by Sara Arenson

For years now, I have been a quiet fan of Shoestring Players and their heartfelt brand of large-cast theatre. So last summer when I saw an advertisement on Facebook asking for volunteers to act, direct or write for them, I jumped at the opportunity. I sent them an e-mail telling them about my theatrical experience, offering to direct a show. They were interested, and a new collaboration was born.

The past few months, I have had the pleasure and privilege of directing Carol Shields’s “Departures and Arrivals”, a play that premiered in 1984 at the Black Hole Theatre at the University of Manitoba. This play stretches over 22 vignettes and includes numerous characters you might meet in an airport. Many of the scenes are stories about love, either lost, found, spurned, or rekindled. There are also stories of family reunions, loneliness in the airport, and women’s empowerment. The play is funny, poignant, and at many moments surreal, musing on what it means to be in an airport, a place of departures, arrivals and limbo. Shoestring will be presenting 19 of the vignettes with 19 actors playing over 60 roles.

Naturally, such a production has had a lot of moving parts, not just creative but also administrative. This has been my first time directing a full-length play and something I didn’t write, so I have had my work cut out for me. Fortunately, I have been supported by a great production team and the board of the organization. I have found Shoestring Players to be a diverse, inclusive community of individuals united in their mutual love of theatre.

As an artist with a disability, I have had to work hard to take care of myself during this process. Here are a few things I’ve learned.

• Don’t skimp on self-care. Self-care means relaxing when I need to, doing my best to sleep, and not taking on a bunch of commitments. It has meant that this show is my job for now. As a disabled creative, I have to be careful how I spend my time and energy. There have been times in this show when the stress or self-doubt made me afraid I couldn’t see it through, and at such times I had to just rest and regroup.
• Organization and communication are key. Early on in this process, I made a rehearsal schedule for our actors which included very specific times for specific scenes. This meant that people were only at rehearsal when they were needed, reducing burnout and boredom. I also made sure to send schedule reminder e-mails to the cast weekly, to keep us all on the same page. I think this helped reduce everyone’s stress.
• Take things one step at a time. There are a lot of things that go into a show, but if you try to think about everything all at once, you can easily get overwhelmed. Focus on the current task, and let the whole take care of itself.
• Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate. Theatre is a collaborative art. When I am struggling for ideas because of challenges like brain fog, others have them. I have relied on everyone’s creative instincts in this enterprise. Some directors try to do it all, but I know I’m not one of them. I’m happy to have the help, whether it comes from the actors, assistant director, stage manager, costume and props person, or music designer. And people like to be involved and make decisions together.
• Have backup. The day I accepted the role, I asked for an assistant director. Given my health issues, I wanted to make sure the show could go on without me, if need be.

But probably the biggest thing I’ve learned is:

• Keep showing up. Even if things seem hard and you doubt yourself, just showing up is crucial. Nothing happens if people don’t show up. And we are all humans, all imperfect, all learning, and often just being there for each other is the best we can do.

The show opens in just weeks. I hope to see some of you there!

“Departures and Arrivals” will be playing at the Forrest Nickerson Theatre (in the Deaf Centre Manitoba, 285 Pembina Hwy), on:

Friday, Feb 20: 7:30 PM

Saturday, Feb 21: 2 PM and 7:30 PM

Sunday, Feb 22: 2 PM

Tickets: $20, available at the door (cash only) or by e-Transfer to shoestringplayerswpg@gmail.com (please include day and time of performance in transfer)