The Joy-athon Report

We did do a good job of throwing off our mourning-wear for the Joy-athon! I myself was clad in a light green Scream Fest T-shirt and manning the merchandise table. While the view wasn't the best from there, I did get to hear the readings and observe the goings on.

All of the readers did an excellent job with engaging and often amusing performances. Most of them were assigned readings with little choice in the matter, but all did an excellent job. My personal favourite was the reading of a new Bruce LaBruce script by Maggie Macdonald. An amazing performance of a script included stage directions and descriptions, as well as dialogue delivered to the best of her vocal range ability, from naïve and high pitched Steve to the predatory porn agent.

A few highlights of the event include the raffle, where winners got to spend 60 seconds grabbing as many books as they could from the book table, and an impromptu auction of the Dennis Lee Book length Dinner tickets that occurred after two winners in a row already had tickets. In the end, the lot owner bid $40 on her own item in donation to the Joyland’s story-sharing tour. Brian Joseph Davis and Emily Schultz might just be able to make it home now.

The readings themselves varied from the heart-wrenching to the gut-splitting, but it seems we will all survive to scream another day. And to get back to our mourning for a weekend packed with funerary events.