As we come to the end of our fiscal year, the fu-GEN office has been hard at work wrapping up the 7th Annual Potluck Festival and GENesis Conference. We had our post mortem, cleaned out the office, and archived the Festival and Conference material. I'm even getting used to our new Interim Artistic Director (David Yee) being in the office all the time! It has been a monumental year for fu-GEN, hosting this first-ever conference, and we couldn't be happier with how it ran.
Showing posts with label GENesis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label GENesis. Show all posts
25.5.10
Photo Madness!
I know it's been a long week of waiting, but we finally have some photos ready! No word of a lie, thousands of photos were taken at our 7th Annual Potluck Festival and GENesis Conference. After looking through ALL of them, I can say without hesitation that it was a great week for Asian Canadians.
14.5.10
Winding Down
fu-GEN's 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring GENesis: Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference has come to an end.
(beat).
(pregnant pause).
(beat).
Eight full-length new play readings, 9 new play excerpt readings, 6 artist panels, 1 keynote speech, 20 academic paper presentations, and an uncountable amount of food have been presented over the course of the past week. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to summarize the week, but all that comes to mind is that you had to be there. I have never been in a theatre filled with so many Asian Canadians and so many people (from across the country) support of us in our movement.
(beat).
(pregnant pause).
(beat).
Eight full-length new play readings, 9 new play excerpt readings, 6 artist panels, 1 keynote speech, 20 academic paper presentations, and an uncountable amount of food have been presented over the course of the past week. I've been wracking my brain trying to figure out how to summarize the week, but all that comes to mind is that you had to be there. I have never been in a theatre filled with so many Asian Canadians and so many people (from across the country) support of us in our movement.
14.4.10
Hello out there to all of our readers!
Things in the fu-GEN office are really picking up. This past week has been insanely busy to a point where I can barely describe it anymore. That's a lie-- but a clever lie that also serves as an excuse for me not wanting to take the time to try to describe the business. If you've ever worked for a theatre company and you're three weeks before a major production and rehearsals have JUST gotten started and, oh wait-- you're actually producing 8 plays (even if they are readings), a whole bunch of excerpts, and a monumental conference where artists and academics are flying in from all across the continent, and there's usually no more than 4 people in the office-- you have a good idea of our level of busy.
This week, instead of providing you, dear readers, with a summary of all things fu-GEN and fabulous, I will be posting something from one of our incredible Kitchen Playwrights, Catherine Hernandez! She has graciously written a blog post for us and provided us with amazing pictures.
Enjoy!
Things in the fu-GEN office are really picking up. This past week has been insanely busy to a point where I can barely describe it anymore. That's a lie-- but a clever lie that also serves as an excuse for me not wanting to take the time to try to describe the business. If you've ever worked for a theatre company and you're three weeks before a major production and rehearsals have JUST gotten started and, oh wait-- you're actually producing 8 plays (even if they are readings), a whole bunch of excerpts, and a monumental conference where artists and academics are flying in from all across the continent, and there's usually no more than 4 people in the office-- you have a good idea of our level of busy.
This week, instead of providing you, dear readers, with a summary of all things fu-GEN and fabulous, I will be posting something from one of our incredible Kitchen Playwrights, Catherine Hernandez! She has graciously written a blog post for us and provided us with amazing pictures.
Enjoy!
7.4.10
I Can't Believe It's Already April
Lots of things happening at the office this week. I was fortunate enough to sneak away for the weekend and visit my family back in Edmonton for the holiday, but I could tell fu-GEN staffers were busy due to the frequent e-mails and the quick response rate to whatever e-mails I managed to send. I have decided that due to my absence from the office over the last few days, I have every right to let my imagination cut loose with regards to the goings-on of my fellow fu-GEN staffers. So this, dear readers, is a somewhat fictitious (though probably not entirely ridiculous) and probably not-entirely-accurate rendering of last week’s happenings.
THE WAR WALL (April 7, 2010)
Festival producers Matt and Byron continued to spend much of their time on the phone in an attempt to cast actors in all of the Potluck plays. Their next challenge will be to cast K7, the challenge being that they have to do it with all non-equity actors. Byron sits amidst an ever-growing stack of contracts as he waits for Nina and Carin to swing by and sign them out of his hands and into the actors.
Nina carries around her agenda in a briefcase—okay, it’s in her MacBook, but still, her schedule is insane. This woman is back and forth between here and Cahoots, doing interviews for college students, signing our paycheques, dramaturging like 50 plays and directing another 50 (I’m pretty sure my numbers are accurate), oh and raising a 3 year old to boot!
