The Early Bloomer

Man, I’m such a sucker for kids’ stories. Whether it’s the result of a Peter Pan complex or just some unresolved issue from my childhood, I literally go weak in the knees for a good “Why am I different?” tale of woe.

Which is what interested me when my friend Veronica, who sometimes writes for the Edmonton Examiner, told me she was working on a story about “The Early Bloomer,” a children’s play (produced by Concrete Theatre) currently touring elementary schools and about to do a run of shows at the Milner Library. The play is about a flower named Maisie Daisy who suddenly hits a growth spurt before all her friends, and struggles with the new changes in her life. SOLD!

Anyway, turns out (small world, y’all) the play was written by local improvisationalist, actress and all around cool lady Jana O’Connor, who also happens to be a friend of mine.  The play is accompanied by a teacher’s guide, which features the following quote from Jana:

“I was much taller than most of my classmates all through elementary and junior high school. I developed curves way ahead of the curve and had to wear clothes from the ladies department. In fact, I was often mistaken for a teacher. In a time of life when all you want to do is be like everyone else, I most definitely was not. Fitting in, in all senses of the phrase, eluded me.”

WHA?! This is surprising, given that when you meet Jana in person, she’s this amazingly gorgeous statuesque blonde that looks like she strolled in from a 1940s movie.  But I digress. I guess we really all have to live through an awkward phase (mine started with a mullet in 1986 and continues to this day).

I chatted Jana up on Facebook, all about what it’s like to jump from the world of improv to the world of children’s theatre.

SALLY: What inspired you to write a children’s play?

JANA: I was inspired to write a play for young audiences by my involvement with Concrete Theatre. I worked with them as an actor for a number of years and loved doing the shows so much.

Especially their Sprouts New Play Festival, which involves staged readings of short plays for young audiences written by local playwrights. It’s the kind of gig where you go from playing a water buffalo to an evil dragon to some kinda crazy scotsman all in one hour.  So after many years of acting in the Sprouts Festival, I approached the Artistic Directors to see if they’d let me try writing one of the plays. And they said yes! So the 15 minute version of The Early Bloomer premiered in Sprouts 2006, and then Concrete commissioned a full-length version.

SALLY: I understand you’ve been touring the early bloomer through schools. How has the response been?

JANA: The play has been touring schools since Feb. 1 and, from what I hear, the response has been really good. I was at Vic today and it was cool to see the response from the kids. They seemed to enjoy it, there was some giggling, and some good questions at the end.

SALLY: Can you talk a bit about the differences between staging a production for kids versus performing to an audience of adults?

JANA: When [it] is being done well, there shouldn’t be too many differences in how its staged compared to theatre for grownups. I love that Concrete is able to attract some of the city’s finest actors to do their shows, and they go all out with production values (great set, costume and sound design). Having said that, the kids don’t have that “polite theatre face” that adults do, where they sit still and say nice things afterwards no matter what the show’s like.

SALLY: What are the best/worst parts of being a playwright? How does it compare with being a performer?

JANA: Because I have an improv background, I’ve kind of been an on-the-spot playwright for a number of years. And that’s what I love about it, its another outlet for my improv brain.

I feel like its taught me a lot about collaboration. As a playwright, you create something and then hand it over to a team of people to help bring it to life. And that can be a big learning curve, to trust and to let go.

But when you work with a company that is respectful of the playwright, and believes in the piece, everyone involved brings something to the piece and the end result is much richer. So I feel very fortunate.

SALLY: What’s next for you?

JANA: Next for me – I’m livin’ my dream, being in a sketch comedy show for CBC radio – The Irrelevant Show. We’re in the midst of recording a new season that will air in the fall. Best gig ever!

“The Early Bloomer” runs today and tomorrow at the Stanley Milner Library (TODAY: 7 p.m., SATURDAY: 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.).