Department/Centre News

Students exhibit at Die Bäckerei in Innsbruck, Austria UPDATED

Wednesday, May 09, 2018 | By dvivian
We are very excited to announce an exhibition by the students of the MIWSFPA in Innsbruck, Austria!

see photographs from the exhibition, below.

Geographies of Process

presented at …

Die Baeckerei

13 June – 6 July 2018 (Opening 13 June 2018, 19:00)

Learning is process. Students in Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, Canada put together a series of paintings to illustrate the process of abstraction at work in referencing urban, industrial, domestic, and natural landscapes. Students in Arts and Culture and French Studies continue the process of abstraction through the creation of written texts responding to their peers’ paintings.

Curators: Catherine Parayre and Shawn Serfas

With the generous support of the Canadian Studies Centre, University of Innsbruck
—

Geographien als Prozess

Lernen ist ein Prozess. Studierende der bildenden Kunst der Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts an der Brock University (Kanada) haben eine Reihe von Bildern zusammengestellt, um den Prozess des Abstrahierens zu illustrieren, der abläuft, wenn auf städtische, industrielle, häusliche und natürliche Landschaften Bezug genommen wird. Studierende der Fächer Kunst, Kultur und Französisch setzen diesen Prozess fort, indem sie Texte verfassen, die auf die Bilder ihrer KollegInnen
reagieren.

KuratorIn: Catherine Parayre und Shawn Serfas (Brock University)

Eröffnung: 13. Juni 2018, 19:00 Uhr

13. Juni – 6. Juli 2018
Bäckerei Innsbruck, Dreiheiligenstraße 21a, 6020 Innsbruck
Geographien als Prozess / Geographies of Process / Géographies en formation

Lernen ist ein Prozess. Studierende der bildenden Kunst der Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts an der Brock University (Kanada) haben ein Reihe von Bildern zusammengestellt, um den Prozess des Abstrahierens zu illustrieren, der abläuft, wenn auf städtische, industrielle, häusliche und natürliche Landschaften Bezug genommen wird. Studierende der Fächer Kunst, Kultur und Französisch setzen diesen Prozess fort, indem sie Texte verfassen, die auf die Bilder ihrer KollegInnen reagieren.

Learning is process. Students in Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University, Canada put together a series of paintings to illustrate the process of abstraction at work in referencing urban, industrial, domestic, and natural landscapes. Students in Arts and Culture and French Studies continue the process of abstraction through the creation of written texts responding to their peers’ paintings.

Tout apprentissage est un processus. Des étudiant.e.s en Arts visuels de l’Ecole des beaux-arts et arts du spectacle Marilyn I. Walker à l’Université Brock au Canada assemblent une série de peintures illustrant un processus d’abstraction faisant référence à des paysages urbains, industriels, domestiques et naturels. Poursuivant cet enchainement vers l’abstraction, des étudiant.e.s d’Arts et Culture et d’Etudes en français répondent aux œuvres de leurs collègues par la création de textes.

KuratorIn / Curators / Commissaires: Catherine Parayre / Shawn Serfas

Mit der Unterstützung des Zentrums für Kanadastudien der Universität Innsbruck
With the generous support of the Canadian Studies Centre, University of Innsbruck
Avec le généreux appui du Centre d’Etudes canadiennes de l’Université d’Innsbruck

KünstlerIn / Artists / Artistes

Gianna Aceto
Jessica Angelevski
Elizabeth Angotti
Denise Apostolatos
Teresa Badgley
Renz Baluyot
Chris Belanger
Marilyn Blanchette
Brandon Boudreau
Hannah Brown
Andrea Caruso
Maddy Cugini
Thomas Denton
Chelsea Dietrich
Amy Doan
Hannah Dobbie
Isabella Domaradski
Mariah Dubeau
Amandine Faivre
Alex Finlayson
Dailia Frigault
Jill Greer
Stefanie Gugliucciello
Kylie Haveron
Gail Higenell
Samantha Hilton
Aimee Hu
Syerra Jasmin
Gabriella Jones
Phuong Le
Laura Levesque
Brendan Long
Craig Maltais
Sarah Martin
Jim Maunder
Katie McGinness
Kaitlyn Michie
Avery Mikolic-O’Rourke
Andrey Mintchev
Jennie Montes
Victoria Morinello
Jaclyn Morse
Lauren Mucciarone
Michelle Nazari
Alona Nyforovska
Joseph Opara
Lillianna Pagliaro
Connor Playfair
Anna Podvalni
Jacob Primeau
Brittany Reitzel
Curt Richard
Jessie Richard
Cynthia Richards
Keira Robertson-Worden
Abby Rollo
Kourtney Spadoni
Samantha Stein
Sophia Strachan
Charlotte Tarr
Evan Weins
Zachary White
Amber Lee Williams

