Author Interview Series – Marc-André Charron + Giveaway!

Photo credit Marjorie Guindon

Today I have the great pleasure of hosting a great friend of mine, Marc-André Charron.  We know each other pretty much from birth and our parents knew each other even before that.  Well for as long as I can remember, Marc-André has always written.  Well, maybe not always, but before he could write, he was the best at making up stories for our games!

The giveaway information will follow the interview

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Tell us a bit more about you and about what you do.

I’m a freelance actor/writer/director, mostly for the theatre world. My work touches on - but isn’t restricted to - the written word. What I mean by that is that theatre being a visual and sensual medium, I also write through images and bodies. I think they’re undistinguishable in my form of art. For many practitioners today, theatre now exceeds straight writing.

For as long as I've known you, you've always loved writing.  Did you always know you wanted to do this for a living?

I always knew I wanted to tell stories. Exactly how that was going to happen, I didn’t quite guess early on. Writing was a way telling stories, of flying away, of imagining other worlds and so on. I thought I was a writer, then I learned to be a theatre artist and actor, I did that for a while; yet writing always comes back to me like a friend I love and want to punch in the head.

Painter Chuck Close Once said, "Inspiration is for amateurs - the rest of us just shows up and gets to work." How do you "get to work?" Do you have any ritual or specific requirements to get the juices flowing?

Like most people my age who write, I seldom get paid to do so. So I have to work hard to  put the time and money aside so I can get a good chunk of writing done. If I knew how to write an hour a day and keep moving ahead, I’d love that, but I’m not wired that way. I really need a whole day, preferably more than one in a row. But other than that, no. I just get up, have a light breakfast, pour a cup of coffee and get rolling. I guess, since I take long pauses between writing sessions, I’m just anxious to get back at it.  

My girlfriend’s family own an amazing country house near Magog, that has this beautiful, long wooden table where you can sit and work. I set the dictionaries and other tools around me - drawings, other people’s writing, pictures, music - and dive in. I feel like I spend too much time on the internet, so I absolutely avoid it when working creatively. I like looking out at the birds and the trees, they make for good distractions when you’re stuck with a character or a scene. I also appreciate having something to do with my hands to shake up the cobwebs. I often have a woodworking project close by when writing, especially first drafts.

Also, my creative process is split between solo work and group development. I mostly write for plays where I know the actors and spend time creating parts of the show with them. So I’m not blind going in, I often have a good idea where things are going, or at least I can fall back on what’s been going on in the rehearsal room. But I also let myself be free of that and let new things spring to life as I go. Then it’s back at rehearsal to see if it all makes sense with the group. The process edits itself, until hopefully it all works.

What are you working on at the moment?  Do you have a play coming up on stage soon?

I’m working on a very free adaptation of the Three Musketeers by Dumas called Les Trois Mousquetaires, Plomberie - which rightly translates to Three Musketeers, Plumbing. It’s a great project, full of magical realism and rule bending. Lots of fun. It’ll be coming out next year, in the 2014-2015 season. I’m also directing it, so I’m very excited.

What is your definition of a writer?  What does it take to be one?

I like to think they are simply storytellers.  If it’s a good storyteller, we’ll listen like we’re children. And to be a good storyteller, you need empathy and curiosity. And also to work like hell.

Turlough Myers, swing dance instructor at Cat's Corner and our previous guest, left you the following question:

"I have a question for Marc-Andre! Many people tend to view theatre as a relatively open art form where just about anything is possible within the medium.  With constant new expression and new ideas involved, how important (if at all) is the preservation of “old fashioned” ideas in theatre and what place does “old fashioned” style theatre art have in our contemporary world?"

That’s a great question, I love it. I think we need to know about old fashion ideas, or else we actually don’t come up with new ones at all. If we don’t know what came before us, we may think we’re doing something radical, and then produce something that it simply in fashion. In art, I believe fashion is the opposite of innovation, because innovation is a profound thing, an immersed thing, that evolves out of what precedes it. Much of slapstick cartoon humour (of the likes of the Loony Toons of our childhood takes, for example) take root in commedia dell’art. Well if you don’t know that and want to be inspired by cartoons to make something theatrical, you’ll fumble around reinventing the wheel before realizing there’s actually something right there that exists that could help you on your quest. You can’t pretend to be inventing anything of you don’t know what’s been done. Should we be producing Shakespeare for ever? I don’t know, but we can’t ignore what it’s been and the place it held. If you want to write something as profound as the Odyssey, you might want to learn about it first.  