Carin (and our aforementioned producer Matt) is busy with a toddler of her own, the lively Miss Berkeley, yet somehow Carin still manages to make it in the office to sign away some of Byron’s ever-growing contract pile (pictured below), while simultaneously asserting her presence over the ladies at the bank to finally get us our company credit card(!!!). Lately, she’s been spending her time spending our money—almost finished with flight bookings, she’s now moved on to paying our actors!
And what of incoming Artistic Director David? I haven’t seen him in weeks, making me think that his schedule is comparable to Nina’s. However, a picture of him as a child has appeared on our War Wall (filling me with the desire to caption it “Our Fearless Leader”). I can only imagine David stumbling in tired one night, grumbling, plastering his photo on the wall and taking a swig of vodka before heading home for the evening.
Our Fearless Leader
I can’t take full credit for the “Fearless Leader” slogan, Andrea, our lovely Director of Marketing and Development came up with that one. She sits quietly in her corner, typing furiously away and fortuitously putting together our program (a seemingly never-ending process). She’s been working on a listserv, taking photos, sending out e-blasts to our followers and designing all of the materials that will eventually be handed out at the conference. No big deal, right?
As for me, I spent my weekend eating waaaay too much food. While running back and forth between my laptop and the table I managed to catch up with friends and family, never really being fully able to answer the question, “what exactly are you doing out in Toronto, anyway?”. Since when does the response “interning for a theatre company” not satisfy all of a curious parent’s questions?
To look forward to in the upcoming weeks: Mind-map from K7 Playwrights and blog entries from each of the Potluck Playwrights including: David Yee, Catherine Hernandez, Donald Woo, Camellia Koo, Romeo Candido, Paul Sun-Hyung Lee and our office’s very own Byron Abalos.
31.3.10
Five Furiously Fast-paced Weeks to Go!
The war wall hasn’t changed much this week, but that’s no reflection of how busy we’ve been this week. I would post a picture, but we don't have a functioning camera in our office today. I guess you'll just have to hold your suspense until next week... Without Nina in the office as frequently, we don’t have as many quotes on the wall, but here’s a good one from last week:
Speaking of GM’s, Carin’s been busy as ever, spending much of her time this week booking flights for visiting academics and artists, fanangling and printing off new budgets, going over our company GST report, and trying not to pull her hair out over the company credit card which has yet to arrive. She’s also probably busy doing lots of other things that I don’t even know about... every once and a while we hear her muttering, “kill, kill, kill...”
Andrea’s been spending late nights in the office, messaging me to go for dinner at 10pm when I’m almost ready for bed. Her report to the Trillium Foundation (which funds her position) is due tomorrow, which is causing an appropriate amount of stress she is currently balancing with her responsibilities in Marketing and Development. She’s revamped our website countless times, re-coloured our lotus logo, dealt with a new shipment of flyers, and worn heels to work almost every day. BAM. Did I mention that she was also performing in CBT’s Flipside Festival last weekend? No big deal.
Byron was also working with the Flipside Festival, directing a piece about a mother and son. So while a considerable amount of time was dedicated towards that in the last week, Byron has also been laying the foundation for the welcome packages that will be handed out to academic and artistic visitors upon their arrival, while simultaneously attempting to file his taxes. He’s also worked out several awesome deals with food sponsors for our festival such as Epicure (providing us with free food for opening)!! He’s also be working like a madman to make sure all the shows are cast... where are all the Asian actors?
Matt, our Potluck Festival co-producer, has been leaving a LOT of messages (e-mail and phone) that he fears are going nowhere in his attempt to cast plays. Good thing he has a blackberry, enabling him to frequently check his e-mail in fits of casting paranoia. He’s also helped me out a tonne by sending a mailout to his contacts in an attempt to get high school volunteers.
Nina is whirlwinding in and out of the office in a flurry of meetings, loose sheets of paper and venti cups of coffee. She pops in for a meeting, interview, and lunch and is gone before we can quote her for the War Wall. Incredibly busy as always, she is doing mysterious work and making important decisions that keep the company running.
Our incoming Artistic Director, David, is almost done with Monster (directed by Nina) at LKTYP and will again be a presence in the office (mainly there to harass us while we work) after the holiday weekend. In the meantime, he will continue to be BCC’d on all my e-mails and honor me with answers to my questions accompanied by an occasional sarcastic response. We miss you, David!
