The Baker

David Frogier de Ponlevoy

David plays the baker in short play ‘Philip Glass buys a loaf of bread’. When not doing work with HITS, he can be found taking photos, reciting poems, swimming, playing board games, fencing, or teaching journalists at the Voice of Vietnam Radio (his job). He’s a busy man. Oh, and David is also the proud father to a three month old baby daughter!

Why did you come to Hanoi? “For work. And for love.”

What is your favourite thing about the city? “The view from my balcony. And my wife, of course.”

What countries have you lived in? ” Germany and Paris. Yes, Paris is a country. At least the people there feel very different from the rest of France.”

What do you miss about home?  “A house without ants. And good dark German bread.”

Any interesting past jobs? “I was a journalist. I did so many different things, such as meeting Anastacia, and working a whole day together with unemployed people in the vineyard, cutting grapes. And the day almost would have been very short, because the first thing I did was cutting my index finger instead. You can still see the scar. Just look close enough. Oh, and I am acting as a tourguide in Hanoi for Germans. I showed the delegation of Chancellor Angela Merkel through Van Mieu in October.”

How do you relax? “Looking into the eyes of my 3-month-old daughter. No. That’s a lie. She’s sweet and the best daughter in the world, but unfortunately, she’s not somebody to relax with. She doesn’t like her daddy to relax. She wants action. Every minute. Every second.”

Photo courtesy of Nic Jacka

“Rehearsals for ultra-short play ‘Philip Glass buys a loaf of bread’ are really physical and full on. The actors tonight were AMAZING! They left completely sweaty and worn out. ‘Philip Glass buys a loaf of bread’ is an absurd, experimental piece that includes a crazy mix of dance, song, chant, marching and acting. It’s weird and wonderful, but hopefully it’s going to blow you all away. It’s really high energy.

I have a great cast for both the shows I am directing. The ages of the actors range from 14 to about 35 + (I’m not going to reveal everyone’s personal secrets!) and includes Canadians, Australians, French, Vietnamese, Americans and even English. I love this group and the diversity – and most of all I love the fact that after tonight’s rehearsal everyone was on board for another rehearsal the next day. These actors are totally dedicated and I am so proud of them!”

Nadia (director)

Photos courtesy of Ninh Pham.

We’re ONE month away, that’s right… only 29 days to go!

Winter One Acts will open at the Chuong Vang (Golden Bell) theater on Hang Bac street December 2nd at 7:30pm and hopefully to a very full house! HITS has never used this theater before, but we’re always up for new things. However, before we even get to be in the theater we’ve been rehearsing around town at fellow actor’s homes, or apartments, running lines at cafes and having production meetings at our two favorite Hanoi cafes – Pukus and the Hanoi Social Club! We only actually get to start rehearsing at the theater a few days before the actual performance, which can be slightly intimidating at times, since it takes time getting used to a space, especially a space we’ve never used before. I really like this theater we’ll be using. It’s small, quite intimate, a bit grungy, but very cozy. I love the fact that every Hanoian has probably passed by it at some point and not even realized it was a theater, or they’ve noticed it but have never had the time to see the inside. Hopefully this will change come show time – and we’ll get at least a couple hundred Hanoians to step inside!

Besides finding a theater a lot goes in to putting on a show, a lot of things that are even harder by being in Hanoi! Although there are several theaters around town to choose from, we still have to negotiate over everything, we also have to make sure everything can get approved, and finally because we are a completely voluntary group of individuals all working day jobs or going to school we have to somehow manage to schedule everyone together for rehearsals, tech runs, line running, costume fittings and head shots!! At the end of the day, however, its all worth it and being involved with a HITS show, no matter what role you have – at least from personal experience, is a lot of fun. I first joined HITS back in 2004 and since then I have been involved in over 8 productions – I have s acted, directed, done make up, costumes, set work, helped with several of the tech elements for a show and most recently produced. I really love the fact that basically all of these opportunities were available to me through HITS and am excited to keep working with this group. I am most excited, however, about this upcoming show as it is our first series of shorts that we’ve done as part of a fall production! I selected these play just after finishing work on our production in August, Summer Shorts. From that moment everything else seemed to fall into place, the directors, the actors, the production team (an amazing ALL WOMEN crew) and most recently our theater!

Looking forward to seeing you all at the Golden Bell theater, if not before, and in the meantime – KEEP READING as we’ll be getting actors to add to this blog, along with members of our production team! Hopefully soon to come will be some great shots of some of our rehearsals and all the other things that happen backstage!

Nadia Engelbrecht
Winter One Acts Producer