Plays last just 10 minutes at festival
The lineup of 10-minute plays this year are focused around a dark theme that seem to echo our times, says festival founder
The last two weeks at The Refinery, an arts centre often bustling with creative energy, have been particularly busy. The return of Short Cuts, the 10-minute play festival, means up to three plays are rehearsing in the space at once.
The festival’s founder, Yvette Nolan, said she’s seen the event evolve in several ways since it began in 2014. This year is the first to feature all Saskatchewan writers.
“There was enough great material to be able to select seven Saskatchewan plays. That’s a huge thing,” she said.
Nolan has also seen participants move through several different roles each year. One of this year’s directors, Kristen Holfeuer, started as the festival’s artistic associate. She is directing a piece written by Angela Kemp, a local actor who recently began working as a playwright. Her short play Bear is the first of her works to be produced, alongside works by veteran and other emerging writers.
“That’s been really cool to build on the community,” Nolan said.
Yvonne Addai and Colin Dingwall — both Short Cuts rookies — star in Bear, which focuses on a bride having doubts shortly after getting married. They also each star in two other plays.
Dingwall, an actor based in Calgary, said it’s challenging being in three different shows at once.
“Yesterday I rehearsed all three and by the end of the day I was like ‘What play am I in? What character am I? What’s going on?’” he said. “It’s a real exercise for myself as an actor to have so many quick changes or redirects happening in these different pieces.”
He said Short Cuts illustrates how strong and supportive the Saskatoon theatre community is.
“This is a really cool festival for new and really independent work and giving opportunities to artists who don’t have opportunities for specific things,” he said.
Addai, a recent graduate of the University of Saskatchewan’s drama department, said working on Short Cuts has been a very collaborative experience.
“You have to think for yourself,” she said. “Here there’s the freedom to make some decisions.”
She has enjoyed working with different directors and learning how differently they do things. She said the festival showcases stories you won’t see anywhere else.
The festival enlists a couple dozen local theatre professionals in different areas, from playwrighting to performing.
Though no direction is given
to playwrights as far as theme or content, Nolan said a mood has emerged with this year’s pieces.
“Sadly it feels really bleak and apocalyptic this year. It feels a bit uncertain. It’s so dark, in fact, that when Cynthia and I were looking at what we were going to do for knee plays that cover the scene changes, she said ‘Everything’s so bleak, maybe we should get a clown.’ ”
Though Nolan was initially hesitant, they found a clown they liked, hiring Kenn McLeod to appear between plays.
“It helps offset some of the darkness that everyone is feeling, the way the world is right now,” Nolan said.
And, though the world feels like a dark place these days, art is always a good way to explore those feelings.
“It’s cathartic. It’s a way for us to make sense out of the chaos.”