Unmasked

I AM I explores how we see ourselves and
others. Plus: Fringe winners

CONNECTED: Patricia McKenzie,
Tristan D. Lalla and George Bekiaris

by NEIL BOYCE

If there’s a keyword in playwright Mike Czuba’s professional persona, it has to be connection. “We create a persona for each of the roles we play in our daily routine,” he says, “labels we inadvertently get caught up in and that confuse us. Right now, today, how do we connect with each other, and more importantly, with ourselves?”

And having connected strongly with audiences and critics last year in Tableau d’Hôte’s The Elusive, Czuba returns with his own company, Dancing Monkey Theatre, and a new work called I Am I.

Directed by Larry Lamont, this intense three-hander about the masks we wear to fool ourselves and others might have gone unnoticed in its early summer, post-Fringe slot were it not for innovative promo work by the company and from Montreal PR-whiz Barbara Ford.

While most theatre groups can muster up a Web site—clever or lame, updated daily or left to moulder—and put up a Facebook page or e-mail a media list, not many are doing it the Dancing Monkey way.

“A couple of years ago, Mike and I started talking about theatre and our discontent with the way things seemed to be going,” says Lamont. “We wondered how we could shake it up a bit.”

Everything about the production suggests a new approach: the short film on YouTube that could be a trailer for a great indie movie; the publicity artwork that looks like covers from classic ’50s jazz records (with actors shot close up in sharply lit monochrome); and a sound design by electro-acoustic musician Tai Timbers.

None of this means the play will be great: but Lamont’s work in rehearsals with an experienced and solid cast (Patricia McKenzie, George Bekiaris and Tristan D. Lalla) have so far amazed him: “In independent theatre, the director’s job often becomes running an acting clinic, trying to get people to the place you need,” he says. “But on the first day, people came in and, boom! They are so creative and so quick, the challenge is just keeping track of all the great ideas—going to work every day is fantastic.”

FRINGE FRANKIE AWARD WINNERS

To wrap up the 2009 Fringe all nice, here are the winners of this year’s Frankie Awards.

Best English Production: Johanna Nutter’s My Pregnant Brother.

Meilleure création francophone: Humanfleish, by le Laboratoire, théâtre de (ré)création contemporaine.

The two-part Best English Comedy award: Chris Gibbs for Antoine Feval (Best of Fringe) and Dance Animal (Best of Montreal).

Meilleure Comédie Francophone award: 4 Contes Crades, by Théâtre en Petites Coupures.

Meilleur texte francophone: Verité et conséquences, by Paul de Tourreil.

Best English Text: Amy Lee Lavoie’s Tuning Venus.

Most Innovative Local Choreography: “Oh, Indeed,” by Sasha Kleinplatz, from Piss in the Pool.

Création francophone de l’année: Éponyme (FAKE-FICTION) from group le P.I.Q.U.A.N.T.

Next Stage Award for a local English Production: Teen Sleuth and the Freed Cyborg Choir: a coming of age story that will make you want to stand up and cheer!, from Teen Sleuths.

Finally, the Spirit of the Fringe award (and a free spot in next year’s Fringe) went to Just Us.

I AM I JULY 8–24 AT
PLAYERS’ THEATRE
(3480 MCTAVISH).
SEARCH “MIKE CZUBA” ON
YOUTUBE FOR THE TRAILER.