tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.comments2018-08-08T01:09:59.246-07:00Sprockets and GreasepaintCeleste Sansregrethttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06906752549498213770noreply@blogger.comBlogger15125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-68080489291029457292016-10-01T16:06:17.820-07:002016-10-01T16:06:17.820-07:00Beautiful.Beautiful.Sylvikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782575615787741998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-2756239992099659422013-08-06T15:52:55.167-07:002013-08-06T15:52:55.167-07:00Sending many hugs and love to you.Sending many hugs and love to you.Sylvikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782575615787741998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-58691996472178917232013-08-02T07:06:27.645-07:002013-08-02T07:06:27.645-07:00Oh Celeste. So beautifully said. I love this. Oh Celeste. So beautifully said. I love this. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01898481175028582429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-82019447734822178232013-03-09T08:05:15.415-08:002013-03-09T08:05:15.415-08:00Thank you Andrew, for your thoughtful comments and...Thank you Andrew, for your thoughtful comments and questions.<br /><br />I would like a more balanced male/female perspective in government. I think the hours and the travel as well at the enormous cost of mounting a political campaign keep many women from running for office.<br /><br />Work/family life balance remains an enormous issue for women and men with children. I have had many women say to me, "We're both working, but if the kid is sick, the expectation is that I stay home." <br /><br />I think that goes a long way to explaining why there are certain jobs that women, well-qualified women, don't take. When you throw the fact that many people are delaying having children which tends to leave them in the "sandwich" with elder care and teen-aged kids, you can see why fewer women want to take on board work or run for office. Their family responsibilities and careers peak simultaneously.<br /><br />I think the entire way we work might change if there was more/better/different accommodation to the needs of families with two working parents.<br /><br />I think there are plenty of qualified women to run for office with backgrounds in administration, journalism, policy analysis, academia, finance, law and medicine. Women are often invited to run in seats where the party knows they have no chance of winning but want to field a full slate of candidates. <br /><br />I'd like to see more women in office for the same reason I'd like to see proportional representation: it would be more democratic. For the record,I am not at all cynical about democracy.<br /><br />As to corporate governance, some companies are trying to get more women on their boards. It remains a boys' club in large measure and yes, I think as women continue to make the aggregate of consumer decisions it would likely bring about a change in corporate culture if we had more representation of the boards of corporations.<br /><br />To summarize, it is not just gender representation that needs to change, it's the rules of the game.Celeste Sansregrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906752549498213770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-37767778915629466012013-03-09T07:00:23.312-08:002013-03-09T07:00:23.312-08:00Why do you want to see an equal number of men and ...Why do you want to see an equal number of men and women in parliament? And does that extend to wanting to see an equal number of men and women in management positions in big corporations? I've never understood the rationale behind that.<br />Do we push for equal representation because we believe that there is no difference between men and women, and if the system were fair an equal number of each would rise to power? Or are we saying that a woman's different sensibilities should always be equally present because effective leadership demands both a male and female perspective? Or are we just cheering for the politically correct position? Or are we so cynical that we don't believe leadership requires any particular qualifications -- they're all corrupt self-serving egomaniacs anyway; it might as well be one as the other?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09117792310714019741noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-37699947955852849782013-03-09T06:51:42.687-08:002013-03-09T06:51:42.687-08:00I appreciate your comments here, Celeste, and want...I appreciate your comments here, Celeste, and want to thank you for putting this out there. There has been a long discussion in a feminist group of which I am a part about the inclusion of men in the group -- we have some, and smart and supportive men they are, too -- and so I've been thinking about this issue. Exclusionary policies are a problem because there are always good reasons to make exceptions for individual people's experience and abilities which almost always transcend categories like gender, sexuality, class, race, etc. That said, it's easier to exclude than include, which is often why groups will choose that route. Inclusion takes thought and effort, as well as a constant consideration (and re-consideration) of how big we want the world to be. <br /><br />T. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01898481175028582429noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-3669399419224398022013-02-10T20:09:02.743-08:002013-02-10T20:09:02.743-08:00Excellent, thoughtful post, Celeste. Thank you for...Excellent, thoughtful post, Celeste. Thank you for sharing.Sylvikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782575615787741998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-91897758686415514012012-08-06T11:00:07.347-07:002012-08-06T11:00:07.347-07:00Great post darling!