Our next guest is a nutritionist who left the corporate world to establish his own practice.  What would you like to ask him?

What is the scariest part of leaving a grounded, sure world and jumping into your own adventure. And how did you overcome that?

Marc-André is the author of La Descente de Jack Lebeau, Bonsai Maple Syrup, DIG, Mouving, Bouffe, «T» and Les Trois Mousquetaires, Plomberie. You can learn more about him at www.satellitetheatre.ca

GIVEAWAY 

For a change to win a copy of DIG (French version,) leave a question for Marc-André in the comment section.  Whoever asks the best question win!  You have until Sunday September 22nd 11:59 ET to enter the giveaway.  The answers to the questions along with the name of the winner will be posted on Tuesday September 24th.  Good luck!

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Review Wednesday – Caleb's Crossing

Caleb's crossing by Geraldine Brooke is the story of Caleb, the first Native American graduate of Harvard College.  Through the eyes of Bethia, daughter of the minister of Great Harbour (Martha's Vineyard,) we follow the lives of these two young souls as they struggle to reconcile diametrically opposed faiths. The tale is loosely inspired on historic events.

Although Bethia is the one who initiates Caleb's crossing to the christian faith, somehow, the title doesn't match the content.  Their stories do overlaps, but the book mostly tells of her life, not his.  The difficulty of creating a tale from the boy's point of view is understandable (lack of historical evidence being one of the main obstacle that comes to mind,) but he should still have been the main character, not Bethia.  This doesn't mean it isn't a great story, just that it isn't the one the reader expects. 

Brook's characters are well fleshed with distinct realistic personality.  She skillfully uses of the context of the extremely puritan American colonies to bring the protagonists to life.  Bethia's inner struggles make her a great character against which to pitch Caleb's certainties.  As their lives progress, it's the weights shift in the balance, the former gaining in peace and the latter sinking deeper in incertitude.

Religion plays an important part in the story, as it dictates most of Bethia's action and reaction.  The book itself reminds the reader of the Fall of man, the heroine paying for her sins as she befriends the young Wampanoag and explores his faith with too much curiosity.  It seems that, despite her happiness, she keeps on paying her entire life for the errors of her innocent age.

I read Caleb's Crossing for the Atwater Library Bookclub and it definitely was a read outside my comfort zone.  I usually enjoy historical fiction, but I tend to avoid religiously charged books as the subject matter hinders my reading (to be entirely honest, it really annoys me.)  Although it was in context, it still took me a few chapters to adjust the the religious zeal that Bethia evolved in.  However, as the book progressed, I was reminded of how lucky I am, as a woman, to be able to make my own choices and choose to get an education if I wish to.  Bethia is truly revolutionary in that sense.  She takes control of her own destiny, a pioneer in her times.  Once again, this shows how much more the story is hers and not Caleb's.The characters are very well-fleshed.  We can't help but be annoyed by Makepeace and be fond of Caleb.  The religious view of Bethia annoyed me greatly, proof that the character was very well built.

Despite the somewhat misleading title, I would recommend Caleb's Crossing.

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Nisei Blue – An evening with Mieko Ouchi

Thanks to Ms Ouchi for her bookshelfie

On September 3rd, the Playwright Workshop Montreal Studio hosted half-Japanese, half-Irish, but 100% Canadian actress, playwright and director Mieko Ouchi for an intimate reading of her award-winning play, Nisei Blue. Those who hadn't already been won over by her warm smile and friendly demeanor, were indubitably enthralled by the perfectly timed punch lines and lovable characters of her compelling story.

Set in both the 1930s and the mid-eighties, Nisei Blue tells the story of two partners in the police force who, after more than forty years, go back to the remnants of a once striving bar in Vancouver's Japantown in hopes to pick up the trail of a cold case.  Soon, the memories of this distant past bleed into reality as John, fighting the onset of Alzheimer, tries to make sense of events long passed.  The characters are well-fleshed, the dialogues economic yet powerful and the contrasting eras make for great transitions.  The play is a nothing short of a masterpiece.

