Transformation of the adolescent mold adopted at the world premiere of Michael Mysterious

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The future is a lot to cram into seven years that are screaming in the present.

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But that’s exactly what teens ages 13-19 are expected to do. So the Calgary playwright Geoffrey Simon Brown He has devoted much of his literary energy to writing about this specific moment in life.

“Everything feels more at stake, like life or death,” reflects Brown. “And there is the capacity at that point, more than at any time before or after, where it feels like the potential for something to happen is there.”

Brown’s work Mysterious michael, will take place from October 13 to 24 at La Cité Francophone. The play stars five characters, three of whom are teenagers. One of them, the incumbent Michael Mysterious, is left alone at 15 years after the death of his parents and grandmother. You need both a place to live and a place to be.

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Brown, 31, wrote the play in pieces when he was between 23 and 25 years old. After several teenage years, he still felt close enough to that period to remember what it was like: a stage in life that feels both finite and endless, infused with both certainty and indecision.

Young people often view adolescence as a defining period, in which careers, relationships, and other priorities must be decided. Only later does it become clear that the time is no of the essence when you are a teenager: life is long.

“When I was 17, I was certain that who I was at that moment was exactly what I would be later in life,” recalls Brown. “But when I read my diaries about who I was at that age, I see that there is a lot about me that I didn’t know yet.”

When the play begins, Michael is discovered living alone by the mother of a estranged friend (played by Amber Borotsik). She embraces him, throwing Michael (Gavin Dyer) into a changing, sometimes terrifying world consisting of that mother, her teenage son (Thomas Tunski), as well as her boyfriend (Jesse Gervais) and their teenage daughter (Christina Nguyen). ). ).

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Michael finds himself in a disorienting dance between the characters.

“A great dynamic in the play is how each character uses this person as a shield, a friend, an ally, a confidant or a punching bag, whatever they need at the time,” says Brown.

The stakes are high for Michael, who has nothing and no one to turn to if this new arrangement doesn’t work.

“He feels like he might just disappear completely,” says Brown, co-founder of Calgary’s Major Matt Mason Collective.

director Patrick Lundeen approached Brown to bring the play to Edmonton for its world premiere. Lundeen is part of Pyretic productions, a Sterling-nominated Edmonton independent company dedicated to raising political and social issues affecting Canadians and international communities. Other shows in its canon include Bears, The Particulars, and Barvinok.

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As a co-founder of the Common Ground Society (which produces Edmonton’s Found Festival, a festival that emphasizes unusual venues for shows), Lundeen was already familiar with one of Brown’s works. His show, Air, was part of the 2015 Found Festival and ran at Lundeen’s home, throwing him and his wife / pyretic partner Lianna Makuch out of bed for a week.

Air focused on teenagers and Lundeen fell in love with him.

“I asked him if I could read all of his work, every play, and out of that pile, Michael Mysterious was the one who spoke to me the most because he gave teens a voice on their journeys to becoming adults in a dark world,” says Lundeen , 33 years.

The director has a personal vision of Michael Mysterious. His adolescence was a troubled time marked by a lot of surfing on the couch. She relied on the “kindness of other families to make sure I got up and went to school.”

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When Lundeen read Brown’s work, he recognized himself.

“I knew what it was like to float and not be in control of your own destiny. I saw aspects of myself in all three teenage characters, and other people I knew from past lives … when I was reading it, it was like ‘holy hell, I love this play’, and it was only on page 10. “

Lundeen, an alumnus of the Victoria School of the Arts, not only survived into his teens, but thrived, heading to the National Drama School of Canada, graduating from the acting program in 2009. He also worked in acting activities. outreach and education in the Citadel. and has taught at the Foote Theater School.

It was a struggle (this is theater, after all) for Pyretic Productions to get Michael Mysterious on stage. Lundeen spent three years raising funds for the 95-minute act, which was postponed for a year due to the pandemic. But now it is here.

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“There are a couple of plays that I’ve written that feel like works of hearts, they come from my heart and the characters that I love as much as dear friends in my life,” says Brown. “It means a lot to me that it is finally shared with other people.”

For tickets, visit Tix in the square. All spectators must present proof of vaccination to attend the show, which offers 96 physically spaced seats (approximately half the theater’s usual capacity). Each show has 10 pay-what-you-can seats, available at the door on a first-come, first-served basis.

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Mysterious michael

Where The French-speaking city (8627 Rue Marie-Anne Gaboury)

When October 13-24

Tickets Starting at $ 23, available online at tixonthesquare.ca