By Jeff Kubik
To your right! To your left! Don’t stop looking, if you’re not careful you’ll miss it all.
Festivals are fantastic spectacles, they’re fun because they’re so overwhelming. Too large to take in all at once, you have to pace yourself or, like your mother always warned you, you’ll make yourself sick. The ones we’re most accustomed to are full of sideshows, nauseating rides and even more nauseating food–fun oozes down already stained t-shirts and runs along the asphalt of the festival grounds.
Though the Epcor Centre might not take kindly to oozing of any kind, the 18th annual Alberta Theatre Projects’ playRites Festival is a six-week cavalcade of fresh productions with something for theatre aficionados and newcomers alike, corn dogs or no.
"For many people, the theatre is a kind of cultural palace, a very intimidating place," says ATP Artistic Director Bob White. "With events like our 24-Hour Playwriting Competition and Brief New Works in the Devonian Gardens, we’re trying to break down those barriers, saying plays can happen spontaneously, anywhere. We try to create a festival atmosphere, turning Calgary audiences on to new works. It’s hectic, coordinating rehearsals with some actors in two productions, but fortunately we’ve been doing it for 18 years.
"It’s definitely controlled chaos."
The festival is not simply a compilation of frenetic sideshows, however. Its six main stage shows are all fully developed productions, created over the course of the last two years by ATP and their respective playwrights. Covering a range of themes, from the comedic to the dark, these plays form the backbone of a festival that provides more than just a good show.
"We’re trying to do two things," explains White. "Mostly, we’re trying to impart Calgary with a sense of what’s happening. With four main stage shows, you’re getting four completely different perspectives, each a postcard of that particular playwright."
"Secondly, we’re able to use playRites as a launch pad for new plays," continues White. "Producers from across the country, and lately the world, pay attention. If a production succeeds here, it’s in front of a real audience. Over half of our productions have gone on to have second runs which means, I suppose, that we’re right more times than we’re wrong.
"It’s nice to know that there is life after Calgary."
With playRites alumni like Mary’s Wedding and The Shape of a Girl enjoying runs across the country and abroad, it’s clear playRites continues to be a resounding success. Failure or success, each play is a dynamic work staged for the first time on Calgary’s stages, a one-of-a-kind experience with a perishable energy that can only come from live performance.
"We started rehearsals in December and I’ve found that you form a shorthand on how to work together," says White, himself a director in this year’s festival for Eugene Stickland’s All Clear. "In many ways the work is deeper, there’s more commitment. Actors do their part, and there’s a certain pride in saying, ‘I was in the first production of that play.’ Theatre is different than other creative endeavors in that it doesn’t exist until it’s performed. You find yourself being a part of the creation process."
With One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo running alongside playRites until Feb. 1, Calgary is suddenly surrounded by a wide variety of main and side stage shows. Venues around the city are opening a boggling variety of productions, it’s enough to make your head spin. Ain’t it great?
"There’s no better place in Canada," beams White. "We’re seeing an incredible spectrum of work, from experimental theatre to emerging artists. It’s a great time to be a theatre buff."
Popcorn anyone?
playRites runs through Sun., Mar. 7. For a full schedule of events visit: www.atplive.com/pR_schedule.html.