{"id":27723,"date":"2020-10-16T12:25:54","date_gmt":"2020-10-16T16:25:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=27723"},"modified":"2020-10-16T12:25:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-16T16:25:59","slug":"one-voice-project-provides-creative-outlet-for-theatre-aurora-and-entertainment-for-community","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/one-voice-project-provides-creative-outlet-for-theatre-aurora-and-entertainment-for-community\/","title":{"rendered":"One Voice Project provides creative outlet for Theatre Aurora \u2013 and entertainment for community"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Theatre Aurora\u2019s doors might still be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there\u2019s still magic happening within its walls for the entire community to enjoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over the last two months, the creative forces that have made Theatre Aurora a local institution for more than 60 years, have been hard at work creating the One Voice Project, a special online production bringing together four actors for four one-person one-act plays that are now streaming live at theatreaurora.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produced by Sergio Calderon and Neill Kernohan, the One Voice Project was a labour of love for producers, directors and actors alike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne of our taglines has always been \u2018keeping art going\u2019 in the theatre and trying to create as much art as we can,\u201d says Mr. Kernohan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initial concept was based on the \u201cTalking Heads\u201d monologues by Alan Bennett originally produced by the BBC, but award-winning playwright Andrew Biss provided Theatre Aurora free rein to produce his well-known plays for an online audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once they had secured permission from Biss, Mr. Calderon says it was a matter of making One Voice a cohesive project and one which had buy-in from Theatre Aurora directors, including those who had their productions cancelled as a result of the pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe started this back in June and we had officially just started coming out of our isolation, we weren\u2019t even really able to do patio meals yet, but the participation was there immediately,\u201d he says. \u201cThere was no hesitation from any of the participants to actually get out and do something creative they hadn\u2019t had the opportunity to do so since March.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But getting out and doing something creative was easier said than done. Once directors are on board, an open audition call for actors typically follows. This audition process was cast aside for logistical reasons and directors were tasked with finding the perfect actors to breathe life into their assigned one-act works. This process not only helped Theatre Aurora overcome potential health hazards of an open call, but cast a wider net for actors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlmost everyone was from outside Theatre Aurora,\u201d says Mr. Kernohan. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anybody who was up on the stage. For us, it was nice we were able to bring people in we wouldn\u2019t normally be able to bring into the theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From there, technological realities set in. Lighting a live performance in a theatre is vastly different from the same process for a recorded production, editing was another challenge, and the learning curve was steep. But, in the end, it was a fulfilling process for the local theatre company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor me, it was fulfilling just being in the theatre and being able to put something on that stage,\u201d says Mr. Kernohan. \u201cFor a little while, it felt really scary. The theatre was very dark and it felt like we were missing out on things. Putting it on stage was very fulfilling and for me it was just getting to do something different. We learned so much. Lighting is totally different when you\u2019re lighting for TV as opposed to theatre. It is a totally different thing. We learned how to make people comfortable on the stage, how to work with them and get them going, calm nerves and we learned how to edit and we\u2019re still learning how to edit better! We\u2019re all a work in progress for that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Mr. Calderon: \u201cIt was weirdly fulfilling in a different way. My two strengths in theatre lie in performance and direction, but in this particular instance, I had to take a step back from both of those and go into executive producing \/ project management \/ stage management roles just to be able to keep the whole process running, keeping us on time and on track. I was happy to assist and allow a platform for artists to actually create.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFor us to be able to share that creation with people\u2026 that has always been my ultimate goal: create something and have it available to share. It was great that from the beginning of the idea right to the very end we were able to deliver something we were happy with but also fulfilled that need for artists and creators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the lessons learned and the first iteration of One Voice now online, they\u2019re coming back for more. They are now putting the finishing touches on what they dub \u201cOne Voice 1.5\u201d which will follow a similar format, but explore different areas of live theatre including cabaret-style musical episodes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The producers expect \u201cOne Voice 1.5\u201d to begin streaming within a month or so, but, in the meantime, One Voice can still be \u201crented\u201d for $4.99 and streamed through Theatre Aurora\u2019s website at www.theatreaurora.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing will truly replace the live theatre-going experience. However, when we\u2019re not able to or it is not safe for us to have those experience, there is still a need and a want to have sort of an immediate performance, which sometimes get lost in a film or television-style experience,\u201d says Mr. Calderon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adds Mr. Kernohan: \u201cIt\u2019s short. You\u2019re only looking at about 25 minutes. You\u2019re not committing to it forever. It is $4.99 and you can watch it in your pyjamas!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\r\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Theatre Aurora\u2019s doors might still be closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but there\u2019s still magic happening within its walls for the entire community to enjoy. Over the last two months, the creative forces that have made Theatre Aurora a local institution for more than 60 years, have been hard at work creating the One […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":27719,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[27,4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27723","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/2020-10-15-03.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7d9","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-15 05:20:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27723"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27723\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27723"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27723"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27723"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}