Collaborations…

Award-winning film director: Peter Ireland

This post is a preemptive one… But JC is a little excited to see what our meeting with the brilliant Peter Ireland may uncover today.

Joymas Creative has worked with many artists and creative’s in the past, but none so completely than with the ‘new kid on the block’ film Director – Peter Ireland.

Peter has several writing/directing hats (Short film, Feature films and Music Video’s), and with this collaboration comes another – Musical Theatre Films.

Peter Ireland and [Joymas Creative's Artistic Director] Megan Shorey‘s collaboration started in 2009, with the Musical Short Blueberry Lane, for which both Peter and Megan have been awarded. However, there are several other projects currently under development – none more demanding than the long term project Spark.

With initial scoring beginning in 2007, Spark will see life in many formats before audiences will be able to see it on the big screen. Workshops, Concert performances & Developments are all planned as part of the work’s journey.

So we come to what is in store for today’s meet…

With another smaller project in the pipeline, JC and Peter are going into pre-production planning. We’ll be talking casting, and on-sell…. How exciting! Hope to have more to share about this new venture soon. Until then, keep your eye on our blog or the website for all the latest.

JC

‘Handle with Care’ album launch

'Handle with Care' original cast recording

SAVE THE DATE!

• 7:30 pm Friday 22nd October, 2010 @ The Shopfront. Judith Wright Centre, 420 Brunswick St, Fortitude Valley

On Friday 22nd October, Joymas Creative will be launching the keenly anticipated original cast recording of Handle with Care.

Featuring (in order of appearance) our cast – Penny Farrow, Judy Hainsworth, Kathy Burns, Kat McIntyre, Sarah Knight, Arlie McCormick, Liz Buchanan and Rachel Dunham and with instrumentalists – Anna McPherson, Eric Milliken, Steve Whittington, Sean Gilligan, Jamie Foulger and Megan Shorey,  this album will be released and available for sale on the evening and via itunes shortly after.

The evening will also host an excerpt from the next installment of the HUM series – Becoming Bill by Bradley McCaw, to whet your appetite for his premiere performance the following Friday – 29th October in The Shopfront. Joymas Creative will also be announcing some pretty special news on the night too.

So if you’re keen to join us all on this very special evening, reply to our RSVP list here rsvp@joymascreative.com and we’ll confirm your attendance by email shortly after. Capacity is limited, so don’t dawdle… get your name on the door NOW!

More updates to come

JC x

Introducing…. the creator of ‘BECOMING BILL’

'Becoming Bill' writer/composer - Bradley McCaw

BRADLEY McCAW writer/composer – Becoming Bill

A few days ago, Joymas Creative caught up with emerging musical theatre composer/writer, Bradley McCaw to find out exactly what makes him tick….

JC: Give me 5 words to best sum up who Bradley McCaw is?

BM: Honest, playful, hardworking, heart and passionate.

JC: What inspires your original compositions?

BM: My life. Currently I write mostly from my own personal experience. When I sit down to write, it’s usually in the first person and I am commenting on what I feel personally. I do put myself in others shoes, but even then the actor in me comes forth, and so the cycle continues. I am also inspired by other musicals that I love. I have grown up on Jonathon Larson, Jason Robert Brown and Stephen Sondheim [and] they are all very different. I feel my personal style is very much my own – it leans strongly toward piano driven pop music that is direct in its lyrical content.

JC: How do you feel working simultaneously on 2 projects – one a community theatre show, and the other your own?

BM: At different times I feel different things. Mostly, when I am focused on one I am there 100%. So when i’m rehearsing [Miss Saigon] I am there fully. When I’m writing and working on my own show [Becoming Bill], it is an entriely different process, but again, when I am there I am focussed on that totally. At times I can feel daunted and worried I will be spread too thin, but currently I’m just saying to myself – ‘One day at a time’. I love both shows for very different reasons but my main drive is my love and passion for theatre. I love performing it, rehearsing it, creating it. It’s a magical process and I feel privileged and excited by any opportunity I have to been involved in theatre. Also, whats that saying…’when it rains…?’

JC: What is the best thing about performing in your own work?

BM: I know where it came from. Althought lately I’ve been wondering if that’s a pleasure or a curse. Will I be too invested while performing? No… I feel that when it comes time to lay down my musical pen and pick up my acting hat I will make the transition with ease. I have actually been thinking about this a little lately. I hope that when it comes time to perform the work I will see the character of Bill as just another role that I need to work on, to understand and inhabit. Even though I know already where he’s coming from, I will still need to get down and do my acting homework.

I think the best thing about performing your own work is the sense of pride; having put your hand up and said ‘I will give this a try.’ I am putting something forward from my own heart into a field that I love and that is both exciting and scary, but i am so very pleased to be there, singing [the role] at its first inception.

JC: What can audiences expect from the HUM – Becoming Bill?

BM: My hope for HUM – Becoming Bill is that it is full of heart. Becoming Bill is a simple ensemble piece with only 4 cast members. It will be a concert version, where the cast mostly stand and deliver the songs).  It will also feature me playing piano for the entire show as the cast assist me to guide the audience through the piece. Becoming Bill reflects on our own search for answers in our life. It also questions what we consider right and wrong to be? Most of all I hope that it celebrates the human heart and spirit…. but I wrote it, so I’m biased.

Becoming Bill

7:30 pm

Friday 29th October 2010

The Shopfront – Judith Wright Centre

Tickets for this exciting new development project will be released for sale soon.

