Why I Produce Theatre

I love actors.

As a kid growing up in the eighties, my favorite Harrison Ford movie was not “Raiders of the Lost Ark”.  It was “Witness”, a drama about a big city cop hiding a murder witness in a rural Amish community.

The special effects and spectacle of “Raiders” didn’t captivate me nearly as much as the simple, beautifully drawn performances in “Witness”.  Long before acting became my profession, the craft held a powerful mystique for me, the audience member.  This connection between performer and audience continues to be the motivating force in my career.

I’ve worked with hundreds of actors through the years as a director, coach and fellow actor.   I’ve endeavored to mentor and help many young actors gain a foothold in the business and I continue to be humbled by the bravery and vulnerability that actors cultivate in themselves.  Many non-actors look at the profession as a narcissistic plea for attention against overwhelming waves of rejection.  In truth, this breed of actor usually quits the profession by their thirties and the remaining few of this kind are the jaded, bitter veterans.  We actors treat them like the drunk uncle at Thanksgiving – just let him mutter his stories, he’ll tire himself out and fall asleep.

The “real” actors, the steadfast pros, are those committed to the process of storytelling. Those, who, despite all obstacles, hold a candle for the timeless act of connecting with an audience and impacting them.  That is what fuels our pursuit of the craft, and to my fellow “lifers”, you are the most charming souls I’ve come to know.

This love of craft has fueled me to create a theatre company in my hometown of Vancouver.  Like many artists, I’ve spent time in other markets for career reasons but Vancouver will always be home to me.  In the past, I’ve started some heated dialogue about the city’s arts and entertainment culture, but I’m in a different phase now, one of positive resolve.  Wallowing in cynicism about a Liberal party victory, the BC Film industry, or Vancouver’s cultural shortcomings is something I refuse to do.  I don’t want to be a drunk uncle.

Mitch and Murray Productions, a five time Jessie nominee, was built as a haven for artists and audiences alike.  Our provocative new dramas from the world stage give actors and theatregoers a chance to connect with material that otherwise would likely not play this town.  Labute’s “Fat Pig”, Weller’s “Fifty Words” and Mamet’s “Race” (our previous shows) are hard hitting, bitingly funny dramas that offer actors the Mount Everest of professional challenges while giving audiences the type of delightful, complex character dramas that cable television has so successfully captured audiences with.

Our two play festival this November features two new plays that speak to a young audience of today.  “Becky Shaw” by Gina Gionfriddo features an unlikely romantic pairing of Max, a cynical, pragmatic money manager and Becky, a sensitive, highly educated thirty something who struggles to pay her bills in a time of recession.  Sound familiar?

“Lungs” by Duncan Macmillan features a young couple struggling with the decision to have a child against the backdrop of their political indecision and unfulfilled dreams.  It’s the type of theatre that will cultivate a new generation of young audiences by speaking directly to their present day issues.

As the foundation of producing our shows, we run an early bird ticket campaign every year, offering audiences the chance to buy tickets in advance and providing us the initial funding to get our shows off the ground.  For our last two shows, we successfully raised our needed funds of $3000 in early bird tickets.

This year, with May 30th as our deadline, we’re $2000 short of that needed start up cash.  Against my desire to always project positivity and a professional image, I must tell you:  If we don’t meet our mark by May 30th, we’ll have to pull the plug.

There comes a time, after an initial building phase, when you have to let your work speak for itself and hope the audience responds.  Producing these works is a year round labor of love driven by the desire to tell new stories, in this young city, through the oldest of arts, the theatre.

Whether you’re an actor, crew member or audience member, we’re building this for you.  The plays are months away but we need your ticket purchase now.  Will you join us in taking the next step?

We look forward to your response.

Thank you,
Aaron Craven – Mitch and Murray Productions

BOOK YOUR EARLY BIRD DISCOUNTED TICKETS HERE!

Expose Yourself to Art

What a great read and a fantastic trumpeting of the arts by Todd Hirsch of the Globe and Mail.  I had to post this.

Happy Easter everybody!

