Big Smoke Productions

NSI Drama Prize Boot Camp Begins

2011-02-21T23:39:00.000-08:00

Screenwriter of HENRY, and Vancouverite Gillian Bennett, starts the 2011 NSI Drama Prize Boot Camp along with three other winners from Ontario and Nova Scotia.

Meathead

2011-02-11T18:03:00.000-08:00

MEATHEAD (3 min.) was screened at Vancouver's Celluloid Social Club this past Wednesday, February 9, 2011.

It was one of two films screened from Steve Rosenberg's film school, Pull Focus.

Co-Directed by Ali Rashti and Russell Bennett.

MEATHEAD is set in the future when one man's quest for meat gives him more trouble than he expected.

Crazy8s 2011 Finalist

2011-02-08T13:12:00.000-08:00

Based on Andrew Templeton's short script FUNNY BUSINESS, director Russell Bennett, actress/producer Gillian Bennett and Templeton pitched in front of the live Crazy8s jury on Saturday, January 29, 2011.

Based on a five-minute pitch, Vancouver's Crazy8s Film Festival selected the FUNNY BUSINESS team as one of 13 finalists. The team is now working on the script to submit to the jury on February 21. If chosen as one of the six winners, FUNNY BUSINESS will go to camera on March 28, with $800 and the support from Crazy8s, and be screened on April 9, 2011 at the Vogue Theatre.

To get to the live pitch stage, the Bennett's and Templeton had to apply with a five-minute video pitch. Their video pitch was chosen as the #1 pitch from a field of over 100 video pitches.

Big Smoke's NEW LOGO

2011-02-03T19:09:00.000-08:00

Adrian Cunningham created Big Smoke Productions' new logo.
http://ca.linkedin.com/pub/adrian-cunningham/21/593/b58

Adrian's fabulous design incorporates the elements of a volcano's threatening wrath and the aftermath, to conjure the image of stories erupting and disrupting.

Check it out on our new website, www.bigsmokeproductions.com

NSI Drama Prize - WINNER 2011

2011-02-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

While the official press release has yet to be released, the National Screen Institute called me last week with the fantastic news that our newest film, "HENRY" has won the 2011 Drama Prize.

This means that we will receive $10,000 in cash, $30,000 in in-kind services, and Boot Camp training in Winnipeg to make "HENRY." This is a miracle. This is an open door, after so many doors have closed on us. It is stupendous.

"HENRY" is a short film written by Gillian Bennett, based on her short story of the same name, about a woman who thinks she's given birth to a cockroach. Inspired by her best friend's fears of motherhood and by Kafka's "Metamorphosis", Gillian wrote a short psychological thriller about the isolation and alienation of being a new mother.

We are proud of the NSI for having the courage and creative foresight to green-light such a complex, mature and dark story.

First Time

2010-06-21T00:19:00.000-07:00

This is the first video I made with/from my new laptop.

More to come.

RB

New Year, New Life

2010-01-15T20:37:00.000-08:00

Russell here: I'm on my way to a Bikram Yoga class in 30 minutes and I have to walk Midge, whom Gill and I are dog-sitting for Em until February, so I've got to keep this short and to the point. And I wanted to make a public proclamation. 2010 is my year. It's my year of bringing all the elements I've been working on (acting, writing, directing and producing) together to make films. Lots and lots of films. I have my 2010 schedule - quite ambitious, but you have to start somewhere, right? No more excuses. I don't have a job to blame. I just have myself to answer to. And all the stories I'm turning into movies, just waiting to be told. As I write, Haiti has been decimated - the government is saying that over 200,000 people have died. I can't believe it. It's such an enormous tragedy that happened so fast. So because you never know when death will take you, that makes life so precious - every moment - to savour and enjoy. So I am savouring this moment and am striving for this year to be productive and filled with health and joy. Because the alternative doesn't look good. My wishes go out to Haitians for aid, water, food, shelter and healing to come swiftly.

What? Over a year ago?

2009-10-02T09:08:00.000-07:00

I can barely believe it.