For more details go here

Who is Bill?

Life is not always what we expect it to be. Often real life is much more difficult than we predict. Meet Bill. Bill (Bradley McCaw) is a 25-year-old struggling actor who can’t seem to get his life together. We meet him 5 years into a difficult on and off relationship with Kimberley (Kat McIntyre), who has had serious difficulties getting close to Bill due to his reasonably close relationship with his Mother, Jane (Alice Barbery) who considers him her closest friend. To make matters worse, Bill’s brother James (Leon Cain), lives with him, and lazes around the house doing nothing and is content to watch his life pass him by from the view of the couch.

All four of them feel like something from their lives is missing. Some piece that could set them free. Some truth that could help them to find meaning in their life, and let them be happy. Does that truth lie in what someone else can give them, or does it lie in themselves?

Bill searches for a way to resolve his present dilemmas, accept his past and bridge the divide that has grown between him and the woman that he wishes to spend the rest of his life with.

Presented by emerging composer and experienced theatre performer Bradley McCaw, his story is semi-autobiographical.  He will share his show with you for night only, featuring a cast of some of Brisbane’s finest theatre performers.

BECOMING BILL

Friday 29th October, 2010 – The Shopfront (Judith Wright Centre)

The wonderful Mr. Alan… and we don’t mean Woodie!

The movers and shakers @ Harvest Rain Theatre Company have even surpassed their last amazing feat (bringing the stunning Shoshana Bean out to Australia) by allowing Brisbane (and Melbourne) fans to have the chance to see the brilliant Scott Alan in action this coming Friday.

Scott will be performing @ the Brisbane Powerhouse. If you’ve been snoozing, or living under some kind of rock, get your tix NOW!!!

Scott Alan - 7:30pm 3rd September 2010 Brisbane Powerhouse

Now JC doesn’t want to go on about the plethora of talent this amazing man has worked with in his 33 years, but it would make an avid theatre goer blush with excitement, as it is a COMPLETE list of Broadway‘s elite.

This comes as no surprise, of course. The man is generous, humble and real. His talent is only a part of what makes Scott such a pleasure to work with, we’re sure.

Last night JC had the pleasure of attending an intimate cocktail party in Mr. Alan’s honour. Welcoming him to Australia (and familiarising him with the switched-on team that brought him to Oz in the first place).

Well… what a night it was. Not pretentious, not fake. Just a beautiful room full of enthusiastic and appreciative training, emerging and established performers all enjoying this pretty special occasion.

We speak for many when we say that being as far away from the ‘action’ as we find ourselves in Oz, we

generous and inspirational...

place so much importance on the acceptance of our Northern Hemisphere friends. Last night put that little theory to bed. Scott Alan – one of only a handful of leading composer/lyricists of the contemporary musical theatre genre – was as intrigued about how we do it here, who we are here, our way of life and therefore our inspirations here, that JC began to smile a little.

Perhaps the feeling that things are on move here, is not just post show hunger, but a real glimmer of hope for the creative juices in Brisbane. We like the fact that we’re not only isolated here in Oz, but even more so up here in the Northern half of the country. With isolation comes invention. Comes a stronger drive for understanding and recognition. But even more importantly, a necessity to grow our own roots, our own identity, our own way of ‘doing the craft’. And to think that we might have a small role to play in this burgeoning swing towards creative self-acceptance, makes JC continue to simply smile… for the future of this little industry called musical theatre, that means so much to OUR team.

Welcome Scott. Thank you HRTC. See you Friday!

Thoughts?

JC

HUM series – ‘Becoming Bill’

Joymas Creative are pleased to announce that on the 29th October 2010, we will be producing the 2nd installment of our HUM series (with the Judith Wright Centre).

This is the first in our EMERGING part of this series, with the intention being to further support those creatives on the first leg of their developing journey, with production, marketing and creative assistance, as well as offering the venue and technical support. While we are excited to be negotiating with National artists as part of this series, we are firm believers that you should share your knowledge, your experience and your craftsmanship where possible. This is the ONLY way to foster a healthy and blossoming musical theatre and cabaret industry.

So – what is ‘Becoming Bill’? And why was it chosen?

More on that in coming blogs….. (we promise)

Most importantly, we want to introduce you to it’s creator and nurturer – Bradley McCaw

and his beautiful cast:

Leon Cain

Kat McIntyre

Alice Barbery

Dir: Simone De Haas

Snippets from the show, interviews, photos, thoughts and more coming your way soon…. so subscribe to the feed. Be the first to hear ALL the goss…. Let’s face it – there’s bound to be plenty!

JC

The spark of something new…

Creative Development @ JWCoCA

After a massive day yesterday (thanks to the wonderful team at The Arts Centre Gold Coast), we have been inspired to start a blog.

In this alternate world of Joymas Creative’s you will have the chance to see what truly goes into the crafting and creating of BRAND NEW musical theatre/cabaret works. There will be insights into creative choices, artists visions and casting histrionics!

There is so much more to the process than the beautifully crafted piece of magic that sits so rightfully on it’s perch (stage), and this is the place where you will have the chance to witness the magic, the falls, the inevitable melt-downs and the spark of something new.

Perhaps you too have experiences you’d like to share on your own journey of theatrical discovery, or perhaps looking in from the outside is the way you want to experience the rawness of this painfully beautiful industry? Either way… we look forward to getting to know you more (and vice versa).

Thoughts?