Join us at 7:30pm TONIGHT for a theatrical scavenger hunt through downtown Fredericton! Street Scenes: Three Site-Specific Plays have been getting some great crowds, and there are still two more performances, tonight and Friday night! Meet at the Robbie Burns statue beside the Beaverbrook Art Gallery for some awesome theatre – and don’t forget the King St Ale House “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer” promotion afterwards! Click on the tab above for full details.
Also, we have a featured interview with one of our Site-Specific plays, Jake Martin (“The Pugilist”). Check it out for some inside info on the playwriting process, as well as some teasers about the show!
Tell us a bit about your play and where you got the inspiration for it?
Well what brought about the writing of The Pugilist is actually a bad habit I have. I have a really bad habit of watching people fight outside bars. I really legitimately enjoy it! I don’t know if that’s my love of pro wrestling coming out or what, but there has always been something so intriguing to me about drunken fights. It’s such a strange redirection of all of the other frustrations in someone’s life to then go out and hit another random guy for sometimes absolutely no reason. But also I was really interested by the art of fighting. So that’s where that comes from.
Jake Martin. Photo by Michael Holmes-Lauder.
You have had plays produced before at the NotaBle Acts Festival, but this is the first time in the site-specific category. What drew you to want to write a site-specific work, and do you find the writing process in any way different/unique/more challenging than that for a conventional script?
I actually really like working with a set of limitations. I find that working inside a tight box of what you are able to do really forces you to be more creative with how you get your story across.
What do you hope the audience experiences or takes away from your play?
Place some bets on the fight, maybe win some money, get some poutine on the way home.
You’re both multi-tasking in the festival this year, acting in addition to writing, and in Jake’s case directing as well, and this kind of multi-tasking is pretty common around the festival. What’s that like? How is the festival unique in this regard and how has it helped you learn or grow as theatre makers?
Yeah, I think that’s one of the great things about this festival. Because even if you are just involved in one element of the show, you really get a great look at all of the pieces that go into a show both on stage and off which makes you a lot sharper in your own role. If you are doing anything in theatre, really understanding what everyone else is doing and going through really helps.
NotaBle Acts 