Interview: Wesley J. Colford (Mature Young Adults)

characters riffing on the chasm

by Christopher Douglas

Wesley J. Colford may be young but he certainly has sunk his teeth into the Toronto theatre scene this summer. As an actor in the Toronto Fringe play, Tam Lin, and writer and producer of the Best of the Fringe selection, The Wakowski Brothers, Colford did not rest on those laurels. After completing the SummerWorks Leadership Intensive Program (S.L.I.P.) last week, he stars in a fully-staged performance of his latest play, Mature Young Adults, which opens August 23 at the Tarragon Far Studio.

CHARPO: Tell us about your latest production Mature Young Adults: what brought it to Toronto now and what is it about?

COLFORD:  I originally wrote the show about two years ago as a short play that was about 20 minutes long. Workshopped by Theatre New Brunswick, that version was then published in the new play anthology Out on a Limb: Short Plays by New Playwrights last year. In preparing it for publication, I began rewriting and with it in mind, I kept working on the script as a writer-in-residence with the Paprika Festival where as a full-length script, Mature Young Adults had a successful reading back in March. I see this presentation as a next step in the development process, the first time with actors on their feet, and we’ll see how what we do in the rehearsal room meets with the audience.

As for the story, it’s set in Nova Scotia and explores innocence and discovery as two ex-lovers are reunited in the park where their relationship began. Told in reverse, the audience watches these teenaged lovers struggle with societal and parental pressures, distances, repressed sexuality, misogyny and the unknown emotions of first love. 

It’s wonderful that people are interested in me and Mature Young Adults because of The Wakowski Brothers.

CHARPO: In addition to writing and producing the show, you’re also playing one of the roles.

COLFORD: Yes, I star in the play alongside Renée Haché. We both went to George Brown and she is also from Halifax – which we didn’t realize until after casting her – so she gets the setting of the play and pressures on the characters a bit more strongly. She’s been great to work with through our abbreviated rehearsal period.

CHARPO: What is it like acting in your own script?

COLFORD: Challenging. It’s a real challenge negotiating what the actor needs and what the writer needs from a script and when you serve in both roles, there’s a lot of internal battles going on. Mature Young Adults features a lot of broken dialogue – overlapping lines and clipped rhythms – so we had to freeze the script before going into rehearsal. That way I could focus on my performance, the character’s intentions and motivations instead of worrying as a writer if the line sounds quite right. And this play is one I just love, so the words are actually very close to my heart.

CHARPO: To switch gears for a moment, how has it been working on Mature Young Adults with the success of The Wakowski Brothers still fresh in your mind?

COLFORD: It’s been exciting. Wakowski was the result of two-and-a-half years of work on the script and I wrote it as a Fringe show as my coming-out party for the Toronto community. I never expected it to have such an impact; there are just so many shows in the Fringe that you never know how it will go. But I was just so pleased and surprised by the audience response – it was incredible. Though the show was mostly sold out, only a finite number of people saw it since that was the Fringe (limited run, limited seating) but the show has entered the zeitgeist. People who didn’t see the show have heard of The Wakowski Brothers because of the buzz or the reviews or their friends saw it and they’ve just been so supportive. It’s wonderful that people are interested in me and Mature Young Adults because of The Wakowski Brothers. It’s really given me a calling card for this community. In fact, I’ve been in meetings with a few Artistic Directors about The Wakowski Brothers and I’m looking forward to making an announcement shortly about its life after the Fringe and what the next step for the show is.

I had this dream that – one day when I had lots of money – I would buy the Vogue

CHARPO: Since most people under 25 are not creating shows about aging Vaudevillians, there must be something that started you down that path, so what inspired The Wakowski Brothers?

COLFORD: Two or three Summers ago, while I was working in Sydney, NS, this old movie theatre, the Vogue, was sold to an office developer. It was one of those one-screen theatres with Art Deco design that had been closed since the late 90s. And I had this dream that – one day when I had lots of money – I would buy the Vogue and turn it into a live theatre and music venue. There were some protests and proposals similar to mine to prevent tearing down the theatre but the developer won. However, the seed was planted for me; the debate reawakened an interest I had in Vaudeville and the music and humour of the early part of last century. Slowly, the show started appearing in my mind, this huge change from what I normally write yet I love challenging myself like that. So I started writing without knowing where it would go and it became this piece that evolved from a period and setting to characters riffing on the chasm between two brothers and the woman who filled the void. Eventually the songs and jokes came along and it was just this synergy of elements that has pleased a lot of folks.

