I have let things slip away from me…but only because things have gotten CRAZY BUSY around here, and not in the normal way. Well, OK, normal for most people. But not for me.

First, the big news: I have a new job. Someone actually hired me! For the next 18 months I will be handling marketing and communications for the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada 2010 campaign through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

Second, I am preparing to direct The Skriker for Churchill Fest.

Third, I am preparing to remount “Jason Neufeld is Impotent” at the Minneapolis Jewish Humor Festival at the end of February.

And of course I am still writing my new play, “Some Things You  Keep” for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre which I will also be performing in this April.

I will try to keep this blog updated more frequently now that life is settling back into a normal routine.

Since my DNTO piece about being a reformed babe on the “Quitting show”, (you can hear the podcast here) there has been much debate as to whether I am in fact, still a babe, was ever a babe, or was ever not a babe. So I submit these before and after pictures. You will see what I mean when I say I may be nice looking, but its not the “lifestyle” it used to be.

PRE -BABE

Notice that high school, pre-babe Alix wears shapeless baggy clothes, converse sneakers, and only took off her hat for this picture.

BABE

Hello? Babe much? Even the look in my eye is different. I have no idea how I dealt with all of that hair. And BTW, I am wearing a tube top…’nuff said.

POST – BABE

No longer afraid to smile and risk laugh lines.

Join me on my journey as I become a “babe”, and then quit being a babe when all the eyebrow plucking and and manicuring became too exhausting to maintain (about 6 months later.) It was a glorious and short-lived period.
2pm CBC Radio One, 89.3 FM, 990 AM

We have a favourite book that we read over and over again…so mine happens to be Anne Frank, The Diary of Young Girl. Does that make me weird…or weirder?

CBC Radio One DNTO – Originall aired October 17, 2009

Repetition Show Commentary

I will be commenting on repetition this weekend on DNTO. Of all the books to read over and over again, why was Anne Frank’s diary the one I chose? Check it out on CBC Radio One n Saturday the 17th.

It airs this Saturday on CBC Radio One 89.3 FM, 990 AM at 1 pm. (I will be on between 2 pm and 3 pm)

www.cbc.ca/dnto

Great news! I am directing a play for the MTC Master Playwright’s Festival. We are looking for actors, so spread the word.

(Please pass along to anyone who might be interested)

Interest & Availability call for Equity & Non-Equity Actors!

Echo (Beach) Theatre is looking for actors (Male & Female) for their production of Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker directed by Alix Sobler for MTC’s 2010 Master Playwright Festival.

The production will take place at the Park Theatre Feb 1st- 6th, 2010.

The play is an urban fairy tale set in London , England . Roles include legendary monsters and creatures from English folklore, as well as a few actual humans. This is a multi-media production so actors must be available in Mid- December for a two day film shoot. Rehearsals will take place day or evening depending on availability.

Please send along your availability/schedule for December and January if you are interested in the project, along with a headshot and resume (so we can put a face to the name!) to Echo_Theatre@shaw.ca by Oct. 13th, 2009.

Auditions may be necessary but you will be contacted if it comes to that.

Charlene Van Buekenhout –
Artistic Director & Producer
Echo Theatre & Echo (Beach) Theatre
Echo_Theatre@shaw.ca
(204) 995-6876

http://echobeachtheatre.shawwebspace.ca

In case you are wondering what is going on in the silent corner of Winnipeg I am currently inhabiting…

Two major things have kept me down at the moment: 1) My partner and I have bought a condo in Winnipeg, and at the moment my days are filled with the myriad details that go along with this major transition. We are very excited, and very busy. 2) I have the flu! Is it H1N1? I don’t know, but I am going with “Yes, it is.” Why? Because that is the newest hippest form of the flu, and although I probably picked it up at Value Village, I would like to think its the 2009 model (also, it will decrease my chances of getting it later in the year).

But, the new season of DNTO kicks off next week, so I hope to have some radio exposure soon. Also, I have a workshop reading of my new play, Some Things You Keep next week.

Anyway, stay tuned over the next few weeks for bigger, better and healthier things to come!

Great news! She’s Not There was announced as one of the Best in Fest, which means we have an added show on Sunday, July 26th at 12:45.  We are in Venue #2, MTC Up the Alley.  Also, we still have a show on Saturday night at 10:30 pm and Sunday at 5:00 pm. Get your tickets in advance!

Another great review for She’s Not There on CBC. Here is a great quote:

“Scott (Neufeld)  and Casey’s  (Sobler’s) interactions bring to mind the chemistry of coupledom’s greatest duos: their ebb and flow recalls Mad About You’s Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser or even Cosby’s Clair and Cliff Huxtable. This is a couple you want to root for…Alix Sobler’s script doesn’t sing so much as it zings with biting banter…”

Read the full review here:

http://www.facebook.com/ext/share.php?sid=101464028270&h=oDWx_&u=gGkxM&ref=mf

We got a great review in the Winnipeg Free Press for She’s Not There. Here is an excerpt:

“An eternal conflict plays out in a fully modern setting in this crisply written and stylishly performed romantic drama, which explores the tensions that arise when long-settled love runs head-on into youthfully exuberant temptation…Trendy without being trite and fully up to speed with its characters and the times they inhabit, She’s Not There is totally all there.”

Read the full reveiw on my review page, or at the Free Press (link above).

Also check out our good reviews in the Uptown and The Winnipeg Sun.