This blog was supposed to be our haven, our confessional, our tell-it-all to the world of our complete travels across the vast country of Canada in our pursuit to play our play, Crude Love: Love in the Time of the Oil Sands to anyone who would come. But we got tired.

So we simply performed the play and focused on that, and we spread the word by the old traditional way of word-of-mouth. And somehow that worked.

To recap:
In Winnipeg, we got slammed. Not only did we have to rent our own venue, but we had to rent a venue that was too far away for people to come to, unless they really wanted to see your play. But somehow, even after performing in Winnipeg for three years prior, we still hadn't developed a following. Or even a loathing. So we lost our shirts, and our morale, and Gill even lost her identity - some thieving retailer double-swiped her bank card and stole her pin. They put a phony cheque of $800 into her account, and then tried to take it out. But little did they know that she only had $5 in her account, so they got nothing, and she got notified, and then we got depressed. Because we only had $5 in her account. Ah, the glamourous life of a fringe tour performer!

But in Saskatoon, things started to turn around. We stayed with the inimitable Peter Kooey, and his lovely girlfriend, who treated us like family. They were so hospitable, and supportive of our play. We got a decent review in the paper, and started selling tickets again. And then a reviewer from Edmonton came to preview the play for the largest festival on the circuit, and loved it.

Because Edmontonians could buy tickets online, we started selling out in Edmonton even before we arrived. Unbelievable! It was helpful that our venue only held 100 people, but the word got out fast, and we were the only show in the whole fringe that sold out every single show. We were overjoyed. The Greenpeace Stop-the-Tar-Sands folks came and loved the show. We received incredible donations for Greenpeace in Edmonton, and the quality of the play rose as well. We were offered Pick of the Fringe, but turned it down, in favour of traveling to Victoria - too bad they overlapped.

Victoria was a great short stop along the way, bringing in fast cash for Greenpeace, and a favourable last-minute review from Monday Magazine. And what a joy to breathe in that coastal air again.

But the climax of the tour was most certainly found in our home town Vancouver, where again we sold out every single show - it helped that we could only squeeze 60 people in the venue. But reviewers and audiences alike loved the play. We managed to pull off a play that we had been dreaming of - a love story set in the near future with a political bent, not beating people over the head with it, but caressing them with it. We had many wet eyes at the end of shows, and our performances were never stronger.

We were voted Pick of the Fringe, and sold out the Waterfront Theatre (a dream of mine since The Reefer Man tour) two out of our three extra shows. It was a monumental event for us. We received standing ovations and the most money collected for Greenpeace in any city on the tour. Vancouverites rock! We were featured on the cover of the Georgia Straight weekly magazine, with an excellent article by Colin Thomas. We were given more than we had asked for.

But, on the night of our first sell-out at the Waterfront Theatre, I found out that my grandfather Sidney Goodman had died. Right after our last performance, we flew back to Toronto for his funeral, and I quickly realized again how fragile life is, and how short. We went from Sidney's graveside service to our friend Sarah Jane's beautiful fall wedding. And then back to Vancouver.

And in a quiet, two post-fringe performances, we closed the Crude Love tour at the Jericho Arts Centre, playing to small houses, coming back full circle to where we had begun in Montreal.

We collected an incredible $4,370.10 for Greenpeace's End-the-Tar-Sands campaign. We collected an armful of 4 and 5-star reviews, and we got to perform 62 times in the span of five months over eight Canadian cities. It was an incredible way to realize the fruits of our honeymoon writing retreat in Nicaragua. And I personally feel like the luckiest man on the planet, to be married to such an incredible woman - a talent like Gillian is rare - she is a brilliant actress, a soulful writer, and the most amazing wife and lover I could have ever imagined. Our love is anything but crude.

Great faith

2008-08-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

It's been more than a month since our last entry. Could be that Winnipeg knocked the stuffing out of us. Could be that we are run ragged. Could be that we are damn lazy bloggers. So here is the summary. We had a hard time getting people to our show in Winnipeg BYOV and lukewarm reviews. We were disheartened. We thought about pulling out of the tour. It felt like it just wasn't working. We wondered: Is it worth it? Does the show stink? Are we happy? Should we persevere? And we did.