My week has been yet again by liaising with academics and artists. We’ve invited a few new people this week, and only have a few more people to confirm travel arrangements with and then I get to put a giant checkmark on my to do list. I worked with Matt to put out the aforementioned volunteer call, went to a Maple Leafs NAAAP mixer with Byron and practiced slinging business cards like ninjastars and worked on building a signup sheet for board members to pick up festival/conference guests from the airport. As a conference presenter myself, I’m only starting to realize how screwed I’m going to be if I don’t get my academic act together soon—whatever happened to living life contently as a simple intern?
Oooh boy, this has been a long freaking update. I’ll leave you with this: Kapisanan is launching a new website this weekend. We’ll be there to review it, and you should definitely go check it out!
Speaking of GM’s, Carin’s been busy as ever, spending much of her time this week booking flights for visiting academics and artists, fanangling and printing off new budgets, going over our company GST report, and trying not to pull her hair out over the company credit card which has yet to arrive. She’s also probably busy doing lots of other things that I don’t even know about... every once and a while we hear her muttering, “kill, kill, kill...”
Andrea’s been spending late nights in the office, messaging me to go for dinner at 10pm when I’m almost ready for bed. Her report to the Trillium Foundation (which funds her position) is due tomorrow, which is causing an appropriate amount of stress she is currently balancing with her responsibilities in Marketing and Development. She’s revamped our website countless times, re-coloured our lotus logo, dealt with a new shipment of flyers, and worn heels to work almost every day. BAM. Did I mention that she was also performing in CBT’s Flipside Festival last weekend? No big deal.
Byron was also working with the Flipside Festival, directing a piece about a mother and son. So while a considerable amount of time was dedicated towards that in the last week, Byron has also been laying the foundation for the welcome packages that will be handed out to academic and artistic visitors upon their arrival, while simultaneously attempting to file his taxes. He’s also worked out several awesome deals with food sponsors for our festival such as Epicure (providing us with free food for opening)!! He’s also be working like a madman to make sure all the shows are cast... where are all the Asian actors?
Matt, our Potluck Festival co-producer, has been leaving a LOT of messages (e-mail and phone) that he fears are going nowhere in his attempt to cast plays. Good thing he has a blackberry, enabling him to frequently check his e-mail in fits of casting paranoia. He’s also helped me out a tonne by sending a mailout to his contacts in an attempt to get high school volunteers.
Nina is whirlwinding in and out of the office in a flurry of meetings, loose sheets of paper and venti cups of coffee. She pops in for a meeting, interview, and lunch and is gone before we can quote her for the War Wall. Incredibly busy as always, she is doing mysterious work and making important decisions that keep the company running.
Our incoming Artistic Director, David, is almost done with Monster (directed by Nina) at LKTYP and will again be a presence in the office (mainly there to harass us while we work) after the holiday weekend. In the meantime, he will continue to be BCC’d on all my e-mails and honor me with answers to my questions accompanied by an occasional sarcastic response. We miss you, David!
My week has been yet again by liaising with academics and artists. We’ve invited a few new people this week, and only have a few more people to confirm travel arrangements with and then I get to put a giant checkmark on my to do list. I worked with Matt to put out the aforementioned volunteer call, went to a Maple Leafs NAAAP mixer with Byron and practiced slinging business cards like ninjastars and worked on building a signup sheet for board members to pick up festival/conference guests from the airport. As a conference presenter myself, I’m only starting to realize how screwed I’m going to be if I don’t get my academic act together soon—whatever happened to living life contently as a simple intern?
Oooh boy, this has been a long freaking update. I’ll leave you with this: Kapisanan is launching a new website this weekend. We’ll be there to review it, and you should definitely go check it out!
24.3.10
The Weekly Update- 24/3/3010: T Minus 6 Weeks!
"Six weeks away people! Only six weeks away!"
The havoc that is wreaked when I shout this aloud in the office is insane. Heads are clasped in despair, forehead veins pop, knuckles turn white, and keyboards click away with the fury of 100 pecking chickens? I don’t know... maybe I took it a little far, but this phrase certainly brings some distress into the office.
The last week we have kept ourselves busy by welcoming the lovely Nina Lee Aquino into the office almost every day. Here she sits, head to head with Byron churning out schedule after schedule. The reason the wall looks so tidy is because Byron and Nina have put up so many schedules they practically had to tear the whole thing down and re-post everything so it looked pretty again. Now the two of them are on to casting, and the feeling is that once the actors are in the schedule it becomes concrete. Exciting!