“The economic imperative for investing in arts and culture”

TODD HIRSCH

Special to The Globe and Mail

Published Wednesday, Mar. 27 2013, 7:30 PM EDT

In this age of fiscal restraint, one of the easiest targets for spending cuts is the arts. While our politicians do all the dirty work, voters are largely to blame because most of us don’t make too much fuss about it. Given the choice between a cultural centre or more hip replacements, it’s usually not a contest.

But economically, we’re making a mistake. There are several reasons why investing in culture is an economic imperative.

The first is that culture – including both arts and amateur sports – can mitigate the ups and downs of other industries. More diversity is healthy for any economy. Artists and athletes pay taxes, and their spending causes a multiplier effect throughout the economy. This is the argument offered by culture advocates, especially when justifying tax-dollar support.

While this is true, it’s not the strongest economic case for public financing for arts and culture. Governments could also hire people to dig holes and then fill them again. The hole diggers would also pay taxes and their spending would have the same multiplier effect. But their labour would be pointless.

A better reason why the economy needs a strong cultural scene is that it helps to attract and retain labour. This is especially important for cities trying to draw smart professionals from around the world. The best and brightest workers are global citizens, and if they (or their families) are not pleased with the cultural amenities, they won’t come. Calgary, where I live, is a perfect example: world-class fly fishing and a great rodeo will attract some people, but without fantastic arts and sports amenities, the pool of willing migrants would be shallow. Calgary’s municipal government understands this and investing in culture is non-negotiable.

The third reason, however, is the most important. To become the creative, innovative and imaginative citizens that our companies and governments want us to be, Canadians need to willingly expose themselves to new ideas. A vibrant arts and culture community is the easiest way to make this possible.

American neuroscientist Gregory Berns, in the introduction to his 2008 bookIconoclast, wrote: “To see things differently than other people, the most effective solution is to bombard the brain with things it has never encountered before.” Living and travelling abroad is a great way to do this, but for most of us that isn’t a practical reality. Arts and culture on our home turf offer us the chance to “bombard” our brain with new stimulus without leaving town.

The important part, as Dr. Berns puts it, is to concentrate on things your brain has never encountered before. If you’re an opera fan, going to see opera season after season will be enjoyable, but you won’t reap the creative benefits that come from exposure to other things. Maybe you need to skip the next performance of Don Giovanni and take in some indie rock. Or if you’re a hockey nut, turn off the game one night and take in an exhibit of contemporary visual art. You’re not required to enjoy an unfamiliar art or sport (although if you go with an open mind, you’ll be surprised). The point is to purposely take it in, absorb what’s going on, and let your mind be bombarded. It gets the brain’s neurons firing in different ways.

This is where the economy benefits. Canadians need to keep up with global competitors, but we’re only as good as our last creative idea. If we want to truly be a country of innovators – looking for new products, discovering environmentally responsible ways to extract resources, finding efficiencies in manufacturing – we need to be creative. No government tax credit can do it for us.

The reality is that tax dollars are scarce. Cultural workers often act like serfs, begging for crumbs falling from the government’s table. They need to start exerting more entrepreneurialism – and consumers need to recognize their value. If Canadians purposefully seek out and support cultural events with their own dollars, artists and athletes will have better financial success.

We have to stop thinking about arts and culture as simply nice-to-haves. They are just as important as well-maintained roads and bridges. By giving us the chance to stimulate our minds with new ideas and experiences, they give us the opportunity to become more creative. Arts and culture are infrastructure for the mind.”

Todd Hirsch is the Calgary-based chief economist of ATB Financial and author of The Boiling Frog Dilemma: Saving Canada from Economic Decline.

What Play Do You Want to See?

Did you see Mitch and Murray Productions’ stagings of Neil Labute’s “Fat Pig”?  Michael Weller’s “Fifty Words”?  David Mamet’s “Race”?

Cast your vote on what our next production should be and share the engagement via social media and word of mouth.

Go to our website at http://www.mitchandmurrayproductions.com by March 25th and email us your pick of play for this November at Studio 16.  One of our respondents will win 2 free tickets to the show.

