Archives
Pore Jud…
...may well be dead, but at least he's not Ed--not any more.We wrapped up Regina Lyric Light Opera's production of Oklahoma! yesterday, and, as the rural correspondents of the Weyburn Review were wont to say when I was editor there, "A Good Time Was Had By All."I received a lot of compliments on my performance--more than I can ever remember having had before, actually. This either means I am just naturally believable as a creepy loner who can't get a girl--which may well be the case, since I am, after all, a science fiction writer--or that I did a not-half-bad job of acting.I prefer to believe the latter.Of course, a lot ...Accents and dialects of the U.K.
This is a very cool site from the British Library: click on a map of the U.K. and hear a recording of someone from the region you've clicked on speaking in the local dialect.A great resource for actors trying to nail a particular accent, among other things.(Via The Corner.)Launching live theatre into the 22nd century
We've become accustomed to seeing real and virtual actors (or at least extras) blended with real and virtual sets in the movies.Now it's being done live on stage:Using new techniques that merge the Internet 2 with traditional stage theatre, the University of Central Florida, Bradley University in Illinois and the University of Waterloo in Canada performed a play that put actors from Florida and Canada on the stage in Illinois without them ever leaving their respective campuses.****A receiving broadband-connected computer at Bradley, which handled as much as 130 megabytes of data a second, was hooked into Shafer's computer at UCF during the performances March 6-11. That's how his body was "beamed" ...I finished it! I finished it!
I turned in the manuscript for Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw to Red Deer Press last night. Whee!Of course, I still have several hundred photographs to take, apparently in the middle of a cold snap, but at least it will be a change from sitting on my...chair.Now maybe I can make a dent in all the other stuff I've let slide while I finished that monster.Today, though, I'm in Saskatoon, typing this at the counter of the Broadway Avenue Starbucks. A half hour or so ago I finished my audition for Morris Ertman for the upcoming production of Tent Meeting in Rosebud, Alberta. I thought it went well, but ...Theatrical lighting that adjusts itself…
...to the mood of the performers and the audience.Sounds like a bad idea to me. If the show stunk, the mood of the audience would give you a black-out on stage and full lights in the house, the better to illuminate the exits. And as for letting the mood of the performers alter the lighting...that makes no sense at all. I don't care how Method the actor is, there are times in a long run when he or she is pretty much going through the motions up there. The audience may not know it, because good actors are, well, good actors, but if the prevailing mood on stage after three hundred performances of something that was insipid ...Do It With Class Young People’s Theatre Co.
There are a lot of talented young people in Regina. Some of the most talented will be on stage this week and next, as Do It With Class Young People's Theatre Inc. presents two musicals, Two Gentlemen of Verona and Alice in Wonderland. Do It With Class, now in its seventh season, began with just 10 young people between the ages of 10 and 13. Now, artistic director Andorlie Hillstrom says, close to 100 kids are involved, divided into senior and junior musical theatre and dance companies. Musical theatre auditions are held in June and dance auditions in September of each year. Performances are held throughout the year--Do It With Class kids have performed for everything ...The Viewpoints method of acting
Just as (at least according to the old saying) there's more than one way to skin a cat, so there is more than one way to approach the craft of acting--and lessons in one new approach are about to be offered in Regina. Probably the most famous method is usually called, capital letters and all, The Method. It's based on a process of recalling emotion through "sense memory." Actions and gestures on stage grow out of that recalled emotion. But there's a new approach that takes the opposite tack: instead of beginning with emotion, which leads to action and gesture, the Viewpoints method begins with actions and gestures, and uses them to generate the emotions that ...Stage fright
I love to perform. Getting up in front of an audience and singing, acting, reading or just speaking is about the most fun thing I can think of. But many people find that hard to imagine. Research shows that what North Americans fear more than anything else--more than snakes, heights, disease, going broke, even death--is public speaking. Not listening to it (although, thanks to the referendum, that can be scary enough), but doing it. You can call this "speech anxiety" if you wish, since that's the formal term for it, but I call it "stage fright." Its symptoms are well-known: sweaty palms, dry mouth, increased heart rate, shaky hands, weak knees, shortness ...
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Magebane
“Spectacular” – Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Evil wizards, multi-level conspiracies, hidden kingdoms…Lee Arthur Chane…has done a marvelous job…Magebane is a very entertaining book and well worth the time.” – A.M. Donovan, Night Owl Reviews
I happily recommend Magebane and I’ll certainly give Chane’s next novel a try based on this one.” —Bill Capossere, Fantasy Literature
“…an original and delightful tale of epic fantasy and magic, steampunk science, adventure, tragedy, and love…” – Errant Dreams Reviews
Eight centuries ago, the world changed. A devastating war swept the lands, and the MageLords, who had long ruled by virtue of their spell powers, were driven to a distant place, separated from those they had ruled by a magical Barrier. With magic banished from the rest of the world, the MageLords became mere legend and people turned to science to improve their lives. But if one man has his way, all that is about to change….
