Kickstarter

Hi Backers! Happy New Year. I hope the holidays have been what you wanted them to be. They have been on my end. Two Cormac McCarthy novels under my belt just this week. Like a good meal those things.

2012 has been quite a year. To get you up to speed on The Drifts Live we've pitched it in NYC to a slew of big and small producers, brought on a couple of new collaborators and started to get a little public funding for further development. We made a pitch reel too.

This summer, Lyon Smith, an ingenious musician & actor I've worked with before theatrically came on board. Lyon brings an actor's sensibility to the work. He'll improvise not only with smaller instruments, but also scratching on his digital turntable and/or some such. As far as I can tell, Lyon'll take on Canadian gigs but Douglas Lee, the wunderkind who worked with me in L.A. could do the American ones. Both are busy guys so we're in the enviable position of having two gifted musicians to play with. Both at the same time?? Hmmm...

In September, I got a pitch together including the reel. Set up by TRU (Theatre Resources Unlimited) in NYC there was everyone there from big West End types to smaller alt producers. Most of the people I pitched to thought the story, etc. was great. 3 followed up. I learned a lot since the pitch had to change person to person.

In October, Maja Ardal, an Icelandic/Scottish powerhouse actor, director and writer came on board. I first saw Maja coming back and forth from L.A. to Toronto before I moved here. She knocked me out then and just adapted and directed The Prisoner of Teheran here in town. She has a wealth of experience as a solo theatre creator and performer. If you're into the Road to Avonlea, she was on that show for a good while. She's also the former AD of Young People's Theatre, where I was Dir. of Educ. & Participation (2007-09). She'll help me to tighten the script and explore different ways to theatricalize.

This next phase will be me, Maja and Lyon up on our feet honing the script and exploring different ways of telling the story. Maja and Lyon are so so gifted I can't wait to see what we discover. Eventually, I envision some filmic and digital tech elements. We've won enough Ontario Arts Council support (thanks to Buddies in Bad Times Theatre) to fund a week of workshopping so far. It's the first public funding the project's gotten from our peers here, so I feel like the door's been inched open some. The show and the book takes on the meanings we give to bodies which could speak to a lot of people if we do it right.

As the year wraps up, I've said so long to my sister and my Dad which threw me for a loop. You all were very patient. Thank you. A lot of teaching (screenwriting, novel-writing), a couple of critical essays and an interview are out this year; I revised Alice Mitchell (a screenplay) and am revising another SK. I've also written a short which I hope to shoot this year. I've started bearing down on Mattering, a book of essays thanks to a publisher and have had a good breakthrough on the opening of my second novel, I Met Death & Sex Through My Friend, Tom Meuley. Since that's currently clocking in at almost 650 pages, breakthroughs like this are key. They let me synthesize and cohere and so tighten. As we head into 2013, I've got my eye on a couple of solo fests but trust that The Drifts Live will find it's way as it's content and development attracts additional resources and opportunities.

I'm very excited about the classes I'm teaching at UT SCS this winter and the Writers' Circle TO. 

Thank you all for you continued support and egging on. Onward!

I have learned to not count my chickens until they're hatched. And they're hatched!! We did the five shows in L.A. at the Fringe. We accomplished everything we set out to do. Today, I know that the material does belong onstage and that I am strong enough to do them. Here are some audience responses.

I got glimpses of what's next: work with a director, a dramaturge and a digital media artist. There are so many opportunities to crack open the text. People were laughing and laughing when Julie squatted on Wilson's knee at the BBQ with a breath of vinegar; when Dol practiced his voice with 'Voulez Vous Couchez Avec Moi, Ce Soir' and when Wilson got hungry again. Some audiences were in tears at the end, having been in the same room with Charlie and Wilson at the hospital—and that calf. Who knew? In performance, that calf became such a powerful presence. Vulnerable and unrelenting in its grief. Hmmmm.

Douglas Lee, the musician who worked with me, was astonishing. So sensitive. He got it. Right out of the gate. He brought in his saw and a whole bunch of other "things that make noise" and away we went. It takes a special antennae to be able to improvise and feed the action: to provoke, comment, mark. I am so grateful. We had about a week before we opened to see if it would work. Within 15 mins, I knew it would.

