Why As I Lay Dying?

Michele: Language, images, gestures and freedom of the imagination have been our obsession for the last 34 years. We have explored the language Julio Cortazar, Boccaccio, Dante, Chekhov, Katherine Mansfield, Brothers Grimm, The Bible, Moliere, Gozzi and Botho Strauss, among others. We read William Faulkner many years ago and were fascinated with his unique structure and incredible vocabulary. This journey back to Jefferson to honour the promise made to Addie Bundren that she be brought home to be buried transgresses triumphantly all the principles of good taste. Scandalous, it becomes heroic. This is what appealed most to us as artists.

William Faulkner claimed to write the novel in 6 weeks and that he did not change a word of it.  What was your process for the adaptation?

Dean: Michele and I spent the first month of work alone adapting the novel.  We searched for ways to transform Faulkner’s fiction to the theatre. Then we began to work with the actors in the space taking a number of the scenes that we had written and searching for the mise-en-scene of the production. We worked day in and day out part time for about a year. And then for the last 5 weeks we worked full time. We work like artisans. We search for solutions. We follow our hunch. We adapt the text and write with our bodies because images and gestures are as important to our adaptation as the words.

The current showing is a “workshop presentation”.  Can you explain what a workshop presentation is?

Michele: Our process of creation involves a long period of development with the actors in the space. It is vital that the collaboration that begins in the space with the actors continues with the designers. In order to do this it is important to put the work-in-progress in front of an audience. We work in an empty space with essential props and costumes making the lighting a very important part of the story telling so what you will see at the Theatre Centre this week is a very polished piece of theatre that we will continue to be developed next year at which time we will premiere the work and invite the theatre critics to come and review it.

What are the next steps for As I Lay Dying?

Dean: The next step will be to go back to the rehearsal space to continue to fine tune all the details of writing, acting and the mise-en-scene and then next season remount and premiere it. We will tour this show over the next few years, as well.

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Planning for this year’s fundraiser, the Board put together a postcard for the gala (thank you Lesley Stodart for the beautiful design). We drew from the spirited horse Ben Muir had portrayed so vividly in the excerpt, hoping that had made the cut to this year’s workshop production. It did!

I’m not an actor, but I know that Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s development process is intense. The company works from texts, not scripts. They work ideas and characters and vignettes over and over, taking scenes that work further, reworking or discarding ideas that don’t. Theatre Smith-Gilmour works on a piece for years. And it shows.

Seeing As I Lay Dying a year after that initial excerpt is a treat. It’s like being able to go back and fill in the rest of the picture of something glimpsed out of the corner of an eye. Now it all fits together. I got to experience the horse scene again. It’s gratifyingly near the beginning of the work. I’d wondered if it would be as evocative as I’d remembered. And it is!”

-Kim Hume, Chair – Board of Directors

Please join Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour and the members of the company for the

TSG Annual Fundraising Gala

A special gala performance of
Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s workshop production of:

AS I LAY DYING

Adapted from William Faulkner

April 26 at 6:00 p.m.
(performance begins at 7:00pm)

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West (at Dovercourt)

hors d’oeuvres • cash bar • performance • fabulous silent auction

Gala Grand Prize:
Buy a ticket to our April 26 gala fundraiser or make a donation to Theatre Smith-Gilmour by May 15 and be entered into a draw for our gala prize: Train tickets for two (return) from Toronto to Montreal courtesy of Via Rail Canada and two tickets to a 2012-13 Centaur Theatre Company production.

Donations: Call 416-703-2773 ext. 201 or make a donation securely online through Canada Helps at www.theatresmithgilmour.com

Tickets for the TSG Gala are $45 (Student/Artist $22) available via The Theatre Centre Box Office at 416-538-0988

A special thank you to the following for their gala support:

Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Canadian Opera Company, Canadian Stage, Centaur Theatre Company, Civello Spa, Factory Theatre, Laywine’s Pens & Organizers, Luminato Festival, Penny Gerrie, Playwrights Canada Press, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Tarragon Theatre, The Red Tea Box, The Theatre Centre, The Toronto Fringe Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto Dance Theatre, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Via Rail Canada, W Burger Bar.

