RSA student challenges himself with final project

Laureen F. Guenther
Times Contributor

 

Caleb Gordon, a Rosebud School of the Arts fourth-year student, who played Mark Dolson in Rosebud Theatre’s Mass Appeal, will perform the one-man show House, at Birds and Stone Theatre in Calgary, Feb. 4-6.
House, by Daniel McIvor, is “about a man named Victor, who’s struggling with basically everything that life has thrown at him,” Gordon said. “If you’ve ever been in that place of being angry at the world and righteously so … this is definitely the show for you.”
It’s also for anyone who’s bored with where they are in life, he said, and for everyone who’s looking for a show that’s real.
Gordon chose House as his Final Project because he’s been where Victor is, he said, angry with the world, and asking the same questions. But his story – and Victor’s – didn’t end there.
“The answer is so much more than I could ever believe,” he said. “It funnels all of the anger and the sadness that I’ve experienced into something that’s hopeful … there is hope through the darkest times.”
Producing this play has brought both hope and joy.
“Realizing that I can do far more than I think I can,” has been a joy, Gordon said.
He’s also found joy in discovering he can share with the world the emotions he usually kept hidden.
“Rosebud itself, the community, has helped me grow,” he said. “Now I’ve got a much greater sense of the people around me … I can trust people in a way that I never thought was possible.”
He’s pushed that growth further by taking additional challenges with this project. While most students host their Final Projects in Rosebud, for instance, Gordon is performing House in Calgary with the hope of drawing a wider audience.
He also took on the unusual step of crowdfunding so he could pay his creative team.
“Crowdfunding really presented an interesting choice for me because I have had in the past a really tough time asking people for money or asking people for help,” he said.
But when he set up an Indiegogo page with a goal of $1,500, he reached the goal in 11 days.
And crowdfunding gave him even more than the ability to pay his team.
“It was the most exciting thing to see the name of somebody that I knew pop up (on the list of donors),” he said. “I would go, ‘Wow! You remember me from three years ago and you think that I’m worth investing in!’”
To Strathmore Times readers, Gordon says, “thank you for your support in all these years. I’ve been working in the Mercantile for four years now and I’ve gotten to know so many of the faces that have come through there. I’d like to thank them for their faces and their smiles and their stories.”
Gordon performs House at Birds and Stone Theatre, 1703 – 1st Street NW, Calgary, at 8 p.m. on Feb. 4-6, and at 2 p.m. on Feb. 6. House includes mature themes and is recommended for ages 16 and up.
E-mail SeadreamerProductions@gmail.com for $12.50 advance tickets, or get tickets at the door for $15.