The Festival season is upon us. There is one fest that seems to be more fascinating, but also more oblique than many others. Luminato has been presented since 2007, and this year brings a must-see show, My One Demand, directed by Blast Theory to the Festival.

The show features seven actors spread out in age and gender. We talked to two of the immensely talented cast members, Brielle Robillard and Sascha Cole prior to the show’s debut on set during a break. They helped enlighten us as to the creative process that went into creating and personalizing My One Demand.

Scene Creek: What did you know coming in?

Sascha Cole: There was very little information shared about certain details about the project. In fact, I was under the impression that we were auditioning for characters.

Brielle Robillard: Right.

Cole: I didn’t realize until we were cast that we were playing ourselves. There is a script, based on a series of interviews conducted by Matt (Adams of Blast Theory).

Robillard: Yeah.

Cole: It’s prerecorded

Robillard: Yeah, each of the characters had an interview, and then he took part of the interview and put it into the script.

Scene Creek: Where will you be while it’s filmed?

Cole: Well, we’ll all be in different places along a five kilometre route. And at each point we meet some of the other characters, we don’t all meet. And it’s one camera, one continuous shot, and our part of the story picks up when the camera gets to us along this route. And people are in the TIFF Bell Lightbox watching.

Robillard: And interacting, while it is all happening.

Cole: And every night it’s live.

Scene Creek: Do we go chronologically?

Robillard: Yeah, we start with the baby, which is Max and then we go up there.

Scene Creek: Do you improvise?

Both: Yes

Scene Creek: You both have theatre backgrounds. Brielle, you were recently in the show Blackbird playing the young Una alongside Sarah Booth?

Robillard: Yeah. That was really fun. We did that for about two weeks, and I felt that the theatre was interesting because every night changes. Also, the feedback from the crowd, or how excited they are, or how interactive they are, it changes every single time. That was my first professional experience with theatre and it was amazing.

Scene Creek: So this is kind of like theatre, but kind of like a movie..

Robillard: Yeah, it’s like theatre on TV? (Laughs)

Scene Creek: You met for the first time on this project?

Cole: When you are working on a project that is rally special is so one of a kind…

Robillard: And so personal.

Cole: We all have this awareness that this is a special undertaking.

Scene Creek: And it’s also perfect for Luminato.

Cole: Luminato is a multidisciplinary festival that attracts international artists that are interested in pushing the boundaries of what we consider an artistic experience or an artistic exchange. And Blast Theory, the company from Brighton that’s been brought in to do this, this is definitely what they do. They do artistic interactions with new media. The goal was to do a piece that reflects Toronto.

Robillard: Yeah!

Scene Creek: What do you like most about being in Toronto?

Robillard: The action, because there is so much going on, and because it’s quite a big city, there are so many different people and there are quite a lot of personalities, and there are so many things to do.

Scene Creek: Are you going to bring people you know to the performance?

Robillard: I think so.

Cole: I’m having a very interesting time sharing the show with my friends, because my portion of this story is exceptionally personal and I feel incredibly vulnerable. It’s about something that’s happened to me very recently in my life. I’m nervous in a way about it. I’ve never been this nervous. I’m about to expose to myself to family, friends and strangers.

Scene Creek: What is next for you?

Robillard: A movie that I did last summer is coming out, and we’re trying to get into film festivals, and I just finished a movie two weeks ago. And a TV show, Minority Report is coming out in September.

Cole: I’m doing the world premiere of a new show that is premiering in a festival in Toronto in August. It is the first time that a part has been written for me.

My One Demand, featuring Brielle Robillard and Sascha Cole will be premiering at the TIFF Bell Lightbox June 25th, 26th and 27th as a part of Luminato. Please see click here.