And someday I *will* work wit...Great post darling!<br /><br />And someday I *will* work with you :)<br /><br />Take care.Sylvikehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16782575615787741998noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-19993143837640105072012-06-28T19:16:16.665-07:002012-06-28T19:16:16.665-07:00Regardless of the facts and the history, the decis...Regardless of the facts and the history, the decision has definitely blown up in their faces. The board is being viewed as broken, which is a bad place to put yourself. <br /><br />My only similar experience was as a board member of the West End Cultural Centre. One of the founders was still on staff, but the organization had grown leaps and bounds beyond his skill set and he essentially served as a handyman and goodwill ambassador. When financial hardships hit, we had to lay him off. It was horrible. I hated that we did it. I still do.<br /><br />But this? Dumb, dumb move.<br /><br />Most boards have insurance which may or may not cover this type of thing. And who knows what might have been lurking in his contract.<br /><br />But no matter what happens, I'm sure he'll be snapped up by a perfectly stable company with a non-batshitcrazy board.Sharilynhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12563868501831788774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-46362473747638835182012-04-06T05:50:58.958-07:002012-04-06T05:50:58.958-07:00Keef,
Arguments, like plays are generally constru...Keef,<br /><br />Arguments, like plays are generally constructed so a series of premises lead to a conclusion. Call me colonial if you must but I think the Greeks aren't a bad place to start to learn about how to construct either a play or an argument.<br /><br />This is not the case with the comments you've offered here but I will try to address your randomly made points in the order you've made them.<br /><br />LAW AND ORDER is written according to a fairly standard television plot model: ensemble cast and an A story and a B story and sometimes a C story. I wasn't arguing that plays should be written like episodic television. I was arguing this was a play with no clear ending.<br /><br />Neil Simon mostly writes comedies. Ms. Beagan wasn't adapting a comedy: she was adapting a naturalistic American drama based on a classic French drama based on a Greek myth. If she wanted to throw out the structure, she could have done that but the structure went out the window 2/3 of the way through the show, which I found problematic. Judging by the other reviews I read online and in the press, I wasn't alone in this.<br /><br />WHERE THE BLOOD MIXES, written by a member of said diaspora, has a clear start, middle and ending and a protagonist and is one of the best plays I've seen in the last five years. If you're referring to ensemble shows like THE REZ SISTERS by Tompson Highway, all the characters at the centre of the piece are working towards one, clear objective. The great Quebec playwright Michel Trembley uses a similar device in LES BELLE SOEURS. Paul Thompson did quite a lot of that kind of collective creation back in the 70's when he made work like THE FARM SHOW. I've seen all of those plays and I didn't walk out of the theatre not knowing what happened to the main characters by the end of the show.<br /><br />If you liked Franken for the part, you are entitled to your opinion. There was no sexual chemistry between him and the woman he was ostensibly having sex with and that, not the age difference between the two of them was a problem for me. I also needed to believe he was physically capable of beating the crap out of every other man on the stage and that certainly wasn't the case. If you didn't need to believe either of those things, maybe we weren't watching the same play.<br /><br />As to why Ash Knight's character didn't run off with the bag of money: I can't agree with you. Life Keef, is a shit sandwich: the more bread you've got, the less shit you have to eat. If you don't believe me, live for a week with no money and then live for a week with a bag of money. I think most humans, if handed a bag of money, would leave a crap situation, which those boys were certainly in, take the money and run.<br /><br />Some of the actors were good, some less so. There again, you don't have to agree with me.<br /><br />Beagan has written better plays and I expected a better play from her than this. I really think she need more time to work on the show than she got. I meant it when I said I hope she rewrites it and remounts it a some point.<br /><br />Yes I am an actor and a writer and I have taken beat-downs and accolades from the press and from my peers. I have had everything from 1 1/2 to 5 star reviews for plays I've written and/or acted in as well as for stuff I've co-created and/or produced. I find both successes and failures instructive. Yes, it's nicer when people love the show and you know it rocked. However, I can say I have had some great conversations with friends and colleagues about why my work or theirs didn't turn out as it should. I appreciate those conversations and I try to learn from them. I try not to get a fat head from praise or permanent bruises from drubbing. If you can't take criticism, this is the wrong business to be in, in fact, I'm not sure you can be in any business if you aren't prepared to try and learn from your mistakes.Celeste Sansregrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06906752549498213770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-59405542529938173252012-04-06T04:18:56.288-07:002012-04-06T04:18:56.288-07:00Thanks for the reminder about Love is the Devil, C...Thanks for the reminder about Love is the Devil, Celeste! Been meaning to see it for ages, and your review does what all good reviews should do --entice people to see something good! I felt the same about Midnight in Paris: meh. I too am a movies-over-TV woman and stopped cable when I was a doctoral student with no money and no time for channel-surfing.Tanis MacDonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16776253939417977351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-43532220523527588282012-03-14T14:17:48.656-07:002012-03-14T14:17:48.656-07:00Celeste
You speak to the rules of writing plays a...Celeste<br /><br />You speak to the rules of writing plays as though they are finite. Personally, I don't like formulaic plays or movies. We are inundated with them on a continual basis, be it Law and Order, or The Odd Couple. I admire artists that work outside of the normative drivel that feels and sounds like a hundred other different Neil Simon plays. My experience with plays within the Indigenous diaspora is a lack of a protagonist. You speak in very colonial terms when it comes to writing plays. As to free as injuns, I disagree that Jerry Franken was the wrong person for the role. The uncomfortable truth of an older man taking a much younger wife was written and cast on purpose. The uncomfortable feelings were intentional me thinks. I fully understood why those two boys didn't take that money and run. To me, Ash Knight's character knew they had little or no power outside of that plot of land. Your assessment sends mixed messages. You say you don't blame the actors but then you rake them over the coals. You call this play a "mess" but then go on to praise Ms. Beagan for her talent, when clearly you don't feel like this piece exemplifies any of her talents as a writer. I am confused. Since you are an artist like myself, you know how hard this business is. It is always difficult for me to see artists tear down other artists' work like you have done. I know you are entitled to your opinion, but there will come a time when someone will judge your work, and I hope they are kinder than you are to Ms. Beagan and the other talented artists attached to this piece. I don't know if you will post this, since this is your forum not mine. But if you really are open to dialogue, I'd love to continue this conversation.keefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04803379586347304138noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-31531736810022661592010-05-27T19:32:26.209-07:002010-05-27T19:32:26.209-07:00P.S. I would have to add the Klassen script done ...P.S. I would have to add the Klassen script done as last year's Warehouse season to that list...Sorry Kevin.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-59586819597729825602010-05-27T19:31:25.085-07:002010-05-27T19:31:25.085-07:00AND they should cast non-equity actors for new pla...AND they should cast non-equity actors for new plays because we are just as fabulous in many cases and much cheaper--and we'd be "a fresh face". As well, we could then take a longer rehearsal period--none of those "equity" rules to follow. (How else do you eventually become equity anyway, but by being a non-equity player in an equity house?)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3034777129700667247.post-43934146443879448912009-11-16T16:14:15.317-08:002009-11-16T16:14:15.317-08:00I want to see the sequel...I want to see the sequel...Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06063134991499523376noreply@blogger.com