Hi everyone,

We are trying something new for the next couple of posts. We’ve already posted written and video blogs- those are sooo last month. We finally decided that photo blogs are the final frontier. The next few Young Company blogs will feature a few photos that inspire our characters, the arc of the plays themselves, us personally and our future goals, or demonstrate what we’ve learned from Young Company so far this year.

Without further ado:

	I recently discovered this absolute gem of a show, and have been referring to it constantly as I try to figure out the intricacies and complexities of traditional British society in regards to Cloud 9. The division and interplay of upstairs and downstairs, the heightened accents, the patriarchal rule and the consequences when it his law is broken, Maggie Smith’s outrageous hats – although a few decades later than Act One, it is perfect insight into that world.
	If Downton Abbey symbolizes Act One, this iconic “woman power” poster represents the second act for me. Lin, the character I play in the second act, is a self-professed man hater who believes in female empowerment. More than that, this was the era when women were demanding, not requesting, equal rights. It was a time of strong female figures from Margaret Thatcher to Sally Ride.
	This image sums up my view of the play as a whole. Act One is about strict societal norms and how they shape a family. Act Two explores the characters’ journeys when they are allowed to break the rules and rebel. These two acts are on completely opposite ends of the spectrum. However, what the characters are searching for, and what I believe they ultimately achieve in the final moments of Cloud 9, is the balance that comes somewhere between strict restraint and lawless orgy.
	Just as the characters in Cloud 9 discover the need for equilibrium, I’ve realized this year that I need balance in my life as well. As much as I love theatre and costumes and telling stories and all that jazz, I also love kicking around a soccer ball or sitting around eating chicken wings. This photo, of the Pacific Grace, is the ship on which I hope to one day sail around the world.
	This photo shows what company has meant to me this year. We took this as we were waiting outside for our Cloud 9 auditions. It was already three hours in and we had started to lose some of our focus. This photo isn’t really beautiful or perfect, but this whole process hasn’t been beautiful or perfect. It’s had its ups and downs, just like anything. It would be kind of difficult to sum up the young company experience so far, except to say that it’s been an adventure that is totally our own. The unique personalities within our group have shaped it and taken it down new paths. I am excited and depressed when I think that the finish line is just round the corner.

 Catch Sarah along with her fellow Young Acting Company participants in Cloud 9
May 31 & June 1.

Tickets are only $20 – get yours today! 
Call 780.425.1820 
or
click here to buy yours online.

After months of hard work and preparation, our Young Companies are ready to make their 2012 Citadel debut.

The Citadel Theatre/Robbins Academy proudly presents:

The Young Acting Company in the hilarious romp Cloud 9May 31 – June 1

The Young Musical Theatre Company in the rock musical Spring Awakening

June 2 & 3

Tickets for both productions are only $20 – purchase your tickets online by clicking here, or you can call our Box Office at 780.425.1820.

Hello All! 

The sleepless nights and hair tearing are finally coming to an end. Most theatre school auditions are wrapping up and everyone is deciding where they want to go next year. After the dreaded weeks of finals, all the University students can now relax and really focus on our Young Company productions. With barely four weeks until we open, Cloud 9 and Spring Awakening have really become a priority in our lives. On the train or the bus, at any time of day you will find the Cloud 9 cast practicing their dialects, and the Spring Awakening cast working on their harmonies. As exciting as it is to finally get the shows really going, it’s a little depressing knowing that our Young Company year is almost ending.

Hi All,

Since my last blog, two exciting things have happened: I’ve finished my first year of university, and more importantly we’ve started blocking for Cloud 9.

It feels great to get this show up on its feet. In preparation, we put in a solid three weeks of table talk. Table Talk is theatre code for the time spent with the entire company, sitting around a table and really going through the script with a fine-toothed comb.

Although it can be quite a bit of sitting for those undisciplined people like myself, who want to start blocking right away, it is an incredibly valuable process. Cloud 9 does not follow the traditional arc of a play, and instead features brand new characters, location and time period in the second act. This means that no member of our company plays the same person in both halves of the show, and some are featured in only the first or second act. Nevertheless, everyone was called for the table talk. This was amazingly helpful, ensuring that we were all on the same page about the show. It also meant that even actors who were not involved in the scene could input ideas or questions, which gave a more well-rounded view of the play.

Another thing that we’ve been working on and sometimes struggling with are the dialects. The first play is almost entirely RP or Received Pronunciation, except for one notable Nigerian accent. This is the snooty British accent that you probably mimicked when you were pretending to be a haughty old woman when you were little. To practice for this, I’ve been watching videos of speeches made by the Queen. This has two benefits: I can hear the words uttered with the crisp diction of a master, and I’ve learned a fair amount about the British parliament. I’m not sure how much of this translates directly to my role as a little boy, but the more I learn about the stiff, refined world in which these characters live, the more I understand why they wanted to rebel against it.

