This Is Not a Review

Potluck Playread 2: Devotion

Posted on by Luke

We had a great time on Monday April 2nd with our second Potluck Playread, taking a look at the first draft of Shannon Blake’s new play, Devotion. With a full house of 12 participants, our four intrepid readers (thank you Alex, Emily, Jenna and Ryan!) helped us through a play full of hilarity, betrayal, love, and the occasional reference to super-human doctors.

As we tinker with the method of the playread, we decided to have the participants listen to the play, rather than read along with our readers. This came from a belief that plays are meant to be seen/heard, not read (take that, high school English class!), but at the same time, I was a little bit nervous. We only really had the “heard” portion of the play available, the equivalent of a table read, without the “seen” aspect at all. Questions abounded for me: would the listeners be able to understand the story? Would little moments get lost in the busyness of trying to keep up with the first time a play was being read, without the necessary visual cues to follow along?

As soon as the first line was read, my mind was put at ease – people were engaged, laughing, and following along quite well. The discussion after the playread provided even more proof. While I had a script in front of me, and felt like I picked up on a lot of things that others didn’t, I was definitely wrong. Participants were making connections that I couldn’t see, and so much life and truth was being found between the words. My faith in the power of the performing arts is fully and utterly restored. 🙂 Most of all, I was grateful for the thought and effort put into providing feedback for Shannon as she molds these characters and their stories into a piece of art.

Thanks again to our participants (Elliot, Jeff, Alyssa, Jonathan, Shannon, Hinna, Lindsay, Ryan, Jenna, Emily and Alex!) for attending and bringing delicious Greek food. Thanks to the Fringe Creation Lab for hosting us again, and to Shannon for bringing such a fantastic work to the table. We’re already looking forward to seeing the next draft!

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Welcome to This Is Not A Review!

Posted on by Mairin

Welcome to Glasswater Theatre’s new blog, This Is Not A Review!

At Glasswater, we are continually excited by the emerging artist community in Toronto. This city is full of talented and innovative theatre-makers pushing the limits of the art and finding new ways to tell stories. We want to provide a forum to promote and discuss what’s new, cool and changing in the Toronto theatre scene. We want to talk about what you’re doing and where and how you’re doing it!

This blog is meant to be a one-stop resource for what’s happening in the emerging theatre world. Sometimes, as new artists, it’s hard to get the exposure you need and deserve, as well as discover what others are doing and how to get involved. We want to change that by putting it all here for you! We will have information on upcoming shows and opportunities by and for emerging artists, highlight new ideas and methods of creation, and provide general musings on the theatre ecology of the city. Be sure to check back regularly!

Our bloggers are always looking for great things to write about, so if you have an event you’d like us to check out, drop us a line at info@glasswater.ca and we’ll try to make it!

Looking forward to seeing what you’re creating!

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