paid $12000 for a used car but then realized I don't like it. What I paid for it is irrelevant. The only things I should  consider are my options for the future: should I donate the car to charity to get a tax write-off? should I sell it to someone else? etc. Trying to recover my $12000 is meaningless. Instead, I should look forward, identify my options, and choose from among them.

Humans don't seem to work that way though. Willy can't or won't give up on his dreams; he can't give up on the expectations created in the past. And Charley asknowledges that he, too, had trouble giving up the past and making decisions for the future when he says, "It ain't easy for me to say."

Here is another example of the sunk cost fallacy, from this site.

Hal Arkes and Catehrine Blumer ... asked subjects to assume they had spent $100 on a ticket for a ski trip in Michigan, but soon after found a better ski trip in Wisconsin for $50 and bought a ticket for this trip too. They then asked the people in the study to imagine they learned the two trips overlapped and the tickets couldn’t be refunded or resold. Which one do you think they chose, the $100 good vacation, or the $50 great one?

If, indeed, you think the Wisconsin ski trip would be better (of course you don't know for sure, and so the decision will be based on your expectations), then what you paid should not affect your decision because you will not be able to obtain a refund on either trip. You have paid $150 in total; it's gone, it's sunk. The only relevant questions is, "Now what're you gonna do?"

A "rational" maximizer [homo economicus?] would choose the Wisconsin trip, expecting it to be better. What was paid for the two trips is sunk; the decision should be based on expectations concerning future alternatives.

The example continues,

Over half of the people in the study went with the more expensive [Michigan] trip. It may not have promised to be as fun, but the loss seemed greater. That’s the fallacy at work, because the money is gone no matter what. You can’t get it back. The fallacy prevents you from realizing the best choice is to do whatever promises the better experience in the future, not which negates the feeling of loss in the past.

Willy does this throughout the play. He maintains his dream of being a big-time salesman even though, "He was a happy man with a batch of cement," and would have been much more successful in the construction business. He not only refuses to recognize his own, personal comparative advantage, but he holds onto that dream even in the face of his apparent lack of success. Does Linda do the same thing when she talks him out of moving the family to Alaska? Maybe, or maybe she just has different expectations.

Willy's dreams for himself, for Biff, and for their relationship are like a sunk cost. He could give up the dreams and be more successful, but he doesn't let go of them. Instead of looking forward and making decisions based on his options for the future, Willy keeps looking backward, trying to live a dream that cannot be, even in end.

Note: I play Charley in the upcoming performance of Death of a Salesman  at Procunier Hall, The Palace Theatre, London, Ontario.

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Death of a Salesman

Grief and Regret - Examining the effect of loss in "Death of a Salesman"

Death of a Salesman

I'll be in this production of Death of a Salesman playing Charley, the next door neighbour (who seems to be one of the few honest, sane people in the play).

I love this production. The director, Jason Rip, has a terrific perspective which should open some people's eyes. And the cast is amazingly good, especially the two leads: Rob Faust as Willy Loman and Deb Mitchell as Linda Loman.

If you want to come to the $9 preview on the 18th, book tickets early. The other performances are $20, but seating is very limited, so even for those shows it's a good idea to book tickets early. The ticket-booking site is a bit complex because there are two different theatres at the same site, and the other one is doing "Noises Off" (which I'd love to see, if we can work out some way to visit one of their rehearsals).

Questions to consider, for those who know the play:

• Does Willy have early stages of dementia?
• Why did both Willy and Linda seem to favour Biff over Happy? Usually the mom favours the younger child.
• Why won't Willy take a job with Charley?
• Why does Charley keep "lending" money to Willy?
• Will the insurance company/companies pay off? Are there two insurance companies involved (auto and life)?
• How did Ben really earn his money?
• Did Charlie have one-nighter (or more) with Linda while Willy was out of town?
• Is Biff gay?
• How on earth did Bernard last a half hour in a fight with Biff?
• Is this play, as often advertised, a criticism of "The American Dream" or is it more just a portrayal of a family whose neuroses wouldn't allow them to confront their lies?

Performances at Procunier Hall (of the Palace Theatre):

September 18-20 8pm

September 21 2pm      

September 24-27 8pm 

For tickets, call 519-432-1029

 

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"Death of a Salesman": A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Mediocrity

Plot Summary

John Lahr: "Death of a Salesman" and "Camino Real," in revival.

