The Meeting Halifax Theatre Collective presents August van Meekeren’s Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience at the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival, a darkly funny play about feeling seen and being seen.
At its core, the show tries to get at the very human questions that arise when a huge complication is thrown into our lives. – August van Meekeren
In this Q&A, we learn more from playwright August Van Meekeren.
Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience plays as part of the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Studio Stage (1593 Argyle St, Halifax) on September 5, 6 & 7. Visit halifaxfringefestival.ca for tickets and information.
This interview has been edited.
Q. Tell us about Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience. What can audiences expect?
Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience tells the story of a small group of people whose worlds are all changed by a psychotic illness. One character feels aimless and lost in the world, another struggles with balancing making money and being respectful in their art, and yet another questions the limits of medical care and how far beyond the bounds of professionalism one has to go to give someone else what they need.
It’s the first play I’ve written, and as such, it is just a thorough dive into a group of questions that arose as my life got increasingly entangled in the medical system and psychiatric care.
At its core, the show tries to get at the very human questions that arise when a huge complication is thrown into our lives. Questions like “Why do these things happen? How do we support each other? Where’s the line between representation and exploitation? How can we reach a feeling of happiness in our lives?” Audiences shouldn’t expect answers to these questions, or at least not ones we explicitly give. Still, they should expect a deep exploration of these questions and opportunities to draw their own conclusions.
Q. What was the inspiration for Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience?
I have various influences that have filtered through my brain and into my fingers, some of which I’m sure I’m not even aware of.
The major inspiration was my own life and experience, but to name some others, Daniel MacIvor’s and the late Daniel Brooks’ recent show Let’s Run Away showed me that there’s a space for shows like this right now. My writing style is influenced by prolific writers like Douglas Adams and Kat Sandler, who always bring a perfect blend of comedy and humanity to their stories. A few works are also mentioned in the play, but I’ll let those speak for themselves.
Q. Why this particular show now?
For me, there is no question why this show now. Our main topics of psychotic mental illness and representation in media are so ingrained with current politics and the arts landscape that to separate them is to separate bodies from brains. Mental illness will not stop being a pressing issue, and how that mental health struggle is shown in the media will always be intrinsically tied to it. I think the real question is, “why not this play sooner?” to which I apologize.
Q. What do you hope audiences leave talking about after seeing Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience?
I think Jiv Parasram once put it so perfectly, “I will know the show succeeded when the audience doesn’t try to give me a hug, but rather give a hug to their families.” I think the play is so focused on connection and maintaining connection through hardship that I hope the result will be that viewers can take a hard look at the many connections they have maintained or severed and realize what they truly want and who they truly want to be in their lives and gain the tools to start mending those connections.
Q. Why should someone come to see Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience?
Mental health, specifically people with mental health challenges at a high level, is so often portrayed in media as the villainous root of cruel intentions and very often ends with the said person being shot or killed “for the greater good.” The media rarely asks, “is there another way to help?” This show is for anyone who wants to see a different outcome, take, or value that is held. It’s a show for humans, by humans, about humans, that does its best to uphold humanity at every moment.
Dedicated to You, The Wonderful Audience plays as part of the 2024 Halifax Fringe Festival at Neptune Theatre’s Scotiabank Studio Stage (1593 Argyle St, Halifax) on September 5, 6 & 7. Visit halifaxfringefestival.ca for tickets and information.