Queen's Players Toronto

Queen’s Players Toronto (QPT) is a not-for-profit organization that produces really, really funny contemporary alt-pop-rock musicals. QPT is widely considered to represent the lowest form of theatre[citation required]; however, it is also one of the most fun form of theatre[1][2][3][4], combining the elements of a comoedy show, a rock concert, and a keg party into a few magical nights of debauchery.
The script is a mash-up of popular or retro themes and characters often culled from TV shows and Movies. The title of the show will usually give you a clue as to which characters you might see on stage. These characters all meet up and go through a variety of trials and tribulations usually involving a classic “bad guy.” While the story is told there is the odd joke, occasional partial nudity, a smattering of local “humour,” some pop culture gags and of course: insanely good music.
The music is a mix of pop, R & B, rock, soul and rap performed with some snappy dance moves, great harmonies, and sex appeal. A tight band backs up the singers and rocks it out for you all night long.
In addition to producing a series of unqualified victories, QPT has also always had a very strong charitable component to its mandate; to date, QPT has donated over $70,000 to various charities including its lead charity, the Stephen Lewis Foundation, and plans to hit $100,000 in the 2011-2012 season.
QPT continues the tradition of Queen's Players in Kingston.

History

1900 - Present: Queen's Players (Kingston)

Queen's University is where the Queen's Players were originally formed. The students of Queen's still produce 3 shows a year which are performed at the Time to Laugh Comedy Club.

The first manifestation of the Queen's Players was as the Queen's Drama Guild, established in 1900. Prominent members of the Guild included Lorne Greene and Robertson Davies. It was not until the 1980s that the troupe adopted the format that now makes them so popular on the Queen's campus.
(Include super-old Queen's pics)
(Include link to Queen's University)
(Include link to QPK Wiki page + QPK website)

2004: the founding of Queen's Players Toronto

Queen's Players Toronto is the spawn of former Queen's Players (and Queen's University alumni) Peter Higgins, Tim Evans and Mike Payne. They formed the company in 2004 with the intention of bringing the hijinks and merriment of Queen's Players to their new home in Toronto. The first show was “Old School and the City” based on the television series "Sex and the City" and the film "Old School".

(Include sepia-toned picture of the founders of QPT)
- Is there an existing photo?
- Maybe better: can they dress old-timey and have photos taken?
(Include current-day picture of the Tranzac, which looks like it's from 1930 anyway)
(Tell the story of the conception of QPT as grandiosely as possible)
- Who to ask for this?
- Either the grandiose version or a normal version that we will make grandiose

For each of these next parts, I think it'd be great to interview those involved to have a paragraph or so

NB: this is not necessarily how the years will split up. Just an example.

2004 - (what year?): QPT, the early years

(what year?) - (what year?): QPT, the wonder years

QPT today

Every one of QPT's shows has completely sold-out. This is due to the tremendous efforts of their volunteers, the amazing loyalty of their audience, and the staggering generosity of their sponsors.

Types of QPT shows

Spring shows (full)

This is currently QPT's main production. In the first two years of QPT, a show was put on every 6 months (resulting in both fall and spring shows); however, putting on a show every 6 months proved to be too draining and QPT switched to annual shows in 2007.

The basis of every QPT show are characters from two or more popular TV shows or movies; additionally, there may be "randoms": real-life people who are characters in their own right. For example,
- Sarah Palin in Arrested Housewives
- Rob Ford in The Office Spaceballs
Earlier QPT shows had 12 characters, but this number was decreased to simplify the show and keep the running time reasonable.
A series of scenes are then written for these characters, weaving multiple storylines into a story arc which tends to be nicely and impossibly wrapped-up by the end of the show.
The number of scenes equals the number of characters plus one: there is an opening song sung by all characters; each proceeding scene ends with a song lead by a single character; then there is a closing scene and the final song is sung by all characters.

Fall shows (one-off)

The first "one-off" QPT show was "SAVE THE TRANZAC" (a fundraiser for the then financially-troubled Tranzac theatre) presented on Nov. 26th, 2010.

