This one goes out to all the supporters! Everyone who comes out to watch us perform, shows up to a fundraiser, gives us a word of encouragement – This one's for you.

I’ve been doing a lot of solo performing lately - Candice also, in her one woman show "Anatolia Speaks" (soon to be performed at the Edmonton fringe) - and the both of us have had a similar experience – It gets lonely. When on stage alone, in a city where you know few people, or no people at all, even performing to a sold out crowd, you feel alone when you leave the performance by yourself.

I never realized how much having even just one friend in the audience means more than having hundreds of audience members. To me, having someone in the audience who knows me and cares about me regardless of how my performance was, is very comforting.

On a slight side tangent, this experience goes to affirm that fame will never be the measure or delight of our successes as artists. It is the individuals we meet, connect with, learn from, and maybe even are blessed enough to grow with, that really enriches our lives, brings joy, and instills a deep sense of accomplishment.

How timely that I should be having this experience just around the time that Poiema had it’s fundraiser in Edmonton. To everyone who came out, know that regardless of what $ value you contributed to the evening, what has exponential value to us as a company is your support, your belief in us as young women hoping to create meaningful theatre and bring about a change.  We really are blessed to have you in our lives; it touches our hearts all the time.


-S

You may have caught the behind-the-scenes photos of our Fashion For Freedom shoot a short while ago that were posted on our Poiemagals instagram page by Poiema Gal Melissa.  Here's a deeper look into the hard work and behind-the-scenes fun that went into making this shoot a success.  For this special project, we recruited Brittany from Brittany Paige Photography with her mom, Marj Balser, to take our photos to a whole other level.  I decided to take some photos of the details that brought this whole day together, from the hair and make-up (done by the wonderful Erin Clemmer), to the lights, to the social networking.  Our location was a beautiful home built in 1914 that was being renovated at the time of the shoot.  A big thank you to Lydia Lawrence, Nadia Candido, and Claire Brandenbarg for being our fabulous models, and to Howard and Carmen Lawrence for sharing their home with us.  You can check out Brittany's professional photos on our Fashion For Freedom pages, the official Fashion For Freedom website, and on all the promotional materials for this exciting event.  The photos in this post are by yours truly.

-B

         Fashion For Freedom is an event in support of the A21 Campaign that aims to abolish human trafficking. 
                                                                           Saturday, April 27th.  
                               For tickets or to find out how you can be involved, visit www.fashionforfreedom.ca.

I was going to write this week's reflection on all the casting call character descriptions I have been reading lately, in which 9/10 female roles specify the girl must be ‘sexy,’ ‘beautiful,’ ‘the girl next door,’ ‘attractive,’ or ‘thin.’ While only 1/10 male roles will comment on their physical appearance, and usually it will say, ‘burly’ or ‘muscular is a plus, but not essential.’

Then I would expound upon that idea by mentioning last week's ‘Girls’ episode that got a lot of controversy as Hannah had a weekend sexcapade with an attractive older doctor, and critics were having a hard time believing that that would ever really happen.

However, thank goodness, I had a change of heart. Last night I went and saw three funny ladies who comprise ‘The Sweater Zeppelins’ perform in their first comedy sketch show, self written and produced. These women wrote intelligent witty comedy without making the use of the word 'F@#$'. That made me extremely proud. Go ladies. When you can’t find the work you want, you create the work for yourself. Talk about empowering.

Then this morning, I spent some time looking at a birthday present a friend had made me a few years ago, and thought ‘this is just what I needed to keep my spirits up.’ My friend filled a mug which reads, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams”, with phrases like: “I’m so blessed to have you in my life.” “Your laugh is infectious.” “You're beautiful.” “I’d let you bite my arm.” (bit of an inside joke). “ I know everything that you do will be GREAT!” ...and the list goes on. Immediately my mood changed as I was filled with love and acceptance from someone who knows me inside and out, because she took time to empower me and encourage me with such loving phrases.

So rather than ranting and raving about the way ‘society’ is bringing me down. I would like to comment on the power you and I all have to bring people up, by sharing some loving encouragement, or having the courage to do what we love and the persistence to make it happen.

Thanks to the many wonderful people in my life who encourage and strengthen me, may I spend my efforts doing the same for others, rather than dwelling on the things that do not.

