10 QUESTIONS FOR STAGE DESIGNER AND DIRECTOR ALAINA VIAU
Alaina is an opera stage director, conductor and production manager based out of Toronto. She is the founder and Artistic Director of indie opera company Loose TEA Theatre. With them she has directed and written a re-imagined Dissociative Me (Gounod), Love in the Age of AutoCorrect (Mozart/Stravinsky) and La Tragedie de Carmen (Bizet). Currently the company is working on a re-imagination of Bizet’s Carmen as #YesAllWomen that discusses current social issues like gender equality, class society and the impacts of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.
1) Are you more like your father or your mother?
Luckily, I think I am an even split between both. They are both very hard workers, who think creatively (my mum in the artistic sense and my dad in the business sense) and with an attitude of “if you don’t know how, figure it out!”. Neither mum nor dad believed in TV for children so my brothers and I played in the backyard. We made up stories and sang (a lot)!
My larger personality traits like drive, ambition and discipline are from my dad. I think the ability to take a large project and break it down to day by day tasks is also from my dad. He sees creativity as a process that is worked on every day. He is also very multifaceted; a PhD in chemistry, a very busy wedding officiant, stage manager, and more recently became a certified yoga teacher! I am a Director, Producer, stage manager and conductor who did all my training as a singer! Yes, I certainly got that from my dad. He also always encouraged my interest in physical activities.
My mum is the right brain parent. She is creative and fostered creativity in me and my brothers. She is actually the costume designer for La tragédie. I could not think of anyone else I’d want to work with, because I know that her work will be impeccable. With her enthusiasm she inspires other people who become very loyal to her! I know I got my practicality from her, and I am still trying to learn her amazing people skills.
2) What is the best thing or worst thing about being Artistic Director of a new opera company such as Loose Tea Music Theatre?
The best thing, and the reason I started this company, is to be able to do my own thing and to have creative control! I get to practice what that I have been wanting to do, with the freedom to do it how I want to. Since I was about 11 years old I always had the idea that I wanted to run a business. I remember picking up my dad’s business books, in particular “The Science of Getting Rich” and being completely enthralled. I was always telling everyone what to do and how to do it. My brothers can attest to that. I have always been a leader but I really love the collaborative process. I think of leading as taking my vision, presenting it to my team and see how, with their expertise and knowledge, it can be made better. I love that I get to work with incredibly talented and dedicated people. They inspire me to push further, to make something better. It is all about having a great team.
On that note, one of the challenges is finding the right people for the vision; people who are excited by the project and will push with me to make it the best it can be. I’m also wearing several hats, especially with a new company where the infrastructure is still being sorted out. I am producing and directing the show but also having to lead the direction of the company as a whole. It is a lot of work, but I am enjoying the process and learning a lot!!!
3) Who do you like to listen to or watch?
I have been on a huge Beethoven kick. My ear craves his symphonies and string quartets. Also, the Alpine Symphony by Strauss.
I feel slightly bad for my colleagues at work because I listen to the latter very often. Luckily they like to hear it too. In one day we listened through 6 different versions, and note that the piece is about an hour in length – that was a lot of Strauss! I think we took a break and listened to Mozart’s 40th symphony to give our ears a rest!
Bernstein; I listen to many of his recordings and watch his conducting videos. I love Joan Sutherland, Jonas Kauffmann and Tafelmusik. On the non classical side I love swing and funk in particular Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Soul Motivators who are local in Toronto. Old school jazz is also at the top of my listening like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway etc… and who can resist a bit of Santana!!
4) What ability or skill do you wish you had, that you don’t have?
Teleportation – hands down!
I wish that I had taken Ballet. While I was working at the Royal Opera House, I watched everything that The Royal Ballet performed! Sometimes, depending on the rep, I would look forward to it more than the opera. My favourite was Manon and I’m sure if I had still been there to see it, Mayerling would also be at the top of the list. Both of them are choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan. I also really loved what I saw of Liam Scarlett’s Sweet Violets based on Jack the Ripper. I am hoping that I will have enough time this year to take the adult ballet classes at the National Ballet School!
5) When you’re just relaxing and not working what is your favourite thing to do?
I run and bike daily. I have a lot of energy to burn off at the end of the day! I am a very social person so I like to surround myself with awesome friends that know you well enough that you can just say anything! I would rather eat lunch at my desk at the RCM so I could take my break to have coffee with a friend!
Sometimes it is hard to define where work ends because I love sitting down with a score and/or recording and going through a work new to me! I get very excited about music so it doesn’t necessarily feel like work. I also love LOVE to read, it feeds my imagination. I love to sit in a comfy chair, in a nice sunbeam with a cup of tea, possibly with a cat on my lap! That is bliss.
6) Is there anyone out there who you particularly admire, and who has influenced you?
Ninette de Valois. She was the founder of The Royal Ballet. She started with a small group that danced on all the piers of England. She then developed it into the Saddler’s Wells Ballet and then eventually into The Royal Ballet and the Royal Ballet School. She started out small, doing what she loved and grew it into one of the world’s best ballet companies and school. She demanded perfection and had such drive and dedication to her craft. There was an exhibition at the ROH while I was there that I read over and over again. This is where I developed the idea of my own company. I felt inspired by her demand for perfection and to develop a solid education program in which to draw her dancers. It all came from this one woman with a vision. She worked tirelessly to have it be what she wanted it to be. I love that she was able to reach through history and inspire the seed in my brain.
This has been reposted from: https://barczablog.com/2013/08/23/10forviau/
