LITTLE MONSTERS by Kristen M. Finlay at the 2014 Edmonton International Fringe Festival

CRACK by Anne Marie Szucs at the 2014 Edmonton International Fringe Festival

August 2014 - Bringing FinallySauces Back to the Edmonton International Fringe!

FinallySauces has been busy... not that you can tell from this blog, but we have.  Both Anne Marie and Kristen have been writing and working on scripts and looking for opportunities to produce them.  Life and other theatre projects with other companies sprang up along the way.  Since the summer of 2011 when we produced Pieces at the Edmonton Fringe, we have both directed (Anne Marie - Marion Bridge, The Weir; Kristen - Proof, Nine, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, The Playmates), and acted (Anne Marie - Nine; Kristen - A Little Night Music, The Misanthrope), and participated in two Playworks Inks resulting in a good deal of writing. We attempted the Fringe lottery for last year, but were unsuccessful, however this year we had not one, but two successful draws from the Fringe Lottery so this spring has been busy with rehearsals and sets and production meetings! Now that August is finally here, we're delighted to let you know more about the two shows we are presenting.  

We are excited to be producing our first one of Anne Marie's scripts, Crack, this Fringe season, in addition to Kristen's third FinallySauces offering, Little Monsters.  

CRACK by Anne Marie Szucs, 

directed by Kristen M. Finlay
Featuring: Joyce LaBriola, Rebecca Ponting & Anne Marie Szucs
Description: Three friends gather to celebrate a 40^th birthday at a cabin in the woods.  With the birthday girl, Christine, as the hub, her disparate friends Angela and Pam rub each other the wrong way.  All have secrets they have not previously shared, and Christine has the biggest one of all.  The celebration deteriorates as the truths spill out.

Note from the Playwright: I've been working on various iterations of this play for 7 years, so the themes have evolved as I have. I first wanted to explore friendships between women - what makes them last, what makes them collapse, what makes them so necessary. Then, I started thinking about public vs. private selves. How much of ourselves do we truly disclose to our closest friends?  Are there parts of ourselves we never expose?  And if not, why not?  Now, I'm intrigued by women in mid-life. Are we really living the lives we thought we'd live?  "Ring the bells that still can ring.  Forget the perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That's how the light gets through." (Leonard Cohen).

LITTLE MONSTERS written & directed by Kristen M. Finlay

Featuring: Erin Foster-O’Riordan, Cory Christensen, Julie Sinclair & Anne Marie Szucs
Description:When Lizbeth had her son, Liam, she thought that she would be the perfect parent and he the perfect child because she would do everything right.  When Liam goes to playschool she discovers that no matter what you do, your child can have issues.  Her husband Brendan struggles to support her because he can't relate to her parenting style.  When other parents at the playschool behave badly, she leans on her friend Tamra.  It's about realizing that there is no such thing as a perfect parent - that all you can really be is the right parent for your child.

Note from the Playwright: This was a hard play to write because it is loosely based on some experiences  I had with one of my children when he was in playschool.  I wasn't as stressed by what happened as Lizbeth is, but I was surprised to discover how judgmental other parents were.  I was shocked by some of the ways people, adults, talked about children. I think because it's been so long since the actual event, I could look back and write it with some objectivity.This is a play for those who feel judged and for those who do the judging.  I think it says something about how we all need to cut ourselves and others a little slack and be part of the solution instead of part of the problem.

What we are up to...

Well, the season is a time for writing for Sauces and I. Sauces is working on a few scripts that she really got a handle on this Fall at Playworks Ink. I wish I could say I have been as productive. I did make some progress on a new play called Little Monsters about parenting and judgement and frustrations with not being able to be the perfect parent. I have about 17-18 pages written and will keep plugging away. We decided to not enter the lottery this Fall for the 2012 Fringe because of other commitments in the Spring and early Summer so the focus for the company is on writing. We are dedicated to the idea of not declaring presentation of a work until it is ready for that, so it's a slower process than others might take. Besides Both myself and Sauces frequently have other projects on the go with other companies, so we like to wait to make sure we can dedicate our time to making the best work we can.

Speaking of other projects, I have been able to work on the development of a new play by local young playwright, Bevin Dooley, called The Playmates. It is being presented at New Works at the University of Alberta in SPS. The Festival runs 2 nights of new plays (3 per night). Our show opens tomorrow night but the whole festival kicks off tonight. I have enjoyed being the director on this new work and it has been a valuable learning experience working with Bevin and the Festival Team as a whole. Every show I work on helps me to learn new things about play construction and this is amplified when I work on a new piece of theatre that is constantly evolving. I hope you can make it out to the festival to see some of the exciting new pieces that are being presented.

