Starting Up Paprika 2013: 24 Hours Until First Training Day

(Month 2 of  Rosamund being Associate Director…)

Now I finally know what goes on behind the very exciting closed doors of Paprika Executive meetings. The answer is scheduling, scheduling, scheduling, and then sometimes we schedule things.  We also meet the roommates/partners/families of whomever's living room we have taken over as office space on any given day.

Our brand new General Manager Katherine Devlin hosted our meeting this week, and her dog proved distractingly adorable (see below).  I may lobby for non-human entries to be considered next year. Try to ignore the genius of a puppy-based collective creation.  You can't.  That is an amazing idea.

The year's just been about planning, budgeting, flyers, applications, staffing, spaces, and media ("HEY ROS- You blog, right?"), and other essential steps ("HEY ROS- You Tweet, right?").  Nothing got exciting until interviews, which we wrapped up a few weeks ago after DOUBLE last year's application numbers.

Some of the coolest people I've met in a very long time travelled from as far away as Ottawa (that's FAR), to spend ten minutes telling Paprika Exec about their plays, their plans, and their reasons for applying to the Festival. Quality was high, competition was fierce.  As a result, our Festival is STRONG like an OX that likes to create and perform works of theatre.

Ottawa applicants Skyped their interview.  We don't demand six hours of driving, especially as many participants are too young for licenses.  Also soon some will be dogs and unlikely to drive.  Or rather they will be puppies 21 and under (63 and under in dog years).

However the Ottawa group is coming all the way to Toronto for tomorrow's training day. Rob Kempson's game of real-life Guess Who is worth the travel time (It's like the board game Guess Who…but instead of using a board…we use Paprika Participants).  It is taken very seriously.

Photos will be posted. Stay tuned.

- Rosamund Small

Rosamund is the Associate Director of The Paprika Festival and  a Paprika Participant

P.S. I do Tweet (@PaprikaFest).  Follow us.