Hey, Monkeyfriends! D.J. here, your Friendly Neighbourhood Co-Playwright and Co-Producer for Sidekicks and Secret Identities. I thought it was about time in this whole production process that I wrote a blog post.
I actually had one half-written that I’ve just sent to the trash, which was more focused on the producing process. I may get back to that eventually, but there was something more important that I wanted to do this morning. Yesterday was Thanksgiving, and I had a great time of it and ate a lot of awesome food … but I didn’t spend quite enough time actually giving thanks. I’d like to fix a bit of that right now.
- Thank you, first and foremost, to the entirety of Monkeyman Productions. Every person in the company has a say in what we produce, and every one gives unending support and assistance in making these shows happen.
- More particularly, thank you to my co-producer (and TD, and production designer), Lisa Sciannella. This whole thing would have fallen apart a dozen times if I were producing on my own. Every time I turn around, she’s taken on another task or fixed another problem before I even knew it existed.
- Thank you to playwrights Manda Whitney and Errol Elumir, for taking something close to themselves and making it a part of our production, and being so damn gracious about it. We promise we’ll return the characters in the same condition as we found them.
- Thank you to our director, Torey Urquhart, for your geeky mind and your huge heart and for throwing yourself into this despite being pulled in six other directions every day of it.
- And to our stage manager, Emma Moore … if I might digress slightly, one of the absolute best things about being involved in Monkeyman is meeting new geeky, artsy people and sharing a production with them. I didn’t know any of the actors before we started this, and I didn’t know Emma existed. Only a few weeks later, I can’t imagine not knowing her, and I hope we get to work together a hundred more times. She’s like Monkeyman family already.
- And as to those actors … I have to start with Kelly Preeper, who threw herself so completely into her role and the production and has been telling everyone about it. So much enthusiasm there, she’s a Force all to herself. (See what I did there?) And then thanks to Sean Kaufmann, who has devoted his energies to two completely different roles in the show, and is kicking ass and taking names no matter which costume he’s wearing. To Jordi O’Dael, as much a theatre geek as a geek geek, really the one who is taking our titular Sidekick to the center stage with joy and strength. And to Andrew Gaunce, who had the unenviable job of stepping into the shoes of a character Errol wrote for himself, all the kudos in the world for really making it his own.
- Thanks to Linn Øyen Farley, for her poster design – always a much more important part of pulling a production together than I think anyone realizes.
- And to a host of other people who have given their time and effort to the production – Nick Perrin, Nadine Lessio, Jamie Treschak, Melanie Moore … we’ll have a more defined list in our program, and even then we’ll likely miss someone in print. But you’re all awesome, and you’ve had a part in making a fun, lovely little piece of geek theatre possible.
- Then to everyone who supports us online, through retweets and sharing Facebook announcements and saying to your friends, “Take a look at this …” You’re the ones who get people in the seats; without you, we’d be talking to ourselves. It’s greatly appreciated.
- And finally in this list, but definitely not in importance, to the people who do sit in those seats – everyone who buys a ticket (or wins one, or gets a comp from a friend); everyone who watches and responds and gets caught up in the worlds we create, thank you for being a part of the production, as well. A play without an audience is truly one hand clapping – you’re the ones who make it complete.
So there you go. All these wonderful, amazing, spectacular folks have had a part in making S&SI happen. (I’ve done my best, too.) I hope you’ll come out and see what we’ve put together – I think you’ll wind up thankful that you did. ;)
