We are currently working on our premiere of Here to Hear. Bear with me, this does relate to our December installment of the Faces of Carousel. There is a technician character in the show who is a musician in her own right. Not surprisingly, we couldn’t stay away from discussing the line we sometimes draw between “artist” and “technician” as the play was being shaped. We essentially agreed that this line is at best blurry, if not altogether arbitrary.
Don’t get me wrong. The irony of stating this when we dedicated December to our “Artisans, Stage Managers and Technicians”does not escape me. Well, here are two people who blur that line regularly in their work.
Brad Trenaman and Giselle Clarke-Trenaman
Working at Carousel Players was like working in a world of possibility, adventure and fun. This is how I remember my six seasons at Carousel Players as a stage manager. Seeing the looks and hearing the shouts of delight as the van arrived on the school property was always a thrill – making me want to do a good show. My first and I have to admit my favourite show was George and Martha. Hearing 150 squeals of delight as Martha danced in her recital made all the blocking changes and the hours of rehearsal worthwhile. I was also privileged to go to Japan with Where the Wild Things Are but what will forever remain etched in my memory is our run of Wild Things at Young Peoples Theatre where my mother jumped up and became a “Wild Thing” roaring along with 100 young people. Truly that was theatre that could not be outgrown.
In her time at Carousel Players, Giselle always showed that she really knew how to connect with our audiences, to the point where she may have been caught slipping a souvenir prop leaf to a very happy child after a performance of The House at Pooh Corner. She also understood the need to communicate clearly in the creative process and to hold ourselves to a high standard in our work. I remember how she stopped in on a cueing session for my first show at Carousel, The Invisible Girl, and told Brad what she thought was missing from his lighting design. Brad agreed, and the show was better for it. That level of collaboration is one of the things that makes them such a fantastic team. Speaking of Brad…
Like Giselle, the “Wild Things” tour to Japan was definitely a highlight for me, even with the myriad challenges of adapting to vastly different venues (where the in-house crews spoke little or no English). Every day of that tour was a new adventure and the only thing we were fairly certain of as we travelled to each venue was that the audience would be packed with enthusiastic children. Having the opportunity to return the hospitality for our Japanese host, the Kazenoko Theatre Company, when they brought their production of “Techan’s Wonder Train” to Canada was especially rewarding. Seeing the potential for theatre to inspire young minds, no matter where in the world you were and no matter what language was being spoken, resonates even stronger now with the recent birth of our daughter, Brianna.
And Brianna is indeed their latest collaboration. Best of luck, Brad and Giselle. We miss you and hope to get inspired together again soon.
Pablo Felices-Luna
(Tattletale)
