Online

Telephone Madness showcase

In October a few intrepid AV explorers started a game. Every week, each one received half of a video — either the aural or the visual component — and had to fill in the missing part. Then their newly-created part was passed along to another participant to do the same. On December 4th, we’ll get to follow the video sequences from beginning to end and see how far things drifted away from where they started.

This event will be livestreamed on KWLT’s YouTube channel.

Does this seem confusing? Here’s a quick explainer that might help.

Q&A Livestream for “The Devil’s Disciple”

If you have questions about KWLT's "The Devil's Disciple", we've got answers! Come out to our livestream Q&A session and join members of the cast and production team for a peak behind the curtain — or rather, the blanket fort — as they talk about the play, the process, and anything else you might want to ask!

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Flash Madness

Introducing Flash Madness: a Weekend Audio Visual Tech Jam — July 9th-11th.

Flash Madness is a beginner-friendly audio/visual challenge. This event is entirely virtual. It is divided into two parts: an audio challenge on Saturday and a video challenge on Sunday. Participants can sign up for one challenge or both.

If you:
● Miss hanging out with your theatre community
● Want to acquire new skills in a low key environment
● Want a fun excuse to apply skills you already have

This event might be for you.

Timeline of the Event:

Friday Evening (Optional)
6pm-6:30pm Social Gathering
6:30pm-7:30pm Audio Editing Workshop
7:30pm-8:30pm Video Editing Workshop

Saturday
8am Participants receive the 1-minute silent video.
8pm Participants must submit their audio dubbing.
9pm Private viewing of everyone’s work

Sunday
8am Participants receive the 1-minute audio.
8pm Participants must submit the accompanying video.
9pm Private viewing of everyone’s work

Participants can choose how much time they spend on the challenges, and how they spend that time. Workshop facilitators will be available all day to help assist participants with the challenges. The results of people’s work will be shared privately among the participants.

The event will be hosted virtually using Discord.

Here’s a short video that explains everything!

FAQ

What would I need to participate?
All you need is a stable internet connection and some way to record video/audio. For example any modern smartphone would do. You are welcome to use any tool at your disposal.

Do I need a team to participate?
Flash Madness is a solo challenge, but you’re welcome to use whatever resources and people you have at your disposal.

Is this a competition? Will a winner be declared at the end of the event?
No, this is a workshop/tech jam. Videos will be watched in a viewing party at the end of the day with all participants.

What’s the cost to participate?
The event is free for KWLT members and $5 for non-members.

Participants can register through EventBrite. Spaces are limited, so if you’re interested in taking part on one or both days, act now!

If you have any questions, please contact Sophie Twardus.

Auditions: The Devil’s Disciple

KWLT’s next Black Box Radio production is The Devil’s Disciple, written by G. B. Shaw and directed by Joe Gull.

Set during the American Revolutionary War, The Devil’s Disciple follows Richard ‘Dick’ Dudgeon, the rakish reprobate of the play’s title who finds himself an unlikely hero. In Websterbridge, New Hampshire, Richard’s wild ways contrast sharply with the Puritanical piety of the townspeople; his family disowns him and his mother curses him. Only Anthony Anderson, the affable, open-minded Presbyterian minister, welcomes Richard into his home, much to his wife Judith’s disapproval. When British soldiers arrive to arrest the clergyman, Richard finds himself willingly taking Anderson’s place at the gallows. To his — and everyone else’s — surprise, the “Devil’s Disciple” may have a hero in him yet. The Devil’s Disciple was Shaw’s first major theatrical success; filled with Shaw’s classic wit and paradoxical characters, the play continues to amuse, provoke, and surprise audiences over a hundred years later.

Auditions: Auditions will be held online On June 25 (7-9pm), 26 (2-4pm), and 27 (10-11:30am) — please sign up in advance and we’ll send you a link. Actors will do cold reads from the play; it is not necessarily to prepare a monologue.

Rehearsals: Rehearsals will be held On Wednesday evenings and Saturday afternoons through July, August, and September.

Characters: Three leading roles (2M 1F), eight supporting (6M 2F), two minor (2M). Character descriptions are available here.

