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Thursday, February 12, 2009

Globe and Mail writer for a day

Finding a way to project this image of Department of Culture's recent Senate appointments was what started the whole (Wrecking) ball rolling for me.

What the heck just happened?
By Michael Wheeler

In a classic case of careful what you wish for, days after wondering aloud to a colleague how anyone ever got to be part of a Wrecking Ball, I found myself at the centre of the technical side of one.

This was hilarious for many reasons. These included:
  • It is possible that some of the alcohol from the Stranger closing night party was still in my system when I arrived at Theatre Passe Muraille on Monday morning.
  • I had no real knowledge about how digital projectors worked, but would be running one.
  • I had never used Powerpoint before, which all of the images I was responsible for would be stored in and manipulated by - on one of two laptops. I would be unable to determine which one until I arrived.
  • As I have stated previously, I believe The Wrecking Ball to be the most exciting thing going on in Canadian theatre right now, and I felt a heavy bias towards not fucking one up.
  • Things got more ridiculous when I ended up writing a report on this experience for The Globe and Mail, which critic J. Kelly Nestruck duly posted on their theatre blog, Nestruck on Theatre.  
This all occurred over 48 hours, and I gotta say: the one thing I am learning about the theatrosphere is that it pays to act fast and be decisive. 

Click the link below to read my Globe and Mail debut:


Click the link below to view a high res-photo of the new DoC Senate:


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Awesome Mike!
I try to check both Theatre is Territory and Nestruck's blog daily and was pleasantly surprised to see you in both!
It certainly pays to be in the right place at the right time.
Cheers,
jenna

SHOP Program said...

Thanks Jenna,

I encourage you to continue to check in with Nestruck on Theatre and Theatre is Territory with your morning coffee.

Word up!

Michael