So...
2017 sucked.
Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of good things that happened in 2017, but globally...just...?!
I know it has been a really long time since I've made a video, perhaps the things that
I talk about in this video will make that clear (as to why) but it's the end of 2017
and that means it's time for my annual year in review.
What I Did in 2017.
Let's start with January.
I started teaching with Theatre SKAM, and the new SKAM School of Performing Arts.
I was teaching an improv class for kids as well as a YouTube class, which I'll talk about
a little bit more.
But I talked about that in my last (year in review) video and it was quite the challenge
but I did my first ever YouTube class.
February!
February was super busy.
I started teaching one of my private students named Atticus Cohen-Yelle and I'll link to
his channel below.
We've been working on his own personal Youtube channel for almost a full year now and he's
doing so well.
He has a little base of subscribers and people are loving his content, so check that out
down bellow!
As was mentioned in the last (year in review) video, Tony and I started rehearsing for LUB
DUB, as we were coming up on our premiere, which was happening in March.
As we were rehearsing for LUB DUB, we performed in the Vino Buono Launch Party which was a
launch of Vino Buono's first ever season.
We were really happy to be a part of this event, it was another small event where we
could do a small exerpt of LUB DUB.
It went over really well and it helped us to create the end product of LUB DUB that
we did in March.
So thank you Vino Buono.
Tony and I travelled to Vancouver to see Mouthpiece, one of his favourite pieces of theatre.
It's a feminist piece of theatre created by two women and I think it's actually coming
here locally, so I'll link that down below.
The Canadian Improv Games finals for Vancouver Island happened here in Victoria, and I also
worked on a show called an Improvised Sitcom, where we took photos that were very reminiscent
of Friends and we tried a whole new style of Sitcom.
This was actually one of the most challenging styles that I think I've ever done, but it
was a really good lesson in how sitcoms are created and how that kind of comedy is created.
March!
LUB DUB premiered for the first time EVER in it's full length version on March 1, 2017.
This was a really great time for us to keep experimenting with LUB DUB and what it would
eventually become this year, and a really great way to bring on all of our loved ones
into the same space and to create this show that is really just about experience and creating
together and discovering.
So I think that was a really big learning curve for Tony and I as our duo, NickelPumpernickel.
And at that show, we also announced that we would be going to the Ottawa Fringe Festival
in June.
So I'll talk about that a little bit later.
This was a big month for NickelPumpernickel because we actually were the feature set at
the Improv Cabaret as well.
That was also a learning curve for us, maybe not our most clean performance, but we were
able to really learn from that experience of just doing improv on stage.
Tony is learning more and more about improv everyday, and it was just really fun to be
our duo.
I love NickelPumpernickel and we are steaming full speed ahead in 2018.
I also opened a show called Much (Less) Ado about Nothing, which was another adaptation
of the Shakespeare classic, by Launch Pad Productions.
My second show with them...or technically my third show with them but my second show
in the castle.
I had a lovely time, and I played two characters (pictures here) and I just love working with
Launch Pad.
They are the best people and I love them, forever, MUAH.
April!
In April I actually flew back to Ottawa again to go to the Canadian Improv Games National
Tournament.
This was my second time being at the tournament, but my first time being a volunteer.
So some of the things that I did, I taught workshops, I sat on a panel with other improvisers
from all across Canada about improv in Canada, I was part of the box team at Nationals which
was super fun with my friend Spencer.
I performed in a couple of the mini sets that we were doing for the young improvisers, it
was overall a really cool week, very illuminating.
I definitely brought my voice to Nationals as an advocate for marginalized students,
for students that are often not heard as much as privileged students within the Canadian
Improv Games, as well as in our own organization because there are things that need to change.
And being one of the only people of colour at this festival, it was really important
to me to stand up and use my voice as one of the only people.
And the fact that I was one of the only people, and I am a light-skinned person of colour,
this really speaks to the power structures that need to be examined within this organization.
So, using my voice as much as I need to for now, and hopefully in the future, there will
be more wonderful people of colour in this organization to do this work with me, so I
can take a step back.
Before that, I was actually in Sudbury in April to celebrate my 24th birthday with my
grandparents, and that was great, except for the fact that my flight into Sudbury was with
Air Canada, NEVER NEVER AGAIN.
But when I got into Ontario from Victoria, they told me that my flight was delayed, and
I'm like "Okay, great, let's see when my flight is".
It was TWO DAYS LATER.