(According to the QPT website, this is wrong. The first one-off was in 2005: "Tranzac Talent Night")
Instead of a cohesive story written by a single group of writers and directed by a single director, individual groups wrote and self-directed sketches which made up the show.
Most of the songs (save for the opening and closing songs) were from recent QPT productions.
These decisions resulted in a show which was relatively quick to throw together but was loved, all the same.

Components of a QPT Production

Since QPT's birth in 2004, the courageous people involved in mounting each production are an eclectic mix of both Queen's University alumni, Toronto area actors, singers, comedians, and people who just enjoy general performing arts. Each show begins with a call for applications for the roles of Producer, Director, Stage Manager, Musical and/or Vocal Director, and a call for script submissions. Each of these roles (and the script) are selected by the QPT board in a single meeting which must be held in a padded room with rubber furniture and a table made out of bubbles, because the ensuing fights would kill people, otherwise.

Writer

Script format

As discussed in the description of the shows, the number of scenes is dictated by the number of cast members: there is one scene per cast member plus the closing scene.

For each show, there is a call for script submissions which asks for
1. A title which mashes up the "source" shows.
2. A list of characters.
3. Two full scenes (usually scenes 1 and 2, but it could be any two).
4. A summary of each scene.
5. A letter of intent where the script's authors explain why their script is the funniest, most releveant, and just-plain the best QPT script ever.
6. A single writer or, more commonly, a team of writers creates this submission for the QPT board.

The QPT board selects the script from the submissions using thumb-wars and coin-tosses. In the event that any board member is also the responsible for one of the script submissions, that board member is given the opportunity to advocate for their script, but must not be present for the rest of the script-selection discussion. The authors of the selected script then write the remainder of the show, with opportunities to read through the script before rehearsals begin.

Producer

Ah, the Producer. Why anyone would ever choose to be so underappreciated, no one will ever know.

The Producer is charged with maintaining schedules, running production meetings, and managing every aspect of the show (save for the "on stage" portion, handled by the stage manager) from inception (name of the moo-vie) through closing night via weekly-esque production meetings. (Get more input from Peter/Meg?)

Cast

Auditions

Auditions for the cast are held about 3.5 months before opening night.
Auditions are advertised to QPT Alumni, on the QPT facebook page, and also on other (theatre websites?).
Each auditionee is given a way-too-tight 10-minute audition slot. If the audition slots were any looser... well, we're not going there. But seriously, the production team wouldn't have time to see all of the fantastic talent that comes out to audition for each show.
Each audition consists of,
- Singing a song acapella for the Music and/or Vocal Director(s), and
- Doing a cold reading from sides that are from the upcoming show. Auditionees are usually kept to 2 sides. Hot tip: QPT is generally looking for whoever can do the best impersonation of each character, so it behooves an auditionee to at least know anything at all about the character before the audition. Just sayin'.

Rehearsals

Two weekday evenings are dedicated to scenework; one weekend rehearsal is given to music and vocals

Director

The Director takes their cast full of comedic gems and turns them into a rag-tag bunch of misfits who can make it through the show whether sober or "a wee bit tipsy". Initial scenework rehearsals focus on blocking and workshopping the script; following rehearsals focus on improving the pacing, improving the blocking, and there's still some room for workshopping the script. Once on stage, the Director sits back and enjoys while the cast continues workshopping the script. The Writers inevitably wonder why they even wrote a script.

Stage Manager

QPT's version of a Stage Manager is a unique interpretation, indeed. Other suggested names for this title include,

Stage Mother/Father
Assistant Director (as-IF the Director would allow this, though).

In addition to the Stage Manager's usual role of managing... the stage... during the run of the show... errrr they also take part in the rehearsal process:

Setting up the rehearsal room.
Taking note of the blocking.
Taking note of line changes.
Updating the script to reflect these changes.
Having a toolbox full of things like band-aids, throat lozenges, and SAFETY PINS!!!

Music Director & Vocal Director

No Queen's Players Toronto show is complete without a live band playing each and every song that is performed. The live music component is crucial to the energy of a Players show.