Save the dates – our next show to burn up the stage will premiere November 20th – December 7th at Studio 16 in Vancouver!

http://www.mitchandmurrayproductions.com

Keep the Cosmic Tumblers Moving

     “Luck knows no reason nor ‘what’s right.”
― Palladas of Alexandria

   Recently I heard somebody mention the idea of “cosmic tumblers”, in reference to our fates being determined by powers greater than ourselves.

   The last two days, I’ve had a run of luck such that my cosmic tumblers are stuck on straight zeroes.

   I usually refuse to vent life’s misfortunes in any online arena, as I can’t stand digesting the daily complaints myself via printed word.  The misfortunes of others are only interesting when they enter train-wreck territory, feeding our ugly little desire to rubberneck.  Either air your dirty laundry in spectacularly embarrassing fashion or, conversely, give us an uplifting quote from Ekhart Tolle to put a spring in our step.  Nobody gives a shit that you have the sniffles, or that it’s raining, or that you dropped your smartphone in the toilet.  Life’s too short, busy and complicated to weigh ourselves down with the gripes.

    

   I mention this last two day run more as a curious anomaly to life’s usual sense of order: a mix of good luck and bad in equal measure and interspersed enough to not threaten one’s sanity.  The last 2 days, the tumblers got stuck on snake eyes across the board and left me feeling like Michael Douglas at the beginning of the movie “Falling Down”.  Maybe it’s just life in Los Angeles?

  A recap of my last 36 hours:

    Freeway construction renders me late for my noon pickup hockey game and

    a forest fire in the Burbank hills leaves me in a two hour traffic jam and late for my afternoon meeting and                                      

    after 3.5 hours spent in the car, I drive to Sherman Oaks to soothe my nerves with a viewing of Lincoln and 

   the website had the wrong time and the movie is half over and

    I stop at the grocery store on the way home, pickup a bottle of scotch to take the razor sharp edge off and………..

    the cashier neglects to remove the alarm tag bottle stopper and upon arriving home the bottle is unable to be opened and

     so I fall into a tearful sleep and 

     I wake up this morning and prepare for a flight to Vancouver, hoping the hex will lift upon leaving town and 

     I park at a coffee shop near LAX to grab a coffee, pay for parking and the coffee shop is closed for health inspection and 

     I arrive at check in, the baggage check carousel is malfunctioning, an ear splitting alarm is sounding and the lineup is out the door, full of screaming babies and 

    I arrive at the gate, flight is delayed 2.5 hours and 

    I decide to have an overdue drink at the bar and they’re out of my favourite beer and

   they’re out of my favourite wine and 

    I return to gate to find gate and terminal for flight has changed and 

   I hike to the other terminal and flight is further delayed and

   here I sit at LAX, writing this blog.

   Am I irate?  I numbed out momentarily, the preferable coping mechanism to losing one’s shit.

   This hex has somehow provoked me to think of those times when the tumblers lined up all to the good.  Those brief moments in life when synergy crackles and life’s beautiful potential is on display in technicolor.  As I sit here steeping in those wonderful memories,  I’ve finally been able to smile at the recent misfortunes and I’m moved by the ambiguity of it all.

    So I wait here in the shittiest of shit hole airports, next to a girl with severe sinus problems, sitting on this ass numbing vinyl seat, with a cranky gate attendant talking too close to the microphone and this $12 tuna melt throwing roundhouse punches in my intestines….

    And I feel grateful for the storm.

    It’s made me feel calm.

Christy Clark – Censorship Queen

The following is a letter from Vancouver actor Ellie Harvie to Premier Christy Clark.

Eloquent and precise.  Thank you Ellie.

“Dear Premier Clark

Earlier today I left the following post on your facebook page regarding the 10 year contract for the teachers.

‘Wow – clearly you are deleting negative comments here. Ms. Clark – would you sign a radio contract for 10 years. That is a very unrealistic thing to expect any professional to do. It shows again this government’s inability to see the big picture. There is more to government than bottom lines and balanced budgets. In times of economic hardship you allow for debt to grow the economy and then balance it when the economy is robust – like all countries all over the world are doing now to pull out of this world economic tail spin. You are playing it safe by sticking to numbers because you lack the courage and vision to be bold. In the long run you are hurting the future of this economy with these oppressive short sighted measure. The good teachers will leave, the film industry will leave and you will be left with a culture-less province that caters to pipelines and natural gas.”