And the next day was my birthday and I just like COMPLETELY broke down in the airport
and Air Canada did NOT help me at all.
They basically refused to help me and were blaming me for my own circumstance, so I got
on a train, I was on a train all night with this other woman and we were both headed to
Sudbury, it was kind of amazing that I found her, this beautiful woman of colour, and we
just like cried and got through it, and WE GOT TO SUDBURY, ONTARIO!
And then when I got back from Ontario, I actually went straight into filming a movie, a movie
that I worked on with director James Douglas, called "The Doctor's Case".
This was such a cool experience, I got to play a character named Lieutenant Gleason,
and I got to have a scene with one of the stars of the film.
This was such a cool experience, getting to work with Denise Crosby, if you don't know
who she is, I'll link some information down below, but I feel like a couple of Star Trek
fans or Walking Dead fans might know who she is.
This was just so cool, and I felt so honoured to be part of this process, and to get back
on film.
It's been so long since I've done a film project, so thank you James for having me, and more
details on that coming out next year of when you can see the film.
May!
This was a little bit of a slower month.
I did an Improv Cabaret with Tony again, which went really well.
I voted...uh-huh.
I worked Uno Fest, and last video, I was watching it today, the last recap, I was talking about
Uno Fest and how I had just previously done a solo set, then I got to watch a bunch of
solo performers.
Same kind of thing this year, except that I was creating a solo show while this was
happening.
So quite a different arc of how this year has gone, but I'll talk about that a little
bit later.
And at the Uno Fest, Tony and I actually met one of his theatre heroes, Daniel MacIvor.
This was really cool to see Tony interact with someone he respected so much.
We talked to him about our work with NickelPumpernickel, how we were going to Ottawa Fringe, and it
was just really cool to kind of take away that big facade of fame in theatre, because
it's definitely there, and just chat with other theatre artists.
It was really really cool because Daniel MacIvor ended up actually donating to our campaign
to LUB DUB.
And that was a pretty big moment for Tony most certainly, but for me as well.
Just to see someone you respect so much and see how their work has affected other people,
and them to have that confidence in you, it's just a really beautiful moment.
So thank you Daniel MacIvor.
June!
In June, Tony and I went to the Ottawa Fringe Festival together as NickelPumpernickel for
the first time.
We performed LUB DUB, which really went really really well.
It was a new show than what we had done in March, totally new content, really crafted
to work with the audience in new exciting ways, and I'm ultimately so proud of what
we accomplished in Ottawa.
We got to speak to marginalization within theatre communities, we got to create this
bond with some folks in the theatre community that I never would have thought imaginable
for someone coming in from another city, from being a touring artist.
I got to create such wonderful relationships with other women of colour in the city of
Ottawa, who I cannot thank enough for supporting us through this time.
The relationships that I gained from that experience is the best part about going to
Ottawa Fringe.
As a lot of you know, and as a lot of you might have seen in my solo show which I'll
talk about later, it didn't go the best for us because we received racist reviews, I'll
speak to that in another video that's coming soon, but ultimately, I really got to see
the ugly side of Canadian theatre and Canadian theatre "criticism", and what white people
deem to be acceptable to marginalized identities.
So, (laughing) eye opening, that's for damn sure.
And really reinstilled my feeling that I'm having about theatre and feeling that I'm
having about these communities in which, these insular communities that are predominantly white
theatre artists need to be questioned and need to be broken up and honestly, the only
art that I really want to see right now is by marginalized, POC, trans, non-binary, (and
disabled!) artists.
Like, that's all I want to see!
That's all I want to see.
Of course it wasn't all bad while I was there, I taught one of my first workshops on diversity
(in improv and theatre) with the Improv Embassy, who hosted us when we were at the Ottawa Fringe!
We lived with Dani and Chris while we were there, and they opened up their venue for
us to perform in.
I can't thank the Improv Embassy enough for being such wonderful allies to us during this
time, thank you so much.
As well, on the way back to Victoria, we went to Sudbury again and Tony met my grandma...my
Lilang.
This was a really big thing for us.
My grandma and the filipina women in my family are the most important link to my culture,
to who I am, to who I've become because of them.
Tony meeting my grandma, after this experience in Ottawa, was just the best way to possibly
close that experience.
July!
In July, I actually went back to the Legislature to work... this was kind of a weird thing.
When we were in Ottawa, I got this email being like "Someone quit, help!
Can you be a tour guide?" and I'm like "Mmmmm maybe??"
So I learned how to be a tour guide! and I have actually been working there ever since.