Sometimes these two roles belong to a single person, but they may also be split among two people. If split, the Music Director is primarily responsible for forming a band and running band rehearsals so that the band will, like, totally rock; the Vocal Director is primarily responsible for working with the cast on the full-cast opener and closer as well as the vocal harmonies in the solo songs.

Disirregardless of whether one or two people take on these roles, their first tasks are to a) select opening/closing full-cast songs, and b) work with the cast members to select their solo song for the show.

A number of factors are taken into consideration when selecting solo songs:

Appropriateness for the actor's voice
Appropriateness for the show
Attempting to maintain a variety of song styles in the show
Attempting to find a song that the actor will enjoy singing

Videographer

It's a tradition that every QPT show begin with an intro video (similar to an 80s sitcom intro) which introduces the characters in the show. There may be a reason for another video in the show, such as a fake movie trailer or a fake infomercial.

For all of QPTs video needs, the Videographer takes the lead on,

obtaining the equipment,
working with the Director to define potential shots for each character (or groups of characters),
selecting locations,
performing the videography (surprise!), and
editing the video into a masterpiece worthy of YouTube (or, at least, XTube)

Choreographer

The choreography which accompanies each song in a QPT performance is (ideally) energetic, funny, and simple. As such, pretty much anybody with a pulse can create choreography for QPT. Whereas it was previously more common to have a few choreographers split the songs between them, it is now more common to have many choreographers and give each of them only 1 or 2 songs. This makes for a reasonable workload and gets more people involved in the QPT adventure.

Lights

There are three primary types of lighting in a QPT show: "Off", "Full stage", and "Wiggle" (a.k.a. PARTY) lighting. There may additionally be a spotlight or another wash but, mainly, we Keep It Simple Stupid.

Sound

Sometimes the audience to gets so involved in a given QPT show that it's almost like they are the QPT show (which you aren't. You know that, right? Have fun, but don't ruin our show). Sound is therefore an incredibly important factor in a successful QPT show.

Sound Effects

You know what this is!

Sponsorship

A Sponsorship coordinator ensures that QPT maximizes its contribution to charity by securing contributions of money [or other things?] in exchange for space on the website and in the programme.

Graphic Design

Thank you for contacting Velvet Rope Productions.

I will be working out of office today; I will have voice- and e-mail access, but may be delayed in receiving messages.

I look forward to responding to you as soon as possible.

Cheers,
Darcy

But srsly, this role will take the lead on,

Creating a logo for the show,
Designing the show T-shirt,
Designing the programme, and
Designing the poster

The QPT Board

Exec

The QPT exec are (appointed?) positions who [what do I say here?] steer the QPT spaceship to new galaxies full of sexy aliens with various sexual orientations.

President (there can be only 1)

The president is someone who is pretty good at QPT. Currently,

Peter Higgins

Vice Presidents (2)

The vice presidents are not quite as good at QPT, but still pretty good. Currently,

Chris Peressotti
Don Duval

Members at Large (6)

The members at large are elected to the QPT board at QPT's annual AGM, held approximately a month after the Spring show. It is their role to assist in the job of [what do I say here?] tying up the aliens and schooling them in the ways of QPT and Christianity. Currently, they are

Brian Russell
Candice Gilliam
Graeme Drinkwalter
Kristin Rodgerson
Matt Burns
Megan McCarthy

QPT Senators

The QPT Senator program began in 2011 as a way to recognize those who have contributed a significant portion of their lives to making QPT what it is today.

List of current QPT Sentaors (TBD, but here's a placehhold)

Paul Levia
Tim Evans
Mike Payne
and...

The Tranzac

Queen's Players Toronto has called the TRANZAC (Toronto Australia New Zealand Club) its home since the first show in 2004.

