The Sunday Read: First Person - Chad Dembski on Farewell Aarhus! and The Sacrifice Zone

Farewell Aarhus! (photo credit: Martin Dam Kristensen)

Thankful for 17 years in a Canadian Theatre Heaven/Hell

by Chad Dembski

There are times when anyone involved in Canadian (or any country I imagine) theatre ask themselves, Why the hell am I doing this?.  I have been asking myself this question for the 17 years I have been working, creating, celebrating, suffering and surviving in this business.  I have been lucky enough to have certain experiences keep me believing in the future of theatre and possibility of a process that is more sustainable then the usual blood, sweat and tears stress-fest most of us go through.  Two of my most recent experiences have encouraged me to keep this faith.

Farewell Aarhus! [Aarhus Festival – Aarhus, Denmark]

After a 14 hour delayed flight from Montreal to London, a sleepless night at Heathrow (as bad as it sounds, only saved by UK Netflix), another flight to Copenhagen and a three hour train to Aarhus, I arrived at the train station and my venue for my site specific performance with Halifax artist Dustin Harvey.  Our piece “Farewell Aarhus!” was one of the few performances in the festival that was filled with music, films, a food festival, children’s activities, the building of a new park, art exhibits and collaborations with the local architecture school that changed an entire portion of the downtown.  Staying at a local artist residency apartment hotel (Godsbaden) and having all our meals at the IKEA sponsored artist canteen (incredible home cooked organic local food), it was easy to feel welcome and taken care of.  Experiences at festivals (and on tour) can vary greatly but something that is not common is to feel taken care of.  We had a local guide to help us find the best place to have a coffee or beer, we had a producer to help us source all our local food and drink (we offer the audience treats before the show, and some local beer or juice during the performance) and make sure everything with the festival went well.  With an intense two day set up, rehearse, adjustments having all this support helped make our opening amazing instead of a disaster.  I love performing in front of complete strangers and this crowd was incredible because it was a complete mix of young, old, and most of whom had rarely seen much performance and never in an old train station travel agency.  This context helped our show immensely, as it is about saying good-bye to a city and saying farewell to those who have left (when you’ve stayed).  We did five performances and they were all different, exciting, bizarre, awkward, beautiful and engaging.  We use a live video feed in the show that is broadcast right outside the venue (in this case, the train station travel agency) that the outside audience can play with.  This sometimes is nothing, sometimes a curious passerby just looking in and sometimes a whole other performance that takes over the show (like a teenage boy eating a sandwich for 5 minutes) while we keep performing.  

For 10 years I wanted to tour more and now that I am (and have) I can say that is often an incredible experience that is exciting, fun, and a massive learning experience.

The Sacrifice Zone – Theatre Gargantua – Factory Studio Theatre

Stage Management can be hellish to say the least.  It can technically be the only full time position on a theatre show that has little to no artistic input.  I am not an Equity member and have tried to avoid it because of my work in other independent creation work where I perform, direct and create with other companies or my own company.  So when I do Stage Manage I only apply to companies where the process will be rewarding in some artistic or creative way.  

Theatre Gargantua is a physical theatre company that has existed for 20 years and works in an intensive environment where everyone in the room contributes to the creation of the piece.  We warm up together, all offer ideas to the development of the script and offer suggestions as the piece evolves.  For me this is an extremely rewarding process because it gets the entire team to invest in the show, the company and each other.  From two full time young artistic interns to the costume designer to an outside eye to of course the performers who are contributing their ideas and inspirations on a daily basis.  This leads to a deeper commitment from the entire team who feel they are working on their or Our show as opposed to just doing a job.  Not that it is all fun and games, there is still the challenge of creating a new project that includes original physical movement, a new script (from a playwright who lives in Australia) and working out complex musical arrangements (both choral work and music with a composer).  Still this foundation of trust, commitment, and solidarity of putting it all together with a director at the head who has led the company since the very beginning leads to a healthy rehearsal room.  As a Stage Manager keeping on top of the prompt script, designer notes, daily notes, rehearsal and production schedules, being there first and last to leave and trying to be two steps ahead of any safety issues, having a room where the entire team has respect, focus and support for each other from the start is a massive help.  Often theatre is destroyed not by the script or artistic team but by the petty ego-driven dramas that are often about insecurity or lack of trust (in oneself, in the director, in each other).  These productions are easily sabotaged by the neediest member of the company and while things may still go forward it causes a lot of misery and often stifles the full potential of the show.  

While The Sacrifice Zone is still in early development (a full production will happen in the Fall of 2013), I was proud of not just where we got to but how we got there. I believe the theatre (and the arts in general) can offer society not just stories but offer alternatives about how companies and work can be created.  In the future it would be amazing to think of a bank or law firm attempting to look at a collective approach to their work over the usual hierarchy that capitalism demands.