Kendall Savage

Transcript

Welcome to episode 144 of Stageworthy. I’m your host, Phil Rickaby. Stageworthy is a podcast about people in Canadian theatre featuring conversations with actors, directors, playwrights, and more.

As I record this, it is my last day in St. John New Brunswick after a wonderful Fundy Fringe Festival. I was so honoured that my play, The Commandment, was named the Outstanding Solo Show of the 2018 Fundy Fringe Festival, which capped off a great five days of fringe. I’ve had a great time here in St. John, but on Monday, it’s off to the next stop, Halifax, for the Halifax Fringe.

If you want to drop me a line, you can find Stageworthy on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram at StageWorthyPod, and you can find the website at StageWorthyPodcast.com. If you want to drop me a line, you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at PhilRickaby, and my website is PhilRickaby.com. My guest this week is Kendall Savage, clown director and the co-artistic director of the Montreal Clown Festival. She’s also the director of Wild Bill’s Facebook Live Feed Feeding Time YouTube Yeehaw, opening at the Halifax Fringe on August 31st. So, when do you head over to Halifax? Halifax, we’re leaving, I believe, the 28th of August to get ourselves organized out there.

And that’s really soon. Yeah, that comes up. So you’re going to have a little bit of time there? Yeah, we’re staying there, I think, for about two weeks total, but we’re showing up, oh my gosh, I want to say like four days earlier to search for a couch for the performance.

We didn’t want to drag a couch across France. No, why would you? My goodness. It’s all about minimalism when you’re trying to go from place to place.

Oh, yes. What is the show that you’ll be presenting in the Halifax Fringe? So it’s from this lovely company that is owned by Steve Day, who’s a local Skolje clown, who is starting to get back into clowning. And it’s called Wild Bill’s Facebook Live Feed Feeding Time YouTube Yeehaw.

And that is quite a name. Yeah, I call it Wild Bill, but we are actively trying to use the entire title when we introduce it to people. It’s a lot of fun.

It’s a fun title. It’s a memorable title. Absolutely.

It took me a while to have to get my lips around it. How long did it take to be able to just rattle it off like that? You know, I could have tried a little harder, but it probably took me a solid week or two of actively sitting down and being like, Wild Bill’s Facebook Live Feed Feeding Time YouTube Yeehaw, Wild Bill’s Facebook Live Feed, and just repeating it sort of mantra style. Because it’s a really interesting story how I got involved, or I feel it is, if we’re just going to be like rolling with conversation.

Yeah, we’re just going to roll with it. I want to say that Steve Day is one of the bravest people I’ve ever met when it comes to fringe performances. Because he had two shows already under his belt, no stage manager.

They had such technical difficulties in the first week. We went through seven computers because there’s projection in the show dealing with online harassment and trolls. And he still insisted that he do every single show.

And when I saw him at the Fringe for All, where everyone has their two minutes to perform, his two minutes on stage were so genuinely hilarious and super, super simple that I was very impressed. And I reached out to him to be like, I can’t wait to see your show. And then he’s like, can you help me? And then I was like, well, I got a little bit of free time.

And as soon as I met the guy, we sat down, we talked, we went through the show, and I was brought in to sort of help just bring it all together. And now we have what we have, and it’s wonderful, and it’s fun, and it’s genuine. And I could not be more proud of this human.

And he did every single show. One show, the computer wouldn’t work for some reason. We were on computer number five.

And I sat in the front row, and I read every single line of the computer. And we just did it. He just did it.

He’s like, I’m not going to give up. We’re going to do this show. And I really respect that about him.

Yeah, absolutely. Projections are such a deadly thing. Like, I’ve done a couple of shows with projections.

One show was really projection intense. And every time we would start, we would wonder, is this going to be the one where we see the beach ball? Is this going to be the one where the computer freezes? Yeah, that happens. And it’s quite nerve-wracking.

It is. Nerve-wracking. He designed a tech-heavy show.