Through her work, Ouchi attempts to bridge the gap between two seemingly irreconcilable eras despite their being inhabited by the very same people.  Avoiding the formulaic structure, she explores the ravages of the internment of Japanese Canadians during WWII through the eyes of two white old men.  Moreover, she does so without even having to mention directly these sad events.  Through John's melancholy about this prewar golden age, she raises the question: how would the community have evolved had it not been permanently scarred by the events surrounding the war?

Following the reading, Ouchi answered several questions from a member of the PWS and the crowd.  What follows is a summarized version of the exchange.

• The title of the play, Nisei Blue, is a combination of the Japanese term for second generation immigrant and the word blue, which refers to the two policemen.  Nisei blues was also a form of swing singing created by the Nipponese immigrants.
• Ouchi said she chose not to give her Japanese characters accents because she wanted to tell the story of Japanese born in Canada and thus feeling more at home in their culture of adoption than the culture of their parents.  The Japanese Canadian community's response was positive as they found it easier to identify with the protagonists.
• Ouchi says she feels it's the responsibility of the Japanese-Canadians to tell the stories of the community.
• When asked why she chose two white men as her main protagonists, she said that it allowed her to show the prejudiced perspective of Asians of the period but that the coppers stereotype challenge expectations as the play unfolds.  Although it did make the play more accessible to the mainstream, she added that this was not the original intention.  Overall, it proved to be an interesting writing experience.
• Finally, when questioned on the validity of telling internment stories after all this time, Ouchi answered that younger generations bring new takes on the story, and that they also have something to say about those bleak events.  These retellings help keep the story alive.

Ouchi confirmed that she currently is rewriting Nisei Blue, and that it should be back in theater as well as printed for the very first time soon.

To learn more about Mieko Ouchi's work, visit her website.

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Hispster Word of the Week – Naevus

Were you able to use macilent last week?  Today we're learning a word that will allow your inner hipster to look erudite even without clothes on.

NAEVUS

n. - small mark on skin; birthmark; tumour of small blood vessel

It's true, I've seen it; Dashiell has an apple shape naevus on his bum.

Your turn!  Leave your sentences in the comment section!

Source: Luciferous Logolepsy

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AIS – Announcing Marc-André Charron

Photo credit Marjorie Guindon

Next week ATUA will be hosting playwright, director and actor Marc-André Charron.  You can learn more about him and his company (and prepare killer questions for the giveaway!) by checking his website www.satellitetheatre.ca.  

See you next week!









Previous guests
Erin Grace – fiction author
Jim Burke – playwright

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Review Wednesday – Fragile Things

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman is a short story collection, most of which had previously been published in different literary magazines and anthologies.

Judging from the small summaries of each tale in the introduction, the stories don't seem to have much in common. However, as each of them unfolds, a sense of wholeness emerges. All the characters share, to some extent, some fantastic/supernatural elements, whether in a traditional or a psychological way. They are all monsters, one way or another, trying to achieve a goal. At times, their purpose is clear, at others, they follow the path blindly. Regardless, when all is said and done, the reader is left with the feeling that she witnessed something mystical, even sacred.

Neil Gaiman truly has a gift to create universes in the span of a few lines, thus sending a knowledgeable reader directly into fast paced action. He is at home with different genres, jumping from allegorical tales to realistic and harsh stories of cold-blooded murder. Rather than clash, the different styles create an enjoyable rhythm that keeps boredom at bay. 

 I took a lot of pleasure in reading all the stories but if I had to pick the best one, I'd choose Other people, Keepsakes and Treasures as well as The Monarch of the Glen. The ending of the first one totally threw me off. I really wasn't expecting it. As for the other two, I like the fact that they're connected. If was fun to see the same characters come back for one last act. I will also mention Sunbird because it bears similarities with The Gourmet Club by Junichiro Tanizaki. Both story share the same stasis: a dining club that has run out of things to eat, however they end in completely different ways. As for the poetry, The Day the Saucers Came is undeniably my favourite. The clever use of repetition and humour make the peace quite enjoyable. 

This was my first Gaiman ever and I am looking forward to read more of his stories. I was already a fan of the man for his Make Good Art speech and am glad to say that I can extend this love to his work as well.

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Hispter Word of the Week – Macilent

So, has your inner hipster encounter many bunnies last week?  This week, an essential word for it describes one of the most important attribute of hipsters.

MACILENT

adj. - lean; thin

Clementine is so macilent!  Do you know what diet she's following?

Your turn!  Leave your sentences in the comment section!

Source: Luciferous Logolepsy

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