- submitted by Kristen (Finally)

Fringe Accompli!

Thank you Edmonton International Fringe! We could not have wished for a better 11 days. It was such a thrill experiencing 4 Sold Out houses for Pieces. We created it with love and we were overwhelmed by the response from our audiences. We lacked the hubris to hand out Kleenex before hand but we appreciated the number of people saying afterwards that they wished we had. I did not even mind watching 3 of the shows from the booth (it was always fun to hang with Kim!).

For those who did not make it - here is the lowdown on Pieces:

Playwright/Director - Kristen M. Finlay
Stage Manager - Kimberlee Stadelmann
Sound Designer - Erin Foster-O'Riordan

Cast:
Diane - Anne Marie Szucs
Joan - Francie Goodwin-Davies
Young Joan - Lindsey Walker
Doctor/Ben - Justin Deveau
Sharon/Grace/Young Diane - Janine Hodder

We had a great time together and hope that some or all of these wonderful artists join us for future projects.

- posted by Kristen

We Love This...

Thanks to word of mouth, reviews and wonderful friends and family we have had 2 Sold Out shows (Tuesday and Thursday). Saturday and Sunday are also well on their way to selling out. We are simply thrilled with the response to the play and are glad we get to show it to so many people.

If you are unable to get tickets, the Fringe holds back a small percentage of the house tickets until an hour before (I think 5-7 for our venue) so you can get a couple in that last hour if you time it right. We have two shows left - Saturday, August 20 at 4 p.m. and Sunday, August 21 at 2 p.m.

A Very Nice Way to Finish Up on Saturday...

We had our second show tonight. The wonderful Ops from Catalyst worked to rebuild all our lost lighting cues and we got them finessed before the show and then I got to see the show with near perfect tech and it was lovely. We had a nice sized house for a 10:30 p.m. drama and I was very pleased with the show. Then, on the way home, I received word that we were reviewed in the Edmonton Journal and we got FOUR AND A HALF STARS!!! Not only that, but the review is lovely, lovely, lovely in it's wording.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/entertainment/festivals/fringe/Show+Pieces/5217492/story.html

Pieces

Review by Iain Ilich

4.5 stars out of 5

Stage 6, Catalyst Theatre

The descent into dementia isn’t a light topic.

Every day, dutiful daughter Diane makes the trek to the care home where her mother, Joan, has recently moved. Dementia has stripped Joan of much of her memory and of her ability to communicate in a way that makes sense to anyone but herself. She can no longer identify her visiting daughter. She holds onto and cherishes pictures as if they were people. She is sad and lonely and terrified.

The story is a collection of little fragments of memory woven together with Diane’s narration. We learn more about Ben, Joan’s beloved late husband whose death Joan is no longer aware of. We travel back to Joan’s childhood misadventures, cut into tiny fragments of thought expressed in half-formed sentences and emotional outbursts. Diane even learns things about her mother, and her mother’s impression of her, that she never knew before.

But the real highlight here is the brilliant use of the stage to allow multiple scenes to take place at the same time, linked by shared phrases. On one half of the stage, the present is played out with daughter visiting mother in a care facility. On the other half, actors play fragments of memory that dart through Joan’s head. It’s like a living footnote that explains and provides context to the action in the present. It sounds complicated, but it works perfectly. It captures the confusion of the person in the present with the lucidity of the thoughts before they’re filtered through dementia.

It’s a sad, moving play at a festival where comedies sell tickets. It deserves to be seen.

That's the Fringe! Anything can happen...

We opened the show yesterday to a respectable sized house for the first Friday noon at Fringe. It would be nice to say it went off without a hitch, but the best laid plans seldom come to fruition. While we were waiting to get into the venue, the LX Op for our show rushed out looking for the SM or Director. She seemed kind of panicky - never a good sign. Apparently the Lighting Board computer had crashed or something and all our light cues were gone and we needed to re-build the whole show. This was a task we took 2 hours to do at our tech. So, in the 15 minutes prior to opening the house we rebuilt as best we could all our light cues. They weren't perfect - they weren't the nuanced shifts that we worked on earlier but to the untrained eye they worked. Also, our phenomenal SM Kim made adjustments on the fly to 'fix' any cues that weren't quite right. I know I noticed every hiccup and not so smooth or perfect cue, but I am a bit of a perfectionist. The audience, however, seemed to be totally engaged and those I spoke to did not notice anything amiss (although I heard through the grapevine that one person loved the show, except for the lighting - but she hadn't realized those things she hated were not our choices). It will be smoother tonight - I hear the space got a new lighting Board and that should help.

