Doctor Nefarious was once one of the greatest evil minds of our time, his super-villainy was spoken of in hushed tones along with names like Luthor, Hammond, Sugar Bear.  But no longer.  He’s served his time, married and reformed.  Now, he and his wife have opened a Bed and Breakfast in Toronto.

If only the heroes from his past would let him be…

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Michael Wheeler has a great article on the Praxis Theatre blog titled “Why Canadian Actors’ Equity Association is important and why it has to change” about the conflict with the Canadian Actor’s Equity Association for artists who create their own work.

Of particular interest are the 5 dramatic shifts in Canadian Theatre.  These start with:

There are very few artists under 35 who categorize themselves solely as “actors”. We all have multiple identities now. Someone is a playwright-dancer-director, another artist is an actor-choreographer-writer, and I even know a stage manager-lighting designer-poet. These are the people creating art now. Most importantly, we are all producers. If you try to explain this to anyone at CAEA they look at you like you’re speaking gibberish. It’s like there are no check boxes to accommodate this reality so we’re just going to pretend it isn’t the case.

Of course, there are a lot of artists over 35 who fit that same bill.  I don’t know anyone who is “just an actor” anymore.  Every theatre artist I know writes or otherwise has a hand in creating their own shows.  Sometimes I wonder if anyone can “just be an actor” these days.

I’m not an Equity actor (I hope to be, but I’m not there yet), but the decisions that Equity makes on this issue will have a profound effect on the future of Canadian theatre.  Every theatre artists should be looking at this issue, and every Equity artist who can should be taking place in the Regional AGM.

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Saturday May 15th marked 7 years since my sister Anna died.

There are a lot of conflicting emotions tied up with Anna.  She was not always the easiest person for me to get along with.  As we were growing up, she often made my life as difficult as possible.  She could be a bit of a bully.  As an adult, she sometimes made poor choices, and she often took advantage of me (I recall one time being asked to baby sit for an hour, which turned into 4 hours.  She did not apologize when she returned).  It all seems so petty to mention now, but no one individual event can really sum up the relationship that we had, and now difficult it could be.

And yet, I remember that when Erika died (which was 7 years ago this past March), it was Anna who looked out for me at the funeral.  How it was she who was watching me, and helped me keep it together.

There’s a tendency that people have to treat those who have passed as saints. To never acknowledge anything but the good.  I can’t white wash my sister.  She was certainly no saint.  But, for all the difficult times, and even more so for the good, its important to mark this date, and remember her.  In spite of all the bad times, I still miss her.  I miss her infectious laugh, and her smile.  And I miss that when the chips were down, she would have your back, and would fight tooth and nail for you.

Seven years sounds like such a long time.  But it’s not.  Sometimes it feels like just yesterday we laid her to rest.

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