For a French show, I think it’s extremely tech-heavy, personally. So, I’m more of a… It’s really brave to do that when you are going into a different space that you don’t know so well. It’s one thing if you’re familiar with the space to do it, or you have a lot of time in the space.

But you’ve got four hours to tech it. Yeah, and we have to do it. So, I believe we’re going to do it.

Yeah. So, but we have discussed it. Like, we had a little… In rehearsal the other day, the computer did a little click, click.

And we sort of froze and tried not to panic. And then everything kind of smoothed out. So, we’re just… I’m going to be grateful if the computer starts so much.

Like, there can’t be a number eight. There can’t be a number eight. No way.

Oh my God. A number… No, like, are these computers dying and you’re just like buying new ones? No, some of them are brand new. We borrowed… It got to a point where we were borrowing friends’ computers that were like brand new, as far as I can tell.

And it was just a kismet. They just… The clown gods just really wanted to challenge us. And I have never been more challenged in my life.

And do the clown gods continue to challenge you? Oh, yes. Very much so. But I’m rolling with the punches.

It’s sort of… The clown gods challenge me right now because I jumped on and agreed to a project that ends two days before I go in to run Le Festival des Clowns de Montréal. And that’s a little terrifying because running a clown festival is extremely, beautifully stressful and filled with clown god gifts. But coming from another province, jumping over and going straight into our festival.

That’s going to be rough because there must be a lot that you’re doing leading up to that clown festival while you’re doing this show in Halifax. Yeah. This morning, I’m still desperately trying to reach out to get people to come because that’s always your number one worry.

Are we advertising enough? Tell me about it. Let me know about it. Is anybody going to come? But I have an amazing team.

I have an amazing team of about 10 people plus. And everybody’s pretty on top of their game. And I couldn’t be more grateful for that.

That’s great. I have to admit, I’m a little nervous about Halifax. I’m in St. John right now getting ready to do the Fundy Fringe here.

Oh, fun! And I have no idea. I can only look at the thing in front of me. So I’m trying to keep on top of everything that I need to for Halifax and try to set some stuff up.

But I’m also needing to focus here. So I don’t know. And not lose your cool.

Yeah. And not lose your cool. Try not to worry about it.

Try not to get wrapped up in the party scene because you’re also there and you want to have a good time. And you want to meet people. Oh, yeah.

The thing is, I’ve noticed that all of their programming starts at like 11.45 here. Like the post-Fringe programming at the Hub. And for the most part, I’m going to be in bed.

Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough.

I might have a little party left in me. I’m not quite there yet. You never know.

You don’t know until you go how much party you’ve got left in you. It’s true. In Montreal, where I focus most of my – because I live here and we work with the mainline and the Fringe, there becomes quite a party scene.

So I guess – and I’ve never been to – I’ve never participated in another Fringe. This is my first participation in another Fringe. So I don’t really know how alike and disalike they are.

So that’s a secret. I think Montreal is known as a party Fringe. Yeah.

And it might be known as the party Fringe on the circuit. So you might find that there is less party in other Fringes. I mean there’s still party but not like Montreal.

Okay. Okay. That’s good.

There’s no 13th hour. Nobody is partying until 4 o’clock in the morning. Well, maybe they are but not at the Fringe.

Yeah. That’s probably for the best. It probably is.

It probably is. I mean a lot of people like the Montreal Fringe to kick off their tour. So it’s a good way to party through the Fringe.

But yeah, no. I mean every Fringe is different and you will see that almost immediately when you get there. Aside from the Fringe, I do want to talk about Clown.

And I want to talk about the Montreal Festival of Clowns and also your – like how did you get into Clown? What is your Clown slash theatre origin story? I am in the beginning. How did I? I know. I remember.

I remember this. So gosh, I don’t remember how old I was but I had just – I graduated from the Randolph Academy of Performing Arts. My first degree was in musical theatre.

And I had fallen out of performance for all kinds of health reasons and life reasons. And then there used to be – I don’t think it exists anymore – but there used to be the most wonderful sort of get-back-on-your-feet-for-actors conservatory called the Players Academy in Toronto. And I went into that and I believe it was like an eight-month intensive get-back-on-your-feet.