We had a successful and fun stop over in beautiful Saskatoon. Not a lot of theatre goers in that town, but the few are mighty. And people truly enjoyed the show. We enjoyed doing it. Especially enjoyed the incredible generosity of Peter and Carol, our hosts in that town. Intelligent and lovely people. Peter also runs the Off Broadway Arts Centre, our venue, and the green room which was a raucous sanctuary for all the performers. This is the stop where we all get to know each other, relax, play fussball and darts and drink. Spoof night was a big hit. We loved spoofing the fabulous "Die Roten Punkte". Now, we are in Edmonton. My family is amazing. Everyone is so supportive and nurturing and kind. It's good to be home. Especially since we are 4 tickets away from having sold out our entire run. We may be one of the only shows, of 135 here in Edmonton, to have done that. I credit my family, my Mom, Dad, Gayle, Iain and Karen and Ian(from Ottawa) spreading the word. But we are totally shocked at all the sell outs and buzz around the show. We've had amazing reviews, intelligent reviews, full houses and people who get the show. It is set in Edmonton's back yard, after all. Of course the people in this province would be interested and would show up to support us. We'd love to do a province wide tour, including Fort McMurray, if only a producer would set it up. So we are half way through the Edmonton Festival and almost entirely sold out. We've been asked to stay and do a hold over. Which is a lovely honour, though we may have to pass because of our commitment to the Victoria Fringe which Edmonton overlaps with. So what a difference a city makes. I can't believe that with the same show, we tanked in one city and are flourishing in another. Perhaps this is evidence that if you persevere, things might, just might get better and those things you hope will come true actually can. When we were writing the play, I read a Buddhist saying which was, I think "Great Question, Great Courage, Great Faith". We wrote this quote on a piece of paper and hung it on the wall above our desk. I looked at it daily and wondered if keeping focussed on these great things leads you to where you need to go. If faith is enough. Wondered if courage could be confused with crazy. If faith could be confused with obstinance. And now, we are enjoying such success. People are getting the show. The message is getting out. And we seem to be taking people on a journey in our little hour onstage. So maybe those Buddhists have it right. And it is great persistence that is required when what you have is a loving husband, a cat named Whiskers, and the hope that all you labored for maybe, just maybe, can come to something more. And sometimes it does. You just have to dig deep. And keep going. And hold on.

Opening Night in Winnipeg!!!

2008-07-16T07:46:00.000-07:00

A 30 pound cat named "Whiskers" has fallen in love with me. Talk about crude love.

Yes, sports fans, we have arrived safely in Winnipeg despite our car rattling like spare change and it stalling a couple of times yesterday. Some guy in Dryden, Ontario at the Husky gas station was just driving back from Tofino and suggested we need a coat hanger to stop the rattling of what is maybe our exhaust something or other. Also he was kind enough to notice that our oil cap was off. Like ships in the night, he said "yeah, it sucks to be Eastbound".

So we arrived. This morning we pick up posters and flyers and start postering. We are late and it looks like all the coveted spots are already taken. Then we tech the show for 3 hours this afternoon. Flyer people this evening and pray to God we can get some people out to our opening at 11 pm.

I forgot to mention that our number 1 Fan, beside Whiskers the aforementioned cat, is Corey Bennett who came to every single one of our shows in Toronto. 7 in all! And Frank made 5! Jan made 4! We couldn't believe it. The Bennetts like us. They really really like us. Its almost disturbingly stalkerish and also beautifully supportive. My sis did come to 2 and that's with 2 small children at home, so that is also a feat. Not that it's a competition. But wow, our families are lovely.

Some things that happenned to us on the way around Lake Superior: I saw a car in the ditch with other cars that had stopped on the side of the road. Then I saw a person, or a body, lying on the grass next to it with someone holding his hand. He didn't look conscious. Don't know if it was a person who had been run over. The ambulance and police cars arrived shortly thereafter. Hope that person was OK. Gives us all reason to pause at the frailty of life. Which leads to what our main topic of discussion was, "What is the purpose of life" and are we close? I'll just throw that one out there. Some ideas: To be Happy, To Grow, To Give, To Experience, To Learn, To Discover, To do your best with what you have.....

