Travis Seetoo takes you behind 'Roll of Shaw' at next Learn & Live
The newest installment of Learn & Live at the NOTL Public Library will give attendees a look at a different side of the Shaw Festival.
On Monday, July 22, Shaw actor and director Travis Seetoo will speak about his new play "The Roll of Shaw."
More than a play, it's an educational tool and a game all in one, Seetoo told The Lake Report.
He recently completed a master’s thesis at Brock University on comparative literature and art, which he is passionate about and looks at the intersections between the arts and education.
He explained in an interview that the idea for "Roll of Shaw" came to him after doing a play with a lacklustre turnout.
“I thought it was so sad that people weren’t coming to see Shaw, because I’d worked here so long and I think he’s so great and has so much to say,” Seetoo said.
He started to brainstorm ways to get more people to appreciate Shaw’s work— and landed on combining his love of Dungeons & Dragons, fantasy games, and art and literature.
“I thought, what if I reverse-engineer that and make a role-playing game that uses Shaw characters and Shaw stories and Shaw’s politics,” Seetoo said.
He workshopped the idea on high school and middle school classes, along with a presentation at the University of Toronto before bringing it to the Shaw Festival itself.
Artistic director Tim Carroll gave it the green light and with some tweaking to make it work as a show, "Roll of Shaw" is now playing at the festival’s Spiegeltent this summer.
Seetoo said the new way of looking at Shaw’s work makes it more approachable.
“You don’t need to know anything about Shaw or role-playing to play this game or see it,” he said.
During his Learn & Live presentation, Seetoo plans to elaborate more on his inspiration behind the project, along with the “nitty gritty technical stuff” that one doesn’t typically learn about when they just come to see the show.
“There will be a lot of jokes, too, it won’t just be a lecture,” Seetoo said.
To register for the remaining spots for "The Roll of Shaw: The Creation of a Dramatically Shavian Game" and Play on July 22 at 7 p.m., visit the NOTL library's website.
Julia Sacco, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Lake Report
