Monday 28 May 2012

Odyssey: Onward to Ithaca

I've been quiet on my blog. But everywhere else, well, I haven't been quiet at all!  I'm doing a blog tour right now, so I'm playing everywhere else on the Internet but here.  My poor blog felt dejected, so I thought I'd invite others to come play on my blog!

I'm one of 18 tellers bringing Odysseus home on June 16th, at the National Arts Centre. It's a huge undertaking, to say the least.  I've already rambled on about some of my thoughts, but I thought I'd invite some of the other tellers to come and chat about their experience. 

Let's kick it off today!  The first post is blatantly stolen (bwa ha) from the National Arts Centre blog (Okay, it was stolen with permission), as drafted by the Ottawa Storytellers' Artistic Director, Caitlyn Paxson.  (And I was quoted on the NAC website!  Woo!)
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Help us bring Odysseus home! Let the NAC Fourth Stage be your ship, and let the Ottawa StoryTellersbe your guide through a world of gods, monsters, and warriors who just want tomake it home from Troy.

On June 16, 2012, Ottawa StoryTellers (OST), a non profitarts organization that presents over one hundred events a year, is undertakingan extraordinary project – a twelve hour performance of the greatest epic inWestern culture – Homer’s Odyssey. As eighteen storytellers at theNational Art Centre’s Fourth Stage weave the tale of the hero’s return from theTrojan War, the audience will be drawn together by the power of Greek myth andtimeless human struggles in love and war. For more information on the show,visit www.ottawastorytellers.ca/odyssey/.

Involving eighteenstorytellers, three directors, and a multitude of resources, a show of thisscope will easily cost more than a small arts organization can handle on itsown, so OST is also embarking on a fundraising campaign of a scale far andbeyond anything it has attempted in the past. Please check out the exciting items we’ve gathered with an eye towardsthe theme of the Odyssey and an epic journey.

Visit www.indiegogo.com/ottawastorytellers to watch our promo video and have a look at all the exciting perks that you can receive!

Why the Odyssey?
Because it is one of the greatest andmost enduring works of literature humanity has ever produced, carrying us backto an ancient time and yet filled with a very contemporary sensibility, helpingus to know still more of who we are. (Jan Andrews, Artistic Director)

In an age when much our entertainment relies on loudexplosions and visual overstimulation, an up-close-and personal narrationof the Odyssey, relying entirely on the spoken word and the inner eye, canwaken portions of the brain that have been numbed andneglected.  (Tom Lips, Storyteller)
3000 years ago, Homer nailed the forces that shape humanlife - family ties, honour, love, loyalty, cunning, fear, sex, wealth, revenge,consequences, religion, death, triumph. No one has ever done it better. (Gail Anglin, Storyteller)

It's got a man-eating one-eyed monster, sanity destroyingsongstresses, and a giant blood bath.  'Nuff said. (Marie Bilodeau,Storyteller)

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I'm posting the video here because it's awesome fun.  Roomy and I were almost sirens in it, but alas, the timing didn't work out.  Ah well.

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