evalynparry.com

Minnesota Fringe

evalyn — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:43:00 +0000

Counting down to our departure for Minneapolis, for SPIN’s first US appearance, August 5-15. Excited to be taking part in the Minnesota Fringe Festival. Mark Shyzer’s show Fishbowl (directed by yours truly) will also be there! Watch out, the Canadians are coming….

SPIN plays at At The Ritz Theatre Proscenium 345 13th Ave NE

Thursday Aug 5, 10 pm
Saturday Aug 7, 1 pm
Sunday Aug 8, 7 pm
Thursday Aug 12, 8:30 pm
Sunday Aug 15, 2:30 pm

Buy Tickets Here!

“part theatre, part musical gig, part spoken-word poetry and part documentary…whatever it is, it is brilliant.” The Toronto Star (read the very delightful article about SPIN by Catherine Porter here)

Newfoundland wrap up

evalyn — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 11:35:26 +0000

Sound Symposium = very fantastic. We had a great time in St John’s: SPIN went over super well (with thanks to our local bicycle-shop helpers Bills Bicycles, who lent us the light blue ladies Raleigh that played beautifully, and Canary Cycles, for the loan of the mechanics stand) and we have all developed buns of steal from walking the steep and unavoidable hills and stairs of downtown St John’s.

After the show, our last day in town was perhaps the most memorable: we stuck all our tourism into 12 hours, beginning with a hike up Signal Hill (what a completely magical place) on what i think must have been the hottest and windiest day of the year in Newfoundland – so windy they closed Marconi’s tower, and certainly somewhat anxiety-producing conditions for walking on the edges of high cliffs and rocks on the edge of the Atlantic . Throughly sunburned and windblown, we then went whale watching from Bay Bulls. We went out on the boat for a couple of hours, and saw whales, whales and more whales! So amazing!! So incredible! Two humpbacks were within probably 5 feet of the boat, and we traveled beside them for 10 or 15 minutes (or, I suspect, they decided to travel beside us) watching them surface and dive and blow their spray up in the air….such incredible creatures. Awe inspiring. The size of a school bus!
Whale watching was followed by the Cape Spear Sound Symposium finale concert/event, which took place as night fell in the World War II barracks at the easterly most tip of the country…a memorable, spooky and atmospheric event, where all the participating artists were given secret instructions in an envelope, which included sound-related tasks to be performed at a certain time during the hour of the event: my personal favorite was getting to scream for two minutes in an dripping, candle-lit, echoing hallway in the underground barracks.

Sound Symposium, St John’s Newfoundland

evalyn — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 03:33:41 +0000

Team SPIN arrived in St John’s yesterday, and we spent much of today searching for a local bike for our show tomorrow night. We found a sweet little blue ladies Raleigh cruiser at Bill’s Cycle, and a mechanics stand kindly loaned from Canary Cycle, so we’ve got the goods, and will spend tomorrow wiring her up for show time. St John’s is so lovely. We are all still a bit lost all the time, but starting to get a hang of the colourful, winding streets (this town is NOT A GRID) and how to get where we need to go. Ate super-delicious fish cakes at The Ship tonight before the evening Sound Symposium show – which was a very fun evening. Highlight for me was Aiyun Huang, a fantastic percussionist who presented Tension Study II: Eagle Claw Wu Tsiano Chen Wins – totally inspiring percussion accompaniment / interpretation / study of women in kung fu movies. Also some great improv performances tonight.

Most hilarious moment of the night (only slightly more hilarious than the live human performance / interpretation of the harbour symphony) was going out to get a drink after the show, and we walked into a bar on Water St which was totally silent. Open, with people in it, but TOTALLY SILENT. It became hilarious after a moment of standing in the doorway, observing the 5 or 6 people all sitting at the bar texting on their cell phones…no music was playing, no one was talking, it was literally dead quiet, except for me and Brad and Anna who were hoping to, you know, talk and laugh over a pint. After what felt like a whole minute of continued silence, i cracked up and asked whether we were aloud to talk in here (we wondered whether we had found the Silent Symposium) and then some music went on and people started chatting…and we got our beers and chat and laugh in….

tomorrow we play our show at the LSPU Hall at 8:30, with Daniel Payne at 7:30.

Pride Rescinds

evalyn — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:23:54 +0000

As of Wednesday night, Pride Toronto has rescinded their ban on Queers Against Israeli Apartheid marching in this year’s parade….that initial ban which sparked a shit storm of outrage over censorship of free speech and political expression at Pride, local and international controversy. I, along with many other performers and activists and community members, had canceled my own participation as a performer at the Proud Voices stage on July 3 because of the ban.

Here is the latest from Pride Toronto about their decision to rescind that ban.

I’m pleased to commend Pride on reversing that decision (and major kudos to all the people who worked hard to get that to happen) and I’ll be performing according to the original schedule at 4 pm on July 3. Before that, I’ll be heading up a squandron of cyclists at the Take Back the Dyke March, starting at 2 pm at Nathan Phillips Square- come ride with us!

G20 in TO

evalyn — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 14:12:07 +0000

Thousands of cops on bikes swarming the city….fenced off downtown…and things are only gonna get crazier. Here’s a good little message from the inimitable Dave Meslin: some advice about ear protection and sound cannons!

Instructions for learning to ride a bicycle, by Miss Frances Willard, 1895

evalyn — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 16:02:56 +0000

Strange as this paradox may seem

You will do this best by not trying to do it at all

You must quickly make up your mind

Or as quickly, be cast in yonder mud puddle

Two things must occupy your thinking powers

To the exclusion of every other thing:

First the goal

Second, the momentum required to reach it!

