My family has always been engaged in community theatre to certain extents in Cranbrook, as far back as I can remember. I remember being a kid and seeing my father playing Sancho in a production of Man of La Mancha and being completely mesmerized. I saw something exciting and visceral that was performed not only by members of my family, but close family friends who were also involved in theatre. Both my parents have directed numerous shows for Cranbrook Community Theatre, produced, acted in and even worked backstage. They were eager to pass on this exciting hobby to their children, and thirty years later, they now have three boys who all were actively engaged in middle school and high school drama productions, and one who is still engaging deeply with this city’s drama community: Me.
During high school, I acted in many plays, predominantly musicals, from Anything Goes to Beauty & The Beast, Footloose to A Christmas Carol. Post high school, I acted in one show. After this, I moved away from Cranbrook to pursue a career in Calgary, but unfortunately big cities come with their fair share of limitations, including very little in terms of community driven theatre. In University towns such as Calgary, it can be difficult to engage in your local theatre community because there are so many University students studying drama at the many different schools located there, and if any organization is holding auditions for local shows, the auditions would ultimately be filled to the brim with extremely qualified actors who are looking more to pad their resume than engage with the community.
10 years went by, and I always felt like something was missing. I had no real way of expressing myself artistically. I was poor at visual arts, I could not code or compose music, so my main form of emotional and artistic expression was drilled into my brain. I was a dramatic person with dramatic flair, and I needed to find a way to get back into community theatre.
After years of struggle and not understanding why all my lust for life was spilling down the drain, I was presented with an opportunity to return to my hometown, and this opportunity would come with the option to get back into the theatre community. I took this leap instantly. I found out that a local director in Cranbrook was putting on a production of 9 to 5 The Musical. Thankfully, this director was someone who I knew well as a family friend. I messaged her on Facebook, and she agreed that since I was not moving back to Cranbrook after the auditions, that I would be allowed a Zoom audition, and before I had even come home, I had a role in an upcoming musical. Since then, I have continued to engage with and familiarize myself with the community again. This community took me back into its arms without hesitation. I have said it before, and I will say it again: Theatre people are the best people.
After some complication and push backs due to COVID-19, in July of this year, I performed on the stage again for the first time in over a decade, portraying the character of Dwayne in 9 to 5 The Musical. It was exhilarating and exciting and I felt truly alive. I felt like I was exactly where I belonged. When auditions arose for the upcoming production of Cabaret, a personal favourite musical of mine, I jumped on the opportunity, again without hesitation. In the past month, we have begun rehearsals and I have found myself observing incredibly closely to the process occurring in front of me. My interest began turning from fascination to obsession. I began bringing notepads to rehearsals and taking notes regarding what I saw and how certainly members of the crew presented themselves and how they were able to complete position specific tasks for the show. While I have personally only ever acted in shows, I started to take in that there is an entire backside to the process that I did not fully understand.
Over the course of the Cabaret rehearsals and run, I hope to increase my knowledge and skillset regarding my biggest passion: Musicals. This goes beyond understanding the concept of actors singing their way through their problems but delves deeper. Over the course of this project, I will be closely studying from my peers and using the internet to study, watch and attempt to understand a huge variety of musicals. I hope to understand the inner workings of this community driven hobby so in the future, I can be an asset in every area of the theatre, from production management, directing, set building, scheduling rehearsal time and space, licensing, choreography, musical direction, and producing, all while engage with the broader online community to increase my knowledge on the industry and the culture. Like they say: On with the show!