Late yesterday afternoon, I stopped by the Fringe Club (Honest Ed’s Parking lot – Bathurst/Bloor) to experience Jordan Mechano’s Monologues for Nobody, one of several Shed Shows on offer at this year’s Toronto Fringe.
When I say “experience,” I mean this is DIY theatre acted by you, for you. There’s a list of 20 monologues to choose from, all written by Fringe veterans like Kat Sandler, Laura Anne Harris, Jiv Parasram and Rebecca Perry, among others. Characters cover a broad range of age and dramatic styles, as well as varying levels of challenge. You get five minutes in the Shed to read over and perform the piece – and you’re encouraged to read it aloud at least once and notice any discoveries you make during the process. If you need assistance selecting a piece, one of the box office folks (including Mechano) will be happy to help you out. And no worries about watching the clock; you’ll get a friendly knock on the Shed door to let you know when your time’s up.
As I scanned the list to make a choice, Laura Anne Harris’s When I Grow Up caught my eye. The character is a five-year-old girl who likes trucks, wants to be Spiderman and longs to run around on hot summer days with her shirt off. But her dreams are constantly getting squashed by her mother, who wants her to be a ‘normal’ girl – nice, well-behaved and lady-like.
Full disclosure: I’m a classically trained actor. I had a blast being this kid for five minutes, playing with her frankness, her innocence, and especially her defiance, mischief and bravery. Throughout the process, I thought about her revelations, and if she knew that her feelings were unconventional, or even socially forbidden, or if she was unaware and just following her bliss. What had she been thinking about for a while and what was she just discovering in the moment? Playing this kid made me remember that I was that little girl who loved to run around topless in the summertime, playing Tarzan around the inflatable wading pool in our backyard.
The ‘so what’ here is that art is for everyone – and we can all learn something about ourselves and the world when we take a risk and experience putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes (however fictitious) and work on a piece in solitude. It’s a ‘dance like nobody’s watching’ kind of moment – or singing in the shower. No one’s going to judge you. It’s just you, performing for you.
Take a moment to play in the Shed and act out a piece for an audience of one – you! Fun, playful and thought-provoking good times in Monologues for Nobody.
Monologues for Nobody is PWYC and continues in the Shed until July 10 on these dates/times:
July 2, 5 & 8 @ 6:30-8:30 p.m.
July 4, 7 & 10 @ 8:30-10:30 p.m.
life with more cowbell 