A Christmas Carol  Jacob Marley - with a make-up plot designed by Gail Kennedy, flying harness, 20 pounds of chains around my neck, a wig-mic, and entry via flashpot-in-the-fireplace, this perhaps 10-minute role required about three hours of preparation for every performance, but it was great fun and gave me chances to fly (right into the bedpost one night when I missed my mark - oops!), have some fun vocal distortion, and get a really strong neck. I should mention that had I been more skilled with the makeup, I could probably have done the whole preparation ordeal in maybe as little as half that time. Gail, a professional make-up artist for several major tv shows and movies, took about 45 minutes to do just the right side of my face when she was demonstrating the techniques in our workshop. Anyway, on two-show days I didn't have time to remove the makeup and redo it before the next show...so let's just say I got some funny looks at Wendy's. There'll be some pics here once I get a chance to scan them in.  TOP  BOTTOM

A Midsummer Night's Dream  Philostrate/Assistant Director - My main job as AD on this show was to block the mechanicals' scenes, and it was my first taste of directing my peers in a real show. The set design (by Walter Foster) was terrific, if only I could claim credit for it somehow, I'd be showing it off left and right.  TOP  BOTTOM

As You Like It  Director/Lighting Op and Design/Stage Manager - I jumped at the chance when my old high school english and drama teacher asked me to direct one of the shows in his "Suddenly Shakespeare" piece featuring his students at Notre Dame High School. I had to adapt As You Like It into a 20-minute piece, and I think the whole thing turned out rather well.  TOP  BOTTOM

Blithe Spirit  Charles Condomine - Ian White, a RADA-alumni-turned-Canadian, was the director for this show at the end of the first year of theatre school. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I landed the lead role in my first year, which was not earth-shaking, but a fair accomplishment nonetheless. To anyone who saw it, don't worry, I can fake smoking much better now... ;)  TOP  BOTTOM

The Comedy of Errors (adapted by Myron Dearden)  1st time - Head Narrator - A grade 12 show that won three of the outstanding acting acting awards at the '95 drama festival, one for myself and two more for Noree and Fiona. This was my first real performance, and the one that got me really hooked on theatre, though it was seeing Keely and Du the next year that really made me understand how powerful an impact theatre can really make.
2nd time - Director/Antipholus of Ephesus/Tour Organizer/Promoter/Poster Design - This was the first show I did after founding a dollar-a-head theatre outreach arm to the Performing Arts Warehouse. We toured high schools and junior highs in and around Prince Albert. The show gave several members of my cast their first chances at really plum roles, and local students got an affordable chance to see accessible Shakespeare with built-in Coles Notes. A pretty good deal all around, I think.  TOP  BOTTOM

Dogbrain  Director/Dad/German Leopard/Stage Manager/Set Design/Scenic Painter/Construction/Tour Organizer/Promoter/Sponsorship/Poster Design - This was the last show I did with the Outreach Program before leaving for Japan, and my only chance to work directly with the great Sheldon Bergstrom. I was surprised to find a children's play by Michael Weller, considering that in Grade 11 my high school censored our independent little troupe from performing another of his plays, but c'est la vie. We toured all over the elementary schools in the district, and the play's messages about bullying and taking responsibility were well-received by students and teachers. Our "milk and cookies" pyjama performance at the library went over extremely well.  TOP  BOTTOM

Dream Scars  Actor/Head Writer/Editor/Accountant - Our group production for Film class in theatre school. Not my best writing, I must admit, but it was ok, and I learned a lot from the class and the production about how film works and why it works the way it does, a great supplement after doing Mo's for TV.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Fantasticks  Mortimer/Mute - One of those shows I had always meant to get around to reading, but never managed to until the Jensen boys asked me to join the cast. Not a show for everybody, but I sure had a great time dying. It was terrific to be a part of this collective and get back to working purely for the joy of performance.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Last Dance  Director/Lighting Op - Our second year producing a musical at Wesmor High School, we were delighted to have lots of fresh talent as well as several returning kids from The Storefront.  TOP  BOTTOM

Mo’s Chemistry Text  Page to Screen - I got together with a couple of friends from high school and put together a sketch comedy show which aired for 5 episodes on Shaw Cable. The 3 of us did everything, I mean everything, from original conception to handing in the final edit, unless we needed extras for crowd scenes - and sometimes we fudged that too.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Mousetrap  Director - My first show with Odyssey Productions in Prince Albert, as well as my first run-in with dinner theatre. I worked with Odyssey several more times, so don't believe everything you hear about dinner theatre.  TOP  BOTTOM

Murder By Natural Causes  Director/Set Designer/Scenic Painter - Probably the weakest script I've ever been persuaded to attach my name to in any way. The actors did very well with what was there, but the text was pretty flimsy. Not one I'd recommend, if you hadn't guessed that already. Oh well, you live and learn.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Music Man  Charlie Cowell/Sponsorship Coordinator/Program Layout and Ad Creation - Who could miss a chance to be in that Rock Island number at the beginning? Not being a great singer, I don't often get to be in musicals, but character bits like this one have finally helped me develop an appreciation for the form.  TOP  BOTTOM

Naked Frailties  Actor - The big movie production halfway through my first year in the theatre program. A pretty successful experiment, considering it was bought by Showcase and several European networks. From what I've heard, they still play it once in a while on Showcase when they run out of Red Shoe Diaries or whatever they play now.  TOP  BOTTOM