And three months of it was working with Mike Knard from Mump and Smoot on Clown. I remember thinking – I remember these exact words when they said, you’re going to be taking Clown. I went, Clown? Who the hell has a career in Clown? And those are my exact words.

And then Mike swooped in and just this whole magical world opened up. And then he invited me to go learn at the Clown Farm before it was called the Conservatory of Creative Performance. And I remember laughing and being like, again saying, Clown, who has a career in Clown? And then walking away for a few years.

And in about 2009, so years had passed, I decided I needed a fresh start and I was going to go back to university for more acting in Montreal. And the first year I was there, Cirque du Soleil scouted me for Clown. Because they saw me in a performance and I remember scratching my head and being like, oh, I think maybe I should explore this a little bit more.

Because all the signs are pointing towards I should be doing Clown. And that’s when I just headfirst dove in and I was producing workshops from Clowns after school hours for the students. And I was going to the Clown Farm and I was experiencing Francine Cotet and then I did a little bit of Philip Goyer experience.

And then it turned out like every third person in Montreal is a Clown or involved in Clowning. Because there are so many circuses and circus schools and of course, Cirque du Soleil, Cirque d’Oiseau, Cirque Kalmanyo, Le Sept-Droits, The Seven Fingers. Dr. Clowning is huge here.

It’s just, there’s such a huge community and they’re so scattered. Or they were so scattered. And I just dove in and then it just like a huge tidal wave rolled over me.

And the next thing I know I am where I am. What is it about Montreal that attracted so much Clown? Did it come from Cirque du Soleil or was it there before Cirque? I think it was here, I do believe it was here before Cirque. Absolutely, it was here before Cirque.

It’s the connection between, I personally believe, between Europe and Quebec. Because the French community handles the arts very differently than the English community. And that’s a good thing and sometimes a bad thing, but it’s just different.

But it’s like in Europe where Clown, much like comic books, are considered a high art. And they have people, like Le Coq has been doing it forever and ever and ever up there. And then Philippe Meulier and so there’s all these experts.

And then all of the French people here relate to it so much more out there. So they go, they learn, and then they find out there’s a beautiful cabaret circuit out there where they can actually go and tour for six months out of the year, save all of their money and come back and then afford to live in Montreal because Montreal is the most affordable city in Canada to live in. The rent is just magical.

And I hope it stays like that forever and ever and ever. But I’m sure it won’t, but we’ll see. And so what happens is all of these Clowns are going to train, touring the circuit, and then coming back home and then teaching here.

And then more Clowns are going over doing the cabaret circuit and coming back and teaching here. And Canada just, as I’m sure you know, doesn’t support its artists properly. The funding’s not there, the work isn’t there, but the passion and the talent and the love is there, and it’s sort of heartbreaking that way.

And so the relationship to Clown here in my opinion is different in other places in Canada because of the outreach of France and Europe and how they treat the arts. Do you find that the support of the arts, when we say the support of the arts is not really there in Canada, is that the same in Quebec? Or is there more support for the arts in Quebec than there is in the rest of Canada? Quebec is super unique because they have their own star system here. It’s a really difficult topic and a really interesting topic that we could have a whole episode on just this topic.

But had I not moved here and took the time to understand the history of the culture and colonialism within the French community, I don’t think I would have really grasped why it’s so cliquey. But now I understand why they have their own star system. It’s so difficult for anyone who’s not born Quebec or French to get into the French arts area because they are looking out for themselves and I respect that because we do pretty much have just about the rest of Canada and they do just sort of have their province and I think no one’s to blame for that.

It’s a little bit of everybody who sort of put themselves in this box. But it’s different because the francophones financially support the francophones because they don’t think there’s anyone else that would do it. And English Cedar Canada sort of just in Quebec has their own little niche.

It’s like the little engine that could kind of. I don’t know if that answers the question. No, no, it helps.

