Comments on: Theatre Review: Next Stage Theatre Festival

By: Theatre Review: Reesor (Next Stage Theatre Festival) | The Panic Manual

Theatre Review: Reesor (Next Stage Theatre Festival) | The Panic Manual — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 18:35:59 +0000

[...] my previous Next Stage theatre review, I made a couple of remarks at the opening about mid-Winter theatre festivals being efforts by [...]

By: Fringe Fest

Fringe Fest — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 20:31:21 +0000

Hey Brian –

Awesome that you’re covering NSTF in a rock’n'roll blog – makes us feel way cooler than we usually do. Also, some pretty interesting views on the work, which we always appreciate.

Just a little clarification on the origins of the winter festival… NSTF was launched as a new initiative to support Fringe artists outside of our summer festival. Our hope is that the festival gives a platform to Fringe artists ready to move away from the summer festival model towards self-production or being picked up by larger theatres. It’s part of a long term strategy to really serve our constituents of emerging artists as best we can. The particular clarification I’d like to give is that the Fringe gives our producing companies not only support with rehearsal space rental, promotional materials, and travel costs if needed, but also 70% of the box office – this is on top of not paying any participation fee for being part of NSTF. Our 30% doesn’t remotely cover the cost of the festival. And the very last little note I’d like to add for clarity is that we programmed a range of comedies, dance and drama – I’d consider much of the fare at this winter fest engaging, thought-provoking, and best of all, interesting.

Thanks again for coming out – come on back anytime!

By: Helen Simard

Helen Simard — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 14:30:11 +0000

Hey Brian! There is a Felix Da Housecat remix of Nina Simone’s Sinner Man on that compilation, so you weren’t that far off. I find the original is much better though. Anyway, thanks again for coming to see the show.

By: Beth Marshall

Beth Marshall — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 09:22:34 +0000

No worries. Just curious. We do have 4 more shows. Come see us if ya can.

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:19:40 +0000

Helen, that’s completely my mistake, then. I knew the Mr. Scruff remix very well (I love Mr. Scruff) and as a result it was the track that stuck most in my mind. The version of Nina Simone’s “Sinner Man” and the “It Don’t Mean a Thing” mix had that same sort of vibe, I made an (incorrect) assumption that they were tracks off the same series I didn’t know that well. Thanks for commenting.

Beth, the main reasons were basically timing and parking. We didn’t get to the theatre until about 5:10, with the show starting at 5:15. My date also thought there was something wrong with the parking pass she’d purchased for the lot across the street so she wanted to check it (she was right, and we ended up paying $14 for parking instead of $10), and we didn’t think we’d have enough time to run back to the car then come back to the theatre before the doors closed. Latecomers were strongly frowned upon. We kind of had to choose between L’Ange and Helen’s show at 7:30 too, since we still had to have dinner. If it had been just me I probably would’ve seen L’Ange, but she preferred to grab a bite to eat and see Take It Back. Not that I’m complaining, it worked out pretty well.

So, that’s my overly long and complicated answer to your simple question.

By: Beth Marshall

Beth Marshall — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:43:42 +0000

Just curious why you decided against coming to L’Ange Avec Les Fleurs?

By: Helen Simard

Helen Simard — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:41:38 +0000

Hey there! Thanks for reviewing our show and I am glad you enjoyed it! Just wanted to point out a small error, only one of the tracks in the show is from the Verve remix series, the Mr Scruff remix of Do What You Wanna. Most of the remixes in our show are original tracks by Les Mains Libres.

Anyway, thanks a lot!
Helen Simard
Solid State