To Jessica & Gabriel!

Five days ago, my sister got married. Five days ago, I gave a speech. And now that it's over, and now that I'm not freaking out about it all the time, I'd like to share it. To Jessica & Gabriel always! I'm so happy for you two, you crazy lovebirds.

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Jessica has been my guardian ever since I came home from the hospital. When I was little, I was always trying to put myself through things—get my legs through the bannisters at the top of the stairs, or my arms through the backs of the dining room chairs or I used to just want to sit in this blue flower pot in our living room. I think maybe I used to think I was Elasta-Girl from that movie, The Incredibles. And I always thought I was going to make it through to the other side, but to my amazement, sometimes I would get stuck. If it had been a particularly busy week in fighting supervillains in the house, sometimes once a day. My mom is laughing because it’s not an exaggeration. And I would cry and cry for help because surely my life was in danger, but it wasn’t mom and it wasn’t dad who I trusted enough with this rescue mission—it was Jess. I am happy to report that each time she was able to rescue me, albeit with some help probably from mom and dad, and that eventually I moved on from this Elasta-Girl fantasy. Jessica would probably say she is unhappy to report that that would only be the beginning of her watching over me to make sure I didn’t do anything too stupid.

We spent 19 years living together and in that time, she has gotten me out of a lot of metaphorical and adult-sized blue flowerpots. And I think from that first time she got me unstuck, I’ve always thought she was pretty cool. Jess is someone I have always looked up to. She is warm, playful, sensitive, beautiful, hilarious, creative, and if you meet her, as you all know, you’ll fall in love with her in about 60 seconds flat. And I have to say…that growing up that didn’t go unnoticed! So throughout her dating life, because I was kind of a dork and had far too few hobbies, I was there with a notebook and a pen and I would kind of—Jess I don’t think I ever told you this ever—I would sort of log who she was dating and what I thought of them. I think there was a point system involved but I’m not sure! I don’t have that book anymore, so I can’t tell you about all of my entries in there, but I do remember some of what I wrote about Gabe.

Good hair. Taller than Jess—check. Likes my mom’s cooking. Played beanie babies with me. Russian. First impressions: positive.

So I was 12 at the time, just to set the record straight. I do not play with Beanie Babies anymore and I definitely know now that Romania is a country.

But if I were to write that list today, I’d have a lot more things to say about Gabe: supportive, smart, sarcastic, enthusiastic, loyal, honest, determined, but most importantly, makes my sister so incredibly stupid happy. When the two of them are together, there are sparks. They laugh. A lot. And they poke fun at each other all the time. They challenge each other. And throughout the ten plus years that they have been together, they have grown to be better for each other every day. Even through the most angsty of teenage years. They have a house, they have a dog, rather a bear, I already feel like they have won the dating Olympics, and I am very sure they are going to bring the gold home in Marriage too.

On a serious note people ask me a lot when I say my sister is getting married, I get asked this all the time, “Do you like the guy she’s with?” and I can’t help but smile because I really really do. And little do those people know that because you’ve been with Jessica for ten years, I’ve grown up with you, and you are already my brother.

Just by being around you two, you continue to teach me about love every day. I love you both so much. I wish you all the very best for your future life together.

Congratulations. To Jess & Gabe!

                  

“In the heart of every actor lies his breath, her voice and our response.” -The National Voice Intensive

When I got home from the Voice Intensive last summer, I imagine I was pretty annoying. I couldn’t stop talking about it to anyone who had the politeness to listen. And even though I get asked about it less now, because it’s been seven months, I still have that impulse to scream on top of a mountain how much I loved it. The more I contemplate my 5 weeks in the program, the more I am convinced that that time spent was one of the happiest I have had in my life. And it is funny, because some of the conditions of the intensive would lead me to believe that that statement doesn’t make sense. For example, I woke up every day at 7:00 AM—which is far earlier for me than usual. I took transit for an hour to get to the UBC—something that would have made me extremely grumpy had I been in Calgary. I worked hard. I exhausted myself physically, mentally and emotionally for five weeks every day from 8:30 AM – 9:30 PM. The weekends were spent doing laundry, having cook-a-thons, watching orange is the new black, going to the beach, sleeping and of course working on Shakespeare. Oh, and I wouldn’t see my boyfriend for that entire time.

