Since then, I’ve been working as an assistant stage manager on a Toronto Fringe play called Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, directed by Jessica Beaulieu and adapted from the book by James Finn Garner.

I was able to take some pictures during our tech run at the Tarragon Theatre on Monday.  The play opens tomorrow - Wednesday, July 1st, so come and see it!  It’s a lot of fun.

You can view the full set on Flickr, here.

Director: Jessica Beaulieu
Stage Manager: Catherine Owen
Musical Direction: Scott Christian and Mike Moss
Sound Design: Tim Lindsay
Assistant Stage Manager: Jen Grantham
Stage Hand: David Cupchik
Set Construction: Ian Flynn and Daniel Kahn
Publicity: Martha Chomyn
Photography/Poster Design: Dan Epstein

And starring…
Marcel Dragonieri, Gwynne Phillips, Kaitlyn Riordan, Ian Ronningen, Jesse Stanley, Thom Stoneman, Briana Templeton, Luke Van Bakel

Performance Times:
Wednesday, July 1 – 7:00 PM
Friday, July 3 – 1:15 PM
Sunday, July 5 – 6:30 PM
Tuesday, July 7 – 1:15 PM
Wednesday, July 8 – 11:00 PM
Friday, July 10 – 3:30 PM
Saturday, July 11 – 8:00 PM

The show runs for 60 minutes.

Only $10.00 admission! Wow! For advanced tickets or more information, please contact the Fringe Festival hotline at (416) 966 - 1062 or check out their website at www.fringetoronto.com.

Here are some shots of the fans.   More pictures are on Flickr.

The last shot was featured on The Daily Photoist last week.

4-H Club: Chad Donella (DAKOTA, FINAL DESTINATION, HATE CRIME – best supporting actor, Breckenridge film fest), Salvatore Antonio (AT THE HOTEL, PARADISE FALLS, LEO), and Sebastian Pigott (WORKING ON THE EDGE, CANADIAN IDOL –  Top 10 in 2006) star as three desperate men wrestling with the present prison that is their misspent lives. They scream, dream, and scheme for a better day knowing full well that tomorrow will be the same as today – only more so. This short play from 1964 evokes comparisons to Albee and Beckett in its heartbreaking comic genius.

Killer’s Head: Actor Rouzbeh Fard (MOJO – Dropship Theatre) lets us in on the thoughts of a condemned man moments before the switch is thrown and, still smiling, he dies.

Cowboys #2: Joe Dinicol (PASSCHENDAELE, WEIRDSVILLE) and Evan Williams (DEGRASSI: THE NEXT GENERATION, GREY GARDENS) play two self-styled cowboys whose imaginary world is interrupted by the mundane necessities of daily existence.

All three plays will be directed by Steven McCarthy, one of the creators of the hit play REVISITED (NOW MAGAZINE TOP FIVE PLAYS 2006, NATIONAL POST-2006 YEAR’S BEST, VICTORIA CRITIC’S CIRCLE BEST PRODUCTION 2006, HALIFAX-3 ROBERT MERRIT AWARDS, 7 NOMINATIONS) and the production will take place in the ballroom of the dilapidated KA mansion at 160 St. George Street (just south of Bloor).

SHOWTIMES:
Wednesday May 20th – Preview (8pm)
Thursday May 21st – Sunday May 24th (8pm Thurs, Sunday; 7pm Fri and Sat)
Wednesday May 27th – Sunday May 31st (8pm Wed, Thurs, Sunday; 7pm Fri and Sat)
Tickets are 15$
At the KA mansion  - 160 St. George Street ( 2 buildings south of the Bata Shoe Museum at St. George and Bloor)

For tickets, more information, and for media inquiries please contact Joe at  candlesco.op@gmail.com.

The Last New Year (IMDB) (official site) is playing at The Royal in Toronto for its last night tonight at 7pm.  I went to see it last night, and it was fantastic.

Since I only started doing film stills in 2008, most of the things I’ve worked on still haven’t been released.  It was very exciting to see something I worked on on the big screen!

They will also be doing screenings in Victoria and Vancouver and I highly recommend seeing it.  It’s a great film that has come a long way since I saw one of the early rough cuts last year.