Do not look down!

Do not look down, like an imbecile

upon the steering wheel in front of you:

that would be as wise as for a nauseated voyager

to fix his instruments upon the rolling waves!

It is the curse of life that nearly every one looks down.

But the microscope will never set you free:

you must glue your eye to the telescope

glue your eye to the telescope:

look up look up!

look off look off !

look on look on!

look out look out,

look out look out

Look out!

She Rides

evalyn — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 15:55:47 +0000

SHE RIDES

spin me like I have already spoken

like a spoke holds its tension

like it’s together that the spokes are the invention of a wheel

that a wheel is only as round as it’s tension

that a wheel is a round invention

She gets on her bicycle, She gets on her bicycle,

She gets on her bicycle: she rides!

fragile bodies soaring through the city

on two-wheeled cycles through the traffic and people

steering clear of the potholes and car doors and the streetcar tracks

tuned into our own personal soundtrack

I’m singing out loud as I pedal through the streets

spinning to the rhythm of 4.5 million heart beats

I tend to miss my turnoffs when I’m tuned in to my turn-on’s

I tend to write sentences that turn into run-on’s

I tend to recycle the same thoughts that circle round

the way I re-cycle the same stretches of ground

on my two-wheeled bicycle that gets me around.

She gets on her bicycle…

I get this feeling on my two-wheeled steed:

when I pick up speed: it feeds something free

the desire for autonomy, moving outside the dominant economy

under my own steam two wheels, not four:

no gas, no oil, no war for this machine

all I need is air, two legs, two wheels,

a crank and a chain, two pedals and a frame

A revolution that keep me arriving, again and again

She gets on her bicycle…

Bridge: The back wheel is attached to the chain!

It’s the back wheel that’s attached to the chain!

The back wheel is attached to the chain!

The past that drives us forward, again and again

The past is behind us; the back wheel is the power

The front wheel freewheels, hour after hour

You can’t ride a bike in 30 pounds of petticoats

You don’t have a voice in a democracy without a vote

A wheel would collapse if it wasn’t for the spokes

Defintely Not the Opera

evalyn — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 03:57:18 +0000

DNTO came over to the bicycle studio this morning to tape a little bit of SPIN for the radio! You can hear the podcast here.…you’ll hear “She Rides” played live, plus some bike-instrument samples, plus a little interview with me and DNTO guest host Mio Adilman. Turns out me and Mio both went to the same high school….once again, all roads lead back to Northern….

The road also will soon be leading to St John’s Newfoundland, for the Sound Symposium where we perform July 8th, and then to Minnesota where we perform in Minneapolis, August 5-15th. We perform the full production in March 2011, at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto

Q & A about SPIN on Thursday

evalyn — Tue, 18 May 2010 20:34:04 +0000

Q: Where can i get advance tickets for the May 20th SPIN performance?

A: You can’t. Tickets are ONLY AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR, first come, first served. Doors will open at 7:45. Sorry for any inconvenience! I suggest coming early to get in line, as it seems there are a lot of people planning to attend.

Q: Why is there only one show? The last time you did it in October is sold out…shouldn’t you do more than one night?

A: Yes, we’re planning to…next year! SPIN will return in March 2011 for a proper, two- week run at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre in Toronto. This presentation, put on with the very awesome Toronto Cyclists Union to celebrate Bike Month in Toronto is only our second workshop showing. Between this Thursday and next March, we’ll be taking the show on the road a bit, working on many of the design and technical elements….and presenting the finished product next year for a real run. Then, there will be advance tickets. In fact, if you want to order them now, you can, thru the box office at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

thanks for your patience,

love,

evalyn and her people

this week’s SPIN

evalyn — Tue, 18 May 2010 12:23:17 +0000

News today is there’s a great article about SPIN in the Toronto Star! Courtesy of the very delightful Catherine Porter. We head down the 401 for a show at the London Music Club on Wednesday, and then back in TO on Thursday for our Bike Union show at the Tranzac.

We’ve been rehearsing for this workshop performance in our tiny little rehearsal space all week, jam-packed in there with our bike-instrument up on it’s stand, Anna’s array of effects pedals, harmonicas, accordian, melodica and the wired imbera, my mounting pile of costume changes (bloomers? check! boater? check! bowler? getting steamed and shaped! Inflatable puffed sleeves? Still waiting to see if they will work…).

Yesterday Catherine from the Star squeezed in on the couch (next to our marvelous director, the patient and inventive Ruth Madoc-Jones) to watch rehearsal; as we were mid-run thru, Jason from Riddle Films dropped by to pick up some video stuff, and turns out that Catherine knew Jason from high school. I swear, all roads lead back to Northern Secondary, even all these years later. She remembered seeing Jason in The Crucible – he played John Proctor – and having a crush on him (like we all did). I played Abigail in that show – but she didn’t remember me….oh well, now it’s a whole other kind of play we’re discussing: bicycling at the turn of the century, rather than witch burning in the mid 1600s.

I’m losing my mind a little bit cause this show really requires some proper technical and production management support and a lot more rehearsal time, and we don’t have either right now. But I keep reminding myself, this is a workshop. We try things out in front of an audience to find out what works. This is all part of the process! It’s about musical and script development. THEN… next year! When SPIN plays at Buddies for a proper two week run, THEN we will really do it up. THEN! we will have amazing set and video design. THEN! i won’t be running around trying to do the job of 7 people.

There’s Brad, percussing the bike: