Rhubarb Profile: Stand Sentry

Tonight is your last chance to catch the shows for this week. Rhubarb has another two weeks, though, so we've plenty of opportunity to get our new-theatre hit.

Daniel Nyman, director of Stand Sentry answered a few of my questions about his piece.

Can you introduce yourself and your piece?

My name is Daniel Nyman, and I am the director of Stand Sentry, playing in week #1 at the Rhubarb Festival

Who would you say is your ideal audience?

I think Stand Sentry is a pretty accessible piece of theatre. Audiencewise, I hope it can be seen and appreciated by anyone and everyone. Our goal with the piece was to create a very straight forward, well-crafted, engaging 20 mins. Anyone who is interested in seeing theatre, whether they are regular theatre-goers or not, should be able to appreciate the show.

How long have you been working on it?

Jason Hall wrote the piece in the fall, specifically for the Rhubarb. We rehearsed for about 20 hours over the course of a couple of weeks prior to the actual performance dates.

Tell me about the process of writing/performing about the piece

As the director, I can't really say much about writing or performing the show, but I can say that as the director it was one of the most stress-free pieces of theatre I've worked on. I think that was mainly a result of the people I was working with, their commitment to the project, their abilities, and their willingness to work. Everyone, from the actors, to the writer, to the festival organizers have been really on the ball and made it such a smooth and easy process. It goes without saying that this isn't always the case in the theatre world.

What makes Rhubarb a good venue choice for you?

The festival has a reputation and tradition of being a great showcase for new, upcoming, experimental, diverse, provocative, clever, edgy, humourous, dramatic, controversial, original theatre--and its audiences have come to expect no less. Hopefully Stand Sentry fits into at least couple of those catagories.

What's next?

I will be continuing my producer internship work with Necessary Angel Theatre Company. Also, Jason Hall (the writer) and myself will hopefully be collaborating again in the near future on a full length project. Keep an eye out for it.