Toronto, Dec 12-17, 2019. The RELLA'S CAMBRIAN DREAM team convened, expanded, explored, and workshopped; and on Dec 17, we invited visitors to experience Rella's Very First "Proof of Concept" Preview Event!
After some careful consideration, we chose the best possible workshop venue: the Grand Canyon Theatre (Ostler St at Dupont St). Here we could freely experiment and present, all in the same space!
To the Rella Team we added: actors Camila Diaz-Varela, Jonathan Tan, Neta J. Rose and Nathan Pronyshyn, as well as producer Neta J. Rose and stage manager Daniel Oulton.
It was a miraculous week: Stars and Cambrian Arthropods began to sing!
In the theatre, we began exploring ways in which a space might be turned into an unstable sea shelf, 100 metres down, & half a billion years ago:
We began exploring ways in which tiny Cambrian Sea Creatures might live again ... as played/voiced by human actors ....
... AND as digital projections and luminous puppets!
For six days, we swam, danced, sang, expanded, and discovered Rella's ocean world, and the story of her amazing adventure ...
And on Dec 17, our first visitors! - A 'full house' of brave friends joined us: friends from the theatre world, from the science/museum world, and beyond!
We added a character: a Burgess Shale guide turned time-travel advocate!
And we proved we meant it when we said "Immersive Theatre Experience"!
We offered about 30 minutes of our story, told in every discipline we had at our command. Then, invited visitors to offer insights/observations/questions.
For The Rella Team, it was a luminous experience, capping off a year of discovery and adventure. Our 2019 visitors agreed they want to experience more, more, more ... So, we've already begun planning bigger, bolder discoveries, adventures & experiences in 2020/21 ... THANKS to all who have participated with, believed in,supported and assisted us so far. Rella Marrella looks forward to swimming with you again, in oceans beyond!!
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