All the World's a Stage, and All the Men and Women Precariously Close to Falling in the Orchestra Pit

Saskatchewan is a lot like a stage. It's large and flat and has some impressive lighting effects. Looking at things this way, it makes perfect sense that we are destined for developing a vibrant theatre culture. It's a slow process, of course, and certain, more Moose Jaw-shaped sections are having a hard go of it (keep on chugging, Rhubarb Productions -- unless you've already gone defunct, in which case, RIP, Rhubarb Productions). But here I shall focus on Saskatoon, where I have made my home for the past five years. Our theatre scene continues to grow and flourish, although it is still difficult to find people who really talk about it. And that is what this Weblog shall be about: talking about it.

This Blog was the victim of many a false-start as I tried to get it up and running. At first, I was going to use Fringe as my launching platform; but alas, due to temporal and monetary constraints, I was only able to catch a relatively small portion of the shows going on at the Festival this summer, and it didn't seem like "Ruminations on the Seven Fringe Shows I Happened to See" made for a particularly auspicious premier entry. Then I contemplated using Two Corpses Go Dancing as my starting point, but I'm still so in love with that play that I don't really trust myself to provide a lot of serious critical discourse on it. A month or so ago, at the Live Five Launch party, I decided it was time I seriously pushed forward. Importance of Being Earnest was going to be my inaugural review, but I got held up, principally because I still hadn't thought of a name. But here it is: Prairie Groundling. I spent weeks in solemn contemplation attempting to find a title that could evoke both theatre and Saskatoon in a suitably pithy manner, and this was the best I came up with (really). And now, at long last, I shall launch this Blog in earnest (see what I did there) tonight, as I go to attend the premier of Greystone Theatre's first title All My Sons. Since Greystone Theatre is where I started writing about theatre in the first place, it seems to be an apropos starting point for my Saskatoon Theatre Blog. Later this week I'll follow with retrospective reviews on Persephone's Importance and Dead Man's Cell Phone. These reviews will not be timely, obviously, but my goal here is not to create a lot of "Go see this / Don't go see this" reviews. Rather, I have the simpler goal of creating a world where, if someone wonders if any writing on their production exists, they can find some.

As I said, false starts. I have given myself pause several times wondering if there really is a point to this Blog. No doubt many of the tens of people who stumble across this page will pose the same question: Why Saskatoon. I have answered this question, finally. I know why Saskatoon because today as I was trying to eat my lunch while a co-worker was talking on the phone about how much she hates Saskatoon. As someone who actually chose to live in Saskatoon, I felt slightly offended. Then I felt a surge of pride. Then it occurred to me that no one else was going to write about Saskatoon's independent theatre scene, so why shouldn't I?

I suppose this is not a terribly inspiring introduction, but it's mine. My name is Blair Woynarski, and this is the Prairie Groundling.