Ascendio 2012

We’re celebrating Harry Potter and its influence on music with a musical review! The Wands by Wands by Wizards Revue will be on the main stage on Saturday night. The revue is being coordinated by fan and composer Lena Gabrielle, who put on The Final Battle at Infinitus. We can’t put on this musical revue without YOU, the attendees!

Ascendio is seeking talented singers and musicians to help assemble a program of music inspired by Harry Potter. Here is your chance to perform your favourite Wizard Rock song, create an original dance with HP music, present a short theatrical sketch of HP-inspired material, or put together an ensemble of “Double Double” complete with croaking frogs!

The Wands by Wands by Wizards revue will require a couple of rehearsals, but our goal is that most people will arrive prepared and we will not need to use the whole con to rehearse! Acts may not last more than 6 minutes, including any setup or teardown required. For more detailed information, see here!

To participate, please fill out the short form!

Please provide a link to a video of your performance at the bottom of the form by uploading a PRIVATE video to youtube (or to a personal server if you wish.)

Lena Gabrielle and her staff reserve the sole right to decide who will be performing and who will not. Failure to come prepared or to attend rehearsals may result in being cut from the performance. Performers may be asked to form duets or small groups if there are multiple requests for the same number. Performances must adhere to Ascendio’s ratings standards (PG-13). Please email Lena with any questions!

Ascendio is VERY excited to be hosting the premiere of a new fan-written Harry Potter musical!

On Friday, July 13, a new Harry Potter inspired musical will be put on on the Ascendio main stage! Mischief Managed is a fan-written musical by Jessica Milne, which sees the Next Generation discovering James Potters journals, and learning all about the Marauder’s story — all set to original music written by Jessica!

Mischief Managed is currently a one-act musical (but may expand if there’s interest and a big enough cast!), so while it will involve some rehearsals at Ascendio, the time commitment is not huge. So if you’re an aspiring singer, and plan on attending Ascendio, auditions are open as of NOW!

All auditions and almost all rehearsals will be held entirely online! Through Youtube and Skype, anyone from anywhere can take part in Mischief Managed. The only “locational requirement” is that you be a registered attendee of Ascendio (ie: you’re coming to the con!). MMtM is casting all sorts of people and voices, so even if you don’t see your dream character on the list, audition! Characters and parts may be added in the coming weeks (such as Scorpius, Lucius, Regulus, Albus Severus, etc.), and some roles may be cast with the opposite gender (ie: a girl may play a male part, and vice versa).

How can you audition?

• Check out the list of characters and their nuts & bolts
• Record a video of yourself performing a song of your choice — something that showcases your voice & range
• Upload your video to YouTube and title it something along the lines of “Mischief Managed Audition Round One”
• Fill out this form (be sure to provide the link to your YouTube video

Auditions end on January 1!

For more information, you can email Jessica at mischiefmusical@aim.com, check out www.mischiefmanagedmusical.com and join the Mischief Managed the Musical Facebook Group!

Ascendio 2012: A Harry Potter Symposium welcomes proposals and plans for Informal Programming sessions inspired by, themed on or related to the Harry Potter book or movie series, the fandom, Young Adult, fantasy or genre literature or films, workshops on crafting, art, writing, music, film-making, podcasting, podficcing or costuming, or anything else you think would be of interest to Harry Potter fans.

Informal programming happens all hours of the day and night, with a heavy focus on evening activities. If you’d like to hold a more informal craft workshop, topic discussion, fanfic/fanart event (drabbles/drawbles!), or even play an acoustic set, the Informal Programming form is for you.

Note:  if you are interested in planning a meet-up, please see here for the separate Meet-Up Request Form. If you want to do a fanfic reading, please fill out this form. If you’re a published author, we’ll have a form for you to fill out soon.

Examples of Informal Programming:

• How-to workshop on vidding
• Acoustic Wrock set in the Common Room
• Drabble/Drawble activity
• Live-action role playing game/cosplay demonstration
• Performance art
• Trivia game

SUBMIT AN INFORMAL PROGRAMMING PROPOSAL

Ascendio Informal Programming chair Mallory Vance wants to know what you’re interested in enjoying, watching, listening to and participating in at Ascendio. Click here, take the survey, and let us know!

If you’re on Tumblr, please reblog it there and share the URL around on LJ, FB, Twitter, etc. We’d love as many perspectives as possible! We’ll be keeping the survey open through our Site Visit on October 9-10.