Thought Residencies

When was it that we decided to try to fit theatre into the consumerist model of selling a product to the public? As a "product" Theatre has got to be the worst thing to try to sell -  it costs a lot to create and has an unforgiving expiry date – if a seat in a theatre is not sold one night, you can never try to sell it again. Whereas a can of soup can sit on a shelf for months, even years. I think...

So the thought today comes after a conversation with a friend of mine, a fellow artist who was telling me about working on a show that required him to use a British accent. He was working with the production's dialect coach and was given a bunch of audio samples of British dialects for him to learn. Now my friend is person of colour, and actually, his family is from England with deep roots in Jama...

So I recently went to see a movie in theatres, and it was the first time in a long time that I've seen a popular action film in the theatres. The trailers were playing and I just couldn't believe it. 9 out of 10 trailers were for remakes from the 90's, or a prequel/sequel spin off from a 90's franchise. And I couldn't help but think as I was sitting there: Humanity is doomed. Our fate is sealed. T...

Hi there, this is Brendan McMurtry-Howlett, I'm the Resident Thinker for March, sooooo welcome.  I'm going to be honest with you, I stayed up really late last night trying to finish a grant. And you know what? I kind of enjoyed it. I've wrestling a lot recently with trying to adhere to a self-imposed 9 to 5 structure for my independent work, I don't know I guess to make myself feel like an adult....

Hi. It's Kelli again, it's February 28th and this is Thought #12. My final thought for you for February. Thanks, Sarah, for inviting me to do this, it's been the most extraordinary and eye opening experience to have this responsibility to you all three times a week, to share my thoughts. I'm honoured to have been asked. I began this month talking about the depression I was in the midst of, so I wa...

Hi there, it's Kelli, it's February 27, and it's 8:30 in the morning, and I've just realized that I spent my whole day yesterday so buried in a Hamlet edit that I forgot all about you! The good news is, life is incredibly busy, and there are lots of projects on the go, and uh ... I find myself once again apologizing. So I"m sorry, I hope your February has been fantastic, mine certainly has. Headin...

Hi, it's Kelli again, it's February 22, and this is thought # 10. And, ok, this is a little weird, little random, but here goes. I happen to have a somewhat famous sibling. And about 30 years ago there was an event involving myself, and this famous sibling, and the National Enquirer. And weirdly, randomly, the National Enquirer has been in touch with my agent, and let her know that they would like...

Hi, it's Kelli Fox again, it's February 21st, and this is thought # 9. And today, I really can't stop thinking about those kids in Florida. I  can't stop thinking about their bravery, and their unbelievable strength, in the face of political apathy, and obstruction, and obstinacy from the adults around them. I'm so, so impressed with them. And today I learned something about them that I didn't kno...

And thought # 8 is about this amazing little thing I got to witness this afternoon. I've always heard about Lunchbox Theatre in Calgary, but I've never been able to see anything there, and I saw a play this afternoon ... at Noon ... an hour long. It was a play, really at bottom it was a play about coming out, it was also a little bit a play about culture clash, very much a play about family, full...

Hi. It's Kelli again, it's February 15th and this is thought #7, and what I am thinking about today, what I'm wondering about today, is whether or not there is any such thing as social progress. I found myself in rehearsal today, listening to the words coming out of Al Capone's mouth in the play, and for all the world, all I could hear was Donald Trump. It was extraordinary. I was a teenager, and...

Hi. It's Kelli Fox, again. February 14th. Valentines Day. I'm not going to talk about that. That's not going to be thought # 6. Thought # 6 is about beginnings. We started rehearsal yesterday for my next project which is Lonely Diner at Vertigo Theatre in Calgary. And, oh there is something about beginnings, man. There is something about a blank slate, a clean fresh white sheet of paper, an empty...

It's early in the morning on February 13th, it's Kelli Fox, and this is Thought Residency #5.  And I guess this morning it's all about focus. I flew to Calgary on the weekend, I'm about to start rehearsal today, it's my sister's birthday today, and it's all been a bit um ... distracting and overwhelming, and I forgot to put this together for you. Um, because my focus is a bit chaotic and askew. I...