And we saw a bear.

We are now staying in a small house with a very sweet woman who is going to a wedding and a perogy festival outside of Chicago tomorrow. She lives basically next door to the tarmac of the Winnipeg airport. So every 4 minutes it sounds like a jumbo jet is going to land on our head. Or that we are under attack.

Gotta run to the printers. "It's opening night!!"

p.s. Have I mentioned how much I love my husband lately? 24 hours a day together in a small car in the very creepy landscape North of Wawa and we didn't gnaw each other's faces off or anything, though cannibalism seems somehow fitting in that remote and foggy tundra. No, we are still in love and I am so grateful.

But I can't say that I'm quite as grateful for the newfound affection I am receiving from Whiskers....Crude love indeed.

Back on the road

2008-07-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

Wow, we have been horrible about updating this blog. That's life on the road. We are currently at a little place called "Adams Hotel" in Sault St. Marie. It is 7 am and we have to hit the road. Heading for Thunder Bay. It is freezing outside. Feels like the winter in July. So not much time to update the blog before we hit the Husky truck stop for breakfast but here are some highlights:

Ottawa was amazing. My sister and brother in law made sure we were well caffeinated. Ian roasts his own beans. Hubba hubba. He also helped us enter the age of facebook (join our "Crude Love" facebook group!) Before my first show in Ottawa, we were rehearsing the new blocking as we lost a stump in the show in Montreal and had to reblock a lot of the stuff. So we are in the yard a couple of hours before leaving for the show and Jasper, who is 5, wanted to watch. Jasper was so excited he sat in a chair and tried really hard not to say anything to interrupt. Next thing I know, I look over and he has found one of our posters and he is just holding it up over his head, with both hands, like at a hockey game or something. So funny. When I told him I was nervous, he said "don't worry, just think of me". Karen and Ian fed us and we flew out the door, me thinking of Jasper and wondering how you can be so heroic in the eyes of a child and yet so inconsequential in the eyes of a reviewer.

Ok, but highlights. Right? Cosmic adventure and Jasper's 5th birthday. Cosmic adventure is a giant, padded, locked down child's fantasy land. 3 stories of tubes and nets. Or as my sister said "a giant hamster cage". I played a lot with Audrey who is so adorable!!!! She really likes to climb things but isn't so much a fan of the balls you slide into at Cosmic adventure. You know, those ones they used to have at IKEA. Anyhow, great birthday, great visiting with Karen and Ian and Jasper and Audrey, great show, great award, great audiences. Ottawa was a very enthusiastic place where we felt the show start to lift. Great visit with Paul and Carol and their new baby. Feels like in Ottawa we were surrounded with children and babies, which gave us pause to wonder if we would ever have the energy to have kids. Is it like having a Fringe show? Constant and so many annoying things to do to service it. But then you know it's over and you can go have a beer or visit with a friend. Hmmmmm.

The road beckons. So Ottawa was great. Hit Muskoka and Jan and Frank's beautiful place we call "Golden Pond" for one day of rest. Though it was pretty busy with Russ dressing Frank in a Polar Bear suit and making him paddle around the lake in the hot sun while Russ filmed. Then made him stand on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride. Frank was great, really got into the role. A funny family dynamic. Toronto was great. Saw lots of friends. Stayed with lovely Ritsa and Emmanuel, and with Sarah Jane and Kenton. And Frank and Jan. So bounced around and caught up with lots of friends. Wondering if we should move to Toronto. Not as friendly as Ottawa. A little aloof generally, but we had our first sell out! And the buzz was good. It feels so great to flyer people and then flyer someone who saw the show and loved it. Recommended in the Toronto Star with a nice write up, good write up in the Eye with 4 stars and listed as one of the Best of the Fest (along with about 40 other shows). We had bad experiences with our techs and the Toronto Fringe Festival itself. But that is for another blog.

