“I regard the theatre as the greatest art form, the most immediate way in which a human being can share with another the sense of what it is to be human.” ~ Oscar Wilde

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Another thing which I take a huge interest in is theatre. Although I wasn't really interested in it until 2006, it was a viewing Les Miserables by my high school that moved me to join up.

In the early days, my elementary school used to hold a lot of musicals. I never auditioned, either to sing or act - so I got thrown into the majority, that is, the choir. I learned to move my lips with the music. I never paid any attention at all to what was going on down on the stage.

But then, when I was in grade nine, our drama department led by Richard Peters staged an adapted Les Miserables ( not the Broadway Musical) starring a now-friend of mine, Darryl Hoving, as Jean Valjean. The next year I leapt to join the play.

It seemed I had some sort of natural ability to act, if not exactly "talent". In 2007's production A School for Scandal, I was Charles, a pretty large role. I haven't got any pictures of myself on stage for that one, but here is my headshot for School for Scandal:

I also loved acting. I went through withdrawal when the play ended (that was a joke). So I joined up in the following year, for 2008's The Diary of Anne Frank. It was a main-stage show, and about a thousand people came out to see it. I was Peter, who, you may know, is the male romantic lead. Anne was played by one Sofie Bédard. We both had a fantastic time, but my acting was the same as the previous year: too intelligent a character, too unfeeling. All the same, my work was praised.

Some photos from that production:

And then after that came Upper Level Drama. OK, I've gotta tell you: our school has the coolest Upper Level Drama program ever. The long and short of it is that the students choose and put on a play - act, direct, produce, backstage, market, budget, everything. It's all their work. We put on The Seagull in late 2008.

Besides dramaturging the play (researching and learning about it), writing a few short tunes for places where old Anton Chekhov said they ought to be to the tune of certain ancient Russian folk songs, and writing the official Drama Handbook for all the backstage roles, I acted as the idiotic schoolteacher, Medvedenko.

That's when my acting started to take on a better quality. I tried as hard as I could to be new and original, to try confidently and without fear of failure. I made the character a clown, and every class, I tried something new. Sometimes it got a laugh, sometimes it didn't. Then I kept what worked. And I learned a valuable lesson: people didn't think less of me for trying something that didn't work. They think more of a person like that, who then tries again.

Some photos from that production:

Between that year and my grade 12 year, I attended a drama camp for one week during the summer, by my teacher, Richard Peters, in Hamilton. It was fantastic. We studied monologues, improvisation, swordfighting, and various acting methods; it was both very informative and very fun. I intend to go again, to a new format of the same camp - Broken Open. Hey, why don't you go, if you live nearby?

This year, I tried out for the play - but it was a musical, Into the Woods, by Stephen Sondheim. I can't sing! So I took the backstage role of Assistant Director. The play went on in February 2009 with a marvellous set, fantastic professional musicians, and of course a full singing cast that topped so many productions people bothered to put on Youtube. :) It was a huge hit.

In my last year of Upper Level Drama and indeed high school, thus far my last time on stage, we put on the comedy Rumors by Neil Simon. I chose to be the dramaturg again (you'd be amazed how many difficult-to-pronounce names are in a classic New York show), and acted onstage as Ernie Cusack, a psychistrist who - according to my interpretation - could use some help himself. It went on in May 2009 and was well-received.

Some photos from that production:

As usual, if you have any questions, suggestions, or arguments, please go ahead and  contact me.


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