When it comes to her upcoming birthday fundraiser, the Ellie Belly Variety Hour at Grindstone Theatre, multi-talented artist Ellie Heath says she’s most excited about the premiere of a new music video. It goes live on YouTube at the same time as the event on June 15, and the video takes a song from her fringe show Fake ‘N’ Bake and repurposes it with stop-motion animation from Alberta director and cinematographer Doug Cook.
“For me, writing music and writing the song and also writing the show was a really powerful way for me to be able to approach my own mental health struggles,” says Heath.
She says Cook reached out to her in the spring of 2023 regarding an animation he had already made, looking for suitable music to accompany it. Heath says that Cook’s animation was inspired by feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression and upon listening to the song “Float Away,” he had asked if there were connections.
For Heath, “Float Away” and Fake ‘N” Bake were both about the struggles she has gone through with her mental health and addictions and addressing the “critics” in her head. It was a natural partner with Cook’s animation. “Immediately, we were both like, this feels like a resource for people who are struggling,” Heath says, which resulted in them reaching out to the Canadian Mental Health Association so that they could include the organization’s messaging to appear in the video.
But, outside of music and theatre, Heath has a finger in many different pies (even though she also loves cupcakes) of the Edmonton arts scene, like her sketch comedy troupe, Girl Brain. In addition to the premier of the music video, the Ellie Bellie Variety Hour will bring many of these arts communities together, featuring acts such as the multitalented Caroline Stokes and musician Nano Uribe.
The whole event will help raise funds for Heath’s upcoming Western Canada tour of her solo show, Fake ‘N’ Bake. And yes, there will be cupcakes for sale.
While Heath will have to work on her birthday, she is excited to get people together to put on a show. “I want it to be a really feel-good time. A really celebratory time where everybody that’s in the room feels like family and friends, even if they’re not.”
Get your party on with Edmonton artists at Grindstone Theatre on June 15.
