Where Are They Now? - Becky McGarvey
Your Name/Company: Becky McGarvey
Fringe Show you were in: Coin Operated Boy and Other Tales
Year of Show: 2012
Your role: Producer, Choreographer, and Dancer
Please tell us a bit about your background and/or company you performed with at the Fringe?
I am a UH Theatre and Dance Graduate that loves to choreograph and dance! I do not have a company (yet), last year’s Fringe Festival was just a chance for me and my friends to put on a show together.
What inspires you on a personal as well as on an artistic level?
I believe inspiration is everywhere as long as you’re paying attention, and know how to connect the dots. The inspiration behind Coin Operated Boy was a song by the Dresden Dolls. Although our story had very little to do with the actual lyrics of the song, when I first listened to it I started thinking about the possible story behind it, and I had to make up my own.
Has the show you were in been taken to another Fringe or to another performing arts festival? Or what has happened to the show you were in?
Coin Operated Boy and Other Tales (or COB for short) has not been performed again, but it encouraged my friends and I to start our own dance company because we enjoyed dancing together in the Fringe Festival so much! The Spatial Sculptors perform all over Honolulu, sometimes in the streets of Chinatown. It also got me dancing with Divino Ritmo, who shared the evening with us, and I started my first ballroom and Latin dance classes.
Where are you now with your performance career?
I am a dirt-poor artist living outside New York City. I dance with Once Upon a Time Inc, a theatre and dance company that tours schools in New York to bring the performing arts to children who would not otherwise have a chance to see that sort of thing. We are doing a short version of Peter Pan, and also a dance show that will feature ballet, tap, modern, and African dance. I’m also still going to auditions as much as I can, Beth Soll Dance Company, Jose Limon Dance Company, and Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company are some that I’m registered for in the next couple of weeks.
What project(s) are you developing right now?
Finding a steady second-job and a place to live.
When and where can we see you perform?
I recently performed on July 21, 2013 at the Once Upon a Time School of the Arts in NY. It will feature Jennifer Kronenberg of the Miami City Ballet who has also been featured in Pointe and Dance Magazine.
What survival tips can you give to emerging as well as seasoned artists working in Hawai’i?
Open as many doors as you can. Many of my connections were made through my willingness to try new things, and to work with lots of different people, even if it wasn’t something I was comfortable with. The bigger picture for me was always to keep dancing and be on stage, and it’s easier to do that when you keep your options open and keep in contact with people who will actually give you that opportunity, than putting all your dance eggs in one basket.
What resources can you recommend to look into for funding or to support each others work?
A lot of people are using websites Kickstarter or Indiegogo with a lot of success, so that’s definitely an easy way to go about it. However some of them do take a cut from funds that you raise. Again, open as many doors as you can, you should look to apply for a grant or don’t be afraid to write to a local business to ask them to help fund your dream. If you go through a local business make sure to remind them that all charitable donations of over $5000 is tax deductible, sometimes that’s all the push they need.
How can people contact you for professional work or to collaborate with you on creating an amazing show?
beckymcgarvey@gmail.com, or message me on Facebook.
Finally, if you were given a magic bag what three items would you like to pull out to create your ideal show with? How would you use those items? And what name will you give your show?
1. A theatre with a big marley stage, sprung floor, great acoustics, light and sound system, and over 200 seats.
2. A complete production crew (sound and light technicians, designers, stage managers, stage hands).
3. A wallet that never ran out of money.
It’s easy to find performers who are willing to create art, and it’s easy to find inspiration, other aspects of putting on a show are not easy but it is still easier than getting a reliable crew and a theatre that has all the specs that your show needs. I have lots of shows in mind, and I would love to do them all if I just had a theatre and crew at my disposal.