Make it sound super-classy and amazing and perfect, e.g. "The Tranzac is a pristine castle nestled in the hills of Bloor & Brunswick"

The Audience

(Insert description of our audience from the sponsorship package)

Notable Audience Members

The "Hey, BATCH!" girl

After one of the shows during MADglee's run, n audience member (who was noisy and, subsequently, shushed by a Stage Manager during the show) complained to one of the cast members. At the end of her drunken complaint, she requested that the cast member find the person who shushed her, and to say to her, "hey, BATCH, sometimes it's okay to SMILE and HAVE FUN." The cast member was more than happy to do so, and "hey, BATCH" quickly became a popular greeting between people involved in QPT. Adding the line "hey, BATCH!" to each show is now under consideration to become a QPT tradition.

Others

Richard Crouse (I Watch Bad Movies So You Don't Have To!)
Don's mom & Peter's dad
Chris' gay bear friends

Traditions

Every show contains the question “where shall we go, what shall we do?”, resulting in a big audience reaction.
Every show contains opportunities for the cast members to say the name of the show, after which the cast and audience yell, "Name of the show!" This also gets a big cheer for reasons that are unknown to us. NB: do not try this during Schindler's List.
Whenever a cast member mentions a song title, the entire audience encourages them to "SING!" that song.
When an actor makes a noticeable mistake, the audience often points out how "SEAMLESS" it was.
The Cast, Crew & Band drink during the show. Some of us get hammered before the curtain call. Some get sloshed before the audience sits down. The audience is welcome to follow suit.
From time to time, someone on stage might do something that catches the audience's fancy. It is customary to offer this person a drink as a reward (during the show). For safety reasons, the audience is not permitted to go on stage when passing beers.
The "show shirt" given to those who have helped with the production will usually have a line from the show on the back of the shirt. (Usually.) For example,
- Grey's Entourage: "Let's drug it out, bitch"
- The Office Spaceballs: "Mayor the Ford be with you"

QPT Cast/Production Awards

At the conclusion of each QPT season, there are awards that are handed out to various cast members/band members/crew involved with the show. They are the following:

The Stilton (Cheesiest Performance):

2004 - Meredith Shaw (Samantha Jones)

Summer 2005 - Aaron Stern (Fezzik the Giant)

Fall 2005 - Jim Vlahos (Count Chocula)

2006- Josh Weale (Gil Grissom)

2007 - Natasha Boomer (Dr. Miranda Bailey)

2008 - Candice Gilliam (Rogue)

2009 - Meg Mackeigan (Lynette Scavo)

2010 - Morgan Joy (Sue Sylvester)

2011 - Brian Russell (Michael Scott)

The Baby Belle Gouda(Cheesiest Song):

2004 - Robert Knox ("Papa's Got a Brand New Bag")

Summer 2005 - Andrea Caswell ("Proud Mary")

Fall 2005 - Sheena Turcotte ("Baracuda")

2006 - Ashley Callaghan ("Total Eclipse of the Heart")

2007 - Mark Raheja ("I Wanna Be Sedated")

2008 - Mike Bodsworth ("Larger Than Life")

2009 - Danielle Meierhenry ("Poker Face")

2010 - Matty Burns ("Beat It")

2011 - Andrew Kelly ("Say it ain't So/Sexual Healing")

The Jamie Lamb Memorial Award (Cheesiest Band Performance):

2009 - Dan "Banger" MacKay

2010 - Graham Smith

2011 - Dave Wencer

The Producto/Higgy Award - (Cheesiest Production Performance):

2009 - Amanda Row

2010 - Kelly Payne

2011 - Meg McCarthy

The Player - (Best Overall Attitude)

2010 - Chris Peressotti

2011 - Matty Burns

The cast also hands out an award to each other during the run of the show. This award is called the "Seamless Award" and is generally given to the cast member who is the most "Seamless".

List of QPT Productions

Full-scale Shows

2011 - "The OfficeSpace Balls"
2010 - "MADglee"
2009 - "Arrested Housewives"
2008 - "The SuperReal Life"
2007 - "Grey's Entourage"
2006 - "The OCSI: Toronto"
Fall 2005 - "Count Chocula's Breakfast Club"
Summer 2005 - "The Apprentice Bride"
2004 - "Old School and the City"

Other shows that were performed but weren't in "official" QPT format:

Fall 2011 - "Save the Tranzac"
2005 - "Tranzac Talent Night"