It's a temporary position so I'll be there for a little while as a tour guide/parliamentary
player... hello!
Paper Street Theatre also put on an Improvised Jane Austen, and this was a full remount to
a show that we had done years previously, and we did a full version at the Emily Carr
house.
And this was so fun!
I loved it so much, and I think it's going to become a recurring thing every summer so,
I can't wait to get my Jane Austen on, every summer.
As soon as we got back from the Ottawa Fringe, I started writing my solo show, Monica vs.
The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior.
I wrote this with Ann-Bernice Thomas, who was my director, who I'm going to just like
boast about for the rest of this video probably but we started writing in July and we kept
writing until the show.
August!
August is when I moved into this place!
The reason that we haven't really talked about it very much is that we were really busy when
we moved out.
Tony and I found this place and were just like overwhelmed with joy.
We moved in and I just started rehearsing every single day for Monica vs. The Internet,
so we didn't really have time to like welcome people in and show them we had a new place.
But I live here now!
This is our room, and I love it.
It looks a little plain behind me, but you know, there's stuff.
And in August, we opened Monica vs. The Internet.
I tried so hard (and failed) to speed though the rest of the year because this is ultimately
one of the biggest things I've ever done in my life.
This was my first ever solo show.
This was my first co-creation with Ann-Bernice Thomas and the first time being directed by
her.
This was a culmination of such a long time's worth of content into a show.
So my solo show was about my internet comments that I receive on this channel, and showing
it and sharing it with the world for the first time.
Really bringing together my worlds of theatre, and internet, and feminism, and social justice,
and exploding that out and exploring what the hell my life is about.
So it was basically an exploration of my life.
It still feels like a blur.
I don't think I've had the proper time to like process it because so many other things
have happened since.
But I really hope to put on this show again, and I think my audiences were very illuminated
by what I had to say and what Ann-Bernice and I had to say.
And I'm so proud because I know for a fact that we brought new audiences to the Fringe
Festival, new marginalized POC audiences, who don't usually feel welcome or safe in
Fringe Festivals.
Which I think is another one of the biggest "discoveries", I suppose, that I felt this
year, is that I always knew it was there, but I really got to see it play out in a new
way by doing a solo show, or by going to another fringe festival.
POC artists are just not welcomed into these spaces at all, and I wanted to change that,
Ann-Bernice and I wanted to change that.
So we made this show that wasn't centering white people...and POC folks came, and they
supported us.
Again, very similar to how I felt in Ottawa, the relationships and newly formed friendships
that I've created because of these shows, because of these shows that challenge social
norms and white supremacy, I am so overwhelmed and grateful for these relationships that
have started in my life.
And that is was propels me to want to go forward and do more of this work, forever, and always.
September!
September we closed Monica vs. The Internet, and there was a lot of things that happened
during the festival, with all the positivity, there was still a shit ton of racism going
on, but I got two wonderful reviews that were not racist at all!
Huh!
It's funny, you'd think that would be a given...nope.
And I got a lot of support, but I did also get a lot of backlash in Victoria, and people
are fucking racist so like... (flips middle fingers).
But that being said, it came up to Pick of the Fringe night and Monica vs. The Internet:
Tales of a Social Justice Warrior actually won an award, a Pick of the Fringe award for
Bravest Show.
We had multiple feelings about the award.
We were so happy to be recognized for the work we were doing, and the diversity we were
bringing to the festival, but it was also kind of funny because in the show we talked
about this idea of "bravery", and how people of colour and women of colour and any marginalized
person really, are kind of given this label of "brave" because they dare speak out about
their marginalization.
And we sort of unpacked that in the show, and said that we don't really want to be called
"brave" because it takes away the responsibility of privileged people in the fact that like,
I shouldn't have to be brave by talking about what my life is like, privileged people should
stand up and do the work too.
So while it was incredible to be recognized, there was also this sort of irony that came
with it.
And, I mean, maybe that's the nature of doing art that is different... and art that makes
people think but, regardless, we still got a Pick of the Fringe award and that is really
special to me.
Thank you Ann-Bernice for being in my life, and for being the most wonderful director
and co-creator, I could not have done any of this without you.
Muah, I love you.
The rest of September was a really a bad month for me.
It was kind of a write off month, because my dog, Harriet, passed away.
And I haven't really said anything on my social media about that yet because it's been really
hard.
She is my best friend, she will always be my best friend, and my baby, and I miss her
everyday.
