At this inspired frequency, I'm sure you waited with bated breath for my next entry. If you did, you probably died of asphyxiation. And for that I am truly sorry.
If you are one of the 99.98% of my readers who didn't give a shit: Welcome Back!
Let's talk about hiatus, shall we?
I come here in no better shape then I left except now I've pieced together enough scratch to breath and with breath comes blogging. I have been on hiatus as my life goes through personal change, change I'd rather not speak of on this forum but let's just say the experience has left me sleeping on the floor of a friend's empty condominium with a duvet as a mattress. Given these trying circumstances and with only limited bouts of Internet access, one does what one can. Which is to say nothing. Sadly, this is probably the most writing I've done since my last entry.
It seems to me that Toronto is in a state of paralysis. With the G20 looming, large metal fences are being erected, garbage cans are being removed and our downtown core is slowly being militarized. In short, we are being occupied. As motorcades disrupt our traffic, roads get blocked, and our lives grind down to a maddening crawl, I would like to remind everyone that it is not Toronto's fault that it is being treated by the world's leaders like parking spot at Canada's Wonderland. I see a lot of frustration, none worse then my own, and I just feel like we have to realize that we get precious few opportunities to feel like a part of history. Right now it's like we stand at a precipice and the world is watching. The lens of the world has been trained at us and we sit hushed by its weight. The roofs run rampant with snipers. The police wear bulletproof gear. Will there be riots? Violence? Martinis? I work at the Royal York, its still unclear if I'll be serving Obama a cocktail. What does the President of France drink I wonder? A Manhattan? Vodka Seven? Will someone die? Are the subways safe? Will a solution to Climate change be found? Poverty? How many checkpoints will I have to clear to get into the building? How can they justify spending this much money on fences when our public transit has gone to shit? Why did you have to cancel the Roy Halladay Phillies game at the Dome? So many questions.
But not all is lost. Despite the vast uncertainty billowing around us, I have kept sane by starting up a theatre group. Or perhaps driven so insane that I believe I can achieve some level of sanity by starting up a theatre group. Either way, a theatre group was created and I need counselling. The group consists of a bunch of actors like me: passionate and dedicated performers regulated to serving tables and constant self-doubt. The Canadian Film and Television industry basically employs 5 people regularly and the rest of us pray for an American ad once every 1.6 years. But as they say, once you've been bitten by the bug....
Sometimes its hard to give up something you love, even though its difficult and painful. Just ask Tiny Turner. Or Gary Sinise in Mice and Men. Or Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Your remember? Indy braves the Mayan cave, gets to the statue, tries to replace it with an eyed-out bag of sand, huge ball chases him, he makes it out and then Bullock (his rival archaeologist 'natch) surrounds him with half-naked men with spears and takes the statue. "Dr. Jones, there is nothing that you possess that I can't take away".
See? No? Whatever.
My point is that if something is inside you to do, you have to do it. To not do it is to die. I've seen too many people stifle there dreams because they think them impossible. Because to achieve them would be too difficult. Maybe I'm a fool, but I would rather a thousand uncertainties then the absolute certitude of giving up.
In the immortal words of Professor Charles Francis Xavier:
"Any Dream worth having, is a dream worth fighting for"
Magneto wrote them on Xavier's tomb when he died in an alternate dimension and I've never forgotten them. These are words I have always lived by.
So a theatre group was created and bold moves were made. We would put on a season of plays in 2010 and we would do them with no money, just a lot of hard work and a little bit of luck.
How would we be able to do it you ask? Simple. We've got ourselves a mother fucking theatre.
5 years ago, when I was but a mid-twenties stoner, my friend Jay had the foresight to procure an artists loft in the heart of Parkdale. In those days, the streets were still rife with hookers and crack and it was for these reasons the inherent value of a 1800 square foot box was hard to see. I lived in this squat hole for nearly 4 years and all the while maintained that its eventual destiny was that of a performance space. Many did not see this vision. Those that did use the space, despite my cats and underwear, despite my garbage and dangerous rooms, despite the desperate souls who would knock on the door looking for money and mice that skittered by feet, they SAW that it held potential. And so I kept it. Despite all common sense and reason, I kept it. I went through every shred of money I possessed, and like a financial McGuiver I pieced together $1700 worth in rent every month for FIVE YEARS. But I kept it.
And now I have a company, The Parkdale Players. Our company needs a venue, UNIT 102 Theatre. And like Macaroni and cheese we are combining like Voltron (oooooooo, mac and cheese Voltron, someone call Kraft!) to do something very exciting. We've painted it, cleaned it and put in a lighting grid. We got some sound equipment and a sandwich board. And we are doing theatre. And I'm satisfied.
If you wait by the phone for the next Colgate commercial, you may find yourself addicted to CSI New York and nursing a beer gut. To keep from entering the corporate world, or better yet, completing all 70+ hours Red Dawn Redemption (now on PS3!), I find myself drawn to the concept of doing it for myself with people who I can call friend.
The Parkdale Players are putting up David Mamet's Speed-The-Plow. I play Bobby Gould, a fast talking film producer whose love for money supersedes the power of love. It runs June 15th-19th, June 22nd-26th. Shows start at 8pm and plays at the newly renovated UNIT 102 THEATRE STUDIO (46 Noble Street Unit 102; Across the LCBO at Queen and Brock).
Check us out a PARKDALEPLAYERS.WORDPRESS.COM for more details!
In my last entry, I whored myself for money. No one came.
This time I whore myself for art.
No one may come but I'll tell ya, I sure feel a whole hell of a lot better about myself.
I'm writing on this sucker again. Prepare yourself.
That Blogging Bastard