We have to leave the Adams Motel and make our way around Lake Superior today. By the way, it's big. Oh, we ran into Don Mckellar at a chip stand in the middle of nowhere yesterday. We stopped for a bite. The stand was right next to the Shell station in Muskoka Country. Not even in a town, but near First Nations land. It took the 13 year old boy at the chip stand a long time to make our food, so Russ talked to Don while we waited. We wondered what he was doing standing at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere. Then we saw his bus pull up and he got on. This is a guy who is an eminent Canadian Filmaker, he just adapted a nobel prize winning novel, and he is taking the bus into town. That's the Canadian Arts and Entertainment industry. You, too, can be a star....

Ottawa buzzzzz.....

2008-06-27T23:40:00.000-07:00

What a contrast from Montreal!

Ottawa citizens love the Fringe. And the audiences laugh. And cry.

We're having a great time playing to large houses (60+), and the theatre is a real theatre, with real curtains and a real stage floor with real seats.

Not that the experience in Montreal wasn't good - it was great to get the show up there. But Ottawa feels like manna is falling from heaven after a drought.

It's our last weekend, and people keep telling us, "You're going to win Best of Venue." We'll see. I never count my chickens... But it would be great to win....

The capital of Canada - not just a government town. Also a patron of independent theatre.

Oh, and before I fall asleep, a lovely young woman gave Gill and me praise for our acting talents, and said that Crude Love is the only show of 20 she saw that could be in a real theatre, like the Tarragon in Toronto. Music to my ears!

Helloooo Ottawa

2008-06-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Up at 6 am. Say goodbye to our wonderful billets who have the generosity of heart and incredible wisdom to make us coffee for the road. (They make coffee for us every day, in fact) Drive. Drive. Drive. Gas is 142. Sigh. Pump. Pump. Pump. Tim Horton's. Line up. Egg sandwich and potato which I think is less potato and more just old grease. Drive. Drive. I fall asleep. Russ needs me to talk. He is struggling to keep his eyes open. I wonder why we are doing this. Where are we going. Where will we live in September. What will we do with our lives. I mean, really. If we'll make our tech. If anyone will come to the show tonight. Will we be late for brunch with my sister and family? Will my niece and nephew remember me? What is the point of it all, again? What is our purpose in living? But I don't say this. Instead I put on Neil Diamond, look at our map and tell him "we are almost there". Make the tech. We are 5 minutes late. She is 15. She says she slept in. I want to kill her. But we finish the cues. Poster. Poster. Poster. Flyer people near the site. Flyer (hate myself) flyer (hate myself). Poster. See old friends from tours past. Gang's all here. Try to find breakfast place. Get lost. Get found. Get lost. And then see Ian, Karen, Audrey and Jasper. We made it! Ian even stands on the street and shows us where to park. After brunch, poster the glebe. I find where my sister has been before me as a flyer is already posted up on a bulletin board. I am grateful. Flyer people at cafes. Poster. Flyer. Get back to my sister's. We all sleep (except Ian and Audrey out getting supplies). I could sleep forever. But hear the tentative steps of a 5 year old down the stairs. Russ and I hurry and rehearse transitions and new entrances and exits in their back yard, since the set up of the theatre is totally different. I try to rehearse miming driving a truck. Jasper watches and is very quiet. I look over and he sits in a chair, holding one of our posters above his head with both hands like he is at a hockey game, rooting for his team. He gives suggestions for the show "I think you should exit Center" and sound effects for the geese. Ian and Karen make dinner. Ian BBQ's amazing asparagus and shrimp. We do nothing to help. Instead, finish rehearsing, throw on makeup, sit down to eat. Gorge ourselves. Get up, they insist we leave everything, and head for the show. We feel so well taken care of. Head to the show. Before I leave I tell Jasper I'm nervous. HE says "Don't worry. Just think about me". 10 minutes before show, trying to go over some new stuff. Russ and I are tense. I feel this is no fun. We snap at eachother to move the log here, no here, stop upstaging me, no do it like this. House comes in. Everything goes black. Then, then we let go and have an hour of absolute, no holds barred fun. We get to fall in love again and again on stage. Over and over. The world stops. Everything else is gone. People are laughing. Hard. In what feels like 5 minutes, we are at the end. I wonder if I lost the audience at the end. They are all on their feet. I look, surprised, at Russ and feel so at home, with him, holding his hand, on stage, and I think "I love these people!" I love my husband. I love the audience. I love the stage. I love my life. "Hello Ottawa"!