Written as Lee Arthur Chane (the middle names of my older brothers, Jimmy Lee and Dwight Arthur, and myself, Edward Chane Willett).
Marseguro
Winner of the 2009 Prix Aurora Award for Best Long-Form Work in English
Water world Marseguro is home to the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from human DNA. When an unmodified human seeks revenge on a Selkie by activating a distress beacon taken from the remains of the original colony ship, a strikeforce is sent from Earth to eradicate the genetic abomination. Yet Marseguro will not prove as easy to conquer as the Earth force anticipates…
Terra Insegura
Finalist for the 2010 Prix Aurora Award for Best Novel in English
Marseguro, a water world far from Earth, is home to a colony of humans and the Selkies, a water-dwelling race created from modified human DNA. For seventy years the colony has lived in peace. Then Earth discovers Marseguro, and a strike force is sent to eradicate this “abomination.” But Marseguro has created a genetically tailored plague to use against Earth’s Holy Warriors. With the enemy defeated, the people of Marseguro feel they are safe. But Chris Keating, the traitor who signaled Marseguro’s location to the Holy Warriors, has fled to Earth, unknowingly carrying the deadly plague within him. The people of Marseguro feel they must send a ship to Earth with a life-saving vaccine. Only time will tell what awaits them when they reach their destination.
Lost in Translation
Kathryn was a human empath whose world and life had been destroyed when the alien S’sinn slaughtered her parents before her very eyes. Jarrikk was a young S’sinn, an unproven warrior who’d seen his flight mates slaughtered by the humans who’d sought to colonize his world.
As humans and S’sinn found themselves on the brink of war, these two Translators had to work together to find a common ground and avert catastrophe. But whether their Translators’ oath and training could overcome the enemies leagued against them was very much in doubt…
Archives
Song of the Sword
My new YA fantasy novel from Lobster Press
Before the Lady called her, Ariane’s life was a mess. Two years ago, her mother disappeared. She bounced around different foster homes until her aunt finally took her in. The meanest clique at her new high school has decided to make Ariane their prime target. And to top it all off, she is having frightening premonitions, and they are becoming more intense. The moment water touches her skin, she sees visions of a lake, a lady, and a sword. When a staircase opens up in the middle of Wascana Lake and the water begins singing to her, she has no choice but to answer the call….
Historic Walks of Regina and Moose Jaw
Ten walks to points of historic and architectural interest in the cities of Regina and Moose Jaw (eight walks for Regina, two for Moose Jaw).
Johnny Cash: The Man in Black
When country music legend Johnny Cash took the stage at Folsom State Prison in 1968, he solidified the public’s perception of him as a rebel who followed his own path. Born in Arkansas during the Great Depression, Cash endured poverty, the death of his older brother, and a difficult relationship with his father. He turned to gospel and country music to express the pain, and after many years of struggling, his songs of hardship and hope would finally reach the ears of those waiting for an artist who represented them, ordinary people fighting to survive.
Andy Warhol: Everyone Will Be Famous for 15 Minutes
“Paintings are too hard. Machines have less problems…” In the 1960s, Andy Warhol became the most famous creator of a new style of art called pop art, which transformed mass-produced items of popular culture into fine works of art. From Campbell’s Soup cans to photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Warhol’s willingness to use anything and everything from the mass media in his work expanded the range of subject matter available to artists. His avant-garde films, artistic usage of American icons, and unconventional social life made him a controversial figure, both greatly admired and deeply reviled. A trendsetter rather than a trend-follower, a dispassionate observer of both the seamy and celebrity sides of life, Warhol was a true American rebel.
Disease-Hunting Scientist
The true stories of six real disease hunters. Epidemiologists travel the world trying to keep us safe from deadly diseases—from high-tech labs in Canada to remote villages in Africa. Learn how these “disease detectives” are coming up with new ways to fight disease, and find out if you have what it takes to become an epidemiologist, too!
The Bounty Mutiny
The Bounty was a British ship visiting Tahiti in 1789 when some of the crew overthrew the captain, William Bligh, and set him adrift in a tiny boat with sailors loyal to him. The mutiny resulted in a number of trials–both of the men who mutinied and of Bligh for losing command of his ship. These fascinating events have been the source for numerous Hollywood movies, most recently The Bounty. The Bounty Mutiny: From the Court Case to the Movie explores the famous case and the movies it inspired.
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