The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz

Armin Wiebe's first play The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz was a big success.

Playing at the Rachel Browne Theatre from April 7-17, 2011. It was so popular that most nights sold out, and they added an extra show. Though the theatre is quite small, the intimacy of it made the viewer feel like part of the play.

The story is so intimate, and difficult to understand in some ways, as there is a lot of low german script so this location was perfect for the type of show. Not too big, not too small. The message could've easily been lost in a bigger space such as MTC or Pantages Playhouse.

The play itself was very entertaining, and not what I was expecting at all. The title does infer that it is a mennonite culture play (last name Blatz) but I was not expecting the sexual content. Generally, I would be very uncomfortable in a theatre environment where there is promiscuity, sexual tension, actions, and even nudity, but in this play I was okay with it. I think it's because the blocking was so well done, and the tone of the play was not of a sexual nature that it felt good.

Watching the play was very enjoyable, the actors were superb, perfect for their parts. As Wiebe in his talk to the students on Thursday April 14, 2011 said they were lucky to find someone who could play piano, as well as act (Beethoven Blatz - played by Eric Nyland). The most interesting part I thought of his talk, was how he said they had workshopped the play in Calgary. I've never had the opportunity to workshop any plays but I would love to as an actor, and that really intrigued me. Though I was disappointed to the lack of detail he gave of the changes that the actors had made, and the great impact that generally comes out of workshopping, I was impressed that his play got to do this and right away saw why it was so well done. Nyland was part of the workshopping, and it showed. When everyone gets to be a part of the creative process, it makes for a greater production. In high school, my drama class, wrote, and acted in a play for the Festival Theatre Jeunesse. Since it was our "baby" and we all contributed, everyone was more passionate about it and this same vibe was felt when watching Wiebe's first play.

I was also a bit puzzled by his response to the question "why did you choose Beethoven's Moonlight sonata?" asked by classmate Tom Asselin. I was expecting some kind of background story, one that I had already developped in my head from watching the play, and referrencing his past work (much of which is in low german as well), but all he said was "because I liked it, and it's easy to play." So I guess playwrights aren't always as profound in their choices as we think. Maybe I was over analyzing.

Though the play was good, and talking to Wiebe was nice, I thought it was a bit of an overkill having it twice. I was expecting to be able to talk back with the actors, ask them about their experiences, especially since this is what we were told and the fact that Wiebe was already scheduled to talk to us two days later. As an actor, I wanted to know what they were thinking, and though I did have an opportunity to greet them afterwards as they were just kind of standing around, it would have been much more beneficial to have an open Q&A with them.

Overall, the experience was great and I hope that Wiebe writes more plays so I can try my best to solve the puzzle that is mennonite drama written in half low german, knowing not a word but "nine" which means no from a little german girl I met on an airplane from Germany to Montreal in 2008.

This is my montage! Hooray

Oh Summer, Where Art Thou?

It's April 13, 2011. Last year the temperature in Winnipeg 15 degrees celcius, and the minimum was 6! What do I wake up to this morning, just 365 days later? MINUS 9! Felt like minus 19 with the wind. What is this February? And the rest of this week has been gorgeous, Monday it got up to 18 degrees, and yesterday it went as his as 13 degrees. My poor Olympic mittens thought they were being retired for summer, but they were wrong.

The temperature isn't the only thing I want to change. I want summer to get here so I can start working full time, only problem is it seems impossible to find a job! There are only seven days left (school days) of first-year CreComm and I still don't have a summer job.

I want to work in communications, or in some kind of professional environment this summer so I can keep learning what I am doing in school right now, but it seems like most of the summer jobs out there are labour oriented (which is definitely NOT my strong suit). I'm hoping that with exams finishing up in University next week, and College classes finishing, there will be a lot more postings.

For now, I will keep sending my resume and cover letter to companies, even if there is no job posting, as well as applying to the ones that do exist. How many applications is too many? We'll have to wait and see.

Not so Forever

Forever 21 doesn't seem to be so "forever" lasting. Though I'm sure the store will be around for a long time as it is very popular, offers something that many other stores don't, is very reasonably priced and has a HUGE selection of clothing, the time you can stay in there isn't forever.

I experienced this first hand last week when I ventured into the giant store, wide-eyed, excited and ready to shop. That was until I realized how many things they had. That was then I put my game face on, only digging through the sections that I thought were suitable for my wardrobe.

I was expecting chaos when it came to clothes being everywhere like in other stores of similar quality/price range, but they did do a good job of keeping things in their place, on hangers, etc. I just wish the employees "cleaning up" were able to help people out as well. But I guess you can't ask for much for the price you are paying.

So once I went through all the sections (took about an hour) I had a whole bunch of stuff to try on. I went to the fitting rooms and was surprised and very happy to see that there was no line-up (hooray!). So after trying on all the garments, I decided which ones to buy and met my mom, sister-in-law and brother's girlfriend outside where they had also picked their winners.

Then came the line-up to pay. It was scary, very long, but we thought it would move fast, but it didn't. At one point my mom said (since she didn't try clothes on, she's tiny things always fit her) "I should've came and waited in line while you girls were trying stuff on." It was true, she should have. Then we would only have had to wait...45 minutes in line.

Now we should have probably seen this coming, as a greeter informed us that "debit was down" when we walked in, but credit cards and cash were being accepted. But the whole system for credit and debit cards were down, and they were doing credit cards manually. They called before they did every transaction by hand to authorize the amount of purchase, which is why it took so long.

The thing I didn't understand was why they only had one side open (there were two sides with cash registers and enough employees working to fill them all). I understand it may not be their jobs to do cash, but the people cleaning up didn't have much left to do, it was near closing time and all the customers were waiting to pay.

Anyways, I had to make my own swift exit before I got the register, leaving my poor mother with all my clothes. What happened? I fainted. It was so hot and I was carrying so many things and standing in the same spot for almost an hour, that I got dizzy and had to sit down, I couldn't see. It didn't last long the first time, I was up on my feet again in 30 seconds, but it happened again. This time it was worse, I black ed out but I was already few inches away from sitting on the floor and my lovely sister-in-law caught me.

I then sat on the floor, drank some water, and stayed for a few minutes before I was well enough to walk outside, get some fresh air, water and most importantly sugar. Afterwards, my brother's girlfriend said "your face looked like a mannequin, you lost all expression and it was so white, like you had zero colour in your face at all." She was scared.

Now I know it doesn't sound funny, but it kind of is now that I look back at it. It's a funny story and I definitely think that it goes to show what some people will do for fashion. If I was at Wal-Mart I wouldn' t have even bothered waiting in line.