-S

Gone are the days, it seems, when an actor waits to be cast by someone else, or at least those days are fading quickly, and thank goodness. For actors who like to control their lives (who doesn’t), this is empowering. It means more say over what you do, and doing work that is meaningful to you. It’s also scary as heck, because now you are responsible for your own career. No more sitting back on the excuse, ‘I just wasn’t discovered’ or ‘my bad luck I guess’. 
I also think this will be even more effective in weeding out people who are looking for a quick climb to fame without really putting in the work. 
Lastly, I hope this will equate to more meaningful and less trendy plays, movies, and television shows. Hopefully intelligent, socially concise artists will take back media from the gun-happy, sex crazed culture, and create some stuff that enriches our souls. Don’t get me wrong, I love an action movie just as much as the next person, and love stories are of course a secret passion of mine, but as Scott Swan, one of my mentors says: “The last thing the world needs is a mediocre production of anything. Never lower the content of a show to the audience, make them rise to the occasion.”
Art needs to be in schools encouraging the next generation, and on movie screens and in theaters encouraging others to think critically and look at the world in a different way, find empathy, and move towards better relationships with one another, not perpetuate fear and prejudice. 
You know, I’ve been hoping lately that I would become passionate enough about something to be propelled into action. Sitting here, writing this, I think God has given it to me. Now will I be brave enough and convicted enough to stand out and act upon it? Only time will tell. 
I write all this after spending a few hours last evening watching “The Walking Dead”. Ironic? Hypocritical? Yep, a lot of both. Can’t be perfect I suppose. Although, in my defense, I woke up this morning angry that the show chooses to assume that if the world was ending people would start killing each other instead of working together to survive. As a relative mentioned over Christmas, living in Montreal during the power outage, people didn’t become scarce minded and fearful. Instead you would see every third or fourth house occupied as people banded together to stay warm and pool resources. Yeah humanity!
Random Rant? I think so! Have a great week every one, and if you don’t agree with something I said, GOOD! Form opinions, become enraged, make change, but always remember to walk a mile in another person’s shoes before you write them, or their opinions off.

Block 1912, a cafe full of like-minded people, an aroma of chai lattes and steeping teas, and couches who’s overuse and gratitude engulfed their guests. We sat. Four girls ripe out of college with dreams and goals and no doubts or fears, not yet tainted by the failures and lessons life kindly hands over when you go for something big. 

We needed a name. As so many theatre companies that have come before us and the endless amount that will be born after. We started with a need, a great desire to create but most of all, create together. It isn’t everyday you find a group of people with the same amount of passion for a singular thing, each bringing their own special gifts. We shared a need to work in theatre, and if the roles we were itching to play didn’t exist, we’d create them ourselves. How hard could writing a show be?

But we still needed a name. As we sat in the cafe, we discussed every possible company name that came to mind. Inside jokes, popular titles, funny words, sappy and heartfelt labels. What would describe who we are and still be pleasant to a stranger’s ear? Melissa sat in her large, tufted chair as we debated, looking through a book she happened to have with her at the time. And she found it. Poiema. Google came in handy as we searched it’s exact meaning and context. 

Poiema (noun) po-ay-mah. A hebrew word meaning masterpiece and workmanship. The words were epic, meaningful… and a bit dramatic for our small theatre company. But we knew we were beginning something great and lasting, and having a powerful name to live up to was the perfect way to set our goals high and have a constant reminder of where we started and the passion that brought us together. 

It hasn’t been easy. We have failed, succeeded, fought, cried, laughed, argued and lost sight of goals. But, as Sara so importantly wrote in our blog two weeks ago, we’ve always tried to enjoy the process. The workmanship. What is the point of having a great show if you hated the year leading up to it? If you lost friends in the process? If you became unhealthy due to stress? To us, there is nothing more important than spending time together creating in a positive and healthy way and learning as much as we can in the process. 

As an avid 'diy'-er (of clothing), I found a great craft of writing on fabric with bleach to create a design. As all the Poiema Gals (except for me) have birthdays in October and November, I thought it would be a great present. I made us all “I am Poiema” shirts and it occurred to me what that means. I am hardworking, I am a masterpiece, I have big dreams, and I do my best to enjoy life as it comes without constantly pushing myself for a final result. It makes me wonder: Are you Poiema?

-B

I have been reading a book called "Lioness Arising" by Lisa Bevere and it has really started to stir something within me. 

As I read this woman's empowering book, I can't help but think how lucky I am to be in a company of women, who together seem fearless.  Bevere really encourages us to do life together, drawing on each other's strengths.  This may seem like common sense but as I look around I notice a very self focused "I want it now" world.  Margaret Mead, a cultural anthropologist once said, "'Sister' is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship."  I love this because who we first view as an enemy in our lives turns out to be a best friend.  Think how many "best friends" we would have if we stopped competing against one another.  British poet and philosopher, Matthew Arnold, once said, "If ever there comes a time when the women of the world come together purely and simply for the benefit of mankind, it will be a force such as the world has never known."  

So next time we feel that glimmer of jealousy creep in, think how much stronger we'll be if we turn it into friendship.  We were not created to do life alone and I am thankful to have my fierce lioness sisters to do life with. 

-C