And tomorrow: Coffee, poster poster poster, flyer (hate myself), flyer (hate myself) Wonder "why am I doing this?" "What is the purpose of life?"....

Au Revoir Montreal

2008-06-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

Just a quick one before I crash.

We have to be up in six hours to drive to Ottawa to do our last hour of tech rehearsing at 10 am. We just finished our last show here in Montreal to a very receptive audience. Crude Love is fully on its feet! Only seven fringe festivals to go!

We will still be changing some of the writing and trying out new things as we travel across the country - like new endings and new lines and even new scenes. It's a process of trial and error to develop a new play, and while it makes us very nervous, there's no better way to do it.

We got two great reviews - one in the Montreal Mirror, and the other in the Ottawa Xpress. And a great article about the show in Ottawa's 24 Hours. You can read them all through our website, bigsmokeproductions.com.

And I have to say - I really love the one hour I get to act with my amazingly talented wife, Gillian. It is worth all the blood, sweat and tears - yes, even tears - to get our butts up there on stage. Both of us keep wondering whether we should continue in this profession, where there is no support, no security and no jobs, and that hour where we get to leave all the bullshit of our lives behind us, and just connect and play together, is the happiest hour of my day. Apart from lying together in bed. But lately, we fall asleep really fast. By Winnipeg, I think we'll have caught up on our sleep....

Anyway, I'm totally wandering here, so GOOD NIGHT MONTREAL. Thanks for the start to an amazing cross-Canada Fringe Festival tour! And thanks to our billets, Phyl and Peter, who have been the best hosts I could have ever imagined.

Opening Night!

2008-06-14T17:31:00.001-07:00

I am constantly plagued by Larry David's episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm when he is preparing to be Max Bialostock (sp?) in The Producers, and can't remember his lines. "It's opening night!!"

Gill and I have rehearsed for four days straight at a perfect location: Concordia's dance school, where Jonno Katz helped us tremendously with our physicality.

But what an exhausting process! I am wiped. Thank god our opening night starts at 11:15pm - no one will come! Perfect. But even if people do come, we finally feel ready for an audience. It's been agony until this evening when we did our last run-through: tech rehearsals that don't go according to plan, changing lines constantly, and fixing our car.

Thankfully, our billets, the Havercrofts, are wonderful and so helpful - sewing ripped costumes, feeding us and driving us to the fix our car.

And we even got a great article in the Montreal Gazette today! See
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/arts/story.html?id=797535
c8-bb46-47e0-a908-122f7012dba3
for the full story.

Alright Canadian Fringe Festival Tour, here we come! Crude Love is born!

Almost There

2008-06-10T22:01:00.000-07:00

Ontario is big. It is really, really big. Once you get out of the prairies and get your first taste of Northern Ontario, and you think “I made it!”, you are actually only half way there. Because Lake Superior is big. It is really, really big.

Washed out highways, tornados 12 miles from us, thunderstorms, rainbows, moose crossing the road, lots of “Night Danger” signs (and it does feel dangerous at night even with no giant animals standing in the road) brings us about to where we are now. Montreal! And just when you think “I’m in Montreal!”, you are actually only half way there. Costumes, tech script, tech problems, blocking changes, missing cues, breaking down car (yes it is already breaking down), gridlock on highway, completely lost in Montreal…..and 4 days till show time. And did I mention HEAT WAVE? Why is there always a heat wave here in June? Then our first full day here, tornado warnings and a severe thunderstorm. But the show must go on, so on our way to tech we saw giant pieces of tree that had been ripped off like limbs off a body only hours before.

We are staying with lovely friends, Phyl and Peter, who have basically opened their door and are letting us come and go as we please. Had a great stopover at Golden Pond in Muskoka for a day, visiting Russ’ parents, who were also the most wonderful of hosts. Russ's dad is very angry at the beavers cutting down all the trees. We even heard one late at night splash loudly into the lake. So can you here a tree fall in the woods? Yes, you can.

Russ's dad helped us find tree stumps for our set (tree stumps ironically being all that beavers leave behind). Russ sanded them and put felt on the bottom.