Last Chance to See "Academia Nuts" Tonight, 5pm

Our run at the London Fringe Festival is nearing its close. It has been a great run with some very talented fellow actors. I'll miss it and them.

The play is a romantic comedy about a theology professor who is on sabbatical leave. An attractive female Romanian graduate student wanders into his office looking for help with conversational English. Much hilarity, confusion, tenderness, frivolity, joyful awakening, and compassion ensue.

The last chance to see our show is this evening, 5pm at the Spriet Theatre (above the Market).

Ian Klymchuk Reviews Persephone

Ian Klymchuk no longer has access to a place to publish his reviews, so I have agreed to post his reviews here on this blog. It's nice to see him reviewing things and places again after all these years.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Persephone – A lot of skin and muscle

A review by Ian Klymchuk  

So Heather and me was sitting on a patio enjoying a cool beverage when who should stroll by but our good friends Ben and Dottie.  So we asked ‘em to come on in and enjoy a brew or two with us.

They came into the patio, but Bennie has all them heart and stomach problems, so he had a “fizzy water” – club soda. Dot had a white wine, and we settled into enjoying the weather and the atmosphere.

Then Dottie, bless her blessed soul, says, “We’re going to see at dance show at the Convention Centre. Why don’t you two come along? “

Me: What???  You want ME to go see some dance nonsense??? You gotta be kidding me.

Finally, Heather makes it clear that she wants to go with Ben and Dot to see this show (it’s part of the London Fringe, 2014). It’s called Persephone. I kept calling it PER-seh-phone, but I guess the right way to say it is Per-SEH-fo-knee. What do they know, hunh? So to maintain marital harmony, I go along.

On the way there, I  says to Benny, “What are you doing? I can’t stand this stuff, and I know you can’t either!”

Benny says, “Yah, I know. But the Jays played this afternoon, so I didn’t have an excuse. What’s worse, they was shut out.”

So we get to the place where the dance is gonna be. … they call it a “venue”.  We can’t go in when we get there. HUH?

We can’t buy a beer. We can’t even buy a friggn white wine, like them artsy types drink. We gotta wait until five minutes before the show starts. Then we can go in. Man, this is gonna be torture.

So we go in, and we make sure our cellphones are turned off. And we’re chattin’ away like we always do before a show.

And then suddenly it hits me that HEY! Those are bodies laying around all over the stage! And they ain’t got much on.! Wow, is that ever cool! I’m sort of excited and I nudge Benny, thinking maybe this will be pretty something, if you know what I mean.

The lights go down and the music starts. The bodies start moving. When there are lots of bodies on stage doing stuff, they actually impress me. There’s something that looks like them famous art prints the way they moved [EE: Ian had seen my book of M.C.Escher prints; I think he was referring to some of those], and even when they wasn’t quite together, I figured they planned that cause they moved together right after that.

I liked the group stuff better than the solo stuff. Maybe that’s because sometimes it reminded me of the CFL cheerleaders, who look real good with all them moves and throwing their hair around.  Or maybe it’s because it reminded me of synchronized swimming. I don’t know what it was, but it was pretty nice. And I liked how they used the stage and the front row space for a bunch of the dancing.

And, I gotta admit, the concluding formations was really something. And another good thing? It lasted only about 40 minutes.

Me, I don’t much like watching dancing. But I did like watching all them young dancers who was so fit. And I did like watching all the coordinated moves they made.

But I got two questions.

1. If it's dancing how come there ain't no waltzing or polkas or two-steps, huh?
2. How come there weren’t no men dancing, huh?

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Ian Klymchuk is president of the Lucan Chapter of the Philistine Liberation Organization. After a nearly two – decade hiatus, he has decided to start writing reviews again. His early reviews can be seen here: http://home.cabletv.on.ca/~econoclast/plo/Klymchuk/klymchuk.html

Unfortunately, neither he nor I have access to that site any longer, so I’ll probably just post his future reviews here on EclectEcon.