In preparation for the second act, which takes place in 1980s London, I’ve been listening to modern British television shows and movies. Our company has been watching a great deal more Harry Potter than usual in an attempt to get the hang of the blend of RP and Cockney dialect used today in Britain. The biggest thing that I’ve noticed about accents is that it takes work. Even if I nail it one day, the next day I might be back somewhere between Irish and German. We have been told again and again to expect to lose between 50% – 100% of our dialects the first time we stumble through, because of adrenaline, lines, and blocking running through our minds—so we need to put in the hours now.

Less than six weeks until we go up!

See you all there.

Tickets for the Young Musical Companies performance of Spring Awakening and the Young Acting Companies performance of Cloud 9 will be on sale May 1, 2012. Stay tuned for full ticket details.

Click here for more information on the Citadel Theatre’s Young Companies.

The Young Companies participants had another week full of hard work and rehearsals for their spring productions of  Spring Awakening and Cloud Nine.

In this week’s video blog, Young Musical Company participant Harley Morison gives us his take on Spring Awakening – he talks a bit about his character Hanschen and how he is preparing for this role. Harley also explains to us what the theatre term ‘blocking’ means.

The Writers Guild of Alberta announced the finalists for the 2012 Alberta Literacy Awards yesterday and Mieko Ouchi has been nominated for the Gwen Pharis Ringwood  Award for Drama for her work on Nisei Blue.

Mieko Ouchi was one of the guest instructors for the Young Playwriting Company earlier this year.

Winners will be announced and awards presented at the Alberta Book Awards Gala on Saturday June 9, 2012.

We at the Citadel congratulate Mieko Ouchi on her nomination and wish her the best of luck in June!

Click here for more information on The Writers Guild of Alberta.

The Young Companies participants had another week full of school work and rehearsals for their spring productions of  Spring Awakening and Cloud Nine.

In this week’s video blog, Young Acting Company participant Calla Wright gives us her take on Cloud Nine – she talks about how she is preparing for her role, and she gives us her tips on learning a new dialect.

Somehow between rehearsals for Spring Awakening and Cloud Nine, The Young Companies managed to squeeze in a performance at the Citadel’s season launch this past Monday night.

In this week’s video blog Young Musical Company participant Cynthia Hicks  gives us her take on Spring Awakening, the upcoming 2012/13 Citadel season and more!

The Young Companies have been keeping very busy with both auditions and rehearsals.

In this week’s video blog Young Acting Company participant Sarah Feutl gives us her take on their recent showcase cabaret, the audition process for Cloud Nine and more!

Hi There!

So we’ve moved into March now, which means that we’ve started the rehearsals for our show. As Sarah mentioned a few blog posts ago, The Young Acting Company is doing Caryl Churchill’s Cloud 9.

The play follows fourteen different characters through their individual struggles to attain ‘cloud 9’, the perfect bliss. The first half of the play is set in 1880, colonial Africa, and the casting of this act says a great deal about the characters; men play women, women play men and dolls play children. The second half is set in England a hundred years later; however, for the characters only 25 years have passed. In the second act the casting has been shuffled, several characters have disappeared, and some new ones have been introduced. It’s a difficult play to describe, so you’ll just have to come see the show to get the full effect!

We had our first read through last Monday, and it really is a fascinating show that is going to require and stimulate a lot of discussion. Our director, Dave Horak, has given many of the cast member’s research projects, such as the view of Victorian society on homosexuality, or the geography of the area the play is set in. I myself am only in the second act. I am currently researching a scene in which my character, Victoria, and two others perform a ritual to call up a goddess.

This past Wednesday we worked on dialects with Shannon Boyle, our vocal coach for the show. During the first half of the play, the British dialects will be very stylized and high class. In the second act, they will be a combination of RP British and Cockney. Our workshop with Doug Mertz back in December introduced us to the basics of the RP accent, which most of us remembered fairly well. It’s going to add another layer onto an already wonderfully complex show, which will be a fun challenge! I’m really looking forward to getting deeper into rehearsals and learning more about this fascinating play.

I’ve had such a good time in the Young Acting Company this past six months, and I’ve really grown close to the whole class. Thanks so much to Linda Rubin, Dawn Sadoway and Shannon Boyle for teaching us so much and making last semester so much fun!

P.S. In the rehearsal hall next to ours, the Young Musical Company is preparing Spring Awakening, which is one of my favorite musicals – as well as performing Cloud 9, I can hardly wait to see their performance in just a few months!