And yet, I was extremely happy. I was exhausted. But I had more energy than before. I was constantly being pushed for new ideas and insights, and those came easier to me than before. I hadn’t gone to yoga in months, and even after a full 12 hours of physicality, I often finished my days by going for a run along the beach before I went home. I was being challenged. I was being confronted with my own ingrained self-editing. But more than all of that, I was taught how to breathe.

This might sound really hippy-dippy, but I was happy because I breathed.  In every breath, I came to rediscover myself. In every breath I came to rediscover my surroundings. In every breath I was present. And you might think: I breathe already, why would I spend weeks doing something I already know how to do? And I am going to burst your bubble: you don’t know how to breathe. From the breath stems all the work. At the intensive, everything is integrated through the breath and the voice. They look at your vocal instrument as a whole: your body, your voice, your mind, imaginations, sensations. I could go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on about my feeling about the intensive.  I could gush your ear off for hours. But let’s talk about what’s unique, and what’s valuable about the program for theatre practitioners.

The Voice Intensive’s faculty is impressive. At the head is David Smukler who founded it thirty years ago. He is one of the most senior voice teachers in Canada and is one of the most senior voice teachers in Canada, is on the faculty of York University's Department of Theatre where he supervises the Voice Teacher Diploma in the MFA Acting Program. He has studied and taught all over the world, he is very tall, can be very intimidating, but more than that, he has a giant heart, a persistence and an intensity when he teaches. Perhaps I cannot speak for other theatre institutions, but I will. You never get more one-on-one attention than at the intensive. Sessions vary in size, anywhere from 6 people to 36 people, but you will never be lost in a crowd. This is scary at times, because the faculty’s bullshit meter is off the charts. You will come to terms with a new understanding of your body, your body and your pre-conceived ideas and ego. And you will resist. Sometimes in acting classes I have been in, there is resistance and eventually, for the sake of time, the teacher will move on. But that doesn’t happen here. You have their undivided attention, and the faculty communicates with expertise, empathy and enthusiasm. What the faculty achieves is creating a deeply supportive and non-competitive environment for all participants. Everyone has his or her own individual process to go through—everyone’s needs and challenges are different. To witness the journey of others is truly a gift, and to be witnessed is another.

At the intensive you will learn many many things, but the majority of the work focuses around freeing the natural voice from habitual patterns, opening up physical space in the body for breath to move freely, syntonics, the connection between sensation & the imagination, speech pathology, and the Shakespeare text of that given year. This summer they are doing Othello, The Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night & Richard III. You will work on a monologue from one of these plays and a scene with a partner (or two) from one of these plays with a final presentation on the last day of the intensive. I won’t divulge more about what happens at the intensive, because it is best to discover that for yourself and to reap the same amount of delight, surprise and resistance that I did. You will be challenged. You will be confused. But at the end, you will reach some clarity, have an understanding of what it means to be really present, and re-sensitize yourself to your surroundings. You will also be gifted a personal bullshit meter that will stay with you always. It will tell you when you are being inauthentic and you will wish it were something physical so you can throw it at the nearest wall or off the highest bridge. You will also leave with 11 mentors and roughly 25 new friends from all over the country.

Some changes have been made!

When I attended last year, it was a 5-week program but it has been adjusted to 4 weeks from May 17^th – June 13^th. If you can go, clear your schedule. Take this time to immerse yourself in the work without outside distractions or obligations. Dedicate your weekends to doing laundry, having cook-a-thons, going to the beach and hanging out with other participants! The voice intensive is also being held in Toronto instead of Vancouver and partnering with pounds per square inch performance—a Toronto Theatre company under the direction of one of the faculty members, Gerry Trentham. It’s the 30th anniversary for the Intensive and I have no doubt that the faculty is going to make it a very exciting year! If I could go every year, I would. And if you can't go this year, you should consider going whenever it's feasible for you! If you have any questions about the Intensive, any funding to go there or whatever, give me a shout in the comments and we can talk! The deadline to apply is March 15th, but really March 16th (because the 15th is a Sunday). And if nothing else, but this has made you curious about the intensive and you want to learn more, check out their very helpful and comprehensive website.