But September was really really hard for me, and I just kind of fell off the face of the
earth.
I think I needed to do that after the solo show, but I'm really glad that I took the
time that I needed to self-care, and I'm still doing that, I think the rest of this year
was predominantly self-care with everything that happened.
October!
October was pretty low key except for the fact that I was part of Ann-Bernice's Disobedient
Women project, that was a video project that I'll link to down below, and I had so much
fun being part of this project.
The end product is INCREDIBLE.
The video and the women that are participating in it is just like out of this world.
So PLEASE go watch that below.
It was one of the proudest moments of 2017 for me.
November!
I saw a lot of amazing work, I saw Space Hippo, which was a Pick of the Fringe show that came
here a couple of years ago.
I saw two new works by one of my favourite playwrights Marie Clements, "The Road Forward"
which is her new musical documentary, as well as "Missing" her new opera.
Both were completely different from one another, but so incredible to watch her work, she is
one of my favourite artists.
And I actually got to meet her after seeing her film, and I was like in a total daze,
I totally freaked out and was like "OMG, you're the reason/you helped me leave (racist) theatre
school, ahhhh" and she's like "cool!"
(Laughing).
I think I was a little uncool in that moment, but it was one of the coolest things to meet
her and see her face to face.
And I also did a show, An Improvised Agatha Christie: A Murder on Paper Street, which
was an Improvised murder mystery.
This was one of the coolest shows I've ever done.
The character work, the unravelling of the mystery because the improvisers didn't know
who the murderer was going to be and we found out later.
And it was just such a fun show.
The costumes were beautiful, I loved it.
Finally, December!
Crimmas!
That's my Crimmas tree!
I worked on An Improvised Zombie Movie: Z-MAS or "Zed" MAS depending on how you feel...and
that was such a fun style.
I love zombie films I've realized.
I never thought I would be the person to say that, but I love The Walking Dead so much
and zombie movies.
So this was a really cool style to explore the gritty human nature of what happens during
an apocalypse.
And finally, I'm going to see it again in the New Year, but I saw The Last Jedi.
My next video is going to be talking about The Last Jedi, what I thought, how much I
cried.
SPOILER ALERT: THREE TIMES.
And just how much The Last Jedi has given me half of the strength I think that I need
to go into 2018.
2017 was a fucking shitty year.
So many bad things happened and the state of the world right now just feels so precarious
and fucked up and shitty.
But 2018, more than ever, I've never felt this same feeling of like, it's a new year
and I'm going to SMASH IT, but like, honestly, I feel like I NEED to with this new year.
2018 has to be another year of resistance, of feminist politics, of fucking with white
supremacy in theatre, of not allowing fucking shitty privileged white folks to get in the
way of what I want to do.
And I am NOT going to let people get in the way.
This is a year of reinvention, and transformation, and growth and I am really really excited.
To get back to what I was talking about, make sure to check back here for my video on The
Last Jedi, really really soon.
I know that I have not been putting out a lot of videos, probably because of all the
things I've been doing this year, but this gives me a lot of joy and gives me a space
to be myself.
So I think that I'm going to be coming back, maybe not as regularly as I want to be, but
I'm going to be putting out more videos than I did this year.
Thank you so much for watching, this is everything I did in 2017, or at least the highlights
of what I did in this year.
Special thank you to Tony Adams for being the most incredible supportive person in my
life who I could not have made it through this year without, and to Ann-Bernice Thomas
who is the most wonderful collaborator and creator, and we'll be working together more
in 2018.
I can't wait to share with you all what the plan is for 2018, I have no idea at this point.
But we'll see what happens!
If you like you can subscribe and go there and da da da...it's been so long since I've
done that.
And I will see you all in 2018.
May the force be with us.
Okay bye!
For more infomation >> Testing settings from EposVox OBS guide on youtube - Duration: 1:21:57. 
For more infomation >> FIJNE JAARSWISSELING 💖💖💖 - Duration: 2:21. 
For more infomation >> LIVE English Lesson - 31st December 2017 - NEW YEAR'S EVE - Goodbye 2017! - Mr Duncan - Live Chat - Duration: 2:04:08. 
For more infomation >> Tobi1 - Giaroun (Prod. Macca) [RAP MODENESE] - Duration: 2:28. 
For more infomation >> Tiger Remix TPHCM 31/12/2017 | Đan Trường live tại tiger remix 2018 | GIAI TRI TV - Duration: 5:31. 
Không có nhận xét nào:
Đăng nhận xét