You said when you moved to Quebec you’re not originally from Quebec? No, I’m originally from the Niagara region in a little teeny town called Ridgeville, Ontario. How did you find your… Was it school that took you to Quebec or was it something else? I went to Concordia University for theatre performance which morphed into a focus on clown and physical theatre while I was there in I believe 2009? And then I stuck around. Oh well, there was a year there was a year and a half where I went to Edmonton, Alberta to get my master’s degree in the history of women and clown.

But I very, very, very happily after a year and a half working with Mike Kennard who I’m so grateful still speaks to me decided that a master’s degree wasn’t for me and I moved back with my partner. We moved out there

Was it what was it I mean I know a master’s degree probably isn’t for me but was it was it the academia that didn’t agree with you or was there something else? I love a good little academia in my life to read day to day

but I’m not gonna I’m not gonna pretend I’m something I’m not I’m not an academic I was like I can be an academic no problem and then my writing standards weren’t up to it wasn’t fun I know I’m oversimplifying it but it was not fun, it was constantly working for other people I was in an absolute emotional state of disarray again I was having major health problems out there I was not happy and the city is cold and dark but the people are wonderful. I’ve met some of the most wonderful people in my entire life out there that I’m dear friends with and I love that I had this experience but I’m not an academic I don’t like working for other people in that sense a lot of it was doing work for teachers who were never happy with my quality of work and I didn’t know how at the time to change and improve that and I couldn’t make anyone happy and I wasn’t making myself happy and I wasn’t making Mike look very good as a professor and so I decided to just call it a day and it’s the best choice I’ve ever made I’ve never made such a wonderful difficult choice in my life and I’m so happy for it

it can be difficult to leave a thing once you’ve started I know people who have spent ages saying to themselves I have to finish my degree because then at least I have a degree but they’re so miserable while they’re doing it that they’re making themselves sick

it is the only thing I’ve ever quit in my life even the festival got started because I got drunk one night and I announced it was going to happen and the room went absolutely crazy and then I woke up the next morning and said oh shoot I better follow through and I did

How long has the festival been going on? We’re going into our third year the first year was myself and my partner my life partner and I reached out I looked for a little help and I should have reached out for way more and we got through it

and then due to kismet by texting the wrong person I met Vanessa Rio who is my business partner my co-artistic director she is we call ourselves the glitter and the glue and she is the glue and I would be absolutely nothing without her she has applied for all of our grants she does everything that my brain can’t focus and I do everything that she tells me to do and if it wasn’t for her there would not be a second or a third festival and I’m eternally grateful for this woman, this dear friend and this hilarious clown who is just the greatest thing that ever happened to me

What surprised you about running a festival that first year?

What surprised me? I think I surprised myself with my organizational skills and the fact that we did it just the fact that there was a beginning and a middle and an end and no one had murdered me and I hadn’t murdered anyone was probably the biggest surprise and then ego ego from myself ego from other artists vulnerability surprised me my temper or control learning to control a temper realizing that freaking out is not an option surprised me that’s the biggest thing I have walked away from this I can’t freak out it’s not an option

I’m the stone that’s holding the picnic blanket down and I have to stay grounded so everyone else can succeed because my job is making sure that everyone else succeeds and that was a huge surprise because I’m very much a performer and I’m very much a solo artist so it’s always been me me me and then all of a sudden I was landed in a role where I was like whoa ego it’s not about you this is about making sure everyone else is successful and therefore you are successful

was there a moment that you could think of where you figured out that freaking out was not an option was there something happening did you did you freak out and realize that it ruined everything

no I’ve had one major freak out last year the first year I was just in a constant state of sneaking away to the ladies room sitting on a stall and crying my stress out and then gathering myself and leaving which sort of saved my life and then the second year I had one major freak out because I had organized everything so well and then someone told me I didn’t and it was the very last date an hour before the closing gala and I took it all out on my life partner and we had a mini screaming match and then that was that was the only time I really verbally freaked out but there was a moment and I don’t know if it’s appropriate

