{"id":25573,"date":"2017-09-01T03:47:50","date_gmt":"2017-09-01T10:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=25573"},"modified":"2017-08-30T22:43:12","modified_gmt":"2017-08-31T05:43:12","slug":"dramatic-fringe-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2017\/09\/01\/dramatic-fringe-work\/","title":{"rendered":"Dramatic Fringe work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jewish community membersGina Leon and Michael Germant co-star in Island Productions\u2019 presentation of Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> at the Vancouver Fringe Festival Sept. 8-17. (photo by Jayme Cowley)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Playwright Rajiv Joseph describes Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> as being \u201cabout missed love, it\u2019s about pain and regret. These are things that almost everyone in humanity has some experience with.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jewish community member Michael Germant, who co-stars in Island Productions\u2019 presentation of Gruesome<\/em> at the Vancouver Fringe Festival with fellow community member Gina Leon, also highlights the universal elements of Joseph\u2019s play.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone has either wanted to be in, or has been in, or has come out of a relationship, therefore, there is something for everyone to relate to,\u201d Germant told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cThe show is rich in humour, empathy and tenderness. Internal and external pain are a measure of everything vulnerable when it comes to intimacy, timing and love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> is part of the Fringe\u2019s Dramatic Works Series celebrating playwrights of Asian descent. Germant said that he and Leon \u2013 who together produced and performed the play A Weekend Near Madison<\/em> in the 2015 Fringe\u2019s Dramatic Works Series \u2013 \u201chad read Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> a few years ago and I think it\u2019s always been in the back of our minds to do it one day, and so this turned out to be the perfect opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The press material calls the play \u201ca harrowing and humorous story about love.\u201d The description reads, \u201cOver the course of 30 years, the lives of Kayleen and Doug intersect at the most bizarre intervals, leading the two childhood friends to compare scars and the physical calamities that keep drawing them together.\u201d<\/p>\n

It seems like pretty heavy fare for the Fringe, or is it?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe foundation of the Fringe usually is to do experimental and challenging work,\u201d said Germant. \u201cGruesome Playground Injuries\u2019<\/em> non-linear structure, raw subject matter, and bloody and bruised characters \u2013 both figuratively and literally \u2013 we feel are representative of the aims of the festival. We chose the play because of the way we felt about this unique perspective of a love relationship. The play is realized through humour and drama.\u201d<\/p>\n

The humour, which is dark, \u201cis expressed through the naivety of the characters and the comedy of misconnection,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In his remarks on Island Productions\u2019 website, director Mel Tuck notes that the play \u201cdemanded much from the actors.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe demands of the play are numerous, reconnecting with a prism of memories,\u201d Leon told the Independent<\/em>. \u201cWhat\u2019s it like to be a child, a teenager, a young adult; how does one authentically play it? This part is close to the bone for me, and giving myself permission to be vulnerable \u2013 really vulnerable, and go to all the places I need to, to bring Kayleen to life \u2013 that\u2019s scary and exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Germant, \u201cI\u2019ve never experienced the physical injuries of Doug, but I do have emotional and psychological parallels. My challenge has been to open myself up to express these psychological and emotional injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Working on his character, said Germant, \u201chas caused me to confront my own behaviour and address some of my foibles. I\u2019ve learned to laugh at myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Leon, who was born in Johannesburg, and Germant, who was born in Moscow, know what it is like to be an immigrant, to straddle more than one culture. They can relate to Gruesome<\/em>\u2019s theme of alienation.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in Montreal as a Russian-Jewish immigrant, I realized very early how different and apart I was,\u201d said Germant. \u201cAs such, I viscerally know alienation and separateness. Doug is experiencing being separate and alienated throughout the play \u2013 we play these characters from ages 8 to 38 \u2013 and he suffers from self-esteem issues because of it. He feels obligated to perform for approval, which, in his case, causes gruesome injuries.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gruesome Playground Injuries<\/em> runs at the Cultch\u2019s Vancity Culture Lab Theatre Sept. 8-17. For tickets ($14) and the whole Fringe lineup, visit vancouverfringe.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jewish community membersGina Leon and Michael Germant co-star in Island Productions\u2019 presentation of Gruesome Playground Injuries at the Vancouver Fringe Festival Sept. 8-17. (photo by Jayme Cowley) Playwright Rajiv Joseph describes Gruesome Playground Injuries as being \u201cabout missed love, it\u2019s about pain and regret. These are things that almost everyone in humanity has some experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[785],"tags":[1242,907,1997,906,6277],"class_list":["post-25573","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-performing-arts","tag-fringe-festival","tag-gina-leon","tag-mental-health","tag-michael-germant","tag-relationships"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25573","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25573"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25573\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}