Very tired. Long day and very long days ahead till we open. It’s almost one a.m . and Russ is filling out some kind of form for the Saskatoon Fringe on the net.

Why does everyone else seem more organized than us?

After a long and harrowing tech, we went to a Falafel joint and the guys there were so nice I almost cried. They even put up our poster on their garbage can. I love the people here. A trucker also asked if we were lost (with my map spread across the windshield on the highway). Oh yeah, Russ cut off a cop on our first day and he (the cop) was really mad.

Can I suggest, don’t quit smoking with your husband before traveling across the Country while trying to put a show together. Unless you want to see “There Will be Blood, Part II”. It ain’t pretty. If you must, though, bring lots of Bach’s Rescue Remedy (thanks Karen) and kleenex for when “smoking” the “imaginary” cigarettes just isn’t fun anymore.

On the Road again

2008-06-05T20:09:00.000-07:00

We are officially on the road again! On our third cross-Canadian Fringe Festival Tour!

On June 2, we left Vancouver, having packed up all our worldly possessions into a storage box with the guidance and strength of Ivan Penaluna, and set out on the trans-canada #1 for Montreal.

Opening night of Crude Love is at 11:15pm on Saturday, June 14, 2008, at Theatre Ste. Catherine. Check out www.bigsmokeproductions.com for a full schedule and the address of the theatre. Or www.montrealfringe.ca.

We have been writing Crude Love since November 2007, and are still rewriting it as we drive across the country. Today is DAY 4 of our drive, and we made it to Kenora, Ontario. It is also DAY 4 of our new lives as non-smokers, making for a very colourful car ride these past few days.

Yesterday we stopped in a town called Mundare, Alberta, Home of the Big Kubassa (Sausage). Gill posted a photo of it over there on the right.

We stopped in Edmonton and we warmly welcomed by Gill's dad and step-mom. We will stop in Muskoka and rest up with Russ's folks before heading onto Montreal to set up the show.

We would have liked to have more rehearsal time with our wonderful director and dramaturge, Emelia Symington Fedy, but hopefully she can join us in Toronto in July to give us more guidance.

Today we took a detour off the highway to drive through the town of Russell, Manitoba. Quite a trip to see a town so rooted in the 1950s where everything begins with your name: Russell Tires, Russell Post Office, Russell Street, Russell Memorial Center, Russell Regional Library, Russell Farm and Auto, Russell Video, Russell Golf Course, Russell Leisure Club, and Russell Civic Centre.

Alright, we have to rehearse the blocking before we head to bed. And type out the latest draft. And update the website with more press releases. And...

Why "Big Smoke"?

2008-03-05T21:29:00.000-08:00

Well, the time has come to begin a blog. I have put it off for too many years, and now I feel ready to share my thoughts with anyone with too much time on their hands.

I created Big Smoke Productions Inc. in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in 1998. I did so, completely unnecessarily, at the end of filming and editing my first film, STONED: Hemp Nation on Trial. Stoned is a 50-minute documentary following the story of Chris Clay, a 26 year-old owner of the store Hemp Nation, Canada's first hemp store, then located in London, Ontario. Chris was arrested twice for possession, cultivation and trafficking in cannabis sativa, and faced three or four life sentences. Chris challenged the then Narcotic Control Act, saying it was unconstitutional. His case went all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. But I digress.

I created Big Smoke Productions after the film was made. Why "Big Smoke"? Three reasons: 1. One of Toronto's nicknames is The Big Smoke, where I'm from, and where I created the company; 2. My first film was about a man's struggle to legalize marijuana (big smoke); and, 3. There was something appealing about "smoke" in a name for a film (and later theatre) production company - think: smoke and mirrors, illusion, smoking too many cigarettes trying to come up with a name, and so on.

Now Big Smoke Productions is a film and theatre production company. The latest production is Crude Love, an unlikely love story set in the near future in Alberta's Oil Sands between Phyllis McCormack, a driver of the biggest dump truck in the world and Abbie Waxman, a lone eco-warrior set on ending the oil sands. See www.bigsmokeproduction.com for more details.