Academia Nuts Opens Tonight! confusion, compassion, lust, and dust

We had a great tech-dress rehearsal yesterday and are all set to open our entry in London's 2014 Fringe Festival. We open tonight, 5:30pm at The Spriet Family Theatre (though this is not exactly what one might call a "family" show). It is being produced by Out of Sight Productions, a name which is both fun and fitting for the group

I am delighted to be working with the other four actors in the show. Ken Parsons, who is totally blind, plays a blind bishop who also happens to be a lecherous, dirty old man. He is absolutely hilarious. Roger Khouri plays the head bishop. Rose Bonner plays a cleaning lady who seems to have kept her job despite being a cantakerous, disagreeable sort. I play Roger, a theology professor who is on sabbatical and who lost his wife two years earlier. And Tiffany Blom plays Sonia, a Romanian graduate student who happens into Roger's office, leading to companionship and friendship between the two.

Four words describe the play: confusion, compassion, lust, and dust.

 

Academia Nuts (at the 2014 London Fringe Festival)

A theology professor is on sabbatical. His wife took her life two years earlier, and he is struggling with that. A Romanian grad student happens into his office, looking for help with conversational English. He is persuaded to help her, and the tutoring develops into friendship. Along the way, there is confusion, silliness, compassion, re-awakening, lust, and dust.

The play, "Academia Nuts" will be my first performance in a Fringe Festival play (I'm the prof). The Spriet Family Theatre is on the second floor, above the Covent Garden Market.

Academia Nuts (at the 2014 London Fringe Festival)

The  2014 London Fringe Festival will be held June 4 - 13 during which Out Of Sight Productions is presenting a one-hour play, "Academia Nuts" by Paul Kinsella.

The play is a romantic comedy about a theology professor (me) who is on sabbatical leave. An attractive female Romanian graduate student (Tiffany Blom) wanders into his office looking for help with conversational English. Much hilarity, confusion, tenderness, frivolity, joyful awakening, and compassion ensue. For more about the play and about Out of Sight Productions, see this.

Production Details:

Academia Nuts, at The Spriet Theatre (second floor of the Covent Garden Market, London, Ontario), Identified as Venue #1 for the Fringe Festival:

• Wednesday, June 4, 5:30pm
• Friday, June 6, 5pm
• Saturday, June 7, 2:30pm
• Monday, June 9, 8pm
• Wednesday, June 11, 8:15pm
• Friday, June 13, 5pm

Because "Academia Nuts" is part of the Fringe Festival, it is likely you will need to purchase a button as well as a ticket to see the play, but there are typically quantity discounts for packets of tickets, so it might be fun to see 5 or 10 of the shows during the festival. Last year the buttons were $5, and the tickets were something like $10, but I have no idea what the pricing will be like this year.

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Kelly McDonald Does a Spring Training Show about the Blue Jays

Academia Nuts (at the 2014 London Fringe Festival)

A Classic Example of Political Hubris... and more?

There is a lovely area in London, Ontario, that used to house a large hospital and many ancillary buildings and operations. It is near downtown and abuts the south branch of the Thames River. In keeping with our adaptation and adoption of Brit names, the area is referred to as "SOHO", in part because the hospital was on South Street and was often referred to as SOuth HOspital.

The hospital has moved, as have the ancillary operations. The space and real estate could likely be a prime development area. Enter the local politicians, dreamers, possibly shady dealings, and perhaps even undetailed and undefined cronyism.

Mayor Joe Fontana’s dream of reaping political bang from a $300-million mega-project he touted as a huge boost for London’s core may be going bust.

More than two years after the mayor unveiled the downtown gateway project, it appears developer Fincore Canada might have difficulty pulling it off, given apparent troubles at a much smaller project outside the city.

Fincore isn’t talking about the status of the twin-towered project Fontana announced in his “state of the city” address two years ago. Neither is Fontana...

Repeated calls for an update from Fincore principal Loredana Onesan, once a fellow board member with Fontana for a charity whose charitable status was yanked, have gone unanswered.

The massive anti-aging and wellness development was announced for the north bank of the Thames River, east of Wellington St. Its design features towers of 26 and 18 storeys, linked by medical, commercial and residential components and even a church.Fincore rezoned some land it doesn’t yet own for the development, prompting landowners to appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board. Those issues were resolved and there’s no legal barrier to the project’s first phase on land Fincore owns or controls.

The Free Press has learned the company has a troubled history as a developer, raising questions about its SoHo development.