The New Canadian Kid  Director/Mog/Stage Manager/Tour Coordinator/Promoter/Scenic Painter/Poster Design - Another production with the Theatre Outreach Program. Still one of my favorite children's theatre shows, it's Canadian and practical for any small company to do in-house or on a tour. Seeing the teachers laughing at the wordplay as hard as the students is deeply gratifying and somehow gives the performance a little more dignity. If you see any pictures of me with bleached hair and bright blue tips, they're from this show. What other business lets you do wacky stuff to your hair and still be taken more or less seriously?  TOP  BOTTOM

Nunsense  Director/Choreographer/Lighting Op/Poster Design - Yup, that's right, I finally took a shot at real choreography. Teaching a cast of 5 how to tap was one of the highlights of rehearsals, for me anyway. We schlepped this show all around Central Saskatchewan to resort towns and community halls in some of the tiniest little places you never heard of, and finished off with a few shows in rep with Oklahoma on the Carlton Stage. This has got to be one of the highlights of my directing career so far. It may be schlock, but it's fun schlock.  TOP  BOTTOM

Oklahoma!  Ali Hakim/Sponsorship Coordinator/Program Layout and Ad Creation - You bet, it's me playing another sleazy salesman for Broadway North. A company that gets by entirely on corporate sponsorship with no government assistance is hit pretty hard when the economy slumps. For this show about $9,000 worth of sponsorship evaporated, but I managed to chase down enough new sponsors that come production time we were only down about $700. This was the last show I appeared in before heading for Japan, but at least my time in PA ended on a positive note.  TOP  BOTTOM

One for the Pot  Billy, Rupert, Michael, and Pierre Hickory Wood - One actor playing quadruplets is something that most playwrights seem to avoid for whatever reason. Huh. Chalk it up to one of the mysteries of the universe. I was always flattered when audience members passing by the dressing rooms refused to believe I wasn't even a twin. Unfortunately, Odyssey had just been thrown out of their normal rehearsal space when this show was cast, so we were forced to rehearse in whatever chilly broom closets and garbage cans we could beg, borrow, or steal. At one point we were expecting to be rotating through each others' basements for lack of a better place, but finally a space just big enough for the set became available and we were able work there until tech week. Which was all well and good in a sense, since the actual stage we were playing on was also barely big enough for the set.  TOP  BOTTOM

Romeo and Juliet  Paris - I dunno if it was the plan, but judging from my costume, Paris was more interested in Romeo than Juliet. The big black floppy hat and all the gold trim screamed "Queen!". There are pics around here somewhere, once I dig 'em up I'll upload them and you can see for yourself.  TOP  BOTTOM

Rough Crossing  Director/Choreographer - Alright, claiming Choreographer on this one may be a little bit of a stretch as there was only the one dance, but there it is, plus there was all that swaying of the ship in the blocking, that's nearly choreography...  TOP  BOTTOM

Run For Your Wife  Bobby Franklyn - Josephine had been aching to direct for Odyssey for so long, I was honored to be a part of the show when they finally let her in out of the cold. Here's another one where I played a raging gay man, but at least here it was written as such. Not a bad farce, by the way, if anyone out there is looking for one.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Rich Man  Koch/Tassigny/et al - An ensemble cast of 9 played something like 63 roles in this great Canadian show. I had 15 of them, but that's if you count the itty bitty parts like Taxi Driver and Factory Worker. The two really meaty ones were the French painter and the Austrian journalist on the run from the Nazis, hiding in plain sight as a clown. Working with Thomas and Tony from Prime Stock on this was a real treat, though the tour was pretty hellish. It was a lot harder on the technicians though, don't get any of them started talking about this show. On the other hand, the shared misery of things like getting high together off the fumes of some weird chemical mixture while getting the cheap double-sided tape off the floor in RMH helped bring the actors and technicians closer together.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Storefront  Director/Lighting Op - When DMD was first asked to produce a musical as the Art 30 course for a high school in the "rough" part of town, to be honest, my first thought was "I didn't like high school the first time around, do I really want to put myself through 7 weeks of this?" In hindsight, I'm deeply glad I signed on along with them, a lot of students who routinely skipped all their other classes were showing up for ours to sing, dance, and act, whether with the anticipation of being a star or just being involved. The next year, we had students who had rearranged their schedules to make room to be in the show again, who had straightened out their personal lives because they'd found that spark of talent in themselves and had a taste of a career to strive for. The whole thing was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in theatre, and as the pilot project of its kind(a private company coming into the school and cooperatively teaching courses on school time for regular course credit), we'd had no idea whether anyone was even going to sign up for the class until about a week beforehand.  TOP  BOTTOM

Universal Language  Assistant Director/Young Man - David Ives is brilliant. Nuff said.  TOP  BOTTOM

WASP  Director/Spaceman - My thanks still pour out to my techies Jenny and Jas on this for finding the sound cues I needed even though all my wordses had goed away. And to Eugene, for the wheelchair. Of course the cast did a fantastic job and I love them all, but the techies really pulled through for a nervous director doing his first 'professional' show and who hadn't yet a clue how to speak Tech.  TOP  BOTTOM

West Side Story  Shark - Yuck. Maybe it was just because we'd just done Romeo and Juliet, or maybe because I hadn't acquired a taste for musicals yet, but this show was nauseating from day one.  TOP  BOTTOM

The Wild Guys  Assistant Director/Swing - I ended up never being needed as the understudy, but it was a good chance to meet a wider variety of actors from PA and get a feel for what I was getting into.  TOP  BOTTOM

You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown  Director/Tour Coordinator/Promotion/Poster Design/Lighting Op - It's not really a kid's show, but that's who showed up, so there ya go.  TOP  BOTTOM