I stand by my opinions and my post. Nothing was abusive. I just clearly disagree with your policies. I am assuming that whomever administers your Facebook is a government paid employee. As a tax payer I take issue with this. Perhaps you don’t understand Facebook. If you wish to have a Fan page where no one can comment but can see your posts and like photos etc then you should do that. I do. As an actor I don’t invite the opinions of other’s because I am not a public servant. If you are going to delete any critical posts then you are falsely giving the impression that more people support your policies than perhaps do not. That is deceitful. Check out Barak Obama’s Facebook page. There is a lot of dissent and differing opinions but that is the voice of the public. Sanitizing your page doesn’t garner you support, it makes transparent your disregard for the people over whom you govern.’

Sincerely,

Ellie Harvie”

Christy Clark Loves The Camera But Not Camera Operators

Mitch and Murray Productions Patrons, Colleagues and Supporters of BC’s Film Industry,

 

The film industry in British Columbia has been an enormous boost to the province’s economy over the past 20 years.  Over a billion dollars a year in production is spent in our province, providing jobs and revenue for thousands of highly trained cast and crew members.  So many sectors are direct beneficiaries of our industry and economic studies have consistently reinforced this fact.  Our local cityscape and topography are splashed on TV and Cinema screens worldwide, providing an untold economic boost to our tourism industry and our local identity.

 

The American film industry has become more global in the preceding decade and tax credit competition has become an essential part of keeping productions in our province.  Premier Christy Clark and the current provincial government have been nothing short of abysmal custodians of this once booming industry.  BC has now dropped behind Ontario in film production size and the film industry continues to decline as Ontario and US states such as Louisiana have recognized the industry’s value and beefed up their tax credit incentives to compete for the business.  The current government has been completely static on the matter and they’ve not addressed the changing landscape whatsoever in their platforms.  Incentivizing foreign investment is common practice in so many other business sectors and our industry is asking one simple question: “Why not BC Film?”

 

This city and province is facing a mass exodus of artistic talent, as arts initiatives and the welfare of our film industry have been roundly ignored by the current government.  I myself have recently spent more of my time and money in the United States in the pursuit of a viable living as an artist.

 

The statisticians and union leaders can provide a more detailed take on the issue, but I ask my fellow industry colleagues and those of you who care about keeping the film industry alive in BC to write to Christy Clark and voice your concerns.

 

I love living in Vancouver. I was born and raised here, but simply must migrate elsewhere should we continue to develop as a city of glass towers and Cactus Club restaurants, with an eroding arts and culture community that is falling off the edge of its own fiscal cliff.

 

Help us be heard and support BC Film - premier@gov.bc.ca

Your truly,

Aaron Craven

Hockey Night in Asia

“Write what you know” is a common cliche for aspiring screenwriters.

As an actor with limited writing credentials, what can I write about that’s an original concept?

Hockey – check.

Asian Culture – check.

Hockey in Asia – check.

A feature length screenplay emerges after a few months of research and writing.

Logline: Two aging minor league hockey players tryout for an obscure Asian hockey league in an attempt to keep their careers alive.

The screenplay is pitched around Hollywood.  Surprisingly, several prominent producers read the screenplay and like it. They actually respond with positive feedback, a rarity in Tinseltown.

But…

Producers X, Y and Z: “I like the script, but I have no idea how to make a film about hockey players in Asia”.

Conference with several peers in the business.

“Shoot a trailer and give them a visual feel for the concept”.

Asian hockey players and stuntmen are assembled.  Two cameras, an aerial camera unit, a Director of Photography, cast and volunteer crew are assembled.  A favour is pulled and we receive a hockey rink for one night’s shooting for free.

One night shoot, zero budget short film emerges.

“Hockey Night in Asia – The Trailer”

 

Back to Hollywood to pitch in 2013.

“‘Lost in Translation meets “Slap Shot’”.

 

Hollywood script sale perhaps in the future.  Or a Kickstarter campaign and we make the movie guerilla-style.

 

Final score….?