 The confused and confusing layers of intricacies of entwined dealings in this city make me wonder how any municipal politician can keep track of what goes on here (or in any large city).

Irrelevant Digression: I met the current mayor once. He was at a mystery dinner theatre show I did a year or two ago.

Kelly McDonald Does a Spring Training Show about the Blue Jays

Kelly McDonald is one of the smartest people I know. He is also amazingly energetic and determined. One of the many things he does is produce, direct, and participate in radio and television shows. He is also well-known for his stage theatre work in London, Ontario.

This evening and several more times over the next week or so Kelly has a show about the Toronto Blue Jays on Rogers TV [channel 888 in London and Toronto, update: it is the Accessible Channel produced by Accessible Media]. I think it might be on at 8pm in London with the title "Sports Access". It might also be on at 4pm today in Toronto. He spent some time in Florida doing the interviews for the show.

Kelly is nearly totally blind. His production company is called Out of Sight Productions, which tries to use vision-impaired actors in much of its work. His company is producting "Academia Nuts" for the London Fringe Festival in June. Three of the five actors in it are vision-impaired. I'm one of the other two and happy to be a part of the show.

Governor Isaac Shelby, The War of 1812

Nearly two years ago I auditioned to be in a documentary series about how the War of 1812 affected Southwestern Ontario between Niagara and Detroit. I was initially offered a role of a 32-year-old, and I immediately wrote to the producers that I was flattered that they thought I could play such a role. They, of course, rescinded that offer and instead offered me the role of Governor Isaac Shelby (of Kentucky), who was a general during that war. The filming for my very minor role was done in August, 2012, and will be on TVO sometime during the winter of 2014. Here is my very brief role, in its entirety, in Episode One.

I recorded this snippet on my smartphone from a disk sent to me in advance of the TVO showing of the series. 

In this scene, I am assuring the women of Amherstburg that we Kentuckians will not destroy their homes so long as they do not harbour any of their men folk, whom we would consider to be soldiers for the British. The narrative over the video suggests that I might be playing General Harrison giving these assurances, but that isn't exactly what I was told nor what the credits say (and is especially bizarre since General Harrison is played by a different actor).

Oh well, another gig, another credit.

Coincidentally, Shelby, Michigan, less than an hour north of where I was born and raised, was named for Governor Shelby:

Shelby was originally established as Churchill’s Corners in 1866, named after Walter H. Churchill who was the first postmaster. It was renamed Shelby in 1885 when it was incorporated as a village - after General Isaac Shelby, who along with his famous Kentucky Rangers, took back Detroit from the British in the War of 1812.

It's interesting that in the full narrative of the documentary, Governor Shelby's role in the War of 1812 is not mentioned even once.

And you know what? If I hadn't played this role and done lots of reading about it, I'd have had no idea who Shelby was, what he did, or why that village was named Shelby.

Iron Sheik Challenges Rob Ford to a Fight

From the Huffington Post (ht MM):

Because things CAN always get weirder at Toronto City Hall. Famous WWE wrestler,the Iron Sheik showed up to City Hall challenging Mayor Rob Ford to an arm wrestling match.

The Iron Sheik, aka Hossein Khosrow Ali Vaziri, was an Iranian wrestler turned WWE heel in the 1980s and 1990s. The Sheik is apparently taking exception to Mayor Ford's drug habits.

"Rob Ford i [sic] coming for you," The Sheik tweeted earlier on Wednesday....

The Sheik's appearance at City Hall took the City Hall press corp by surprise.

Idiosynchronicity

Here is another photo from last week's rehearsal for "Idiosynchronicity", which we are performing this week at the London One-Act Festival, 7pm, Wednesday and Friday nights at the McManus Theatre in London:

The London One-Act Festival: November 6 - 9

The London One-Act Festival has been revived for 2013 with eight one-act plays, each being performed twice during the festival. Here are the details. One piece of information missing from the poster is that the first play begins at 7pm. Each play will be 30 minutes or less.

I have a minor role in Idiosynchronicity, along with three fabulous actors: Lori, Alana, and John; and the director/playwright (Len Cuthbert) is a joy to work with. Our play is being performed on Wednesday and Friday nights.

Addendum: Here is a photo Len took during our most recent rehearsal.