Coincidentally there is a band playing in town tonight that lost their instruments and used that as inspiration to make a video, shot, recorded and played all on iPhones.

Craigslist Cantata premieres tonight. Joy.

Thinking back over the past year, I remember Sleep No More in NYC, Jerusalem with Mark Rylance, and an amazing weekend of everything that was on at the National Theatre in London in August.

I also realized that I may be getting more satisfaction from a good meal. A good restaurant now does something to me that involves narrative, spectacle, illuminating conversation, sexuality, and some good belly laughs. Of course this can have a lot to do with the company.  In Philadelphia at Zahav, Momufuku Ssam Bar in NYC (3 times!), Morimoto’s restaurant in Napa, Mission Chinese in SF, not to mention Gramercy Tavern, Saison and more, as well as at home at Boneta and West.

I was struck by the work of playwrights that we may never get to see in Vancouver, or more to point, how we aren’t seeing this type of work: Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles,  Sons of the Prophet by Stephen Karam , and Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz.  I’m missing that in Vancouver.

The last play I saw this year featured shepherds positing the idea that we all just part of a sheep’s dream. I loved the  loopy, lethargic, Alex Diakun and Scott Bellis in Drew McCreadies’ Hotel Bethlehem, asking:”What if the sheep wakes up?”

We’re in the thick of prep for the Craigslist musical. Props, sets, choreography, and so on, all happening before we join actors in the room January 2 for the race to our first preview.

As well as various other exciting things, including a new opera, a new piece for Theatre Conspiracy, a residency over at the Belfry next week, and a big move. But more on all that soon.

For today, here is another musical piece based on internet stuff, apropos for our Canadian winter. Perhaps not Vancouver. Thank you Calg’ry.

Next to Normal

Light in the Piazza

Circle Mirror Transformation

Wicked Shorts

True Love Lies

Ride the Cyclone

and out of town:

… And Slowly Beauty

Betrayal

I love that we are launching the season with such an incredible collection of scripts. The writing in all of these shows has much to recommend them.

On my walk today I headed West and once a little further into the outskirts I found regular modern apartment buildings and a school and a strip mail. It was a bit like wandering backstage and seeing things from the other side.

It reminded me, bizarrely enough of when I zipped through Skagway, Alaska, which has about four square blocks of Gold Rush period buildings, and then a fence, and on the other side of the fence is where all the people go when not at work and where the video store and the groceries are. I feel like the best, most immersive tourist towns must need a backstage, so that the regular folks who run the town have a place to live.

I went back to the Revolving Theatre again. This time for the Mozart opera, Don Giovanni. I sat on the edge of the bank of seats. I wasn’t overly impressed with the show – some good singing, some flubbed lines, nothing too inspiring in the staging – but sitting where I was gave me the opportunity to see the performers move on and off stage, to whisper to each other as they were getting into place (keep in mind this is a massive outdoor space), and general prep like candles being lit and so on. That I liked. It made me think of what I was attracted to in the theatre in the first place, which was the people who lived this life, and how they did it.

I am in Cesky Krumlov, a quaint historical town about 2 hours south of Prague. I’m on a residency with Milkwood International, working on the writing of some new plays.

This week I went to the Revolving Theatre to see a ballet version of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Instead of the stage revolving, the audience does, so you get all the benefits of outdoor theatre – gorgeous views, a depth of field that is enormous, the acoustics of the night sky, etc – yet, the audience stays seated and doesn’t have to traipse from site to site. I will be going Don Giovanni there this weekend.

This is my 4th time at the festival (The Black Box, The Wedding Pool (writer / director) Biographies of the Dead & Dying (director)) and it’ s feeling like a bit of a Summer tradition. Hope to see you there.

Reviews in the Globe and Mail, NOW, blog, blog, blog, blog and blog.

Little One
Pretty Little Instincts
The Particulars and in General
Combat
Elora George
Malaria Lullabye
Mr Marmalade
Perhaps in 100 Years
Shudder
The Safe Word

www.summerworks.ca

While writing my new play The Trolley Car, I came across “the trolley problem” which is now featured in the play. The above video has a lecture by Professor Michael Sandel discussing the moral implications and how we sometimes makes conflicting choices.

The Trolley Car opens on Thursday of this week at SummerWorks.