you said that it wasn’t as well organized as you thought or was it just somebody being an asshole

there was a little of column A, a little of column B there was a manager of one of the cabarets that we run a successful clown cabaret out of told me I hadn’t reserved the space until a week before the festival but in fact I had reserved it a year in advance, called six months earlier, called three months prior called a week prior to the festival and then showed up and said you didn’t reserve the space and I had I was just exhausted on my last and I freaked I freaked out I don’t blame you you just hit a sore spot yeah but that wasn’t the reason

no, go ahead I was just going to say that wasn’t when I realized I couldn’t freak out the first year I had a very unhappy artist who I choose to rename nameless who wasn’t really sure what we were getting into because I didn’t even know really what I was doing or what this festival was doing and I got chewed out daily by this artist and I realized I just couldn’t give my power away this artist was nervous this artist was afraid this artist was a certain calibre that wasn’t used to doing something so grassroots and that’s when I realized I had to just bite the bullet get chewed out and move on so not an easy thing to do no but

so how are you juggling doing what you’re doing for this fringe show doing what you’re doing to get ready to run the clown fest two days after you’re finished the Halifax Fringe how are you keeping on top of all of that?

Am I keeping on top of it is the question well besides my stellar team of people I can’t thank them enough they’re the most wonderful crew in the entire world there’s too many of them to name um I think I just have to wake up and I make little lists of this is what I have to do today, this is what I have to do tomorrow and I know like I have major things like I have to get two bilingual contracts set up this weekend so when I come back I can organize everyone’s contracts so they make sure they get paid that’s one of the big things delegation delegation is really helping that’s a huge thing I learned knowing when to ask for help and so I’ll reach out and discuss I need you to do this for me right now because I have too much on my plate

and then I have to trust my artist Steve Day for a while, Bill that he’s doing his part of trying to get ready and a lot of it is knowing what you can and you cannot control so I can’t really control who’s going to come see our show I can’t control 100% if the tech is going to go crazy and we’re going to have another wild Montreal fringe I have to just be at peace with that and I just have to take it one bit at a time and know that freaking out is not going to make it any better and stay calm

that’s certainly a big challenge it’s difficult to keep calm in those situations

I know for me I don’t know I feel like in St. John I have a network of people because I’m not from here but I have a lot of friends here and so that’s something that I can sort of rely on they’ve sort of shared my event around and talked to people and stuff but I don’t have so many people in Halifax and so about the only thing that I know that I can do is when I show up in Halifax on the 27th is get out, get posters up and start talking to people which is not easy for me because I’m a huge introvert and that is exhausting but if I want people to see my show I know I have to do it

you’ve got to hustle hustling is the most difficult part because I still feel a bit of imposter syndrome I think we all do whenever I’m involved with anything and the way I came on to this project Wild Bill was already a show I haven’t so much directed it has helped keep it organized and been a sounding board to make moments stronger and it’s been a pleasure but it’s really I’m here, I’m here to help and we’re going to go but where am I in this and then you show up and you’re like I love this show, are you guys going to love this show? I don’t know, that’s a risk you have to take but I love this show and I love this artist and I love that I feel needed

So what is your role at The Fringe? Are you running this show? Are you just helping to produce? What do you do?

I’m with Wild Bill? So I’m helping stage manage I’m producing a little bit I’m just there was a clown I’m a bit of a bleeding heart there was a clown in need and as someone as a leader in my community I stepped up to bat and saw just how much this clown needed help and loved the show I love the show I think it’s charming and funny and sincere and full of ups and downs and the journey has been wonderful and so I’m showing up with him to make sure that the show runs much smoother than Montreal and I’m excited for an experience like this and I’m going to help sell the show and we’re going to just have a really wonderful time so it’s really it’s exciting I’m showing up to this fringe to make sure that one of my clowns in my community is thriving