We also got our first Review - THREE STARS from Vue and a FABULOUS write-up!

"Drawing more than just a few sniffles from the audience, Pieces is a moving portraiture of a family dealing with Alzheimer’s. Delightfully interwoven memories performed as tandem scenes paint an emotional picture of the ruthless degeneration of one woman’s mind, pulling serious heartstrings in the process. For such a poignant script, the acting at times falls somewhat flat, but nonetheless serves to guide a heartfelt unravelling of a family trying to hold on to the memories that define it. If you’ve ever dealt with Alzheimer’s in your family, be sure to take Kleenex." - Megan Dart, VUE Weekly, Aug 12, 2011

One Final Rehearsal...

Tonight was our final rehearsal before we open on Friday. It was much needed, but also very rewarding. It is nice as a director to be in the position I was in tonight. We had to take the first half of the rehearsal to basically Q2Q the show since we didn't get to do that at our tech on Saturday, but we did that and tweaked some of the sound cues in terms of timing and then we ran the show. It was clean, and well paced and connected and the sound created another level of happiness for me as a director. Since our set is pared down, the sound helps create the world of the play. Since the story bounces around in time this is very necessary. I just watched and was happy.

Our first show is this Friday, August 12th at 12:00 noon. I hope we see you there!

- post by Kristen

Photo of the Day...

Well, tickets are selling briskly (yay!) and we are anxiously awaiting the start of the Fringe. Here is a photo from the show to cheer you up! Here Grace (Janine Hodder) and Young Joan (Lindsey Walker) discuss hemlines and lipstick and the tyranny of fathers! Photo by Francie Goodwin-Davies.

Pieces? What's the show about?

This will be the question we will be answering over the next few days as we go into the next phase of Fringe. We are quite proud of our show and we want people to come and see it. We want to tell them enough to get them into the theatre, but not too much so that they already know the whole story (or think they do). Pieces is, on the surface, about a woman (Diane) and her mother (Joan). Their relationship has changed dramatically because of Joan's dementia and Diane needs to figure out how to go forward. It is also a lot more than that. Because of what Joan sees, she actually is living in the past, the audience gets to see her story too. We see what those fragments of dialogue are all about... those little pieces. It's a challenging theatre piece. Joan and Young Joan live through things in parallel and Diane struggles to understand what is going on. It is also a full world created more with sound and action, than with set. We literally spend more than half the show inside Joan's mind. It's not just a lovely walk through the past either... when writing the play I thought... "What would we remember? What memories would be sharp and present?" It would be those moments that defined us - the ones that we had to fight through. At least, that's what I figured.

So you see, it's a complicated play to describe. More than just a play about Alzheimer's disease. More than just a coming of age play. It's both and even that isn't the whole picture, it's almost 2 1/2 plays in one!

Tech Rehearsal!

This morning - bright and early - we had our Technical Rehearsal at The Catalyst. We tried to go in like a machine and for the most part we were successful, but it is always challenging to be the first group to Tech. If you are later in the rotation, you can often use other people's specials (if they work for your show) and that can save you some time. We got everything built and it looks great and we have 2 great techs who seem nice to work with! We didn't get the run through we were optimistically hoping for in addition to building all the cues, but Kim (our fabulous SM) knows what we need and she is great at adjusting as required during a performance. Erin (our amazing Sound Designer) has given us some wonderful sound to fill out the world of the play and on Wednesday we will use the low-tech version (aka boom box) to get a better sense of it before we have OUR FIRST SHOW on Friday, August 12th at 12 noon!

Day off Amid the Chaos!

Today was well needed down-time. You would think after 2 weeks off we would all be rested, but everyone pretty much had other thing to be done during those 2 weeks, so it was not that kid of break. Tuesday night we regrouped for a fabulous rehearsal at The Citadel. We worked the tricky part and then had two solid runs of the show. If we took the best part of each of the runs and put them together it would probably be my 'dream' run of the play. So I am happy with where the show is at. It is nice to know that all the moments are achievable - and now it is just repetition and confidence to reinforce that.

Last night we had a little Preview Event at Accent European Lounge. We coordinated the evening and had a few other groups join us to show a snippet of the shows we are serving up. Accidental Humor presented Cowboy: A Cowboy Story. We also saw a bit from Going Viral, and we presented a segment from Pieces. We also had Sarah Van Tassel talk a bit about Guts n Guile's production of Gone. Accent was a great host and we also got a door prize donated by The Citadel Theatre. Much, Much love to these Arts-Loving businesses!

