{"id":21050,"date":"2021-05-17T11:27:26","date_gmt":"2021-05-17T18:27:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=21050"},"modified":"2021-05-17T11:27:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-17T18:27:26","slug":"urinetown-play-about-pee-makes-splash-in-pandemic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2021\/05\/17\/urinetown-play-about-pee-makes-splash-in-pandemic\/","title":{"rendered":"Urinetown<\/em> play about pee makes splash in pandemic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo matter what background you come from, no matter what your politics are, no matter what it is about you that might make you different from somebody else in society, not being able to pee when you need to pee is something that everyone in this world can relate to.\u201d<\/p>\n

So says Canadian College of Performing Arts (CCPA) managing artistic director Caleb Marshall while discussing CCPA\u2019s upcoming online presentation of Urinetown<\/em>, a play that deals with what happens when there\u2019s no public places left to urinate. Marshall\u2014who is also directing the play\u2014says that the show is funny yet thought provoking, and it doesn\u2019t shy away from bigger questions, like what the role of big institutions is in society.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way to connect with this show is for people to think about any natural, integral human behaviour that we take for granted that is suddenly privatized by a corporation and taken away from us,\u201d says Marshall.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Urinetown<\/em> is about more than just pee (photo by Andrew Barrett).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Whether it\u2019s those long, six-feet-between-us lines or the ubiquitous face masks we\u2019ve grown used to seeing on everyone, being in a slightly dystopian future is something familiar to audiences, says Marshall. The show was chosen in the summer of last year with COVID in mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cIntegrating COVID protocols within our show worked within the world of the play,\u201d he says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t want a play where we\u2019re just putting masks and things on top of the play; we wanted them to integrate into the play, so having face shields, masks, COVID barriers rolling around on wheels\u2014it really works within the world of the play.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show is also being presented in two runs with two separate casts. Marshall says that doing that while following COVID-19 protocols is a big undertaking, but it means twice as many people get to work in a particularly hard-hit industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy doing two separate versions, it really means there\u2019s twice as many parts available,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Two shows also means a larger creative team and stage management team. Along with Marshall are five associate directors, three stage managers, two music directors, two choreographers, and a choreographer mentor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe production stage manager oversees the entire project, and each deputee oversees their given cast and their given production,\u201d says Marshall. \u201cThis allows us to have multiple rehearsals happening at the same time. What we\u2019ve been doing for the last few days\u2026 we\u2019re blocking a scene with one company in a studio with the set taped out on the floor, [and] the other company is in another studio with the set taped out on the floor, and they\u2019re watching, virtually, what\u2019s happening in that rehearsal hall, then we rotate.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s more learning opportunity for everyone that way, says Marshall, especially considering two shows doesn\u2019t mean double the amount of rehearsal hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to keep everyone active at all times. Not just for their learning, but to ensure that we can deliver them two fully realized productions with confidence,\u201d says Marshall.<\/p>\n

While the blueprints and design elements of the show will be the same, each cast gives their own take on the material, says Marshall.<\/p>\n

\u201cActors bring their own choices, bring their own unique impulses,\u201d he says. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of nuances and difference in characterization.\u201d<\/p>\n

Urinetown
\n<\/em>Friday, May 28 to Saturday, June 5
\n$15
\nccpacanada.com\/urinetown<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cNo matter what background you come from, no matter what your politics are, no matter what it is about you that might make you different from somebody else in society, not being able to pee when you need to pee is something that everyone in this world can relate to.\u201d So says Canadian College of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21052,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts","category-webexclusive"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21050","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21050"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21053,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21050\/revisions\/21053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}