Sunday Feature: Jean-François Plante-Tan and La Cravate Bleue

How Fringe festivals made me a better artist, entrepreneur and person

by Jean-François Plante-Tan

@cravatebleue_

(photos by Olivia Bowman)

Jean-François Plante-Tan is a Montreal-based artist who toured the Canadian Fringe circuit in 2013 (Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver) and received great reviews for his performance and his play. La Cravate Bleue (The Blue Tie), is a one-man musical about the choices and sacrifices we make for the things we love to do and people we love. Jean-François Plante-Tan decided to live his dream of becoming an artist after completing an architecture college degree and urban planning university degree. He is now working towards taking his play to the national level but this time in the francophone circuit.

In the summer of 2013, I performed my musical La Cravate Bleue in five Fringe festivals (Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver). It was my first Fringe experience and it was life changing. I’d like to share with you how the Fringe made me a better artist, entrepreneur and person today than I was before any of this happened. I hope my story can be useful in any possible way, to you or someone you may know.

How the Fringe made me a better artist

Freedom of creation.
The Fringe is open to all kinds of shows and encourages artists to be creative and express themselves. Needless to say, this openness was vital to me as a beginning artist. I could create what I wanted to create. And so I did. I wrote a one- man-musical. Not a music show. Not a monologue. Not a stand-up comedy show. A one-man-musical. This freedom helped me follow my inspiration.

Exposure.
I have never been exposed to so much art in such a short amount of time before. I have never met so many performing artists, technicians and producing staff before. Heck, I have never met so many volunteers and audience members! Also, I’ve never had so much attention and media coverage. Watching their shows, answering questions about mine, discussing art with art enthusiasts and getting as much feedback as I could possibly want was more than I could have asked for.

Composure.
I had the privilege to perform my show 34 times in less then eight weeks. That’s one performance every other day. Sometimes it was five performances in three days! I had never performed as an actor before and I was aware of the consequences of how fatigue can affect one's performance on tour. Having to give so many shows in such a short period of time forced me to develop a strong work ethic and to keep my composure so I could give my best performance night after night.

Bonus Feature: Jean-François Plante-Tan on La Cravate Bleue (Fringe: Edmonton, Vancouver, Victoria)

                                                                                                                           All photos by Olivia Bownman
The Fringe adventure
by Jean-François Plante-Tan

Jean-François Plante-Tan decided to live his dream of becoming an artist after completing an architecture and urban planning degree. He had a personal piano tutor when he was a child and came to love music at a young age. He learned to compose for competitions, where he was told that his music had a movie score quality. With this input, he decided to take on music after his studies and hired a voice coach to improve his singing. Two years into his artistic career he took a shot at musicals. Today, he is touring Canada with his first musical production La Cravate Bleue. He created the play in a month, and with the help of his director and artistic collaborator, they were able to produce it in less then three weeks from opening night.

My Fringe adventure started one year ago, on the night of September 16, 2012. When I got in line five  hours before midnight for early-bird registration, I had no idea I was going to tour Canada with my first musical production. And who would’ve thought that it was going to be in French. Also, I had no clue what the Fringe Festival was, aside from the fact that it’s an art festival happening in Montreal during the summer. I didn’t even know this thing was world-wide. Let’s just say I wasn’t expecting anything much out of this experience.