Ah, the long, languid days of summer. The West Coast has settled into the torpor of a brain-mush inducing heatwave and everything seems, well…West Coastey. I do anyway, with my crew in recess for the summer and that pre-Fringe dip in Indie Stage activity I’ve been feeling like a kid on summer vacation. That should be in summer school. Isn’t it funny how when artists aren’t in the middle of a project we feel like we’re playing hooky? There’s been this guilt gnawing away at the back of my consciousness making me feel lazy, like I should be writing copy or blogging furiously or fund-raising or something instead of just going into work every day at my full time day job. It’s kind of sick.
Well, Rebecca and the Zoo Crew have taken care of that. She’s asked me to pinch-hit for her as ITSAZOO’s publicist while she treats herself to a Grecian vacation. It turns out there is some indie theatrical activity in the offing, and I’m pleased as punch to be helping out this young crew of artists determined to hammer out a niche for our art form here. They’re a brainy, genuinely talented crew out of UVic who have been turning heads with their smart and playful work, both onstage and in clever site-specific productions as well.
They continue to build their canon with the original adaptation The Road to Canterbury, opening here at Queen Elizabeth Park on August 5th. It’s a re-working of Chaucer’s Picaresque tales by Co-Artistic Director Sebastien Archibald that leads you through the park and through some surprising contemporizing of several classic legends. You can read more at their Facebook event page here…
So yay, back in the saddle again. And there looks to be a few more projects bearing down on me, not the least of which is working with the Plank gang again to prepare a critical Fringe guide for this year’s fest (Psst, in case you missed it, they announced this year’s line-up). After the resounding success of last year’s guide, we don’t have much choice.
Anyway Vancouver, that’s what’s going on with me. What are you all working on, besides a killer tan?
Simon Ogden 
Well, since you asked…
The fringe show I directed, Harper Girl Does Canada, opens tomorrow night at the Calgary Fringe. I’m doing some marketing and assistant directing for Sondheim in September. And I’m doing grant applications for one big umbrella‘s new play-reading festival, Elsewhere.
So much for a quiet summer!