Sunny as Spritle

The character of "Spritle" was the only one that I conceived and wrote after returning to Pearson. Originally, the Jimmy character's descent into the dreamlike realm of the second act featured a different progression... after meeting sunny, however, I saw a preexisting character too unique to keep from the story and process. Thus, I wrote the spritle character into the narrative rather quickly, and Sunny's role in Chasing the Wasp came to be.

In her mind, Sunny is certainly a star...and her attitude and work ethic both usually reflect this. I say she is a star because she is extremely hard-working. She put such a level of diligence into the memorization of her lines and comprehension of the script that I was awestruck by the time I finally saw her perform (her first rehearsal was scheduled roughly two weeks into the rehearsal process, as the second act was rehearsed second), after her steady barrage of questions and requests for insight and guidance. However, she is also rather tempestuous, and several rehearsals reflected this short scenario:

Samantha as Ms. Ratched

As with Kristina, upon meeting Samantha, I knew immediately that I wanted her to play Ms. Ratched. Her name a reference to the infamously sinister Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I needed an actor to inhabit the character with both a commanding diction and a lack of experience. In the hands of a more comfortable actor, the part could have been rendered un-funny by over-acting by a typecast. In contrast, the intensive work I did with Samantha to ultimately make her comfortable groping herself while uttering “Swept into a blaze of lusty compulsions, it is easy to mistake the gift of life for a debauched escapade of the flesh” like a gyrating bat out of hell, with a Masters in education.

In the early rehearsal stages, she was terrified of being so provocative… to the point that, at one group rehearsal, I was forced to abandon work with her as she was clearly uncomfortable. It subsequently took hours of one-on-one rehearsal to elevate her to a level of comfort (and volume—I congratulate both her and myself for finally developing her stage voice) necessary for the role. But it was not until she stepped into her costume, makeup, and high-rise pumps that she became the deliciously cruel teacher that inhabited the stage in the final production—whipping her yardstick into oblivion in an act of exquisite, unrehearsed and pitch-perfect in-character improvisation.

Allison as Lucy

I maintain that Allison is one of the most talented comediennes that I’ve ever met—but she is still reluctant to acknowledge her talent. I wrote the part of Lucy with her in the back of my mind, but was disappointed to find her absent from the official IP auditions. I convinced her thereafter to join the cast, which truly strengthened both the camaraderie of the central players, but also inserted a unique comedic voice to the mostly hyperbolic landscape I’d created. It takes about three read-throughs with Allison to bring her out of her nervous and reluctant stasis… after which she commits to a wacky character, and always delivers. The only problems arose with her volume… she still lacks stage presence, and element to her performance that I think I could have worked more diligently to develop. Nonetheless, I was always pleased with her aside dialogue with Joanie. My favorite comedic highlight of the show, each found some way to make it more nuanced with each rehearsal, and with an audience, finally, each performer shone marvelously.

James as Will Hayes

While writing the script for Chasing the Wasp I had no specific person in mind when I created the character of Will Hayes; his name is derived from Will H. Hays, former U.S. postmaster general and namesake for the infamous Hays Code in American cinema. Rather, the role of Will Hays represents to me the tragically conflicted villain who is not really a villain at all, and rather a victim swathed in  pattern of villainy by his society, rather than by choice. However, after the IP auditions, I knew that James would bring both a keen enthusiasm to the rather sinister role, but would also treat it with the respect deserved to something not necessarily definable.

Directing James is collaborative and a usually enjoyable experience—frustrations arose when he refused to read the script until several weeks into the rehearsal process. This however, was not enormously problematic, and in some ways, perhaps afforded him a strong empirical understanding of the story and associated emotional underpinning. In order to preserve his often lofty ego, it is usually necessary to give him some superficial responsibility (“James will be in charge of leading the rhythm”; “James is the leader of the dogs”; “James is the coolest student in the school.”). He likely understood my motives in doing this, however, I think it came through in his character, and a sense of ego proliferated the Will Hayes character in general.

Giulio, Aaron, Ramiro, and Ellen as Boy 1, Boy 2, Boy 3 and Girl AKA “Simple Jack”, “Chad Hogan”, “Ricky Bobby,” and “Mary Hinge”

 I chose to cast Giulio, Ramiro, and Ellen after the IP Auditions as I knew they would both contribute their talents and work ethics to the project, as well as synergize the central cast as interpersonally connected individuals. Aaron was an addendum after Amelia pleaded with me to relinquish Laughlin from my cast (a trade I’m glad I made, both because Aaron made an extremely valuable addition to the cast, but also because Laughlin saved Amelia’s IP). Not originally auditioned, Aaron agreed to participate after reading the cast list and the script, and I knew that this dynamic group of four with bolster the entire production as students, “Others”, and “Dogs”.

At the first rehearsal, I had each name their “student” persona. I guessed that they would either go into painstaking detail, or choose pop-cultural names of little import and jocular significance. The latter being the case, I knew immediately that the tone to be set with the group would be a lighthearted one until rehearsals of the final scene began much further down the line. Those would be in sharp contrast with those featuring their performances as students and “Others”. In those, I encouraged them to be hyperbolic American high school students, a task which they all enjoyed. However, as Samantha’s character was focused more with each rehearsal and into the final performance, much of the students’ responses to her behavior were natural, I think. As Others, I made them wear their costumes at every rehearsal, and borrowed much tinfoil and sugar from the caf, as they all greatly enjoyed burning dried sugar.