It will serve 3 purposes:

1. As a portfolio for my film/television/theatre work, and other works-for-hire.
2. A place to order prints of my other work (landscapes, nature, fine art, etc.).
3. Rights-managed and royalty-free downloads of event photos.

For now, this is a work in progress!

On day 9, the snow was up to our knees.  Where was all this snow when it was needed for the luge?

(Our script supervisor Tiffany Wong trying to keep her pants dry.)

On day 10, we went into Blue Mountain village, which was really nice (and a lot warmer!).  We had a restaurant scene, a scene at the Bark & Fitz pet store, and then miscellaneous shots around the village.

The next two days were spent on “The Art Farm” in Duntroon, ON, a beautiful farm owned by an arist and a producer.  On the first day, we had a trained raccoon - apparently the only trained raccoon in Ontario.

We didn’t see many of the farm animals, but the llama did come over to say hi to our locations manager.

And that brings me to my last day on set.  Day 13, the big strip club scene.  Again, this was a closed set so I wasn’t allowed inside for most of the day.  In the morning, we did some shots outside, and then we had a green screen for a dream sequence scene.

Our strip club scene was set in an abandoned gas station turned strip club… or strip club turned gas station, I’m not really sure.  Either way, it didn’t look like anything until a few hours before we started shooting.  Brian Garvey and his team turned this abandoned building into a bar, and it looked awesome.

Overall, it was a great experience and I met a lot of awesome people.  Hopefully soon I will be able to post some publicity stills!

Harvey was written and directed by Jeff Kopas and stars Jordan Prentice (In Bruges, Wierdsville) as Harvey, Kristin Adams (Who is KK Downey?, Where the Truth Lies) as Dakota, and Steven McCarthy (Eating Buccaneers, Dead Mary) as Lucas.

Not to forget our canine star, Inca:

Here she is being a goof with director Jeff Kopas in the background.

Everyone - cast and crew - was a lot of fun to work with.  Here is a brief recap from my 13 days on set.

We spent the first day at a really neat old church in the middle of nowhere that is apparently only open for service once a year.  It was a really great location, despite the fact that it was freezing cold and full of thousands of dead/dormant flies.  This place was dubbed “Where Flies Go To Die”.  It had a very neat cemetery out back.   Of course, I snuck around and took some shots of it - I’ll post them separately.

On the second day, we spent the morning at a vet’s office and then all afternoon and evening at the beautiful Scott Mission Lodge.

Cast member Steven McCarthy brought his dog Ben, so Ben and Inca spent the afternoon sprinting around the forest and tiring each other out.

Production Designer Brian Garvey did a very good job of turning this empty room into an orphanage in just a few hours.

The “Overweight Nun” (complete with fat suit and face full of cotton balls), pictured here with Jeff, was played by Karen Skidmore.  Karen is an amazing theatre actor who stayed in character from the moment she put on her costume to the moment she took it off.

We spent days 3 and 4 at the Toronto Ski Club, which were two very difficult days.  Lots of extras, lots of stunts, and not enough snow or time!

Again, I have to give props to Brian Garvey for building a whole luge track (seen in the last 2 pictures above) in just one morning when there was barely any snow left on the ground.

Days 5-8 were spent mostly inside, which was a nice change!  We were shooting in and around a ski chalet on top of Blue Mountain.

Climbing onto the roof to get a neat shot.

The chalet was actually where the cast and crew were staying.  One of the days was a closed set, which means non-essential crew (i.e. the still photographer) isn’t allowed to be there.

Read Part 2!

The full set of my pictures can be found on Flickr, as per usual.

Thanks to advances in digital photography, the Kodak manufacturing plant at Eglinton West and Black Creek Drive in Toronto closed its doors in 2005.   The only building that currently remains is Building #9, or what used to be the employees’ building.   As far as I know, the land has been purchased but no decision has been made yet about what to do with the lot.

You can view the full set of pictures on Flickr.

These signs were everywhere - with a typo: “Absolutily No Smoking”.

The building used to be connected to other buildings. Now all that’s left is doors to nowhere.

I was surprised these curtains were still here after all this time.

Here are some of my shots of the event.  More can be found on Flickr.

It’s always funny how these events are half-participants, half-photographers.

Poor abandoned pillow.