Andrea has been designing fabulous advertisements for our 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, submitting them for publication in Canadian Theatre Review, as well as creating ads and inserts for Native Earth and Carlos Bulosan Theatre respectively. She’s making sure flyers get distributed and managing the behemoth task of putting the (delayed) program together. With deadlines set towards the end of this week, Andrea’s life is only getting busier.
Carin is dedicating her life to masterminding our budget and drilling it in to us that we must protect her bottom line. Somehow, between her many jobs, Carin has got us a company credit card, which we will use to buy flights as soon as it arrives at the office. Sometimes Carin senses that we are desperate for coffee.
When we run out of coffee filters, we use Bounty!
Sunday saw the core team sitting together in one room (finally!) to make sure that we are all on the same page moving forward. Coffee was drank, snacks were had, and details were mulled over. We sorted out some ticketing snafus, talked about the budget, and in the end I know that I felt really satisfied that we had all met. There’s something nice about having everyone in the same room... it brings the whole picture together. While you can see the long road we still have in front of us, we know that we will travel it quickly, with the support of each other, and hopefully with great success. I definitely left the meeting feeling that I am so lucky—I am a young professional working in my field, in the arts! Woo hoo!
Oh yeah, now that everything is sorted, the Festival and Conference passes are now on sale through Factory Theatre. See all that info here, and we’ll see you there!
The havoc that is wreaked when I shout this aloud in the office is insane. Heads are clasped in despair, forehead veins pop, knuckles turn white, and keyboards click away with the fury of 100 pecking chickens? I don’t know... maybe I took it a little far, but this phrase certainly brings some distress into the office.
The Wall!
The last week we have kept ourselves busy by welcoming the lovely Nina Lee Aquino into the office almost every day. Here she sits, head to head with Byron churning out schedule after schedule. The reason the wall looks so tidy is because Byron and Nina have put up so many schedules they practically had to tear the whole thing down and re-post everything so it looked pretty again. Now the two of them are on to casting, and the feeling is that once the actors are in the schedule it becomes concrete. Exciting!
Andrea has been designing fabulous advertisements for our 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, submitting them for publication in Canadian Theatre Review, as well as creating ads and inserts for Native Earth and Carlos Bulosan Theatre respectively. She’s making sure flyers get distributed and managing the behemoth task of putting the (delayed) program together. With deadlines set towards the end of this week, Andrea’s life is only getting busier.
Carin is dedicating her life to masterminding our budget and drilling it in to us that we must protect her bottom line. Somehow, between her many jobs, Carin has got us a company credit card, which we will use to buy flights as soon as it arrives at the office. Sometimes Carin senses that we are desperate for coffee.
When we run out of coffee filters, we use Bounty!
Sunday saw the core team sitting together in one room (finally!) to make sure that we are all on the same page moving forward. Coffee was drank, snacks were had, and details were mulled over. We sorted out some ticketing snafus, talked about the budget, and in the end I know that I felt really satisfied that we had all met. There’s something nice about having everyone in the same room... it brings the whole picture together. While you can see the long road we still have in front of us, we know that we will travel it quickly, with the support of each other, and hopefully with great success. I definitely left the meeting feeling that I am so lucky—I am a young professional working in my field, in the arts! Woo hoo!
Oh yeah, now that everything is sorted, the Festival and Conference passes are now on sale through Factory Theatre. See all that info here, and we’ll see you there!
1.3.10
fu-GEN Origami Lotus Instructional Video
Okay, this video took two days to make! That’s pretty good, considering that we collectively only have moderate experience with the video camera and that we wanted to capture the origami folding in one single take. After hours of furious folding by Andrea and exceptional editing by Byron, we have come out with this, the incredible “fu-GEN Origami Lotus Instructional Video”. Made on a Mac (much to the shagrin of David, who is definitely a PC).
Welcome to fu-GEN's 7th Annual Potluck Festival Featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference's Blog!!
This blog is here to give the world wide web an opportunity to see what goes on in the office and behind the scenes of an independent theatre company. Working towards our 7th Annual Potluck Festival featuring: GENesis Asian-Canadian Theatre Conference, being in the office can be quite an adventure, so click on the about us link and find out who the players are in this zany backstage world!
Over the course of the next few months, this blog will track our progress in preparing for the festival—in the best and worst of times. You will be able to see our office, the characters that work in it, and be exposed to our fluctuating stress levels and subsequent coping mechanisms. We hope you enjoy the read, and invite you to post comments as you see fit—giving us suggestions of what YOU would like to see posted, and sharing your opinions on what’s going on in our world. Happy reading!
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