The trip and the experience of performing were powerful personally and professionally. I won't get into all of that here but I can say that the support you have shown with the KS campaign was mirrored on the ground. In spite of all of the last minute curve-balls, we did just fine. Better than that. Of course, I roll with the speed bumps differently than I ever have before but I was so supported by Karen Quick's love and Live Arts LA; by Adele Robbins' soul and having my back every step of the way and by all the people (some of you!) who got to come out and cheer us on. By Vajdon who never ever wavered. These things don't happen or live on their own. And it's a better, fuller and more rewarding project all the way around because of their involvement and your stepping up. Thank you.

I'll shoot a link shortly with clips from the show we did a two-camera on but in the meantime, here are some stills that should wet your whistle. Thank you again for all of your support and having our back. Moo.

Stills: Charlie; Julie; a couple of Dol meeting that Atlanta doctor and—that calf.

From Dublin to Berlin to Pretoria to Toronto to Brooklyn to Lakeville to Omaha to Los Angeles to Melbourne, all of you kicked us through the gate. We made our goal and more. We climbed up and over our original goal of $2K to $2,400! That extra 20% means that our publicist, postcards, our lighting tech person and a few odd bits here and there are covered too. While our campaign doesn't cover the entire cost of doing the Fringe, it put a huge dent in the cost and I thank you. It's your support, every single dollar, that counts.

We've had a hunch (me, first; but now with a growing band of conspirators) that the excerpts could work theatrically. The past weeks of exploring and poking around, working on character, gesture, movement—putting the pieces together has been the initial experiment. Now, we're stepping out of the lab to show what we've got at the Hollywood Fringe with your support. Come see it. And bring your pals.

We have a hunch that there is more to mine from this text—perhaps by integrating digital media, sound/light as architecture, film as character? We'll see. It's all about pressing the envelope of theatricalization in the hopes of amplifying the text. We'll see. It's about mining how gender is shaped by the wreckage of our histories: connection, trace and the cathedrals we build as artists.

Every time we run the excerpts, Julie is becoming more Julie, Wilson is fighting back more; Dol's poetry is heightening and Charlie's loss is deepening. And that calf. The calf has become a lonesome and fierce force of nature. 

So far, there are two educational workshops booked and a panel discussion the day I hit the ground. If we can support an organization or group with which you are affiliated (including group rates for tix), please let me know.

If you're in L.A., I know you'll be in a seat. Please spread the word to your networks re the show. As word spreads, tix will go. Get yours, if you haven't already. 

If they are industry, there are comps. If students, there are discounts. 

After the Fringe, we'll be exploring future paths of development (more exploration, runs, touring, etc.). If you know someone who c/should be a part of that, you know where to send them.

You stepped up, The Drifts Live is happening. Thank you.

"Follow" @thedriftslive

"Like" at facebooks.com/thedrifts

I have to send out one more blast before the campaign is over. We can do it! 42 of you have stepped up to kick us past our initial goal. We surpassed it so so fast—12 days. Thank you.

Getting us to $2,500 means that our LA rehearsal & performance space is covered, not to mention our Facebook ad. That $500 means a lot. We're awfully good at stretching dollars but things cost what they cost. 

If you, or any of your friends of networks, can kick us $5 or $10, we're so so close only $234. to go. I know we can do it. I know you believe we can, too. 

I leave for L.A. on Tuesday. As you know, part of the project is subsidized, or free, community-based writing/performance workshops. And we've got two (almost 3!!) set up during my time in LA. Two with artists, the other with high school students. Plus, Thom is visiting his alma mater, Cal State LA, to meet with students in the Philosophy Dept. We've got Douglas Lee in for saw and LA rehearsals start Wednesday. Yee-hah! Here we go. If you want to drop into a rehearsal just shoot me an email.

Oh, and let me tell you, that calf fights back.

Check out the proof for the original artwork, 100% organic cotton T offered as a reward here and for exclusive sale at the show and then on thomvernon.com.

$234. We can do it. Thank you.