Kristina as Joanie

The moment I met Kristina, I knew that I wanted her to play Joanie. She was almost eerily similar to Joanie in so many positive ways—and for the ways in which she differed, I knew that her experience in musical theatre would lend itself well to the hyperbolic character.

At the first rehearsal between Kristina and AJ, I interview Kristina ad nauseam about the character… and after the establishment of some foundational character elements, I knew that the Joanie character had been realized.

The one nuanced choice that I made in directing Kristina as her character was my limited rehearsal of her final, emotional dialogue with Jimmy. The first time this was rehearsed was at a rehearsal during production week with full lights and sound. Perhaps the most emotional (and productive) rehearsal during the whole process, everyone involved that day required some guided emotional work in order to exit their characters. It was in those moments that I knew the emotional pitch I had striven for in my writing could be conceivably attained.

AJ as Jimmy

Casting AJ as Jimmy was not necessarily the result of snap judgement; rather, I cast AJ because I knew that, physically, he is a skilled performer, and would be able to draw heavily from his background in dance for some of the scenes involving intricate blocking and choreography, and I conjectured that he might relate to certain themes within the piece, without having directly experienced those traumas of his character. However, I was not certain of his vocal abilities… and for a long time, it was a source of some concern. He seemed lackluster as his character. I did intense character-building exercises with him, and, once conditioned to access his character, he could sustain it for some time, but he would gradually lose it over the course of the rehearsal. It was not until a rehearsal of his second scene with Kristina in the first act (in which he delivers his “bee” monologue), and he uttered the line:

I’m already crowned faggot, Joanie. The world is burning here. And it’s only a matter of time before I’m scorched, too. (sighs) Go home, Joanie.

Luke as The Comedian

Frankly, casting Luke was the result of happenstance and blind faith. Luke initially decided against auditioning for IP’s because his experience last year was traumatic. I had originally cast Antón as “The Comedian”, thinking that his sense of humor and timing would lend itself to the role. However, after several re-writes, I was still nowhere near satisfied with material I’d written for “The Comedian”. It was during the Victoria Ballet’s production of Ballet Rock! that a number set to “Nobody Home” by Pink Floyd triggered the entire monologue in my mind… I began furiously scribing during the show, and when I returned to school, I transcribed everything that I could remember. As the monologues as they would ultimately be took shape, I realized that a) it would be unfair to ask Antón to memorize such a substantial piece of writing, and block a relatively intricate progression of movement in roughly two and a half weeks, as he was straining under academic pressure and expressed concern at the fact that English is not his native language. It was during a sailing trip to Victoria over (Canadian) Thanksgiving Weekend that I handed some of the material to Luke on a whim, and was simply blown away by what he did with it. Since the beginning of the year, I’ve noted his newfound comedic timing in social situations; however, his ability to enliven my written words on the page simply floored me. I convinced him to join the project, and after some coaxing he obliged.

Belladonna: A Faerie Tale

The following is a short story I wrote roughly one year ago. I drew thematically from it while writing the script for "Chasing the Wasp". Originally an exploration of pop-cultural saturation and the bastardization of cherished stories and archetypes, I think I attempted to translate the more fantastical elements herein to a workable stage piece with a more universal thematic sensibility.

Belladonna: A Faerie Tale
By Derek Mitchell

            In the darkness of The Limelight she sipped her limoncello, dyed pink with red Skittles and rose hips, from a long-stemmed glass. With her tongue she teased the sword-pierced garnish—the cranberry bobbed above the surface and below, resurfacing and submerging on an interval just short of a moment and just long of a momentary lapse.

            She was flanked on either side by a retinue of misfits, skinned in patent leather and latex and bubbles and stuff—each tin kepi and nylon kneehigh a cry for an eye, head to foot.

            She cleared her throat—a murmur of disdain: “Ah-em.” The silken glove of her hand descended with an easy recoil from the crest of her lips, bloody with shoplifted Sanguine Fatale.

            The heads about the narrow booth turned to fix upon the silicone faerie:

            “Knights, tell me,” she hummed.

            “Yes?” in unison.

            She smirked. “Who’s the prettiest girl in school?”

            They shrieked: “It’s you, Belladonna! It’s you!” She tilted her head back in a playful swoon, clutched her heart, and smiled, dissatisfied.

            A dwarf in a velvet chesterfield appeared at the head of the table, the tail of his coat dragging in a train across the dusty floor.

            “A guest for you waits at the Gate, Belladonna.”

Summer: The Writing Process

Over the course of the summer, my primary task in embarking upon the writing process was the synthesis of several ideas I've been mulling over for the better part of a year. Without probing too deeply into my own process (for fear disrupting it), I do know that this is most often the first phase of my creative output. I accumulate ideas, sentences, sentiments, sketches, quotes, and images in notebooks and on scraps of paper everyday.

When I begin to piece together different components of a prospective work, I carefully choose from my arsenal of mostly unrelated ideas, piecing them together carefully but without much premeditated thought. I find that my voice is more authentic if narrative and thematic elements emerge organically... I'm not really sure how this happens, but I'm not intent on finding out.

So, often akin to pastiche in form, a narrative or series of visuals emerges from these preliminary steps, and a unique aesthetic begins to crystallize.