august/september thoughts
no one has ever posted later on substack. i apologize <3
OVERVIEW:
THEATRE
MUSIC
FILM
READING!
So.. I have no good reason for combining these two months besides the fact that I was too busy to post either on time. AND I should be posting my October highlights right now… I will be better…
THEATRE:
AUGUST
Rougarou (SummerWorks)
Girl’s Notes III (SummerWorks)
Hamlet (Canadian Stage)
Warm Up (SummerWorks)
Slug Meal (SummerWorks)
A, Brazil flag emoji, 47 (SummerWorks)
It’s A Shame (SummerWorks)
Versus (SummerWorks)
SEPTEMBER
Roberto Zucco (Buddies in Bad Times)
Rosmersholm (Crow’s)
Wilma (Aluna, RUTAS Festival)
I watched a lot of theatre in AUGUST… A lot of this is technically “dance” or “performance art”, but I’m categorizing all live performance under the same category.
My highlights were:
WARM UP: Mykalle Bielinski (creator/performer), “In response to the climate crisis, Mykalle takes on the challenge of powering her performance by generating her own electricity with her body and a bicycle.” I felt that the way it was advertised did not do justice to what the piece actually was. A lot of people I ran into just thought it was a person on a bicycle the whole time— BUT IT WAS SO MUCH MORE!!! What ultimately sold me was one Instagram story where someone said there was singing. The music was great! The performance was great! the entire show was unlike anything I’d seen before, and I loved it!!!
Roberto Zucco: Loved this!!! I was skeptical about this show opening up Buddies’ season since it’s not inherently “gay”, I guess. But the vibes were definitely GAY! The design was beautiful. Really bold staging choices, acting choices, design choices— to accompany a very strange script. I’ll repeat what everyone else was saying… the sound/composition was the highlight! So so fun.
Wilma: Written, performed, and director by Itzhel Razo (from Mexico!!!) “Wilma narrates the story of a girl who grows up as a foreigner on her own land. She is isolated by the racism and classism imposed by her Irish grandmother, who forbids her to learn Maya and associate with Maya speakers.” This rocked my world. I have never seen anything like this, and I don’t know if I ever will. Everybody in the audience was gagged. Script was funny, emotional, powerful, scary, etc. etc. etc. I cried because I always cry.
MUSIC
Short n’ Sweet— Sabrina Carpenter
And here is a playlist of my top 50 songs of August.
And it has just come to my attention that I forgot to make a September playlist, but in my defense— I was fighting for my life.
Short n’ Sweet: This was fun, but definitely not iconic. The songs are catchy, but like most mainstream pop music these days— somewhat forgettable. My favorite song was “Dumb & Poetic”— I’ve been there, Sabrina.
FILM
The Shrouds (dir: David Cronenberg)
AHHHHH!!!! This is the ONLY movie I saw at TIFF!!!! Went because I wanted to see my idol and king: David Cronenberg. The movie was strange, as all his movies are— but more personal than his previous works. I did not enjoy the general vibe of the Cronenheads around me, but I did enjoy Mr. David Cronenberg himself. The talkback definitely made me enjoy the movie more— specifically his explanation of why the grief of losing someone you were intimate with/ in-love with (his wife) is different than other kinds of grief.
READING
There is Violence and There is Righteous Violence and There is Death; or the Born-Again Crow by Caleigh Crow
So… I am trying to read all the plays I have bought in the past year but haven’t read yet. I loved this play so much!!!! And I’m so excited for the production in March (co-produced by Native Earth [where I work] and Buddies!!!) Since I will mostly be reading plays in these upcoming posts, I have to say that I’m surprised people don’t generally enjoy reading plays. I will start writing more in-depth in the future, I swear.
CLOSING
I have never been later on a Substack post. I will TRY to be better. As per usual, I watch a lot of theatre.. not a lot of anything else… don’t think that is going to change, but I DO want to read more… fingers crossed.. pray 4 me <3