in the pen case

As some of you may know I collect fountain pens. {Brief pause for the inevitable laughter to stop}. I won't bore you with the minutiae but sufficeth to say that if you ever get a check, note, or ask to borrow a pen then you will inevitably be handed a fountain pen of some description or it will be written by a fountain pen.
There is for me great satisfaction in pairing up various pens to ink and following the impulse of the moment as to which will be used. It is an in the moment piece of art that allows for random expression.
So from time to time I will post what pens I currently have in my pen case. They may reflect some inner clue as to how things are or maybe they will just, like much of what I believe is theatre, be an opportunity to be surprised.

So from left to right are this weeks current crop. Filcao Atlantica {ink: Private Reserve Plum}, Parker Duofold {ink: Aurora Black}, Cleo Scribent Chiffre 2000 {ink: Private Reserve Fiesta Red}, across the top a Parker Lady Patricia Pencil in Onyx {part of a set with a matching Ladies pen}

I seem to be heavily into red inks these days. I wonder what that invokes.

Alison Croggon

Alison Croggon, a theatre blogger from Australia writes in her post "Hope and so on"

"Culture isn’t the same as art. Culture is the contract, however defined, between an artist and his or her public. Culture is the lively communal yeast that makes everything rise. It’s the air that lets art breathe, the space where it can swing its arms, the multiple influences that flavour it.

If our theatre culture is deeply impoverished, it’s not because there are not committed and skilful artists, or that there aren’t audiences – even enthusiastic audiences – for what they do. It’s because something crucial is missing in between, in that implicit contract between the creation and reception of art. Whatever the causes – and they are manifold, historical and difficult to track – the effects are plain."

This is a huge post that is, in it's references, quite Australian. However I think that we here in Canada could make the necessary substitutions. This is a post well worth reading all the way through.

The front page of her blog, theatre notes, is here. And I will be adding her to the blogroll as I find her a fascinating read.

Sunday Quickie

Conservative Theatre

Ottawa Festival Cuts

I don't know if the two go together but maybe....just maybe

or maybe this fits in somehow as well Sacramento AD Resigns

International Playwrights Forum - Fin

Kwame Kwei Armah, Philip Akin, Velina Hasu Houston

Photo by Dian Marie Bridge

This weekend opened up for me a number of questions. I was amazed at the magnificent artists that came and so generously shared with us. I was amazed at how those in attendance seemed to be so inspired and enriched by the Forum. Their survey forms often spoke of how they had been avoiding the difficult work that is inside them and how now they know that that is the work that has to be tackled. I was amazed at how, even though they registered, over 54% did not bother to show up.

I felt that this Forum was a unique opportunity to open some doors between companies and to activate the process of cross pollinization of ideas and cultures. But then again perhaps not. It was somewhat disheartening to realize that it may be easier to look outward, across borders and seas, to find people and companies that believe in this model instead of down the street.

It has left me with a lot to think about and to re-evaluate what direction will best serve Obsidian.