How did you end up working on As I Lay Dying?

Julian De Zotti: I had participated in a workshop of The Passolini Project, an adaptation of Pier Passolini’s Pylade with TheatreRun. Dean and Mimi were in that and I guess we got along well enough that they asked me to be a part of As I Lay Dying.

Nina Gilmour: I ended up working on As I Lay Dying when Dean and Michele came to see my graduating show at Ecole Philippe Gaulier. They invited me to join the project as Dewey Dell and I thought I could never decline the opportunity to work with them on such an exciting project.

Benjamin Muir: I had trained at Humber College under Dean Gilmour and worked on the Humber co-production Grimm in my final year with Michele and Dean. I then assisted in rehearsal on Grimm Too with Theatre Smith-Gilmour. I had continued to take workshops so, I  guess, I was in mind when it came to them thinking of casting because they just asked me if I wanted to help adapt As I Lay Dying. I hadn’t read it yet but I wouldn’t pass up working with them.

Daniel Roberts: I ran in to Julian on the street one day and I asked him what he was working on and he told me he was work shopping a new play with Theatre Smith-Gilmour. I guess he could feel the envy and excitement in my voice when I told him what a great opportunity that must be and how much I would love to work with the company. When the role of Vardaman came up he asked if I would like to audition for it. Of course I said yes and I was lucky enough to be chosen.

Dan Watson: I have worked with Theatre Smith Gilmour on two shows inspired by Grimm Brother Tales, and was happy to receive an invitation to work on As I Lay Dying.

How did adapting such a famous work of literature impact the rehearsal process?

Julian: You definitely want to do it justice – the story, characters, dialogue, themes – everything is quite complex and not all spelled out so rehearsal was about discovering all the little nuances and bringing them to life. It’s iconic but it definitely has obstacles to being staged so you have to learn to be creative and solve some of those problems without worrying about being precious with the text.

Nina: The most challenging part of our rehearsal process was adapting the novel for the stage. Making a script out of this story line was a feat because the novel isn’t written in a linear way. We wanted to keep the poetry and the absurdity while making it linear for the audience. Another challenge dramaturgically was to tell each sibling’s story all the way through. The story is epic and full of details some we had to exclude and some we just couldn’t do without.

Ben: Staying true to Faulkner was always a priority and I think we were all very conscious of when it started get away from us. When that happened we would all go back to the text and read over the sections and confer with each other to make sure we all understood where the story was going. Then, as adaptation goes, there were certain things that were beautiful in literature that just didn’t translate or didn’t help move the story forward on stage the same way it did in the novel. It was never a small thing when changes were made.

Daniel: It helped the rehearsal process immensely because you had the novel to fall back on for ideas, direction and guidance. We tried to stay as close to the book as possible and keep Faulkner’s words. People who love theatre will love the show for its design, story telling, and action. People who love Faulkner will be equally impressed I think with how much and how accurately we transferred the novel into live action.

Dan: When I tell people about the project, lots of people say it’s one of their favourite books, lots say they have trouble reading Faulkner, and lots of people have never read the book, and have only a notion of who William Faulkner is.  Many have a preconceived notion of the story, and many don’t, so we actually have a lot of room to play, and not as much pressure as I expected to live up to the book.  I think seeing Faulkner’s writing on stage will make his novels much more accessible for a lot of people, particularly younger people.

What do you think makes this story still relevant today?

Julian: We all think about death and more importantly have experience with it whether it’s peripherally or intimately. The story is also shrouded in familiarity because you will recognize some of your own family dynamics in it but Faulkner has a way of making it the telling of it unique, and of a particular time and place.

Nina: We sit there laughing at how grotesque Anse Bundren is and these poor children who are essentially victims of his selfishness but we relate on some level. It is so over the top yet we have all met a Bundren in our life. The type of people who make all the wrong decisions, who hide behind morals and then manage to get everyone around them to pick up all the broken pieces.

