west uptowner

mj chartier striations3, originally uploaded by plastictaxi.

This is Mari-Josee Chartier - making movement in front of a set-in-progress. We were working on art in Peterborough, and it was glorious. Then I jumped onto a bus to be in Almonte Ontario to do the lights for a puppet show called "Star Sisters" at the Puppets Up festival. All this while two plays I designed / helped produce went up in Toronto at the SummerWorks Festival. That's four shows in a week, bitches.

Anyway - a bit exhausted, to say the least, but gratified for a variety of reasons with everything. One piece - Homegrown - is getting huge press because it is about the 'Toronto 18' terrorist cell that had plotted to blow up a bunch of buildingd in Toronto. Being told off by the sensationalist press and the Prime Minister's Office was about the most thrilling and cool moment of my short life as a producer. They slam our morality while giving us a plug on the front cover! All without a bit of hard evidence...

Anyway - the road is great for a bit but the other best part of the week is being able to crash and visit my folks. I had a full conversation - or at least, a complete one - with my mother on the phone today. Her Lou Gehrig's / ALS has pretty much cost her the ability to use the muscles in her neck, making eating and speaking extremely challanging. So to get anything across in a phone call was absolutely uplifting.

# posted by trev @ 2:31 a.m.