Producing
Select highlights from Ben's recent producing work: Digital/TV Production, Arts Administration, and Performance Series Curation.
For a complete arts producing CV/Resume please download here.
Photo by Carly Murphy
Folk Lordz Digital Series
A 15-part, digital video sketch series written, produced by and staring Folk Lordz (Todd Houseman and Ben Gorodetsky), directed by Mike Robertson. Created with the support of the Canada Council for the Arts' New Chapter program and the Edmonton Heritage Council on a budget of $50,000. The project employed 41 artists and has been in development since 2016. Thematically the series is a politically-charged sketch show in the vein of Key & Peele, with the psychedelic absurdity of Wonder Showzen and Mr. Show. Perspectives on colonialism, environmentalism, racism, and toxic masculinity (among lighter topics) are illuminated through the lens of satirical sketch comedy. Production-wise this project spanned grant-writing, shoot/production coordination, casting, crew hiring, marketing, and creative oversight through pre-production, production, and post-production. The series was released digitally in Spring 2018.
Photo by Aaron Pederson
Rapid Fire Theatre
For five years (2013-2017) Ben served as Associate Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre, one of Canada's most prominent improvised theatre companies. With a cast of 50 performers and an average of 44,000 audience members annually, RFT is a large company presenting diverse programming. Ben's work spanned festival promotions, social coordination and sponsorship, musician development, show-specific artistic guidance and critical feedback, public workshop curriculum development, and working closely with the Artistic Director on decisions around artist ensemble performance reviews, company auditions, theatre operations, festival programming. Combining arts administration with active artistic creation, the Artistic Associate position was an opportunity for great growth and learning, and Ben will forever hold a piece of this company in his heart.
Photo by Tracy O'Camera, of Elaine Weryshko
Dirt Buffet Cabaret
The Dirt Buffet Cabaret is a monthly experimental variety show presented by Mile Zero Dance. Ben created the series in 2015, and was the curator, host, and co-producer until July 2017. The Cabaret brought together diverse artists, from disparate disciplines and created a community-focused performance laboratory. Juxtaposing seasoned professionals with emerging artists, avant-garde provocateurs with mainstream entertainers, and in the process creating an artistic cross-pollination both for audience and performers alike. Ben's tasks included booking acts (working towards gender parity, cultural and racial representation, and artistic variety), coordinating social and print media promotion, volunteer coordination, technical set up, and hosting/MCing of the live show. The Dirt Buffet series continues to run without Ben, though his spirit of permissive, experimental play remains at the core of the variety show.
“a veritable tour de force of the outrageous”