Ben: There is still deceit. There are governments dragging their people through wars and financial crises with politicians saying one thing and doing another and often at the end of it coming out unscathed and on top. While the citizens are either lost or trying to recover. There still exists harsh judgement and lack of communication among people. And lack of acceptance and justification for hatred all due to lack of proper, non-hostile, communication. Those are some things in the book that I believe are still issues and will be for a long time.

Daniel: As I lay Dying will always be relevant because, although it is set in a particular time and place, its core themes are extremely humanistic. It’s a story about death, family, loss and love. It doesn’t get more relevant to the human experience then that.

Dan: I think there is something very North American about this story.  Maybe it’s because I come from a small town, but I really connect with the characters’ relationships to the land.  Nature is immense, beautiful and cruel, and the characters are constantly in conflict with it, but their attitude is that it is surmountable.  I think this is a very North American mentality: kind of a stubborn courage. We challenge nature, or forces outside of ourselves, when better sense says we shouldn’t, and I think that is one of the things that makes the story gripping and timeless.

See Julian, Nina, Ben, Daniel, and Dan in As I Lay Dying, April 19-29, Theatre Centre

Tickets are only $15  – click here for ticket info.

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(l-r) Nina Gilmour, Dan Watson, Ben Muir, Dean Gilmour, Julian De Zotti, Daniel Roberts

Daniel Roberts

A special gala performance of
Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s workshop production of:

AS I LAY DYING

Adapted from William Faulkner

Thursday, April 26 at 6:00 p.m.
(performance begins at 7:00pm)

The Theatre Centre
1087 Queen Street West (at Dovercourt)