Maybe The Wakowski Brothers just came along at the right moment – this crisis moment in theatre. The play is set just as Vaudeville was disappearing, so maybe the parallels to now work, since an era was to be ending then and now in theatre, as the Vancouver Playhouse closes and this Ken Gass affair goes on, we might be at the same point. I think, as artists, we always need to ask ourselves during those periods of doubt or change why we do this work and what we hope to accomplish through the creation of art. It’s so easy to bog down in personal relationships and bickering but it really has to be about the art at the end of the day and sometimes we all need a reminder of that. 

So, in short, the history instigated the project, the emotional carried it forth and the political made it relevant then we just added the magic of theatre.

Honestly, I’ve been incredibly lucky with my training.

CHARPO: So after training with Sheridan College’s Musical Theatre program and George Brown’s Theatre Arts program, you embarked on S.L.I.P. Why all this training? And, now that it’s done, what comes next?

COLFORD: I guess I just needed my fill of masochism?

Honestly, I’ve been incredibly lucky with my training. But this Summer has been amazing with Mature Young Adults, S.L.I.P. and the Fringe. I’m out on a precipice at the moment, trying to set up the future. Sure, it’s scary not going back to school in the Fall but I’m so glad that I won’t be doing 13-hour days again, unless it’s of my own doing. It’s so exciting to have time to myself again and not be under the gun, having to complete that script over Christmas, knowing I won’t have another chance to complete it before the Summer and the Fringe Festivals. So after some sleep, I’m hoping to get into yoga and the gym, some reading, healthier eating – and not just grabbing a sub on the way to rehearsal.

CHARPO: What is one of the greatest lessons you’ve learned through your training?

COLFORD: All that intensive training really transforms a person. It was something we really talked about during S.L.I.P. but it’s true of all of my schooling, especially because while the classes and professors are trying to change you, you’re also in the middle of such formative years. One thing that really struck a chord for me was to just be human. During your art, writing, networking, simply act like a human and treat others that way too. We all want what we want: people to come to our shows or to beat the competition, but there’s more to it. We’re all people first and one of the reasons that I’m in the arts is because of that sense of community, these people that band together with such a generosity of spirit that so many artists have shared with me. Some of the most successful people I know are such giving, open members of that human artistic community and I’m honoured to be part it. 

Sometimes I just have to remind myself to breathe, everything’s okay. We’re artists, not doctors – no one is going to die if we forget a line. Just enjoy the job and relax, because what’s the point otherwise?

I feel East Coasters have the most vibrant, strongest identities in the country

CHARPO: Your training brought you to Toronto, but how does it feel being so far from home?

COLFORD: I had wanted to move to Toronto since I was 11 or 12, or maybe even younger. It was one of my dreams and I fantasized about moving to Toronto to become an actor. The move to Sheridan in Oakville was interesting. It was like Sydney, a mid-to-small-sized city, the type of politics, the communities and the commercial things. It was a way of acclimatizing and adjusting from home to here. Then moving to Toronto, just a city of this size, to get around by myself, it was so freeing. I love being in a place with so much happening.

I never expected to miss home, but it started during first and second year. I found myself obsessing about some of those kitschy, tourist things like fiddle music and bagpipes. I missed home with the saltwater nearby. Something about the water affects me in a way I couldn’t have imagined. It’s lonely being so far away from the ocean. The lake here pacifies that a bit but the salt isn’t in the air and everything the same way here. I dream of being in a position someday to go back and forth between the East Coast and here. I love home but we just don’t have the theatre infrastructure out there. However, I learned so much back home growing up and I’m grateful for it.

Being here I’ve met a bunch of people from the East Coast – Newfoundlanders and Nova Scotians – that I wouldn’t have known at home. And while we’re all different, there’s something about us that makes us flock together after migrating. We seem to bring out the passion in each other; maybe the saltwater in our veins just leads to this perpetual drunkenness. East Coasters just seem to understand the same language and identify with each other. Canadians sometimes lose their individual identities in this mosaic; they become unaware of the distinctions between us. Yet I feel East Coasters have the most vibrant, strongest identities in the country, so when we’re away from home, it comes out so strongly. Can you tell I call myself a profound nationalist?

Mature Young Adults plays at the Tarragon Far Space August 23-25 8pm.  Limited seating, pay-what-you-can.  Reserve seats by emailing aimforthetangent@hotmail.com.