This past week Pat the Dog Theatre Production staged its 5th Annual Play Smelter festival which features new and developing work by local and regional playwrights. In previous years, the festival have featured staged readings, and workshops, as well as guest lectures from established playwrights such as Colleen Murphy. This year in addition to several staged readings of work in development they also produced two full plays on several nights.
Matthew Heiti’s Receiver of Wreck, which had its World debut this past February in Guelph, was staged the for the first time locally. As well Lara Bradley’s historical based Blind Nickel Pig received an ambitious launch. Both plays were staged on several nights giving local audiences ample opportunity to participate in the marvel of live theatre.
Which brings me to the other part of this post. Part of my enjoyment from this past weeks plays and staged readings went beyond the content, beyond the playwright’s voice being brought to life, beyond the actors performances on the stages, beyond the set designers and sound artists skillful illusions. I smiled on more than one occasion during the festival and thought to myself, I love that as human beings we want to entertain each other and be entertained. That the writers and playwrights pour countless hours into crafting their stories, breathing life into them, then turn them over to producers and actors, and set designers, to further add flesh to those bones. Finally in an act of divine creation, the audience witnesses the story brought to life and you have magic.
In the day and age of YouTube where you can find long lost memories from childhood TV shows that you once thought you imagined, there’s something to be said about the ephemeral nature of live theatre. Especially small productions such as these. I was privileged to be among the few dozen each night during the Festival’s run to witness the performances I did. To see that exact combination of actors on stage in those venues, with the people that sat in the audience with me. It was truly magical moment.
I’m looking forward to next year’s Play Smelter and I hope that Lisa O’Connell, Artistic Director, and her hard working band of producers and stagehands continue to surprise audiences with such wonderful talent.
There’s so much more I could say about the individual plays and staged readings, and maybe I will post more in the coming days, but for now I just want to say thanks to everyone who gave me these wonderful memories. I know as a writer myself, you can never fully quantify the amount of work that goes into producing the final product. That the number of hands that help along the way in bringing the piece to fruition make it impossible to put a true value on the cost of the labour to produce the end result, but in the end you hope it connects with an audience.
You’ve definitely connected with me and I appreciate the effort that it took to get to this stage. Congrats!