Tickets $45*
Student/Artist $22*

*Plus any applicable service charges

The Theatre Centre Box Office 416-538-0988

www.theatrecentre.org

~~~~~~~~

Please join Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour
and the members of the company
for Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Annual Gala.

hors d’oeuvres • cash bar • performance • fabulous silent auction

Gala Grand Prize:
Buy a ticket to our April 26 gala fundraiser
or make a donation to Theatre Smith-Gilmour by May 15
and be entered into a draw for our gala prize:
Train tickets for two (return) from Toronto to Montreal
courtesy of Via Rail Canada
and two tickets to a 2012-2013 Centaur Theatre Company production.

Donations: Call 416-703-2773 ext. 201
or make a donation securely online through Canada Helps at www.theatresmithgilmour.com

Tickets for the TSG Gala are available via The Theatre Centre Box Office at 416-538-0988 orwww.theatrecentre.org

Theatre Smith-Gilmour presents
a workshop production of
William Faulkner’s

AS I LAY DYING

adapted by Michele Smith and Dean Gilmour in collaboration with the company

April 19-29
Tuesday – Saturday @ 7:00pm*, Sunday @ 2:30pm

at The Theatre Centre
(Queen Street West@ Dovercourt Road)
Tickets: $15
via The Theatre Centre Box Office at 416-538-0988, or at the door.

“It takes two people to make you, and one people to die. That’s how the world is going to end.”

Featuring:
Dean Gilmour
Michele Smith
Dan Watson
Nina Gilmour
Julian De Zotti
Daniel Roberts
Ben Muir

Lighting Designer: Andre Du Toit
Set and Costume Designer: Teresa Przybylski
Stage Manager: Heather Thompson

*please note early curtain time of 7pm for evening shows.

Monica Dottor, Michele Smith, Patricia Marceau, Dean Gilmour - Chekhov's Shorts (2004)

In February, Chekhov’s Shorts returns to British Columbia for a limited time engagement at the Rotary Centre for the Arts in Kelowna, B.C.  Click here for details.

In 1999-2001, Theatre Smith-Gilmour’s Chekhov’s Shorts played to sold-out audiences, with rave reviews at the Factory Theatre in Toronto.   Based on a selection of short stories by Anton Chekhov and adapted by Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith with the company, this first installment of the Chekhov Cycle also toured successfully to Vancouver, Edmonton, Hong Kong, Dartmouth and Montreal.  The show has won three Dora Mavor Moore Awards: Outstanding Actor, Outstanding Director, and Outstanding Production.

What the critics have said about Chekhov’s Shorts:

“****! A perfect gem! 24 karat charmer…a marvel” – Toronto Star

“Astonishing…one of the best shows of the year”  – NOW Magazine

“****! Comic magic!”  – Globe & Mail

“A theatrical voyage to remember!”  – Toronto Sun

“True to the gentle and ruthless Chekhov!”  – National Post

This year, our work with emerging artists has taken us to the 2011 Luminato Festival with Lu Xun blossoms, a co-production with the Shanghai Dramatic Arts Centre. It was the culminating point of a four-year collaboration with three young Chinese actors that had toured to Beijing, Hong Kong, Macau, Shanghai and Guangzhou.

Here in Canada, we continue to work with theatre students at the Humber College Theatre Performance Program, York University, the University of Alberta and Ryerson University.  Each summer, we offer a two-week master class that opens up our process to the wider arts community– this program is also an open invitation to a new generation of artists who can familiarize themselves with the process of our company.

We are exceptionally proud to have nurtured, as co-writers and directors, the work of Adam Paolozza and Ravi Jain in our co-production of the Dora Award-winning SPENT, which played a sold out run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this past summer.  In the New Year, we will continue our work on adapting William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying with a new group of young actors.

For us, the actor’s imagination is at the centre of the process and our young actors must risk failing in order to find a new freedom. We encourage them to be more humane, more compassionate, more vulnerable, and more refined; to find a dialogue of feelings with the audience; to write with their bodies and ask audiences to listen, see and feel with the heart.

Your investment in Theatre Smith-Gilmour can ensure that we continue to provide opportunities for emerging Canadian theatre artists in workshops, master classes and on stage.   Donations of any amount are welcome: Please give during this Holiday Season whatever you can afford. Every dollar goes towards supporting our vision to create an environment that supports a younger generation of theatre artists.  Click here to learn more about how you can help support our youth mentorship initiatives.

With best wishes for this Holiday Season and the New Year,

Michele Smith & Dean Gilmour, Co-Artistic Directors

We accept applications from individual artists and informal collectives based in Ontario who are seeking assistance in the development of new work that reflects our cultural diversity, celebrates collective creation, and inspires unique theatrical investigations.

Each application will be reviewed individually based on its own merits and needs by Dean Gilmour and Michele Smith, Co-Artistic Directors of Theatre Smith-Gilmour.

Submission Details:  To apply, artists will be asked to prepare the following:

1.       A letter or statement of intent that includes artistic goals and objectives relating to the work, and any other information about the project such as previous workshops or readings.  Also, include a brief statement describing how the project contributes to the development of the artist (3 pages max.)

2.       A project proposal and /or script excerpt (2 pages max. for proposal / 15 pages max. for script excerpt).

3.       An up-to-date CV or resume

4.       A budget listing expenses that clearly shows how the artist plans to allocate the funds

5.       Video/audio support if applicable

6.       3 copies of the form available from the OAC website

7.       A self-addressed stamped envelope if you wish your support material to be returned.

Applicants may request between $1,000 and $5,000.  Full Theatre Creators’ Reserve Program Guidelines can be found on the OAC website

Deadline for submissions is January 16, 2012 by 5:00pm.

Please send submissions by mail to:

Theatre Smith-Gilmour
RE: Theatre Creators’ Reserve
c/o STAF

192 Spadina Ave., Suite 201
Toronto, ON M5T 2C2

Submissions by email or fax will not be considered.

Rebecca Singh moderating a conversation with Michele Smith, Dean Gilmour, Zhao Sihan and Wang Yangmeizi as part of the Luminato Lunchtime Conversation Series.