Author: nbacts2013

A Q&A with playwright Gillian Salmon

Gillian Salmon (she/her) is a writer, improviser, actor and stand up comedian based in Fredericton. She has been studying with Second City since 2020 and is currently nearing the end of their Conservatory program. Mainly focusing on sketch comedy, she loves to try experimenting with different perspectives and surreal situations as a commentary on reality. She likes to travel when she can and read when she can’t.

This year Gillian has two sketches included in our festival: Historical Walking Tour and Where We Go One, We Go All.

How’s it feel to be making your NotaBle debut and how has the opportunity challenged you as a new writer?

It feels surreal still. I submitted thinking nahhh, these will never get picked and then was pleasantly surprised when they were. Watching the first rehearsal was incredibly exciting to see my characters come to life. I’ve seen my writing performed before but only in Zoom format so to see something in real life it was extra exciting. 

The experience has challenged me as a new writer in that now I’ve got a taste of it and now I want more. So it’s challenged me to get my act together, pardon the pun, and to write more sketches. 

If you had to describe your play in one minute or less, how would you pitch Historical Walking Tour to a potential audience member?

Can I talk fast?

Historical Walking Tour is a reflection on typical walking tours in which historical locations have now become something else and the audience is required to suspend some disbelief and use their imaginations.

Where We Go One, We Go All is a satirical look at the conspirituality influence on the wellness industry. 

It’s two sketches because I am an overachiever and they were both short. In hindsight I should have submitted three because of the comedy rule of threes. This is a learning experience.

Is there a theme or message you are attempting to get across to your audience?

Only that there is room for absurdity in the midst of perhaps otherwise dramatic or serious theatre. 

Could you comment on the important role NotaBle Acts plays in supporting new and emerging writers like yourself?  

The thing that actually motivated me to submit were the writer’s rooms that were hosted via Zoom in April. I have a lot of sketches in the wings and the rooms gave me an opportunity to hear them aloud and make revisions, and then to ultimately submit. I had previously been wanting to submit a longer sketch show for the one act category but I saw the opportunity of throwing a couple in the ring for site-specific and thought, “why wait? If you get it, great. If you don’t, it’s still a good experience and you’ve got two sketches that are more polished.”

Gillian’s plays Historical Walking Tour and Where We Go One, We Go All will be performed outdoors as a pay what you can double bill (w/ A Toast to Happiness) from July 24-27, beginning at 8:30 p.m. near the Beaverbrook Art Gallery.

Historical Walking Tour and Where We Go One, We Go All by Gillian Salmon | Directed by Sydney Hallett | Featuring Thomas Johansen, Diana Chávez, Al Newling and Mallory Kelly.

A Q&A with playwright Kaitlyn Adair
Photo by Claire Fraser

Kaitlyn Adair is a Fredericton based writer, director and performer. She has written several short films including Oculus, Together We Move, and March 2.4 which won Excellence in Screenwriting at Silver Wave Film Festival. I Hope you Can See the Birds is her first project as a playwright which was hatched during the Notable Acts Incubator Program and had a showcase reading at the Fall Festival of New Plays with Theatre New Brunswick in 2021. Kaitlyn has a love of surrealism and highlighting underrepresented voices in the visual arts.

Let’s learn more.

Can you take us through the life of this play so far? When did you start writing it? 

I started writing this play two years ago. I spent the first months imagining the world of this play from various images I pulled from real life. The pen to paper writing began with an incubator program last year hosted by Anthony Bryan with Notable acts. Then it was accepted to the Fall Festival of New Plays with Theatre New Brunswick for a week of workshopping and a play reading. I then revisited and fine tuned the play during the writing rooms again hosted by Anthony Bryan. 

What type of development/dramaturg opportunities were you able to access in creating I Hope You Can See The Birds?

Well it’s had two goes with formal dramaturgy. The first was with TNB through the Fall Festival in 2021. I worked with Eric Coates, Jena McLean and a cast of actors for a week on really refining the arch of the story. A bulk of the play as it is today was written during that week. Through notable acts I worked with Matthew Heiti through phone calls and drafts sent back and forth. This was where a lot of refinement happened to the story. I think it’s important to mention the informal mentorship that went into this piece from other theatre artists. Anthony Bryan was crucial in creating space for this work to come to life and for writing/new play development as a whole. I also worked closely in early stages of development with Esther Soucoup who helped me discover the critical why of the play while evaluating story/character arcs. 

If you had to describe your play in one minute or less, how would you describe it to a potential audience member?

I Hope You Can See the Birds is a love letter to my grandfather. It’s a surrealist exploration about a man coming to terms with his own mortality while facing the greatest loss of his life, bringing his wife of 65 years to a nursing home.  The play centres around Bryan, a senior in the hospital after a near fatal heart attack, who is refusing life saving treatment without explanation as to why. With his daughter and granddaughter trying to get to the bottom of things by his side, Bryan experiences the comforting allure of death through visions of a hummingbird at his bedside. Ultimately, Bryan must make the choice to answer the call of the hummingbird or have the test his family wants him to take. More than anything this play is about love. It’s beauty, it’s hardships, and how hard we sometimes hold onto it. 

Kaitlyn’s play will be performed as a double bill (w/ Murder Mondays) from July 28-30, 7:30 p.m., nightly, at Memorial Hall, UNB (9 Bailey Drive). Tickets available at the door for 15$ regular, 10$ senior/student/underwaged.

I Hope You Can See The Birds by Kaitlyn Adair | Directed by Alex Rioux | Featuring John Macaulay, Dani Brun, Circe Cain, Julie MacDonald, and Devin Rockwell.