That’s amazing I mean I know back home in Toronto I will often sit with people and we’ll talk about things we talk about the theatre community, but what is that? Is there a community? We have a bunch of different cliques all over the place but is there a community? When does that community get together? But it sounds like there is a little more of a community at least in Clown in Montreal that you are stepping up for each other

Yeah, well there was and there wasn’t There was a lot of separation between Francophone Clown and English Clown kind of and then when I started with Francine Coté School of Clowning and James Keel on this clown cabaret at the time called Les Clunes that was to try to bring everyone together because there was nowhere for them to really perform and then when the festival sort of bloomed from their wonderful cabaret my goal was to create community because artists are nothing without other artists we’re the ones that come out to see our shows we’re the ones that are used as sounding boards and I strongly believe that if I’m going to talk the talk I have to walk the walk and although this is a bit of a wild jump going, agreeing two days before my festival to go help this person, I’m very much a woman of my word and I said that I would do it and I’m following through

well that’s great that’s great there was something you said that I wanted to build on and now of course I’ve forgotten is there in terms of the the clown festival we’ve talked about what you do what you’re doing with Wild Bill what what does your role look like running a festival of clowns

it fluctuates throughout the year but I would say mostly the pinnacle point of my job happens when we are in the theatre I have I’m also the clown connections I have connections all over the world with different clowns and I absolutely love meeting clowns of all different pedagogies and getting to know them and so I feel like I’m sort of the face of the festival and then throughout the year and then once the festival starts I am in the space almost 24 hours making sure that when the shows arrive for tech that my technicians and my head of tech have everyone ready and comfortable and contracts are signed and money is understood how the payout is going to happen and the special events we have several free special events are being run smoothly I run a workshop we have John Davison coming this year from England via the New York Clown Festival and that’s huge his workshop sold out very quickly he’s amazing I highly recommend everyone reading his books

then I float around in the evenings in one of my fabulous dresses that I am known for just making sure that everyone is happy so my job is to host make sure everyone is happy make sure everything is going smoothly if the artists need anything doing my best to make sure the artists get what they need and are happy

Cirque du Soleil is wonderful they give the artists and special guests tour of the grounds so I go there and I make sure our connections between the casting department of Cirque is smooth and I just I just make sure I like to think that my job is to make sure that everyone is happy and healthy

well that’s a really good way to look at it I think I mean I don’t know I’ve seen directors of other festivals and you know they look a lot more stressed and a lot more I’m not sure what they’re concentrating on and sometimes they seem to be absent and it sounds like you’re right front and centre I try to be well I mean you can’t always be because there’s always going to be something but I think it’s admirable that you’re trying thank you

is there something in particular that you’re looking forward to at the Halifax range?

I’ve never been to Halifax so A, I’m really excited to go to Halifax but I have to admit I’ve been so busy I haven’t gone through their shows yet to see who’s coming to perform so I can’t say for sure to be honest besides your show, oh my gosh Phil I can’t wait to see your show thank you I have to admit I have not I know I want to see She-Wolf but that’s the only show that I know so far so I have to I haven’t really looked too far ahead yet because again I’m focusing here but I mean there’s time there’s time to figure out what shows to see and hopefully time to see Halifax a little while there too yeah absolutely

I’m also excited that I’ll be giving a workshop are you doing a clown workshop? sort of yes I’m focusing on clowning impulse by using games and techniques from the Pachinko where we’re going to be looking at our inner impulse machine and learning to listen to our bodies first well that sounds amazing before we can implement it into clown it’s a lot of fun a lot of it is inner exploration of discovering what impulse is and then how we can take it and apply it to clown or theatre or our everyday lives nice awesome yeah it’s going to be fun that’s what I’m aiming for

and what day did you arrive in Halifax again? I believe I believe we’re showing up the 28th we’re driving I bet that’s a gorgeous drive oh I’m really excited I love cars I love drives we drove to Prince Edward Island last year and I was just like yeah it was the greatest thing

that’s nice well I will see you in Halifax thank you so much for talking to me today thank you so much for this it’s been wonderful this has been a homebody productions production