Hi, it's Kelli again, it's February 8th today, and this is Thought #4. Which today is all about light. The light, the light, that creeps just earlier, and just a little earlier, and just a little earlier every morning into my room, and it let's me know that spring is just around the corner, and even though I'm on the prairie and everything is still frozen solid here, and it will be for  ...  ........

Hi, it's February 7, it's Kelli Fox again, and this is thought #3.   So, I was at the theatre yesterday morning for the first day of rehearsal for the company of US. New Canadian musical, everybody's pumped, tons of excitement in the room. And Wes Pearce, the designer, was giving his presentation, he's talking about how they got where they got with it, and he just happened to mention, in passing,...

It's February 6th. It's Kelli Fox, and this is thought #2 for my February Thought Residency. And today I'm thinking about time.   I'm thinking about time as a commodity, as the most valuable commodity we have, each of us, in life, but also, ...   we, as artists.   Once we've begged, borrowed, or stolen whatever it takes to make our art, that will speak our truth (and let's not forget that is what...

Hi. This is Kelli Fox. It's February 1st and this is the beginning of my Thought Residency and here's my first thought. Um ... I've been thinking a lot this past couple of weeks about the healing power of our work. As I make my way through another dark Canadian winter and battle the depression that hits me every year at this time, I am grateful for the studio that I go into every night right now,...

This is my 14th thought. Well anyone who has ever worked on a show with me or created a show with me know that I'm terrible with endings. So I don't have a plan for how to say goodbye only to say that it has been a real treat to spend a month putting my thoughts down and thinking of whatever and having a virtual space to share it. I've been on a whole journey all month, all over, and now I'm home,...

This is my... oh... I didn't even look at what thought it was. It is my 13th thought. Wow, 13. Well my thought for today is about how we stand on the shoulders of those who comes before to accomplish everything we do in life. That someone has opened that door for us, someone has already paved the road you get to walk on and that's really really hitting me today. In whatever way forward we go, that...

Its January 25th and this is my twelfth thought. So the other day I was jogging down the street, it was like a downhill part of the street, and the sidewalk isn't well maintained, so there's all these big grooves that pup up. Anyway, point being, my foot hit one of these grooves and I launched into the air, and fell flat on my chest and face and arms. And cut up all my hands and elbows and everyth...

Its January 24th and this is my eleventh thought. So I was thinking about how people want to jump into the skins of different cultures to have a different experience. I was watching this video of people from Germany where they have these Native American villages, where they dress up as Native Americans and live in this very stereotypical olden times. And its problematic in many ways but theres als...

Its January 23rd and this is my tenth thought. So what I've been thinking about is that sometimes writing or music turns a corner after it has been really bad for a while. So I was writing this song for a show and for months, I kid you not, whenever I would sit down at the piano I would play the same little patterns and record it because like "Oh this is a great song I could use it in the future"....

This is January 18th and this is my ninth thought.   I wondered how long it would take me to talk about collaboration but I'm going to start now. I think that I have become a better collaborator as I've collaborated with more people and they've taught me how to be a better collaborator. I think that when I was younger I wasn't very good at it and I was kind of bull headed and tried to get my way o...

It's January 17th and this is my eighth thought. I think that I'm a bit afraid of my thought today because I think its unpopular but I'm just going to ask it as a question instead. Why would it be so bad for people to record theatre performances? What makes theatre any different than a concert, a live concert where people are filming the whole show of music and lighting and set and everything. Wha...

It's January 16th and this is my seventh thought. I think that I struggle with calling myself a writer or composer or anything where I'm having to create something because I don't find the process to be all that easy. I also don't find it to be all that enjoyable. In the process of doing it I find it to be frustrating sometimes and painful. Its later on where I start to enjoy it. It's the fine tun...

This is Thursday January 11th and this is my sixth thought. I've been going to some modern art museums here in New York City and I've decided that I think I like about 20% of what I see, the rest of it I'm indifferent to. But I wonder why in theatre we hold a higher bar that like everyone needs to like it. Or there needs to be some sort of consensus and that the response is like, you know, we want...