So today was a day of rest and tomorrow we do the Venue Tour. We have our Tech Rehearsal on Saturday morning so we want to be ready to walk in their like a military force so that we can get all our work done.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 ---> LAUNCH!

Today was the official Fringe Media Launch! We were there in our fabulous t-shirts checking out the other shows and doing our thing to get the word out about ours. It went well. We chatted with most of the media people we wanted to hit and the scene between Anne Marie and Francie went over well. As well, in a sea of musicals and avant garde pieces, a little realistic theatre filled out the required components for a Fringe. We saw some great snippets of shows and I have started my long list for what I am going to see. Not surprisingly it is a mix - musicals, burlesque, drama, comedy... it's all on my list... and I have no idea how to make it to everything!

I missed out on the Frequent Fringer Pass. They are SOLD OUT already. That's great news for the Fringe, but not more me. Even if I had gotten one of them. I was planning to buy two. I guess I will be paying top dollar! Alas!

See you at the Fringe!

Putting the Pieces Together...

You knew I had to use that title just once...

We are back - after a 2 week hiatus while 1 actor was on holidays in PEI, another learning how to use quarter staff and M-16, while a third took a trip to Ontario and the remaining 2 rehearsed for their other Fringe show. Fortunately they did not all leave everything from our show behind and clearly from the runs we did tonight they kept up with their homework! As Director, the show was at a point where I could start to fine tune some of the choices. Prior to today I could work on the broad strokes, but until they 'knew' the story and their lines I couldn't really attack smaller details. That is a great place to be 2 weeks out to opening. Tomorrow we are back at it - with momentum from tonight, I am looking forward to it.

We also got to work with a bit of the sound design today. Erin crafted a collage to play under a key scene and it not only increases the intensity of the scene, but it times out perfectly! Yippee! That means that it doesn't have to be rebuilt... it also means those actors have to be clean on their lines, because if they rush or skip, the sound won't line up right...

Details...

Today the last of the set pieces were painted. It is a challenge to work in a different space without the comforts of the Walterdale paint shop, but my garage and driveway served wonderfully. I worry about the look of the pieces as I can only see them in sunlight, but I have tried to use both warm and cool tones in the paint so that we can light them correctly. I wasn't happy with the bridge unit a few days ago, but now it is looking right so we will cross our fingers that it works in the space. I will not be able to re-paint it and we need that tech time for rehearsing so it is what it is.

What people don't realize is that there are challenges to going into a new space with a show. You have an idea of how it will work but until you are actually in it, you do not know for sure. I imagine this is exacerbated by those shows that tour and get vastly different spaces for each Fringe or Festival they are in. Best to be over-prepared for those. We have had the luxury of rehearsing in different spaces so that we are familiar with the need for adjustment and Kim, our wonderful Stage Manager, has taped the dimensions out where possible so we get a sense of the real space. We are in the right sized space for this show so we will have the intimacy we require. We are a week away from our Tech Rehearsal and chomping at the bit!

Pieces - the Details...

Pieces written and directed by Kristen M. Finlay
Stage Managed by Kim Stadelmann
Sound Design by Erin Foster-O'Riordan

Pieces, flotsam and jetsam, fragments - these are what Diane finds when she visits her mother Joan who suffers from dementia. But what's really going on in Joan's mind? Joan's mind travels through key moments of her life while Diane searches through all the pieces for the mother she once knew.

Featuring:
Anne Marie Szucs as Diane
Francie Goodwin-Davies as Joan
Lindsey Walker as Young Joan
Justin Deveau as Ben/Doctor
Janine Hodder as Sharon/Grace/Young Diane

Venue #: 6
Venue: Catalyst Theatre,
Venue Address: 8529 103 Street

Our show times are as follows:

August 12 12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
August 13 10:30 pm – 11:15 pm
August 16 9:15 pm – 10:00 pm
August 18 6:00 pm – 6:45 pm
August 20 4:00 pm – 4:45 pm
August 21 2:00 pm – 2:45 pm

Our Poster!

Brent Felzien created this lovely poster to promote our show. Brent did this wonderful painting of Francie Goodwin-Davies and managed to capture the fragmented mind of Joan in this elegant piece of art.

Look for this poster on site as it has our show times and venue information!

Hard to believe it is almost August. We are so excited to be so close to putting this show on for you. A lot of hard work, emotion and time has gone into it.

Production Photos - 5

Grace (Janine Hodder) and Young Joan (Lindsey Walker) plan to escape their small town life and head off to the city in the fall to change their destinies.

Production Photos - 4

Joan (Francie Goodwin-Davies) relates a moment from her past to her daughter Diane (Anne Marie Szucs). Photo by Janine Hodder.