2021 Annual General Meeting

KWLT will be holding its Annual General Meeting for 2021 on June 29th online.

Our AGM is when we look at what KWLT’s been up to for the last year: we’ll review our productions and other activities, take a look at our financials, and recognize our volunteers and their efforts. This is also when we elect members to our board of directors.

We welcome all members of KWLT to our AGM; if you’re not a member but would like to become one we can help you with that as well. Register for the meeting here.

Here’s the link for the meeting, which starts at 7pm on June 29th. If you haven’t signed up in EventBrite, your admission might be slightly delayed as we review your membership status.

Theatre and the Art of Adaptation

With live theatre being difficult under pandemic restrictions, many artists have found themselves adapting stage plays to audio or other media. On World Theatre Day KWLT will be hosting a round table discussion on the promises and perils of such adaptation of dramatic works. The conversation will range from artistic to practical concerns, with plenty of opportunity for our audience to participate.

Our panelists are:

Danielle Deveau is an Executive Producer at Midtown Radio. She is also a Lecturer in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Waterloo and conducts research on creative cities, cultural mapping, and community engagement.

Diana Lobb has directed four productions for KWLT, including last fall’s The Tragedy of Mariam audio adaptation; her directorial debut included the one-act An Immigration Officer’s Experiences which was originally a radio play. She is also a Lecturer in the Department of English at St. Jerome’s University.

Ciarán Myers is immensely privileged with an MFA in Script Writing from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He is an alumnus of the Stratford Festival’s Playwrights Retreat, Directors Lab North, the Traverse Theater’s Directing Program, and was the first creator-in-residence at GreenLight Arts. At the moment Ciarán is participating in Driftwood Theatre’s Playwrights Unit and working with young people on a new piece with the Registry Theatre. Ciarán lives here in the Waterloo Region with his wife and daughter where he also teaches acting, writing, and dance to all age groups.

Tickets are free for members of KWLT, $5 for non-members. (If you’re not a member but would like to be, you can also purchase a membership for $15 and then get a free member ticket.)

Workshop: Audio mixing for online theatre

In this hour long workshop, Alex McVittie will walk through the basics of how to mix a song recorded remotely for an online theater performance, and share some audio engineering techniques that will bring your radio plays to the next level using some audio segments from The Tragedy of Mariam to demonstrate effects like entering, exiting, and walking around a virtual stage. The workshop will be done using Ardour, an open source digital audio workstation program, but all the techniques demonstrated can be done in almost any digital audio workstation.

Tickets are free for KWLT members and $5 for non-members. (If you’re not a member but would like to be, you can also pay for a membership there.)

Alex McVittie is a 26 year old software developer who has been playing piano since he was 4 years old, and has been doing music production work on the side since 2015. Outside of music and software development, Alex enjoys cycling during warm weather, photography, cooking, and playing board games. 

Presented as part of KWLT’s Black Box Radio Workshop Series.

March Madness 2021

KWLT’s ultimate theatrical competition is back, and this time it’s mad! And by “mad” we mean “online”.

In response to These Times, March Madness is reinventing itself. Teams will be given a short silent film, and they’ll have two weeks to decide what it’s about and provide an audio track: dialogue, effects, even music. They’ll audition their actors the day after they get the footage, and then it’s on!

The March Madness event will be run entirely online, but will look pretty familiar: we’ll screen the films, the filmmaking team will chat about their process, and then the adjudicator will tell us all what they think.

This event is presented entirely for free (but donations are welcome). When the time comes you’ll find the live stream on our YouTube channel.

Black Box Radio Workshops

Q & A with Graham Yeates

How is voice acting different from acting for the stage? What are some key skills for a voice actor to learn? On January 9th we’ll be hosting a live online Q&A with voiceover actor and long-time KWLTer Graham Yeates. This session is free for members of KWLT, $5 for non-members.

Go to https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/voice-acting-with-graham-yeates-registration-133442793989?utm-medium=discovery&utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&aff=escb&utm-source=cp&utm-term=listing to book your place.