LISTEN to an interview (in German) by Sarah von Karger with Co-Curator Catherine Parayre for “KulturTon”, Freirad Radio, Innsbruck, Austria, 2 Juli 2018
Tags: arts and culture, Austria, Catherine Parayre, Die Baeckerei, exhibition, french studies, Geographien als Prozess, Geographies of Process, Innsbruck, Shawn Serfas, visual arts
Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News
Brock prof unveils civic art

Wednesday, May 09, 2018 | By dvivian

(Source: Brock News, Monday, May 07, 2018 | by Alison Innes)

Visual Arts Professor Amy Friend’s piece “Vestiges” was unveiled at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre on Wednesday, May 2. The work, a photograph on fabric, was commissioned by the City of St. Catharines for its civic art collection and hangs in the lobby of the PAC. Friend is flanked by Kathleen Powell, Acting Supervisor of Cultural Services, left, and Olivia Hope, Culture Co-ordinator, right.

Below, Vestiges, 2018, by Amy Friend, in the Algoma Central Lobby of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

Tags: Amy Friend, civic art, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, FOPAC, unveiling, Vestiges
Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Faculty & Instructors, Media Releases, News
Brock students on Broadway

Monday, April 30, 2018 | By dtemprile

Cast members from the student-run Mirror Theatre had the unique opportunity to perform in the heart of the New York City theatre district recently.

On Wednesday, April 25, the cast members performed vignettes from their applied theatre work at the Marriott Marquis hotel.

Mirror Theatre is a comprised primarily of Brock Dramatic Arts students that produce and perform interactive scenes on a variety of social issues. The group is coached by Dramatic Arts Chair and Professor of Drama in Education and Applied Theatre Joe Norris. It gives students the opportunity to apply the knowledge they learn in their courses in real-world situations. Through experiential education, the students develop life and learning skills that will prepare them for their careers and future studies.

Mirror Theatre was invited to attend the Arts Based Educational Research (ABER) business meeting in New York City by the ABER Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association. At the conference, they presented “Employing Playbuilding Research and Pedagogy in Addressing Educational and Social Issues Facing Youth.” Their scenes addressed issues of academic integrity, seeking help, dealing with gossip, refusing unsafe working conditions, parental pressures and healthy eating.

Regent cheque presented to Mirror Theatre for $500.

The trip was partially funded by the Regent Student Livings’ Dramatic Arts Student Independent and Outreach Projects fund. Recently, Mitch Allanson (BA ’16) presented Abby Rollo, Mirror Theatre’s President and Lindsey Abrams, Treasurer a cheque for $500. This award will be available to DART students each year and is part of Regent Student Livings investment in the success of the students at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

Cast members of Mirror Theatre include, Lindsey Abrams, Dani Shae Barkley, Kaedyn Brouse, Candice De Freitas Braz, Aaron Drake, Nadia Ganesh, Rosa Moreno, Mike Metz, Abby Rollo, Sumer Seth, Dawson Strangway and Director Joe Norris.

Tags: ABER, Broadway, BrockuDART, dart, drama in education, dramatic arts, Dramatic Arts in Education, joe norris, Joe Norris Playbuilding, Mirror Theatre, miwsfpa, New York City, Regent, Regent Student Living
Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, News
Choral season to wrap with final show

Wednesday, April 25, 2018 | By dtemprile

The Avanti Chamber Singers, under the direction of Rachel Rensink-Hoff, will close out the 2017-18 Department of Music season on Saturday, April 28 at St. Thomas Anglican Church.

The curtain will close on Brock’s 2017-18 Music season with a final performance by the Avanti Chamber Singers.

Boundless, the last concert of the academic year, will be presented by the Department of Music and the Avanti Chamber Singers on Saturday, April 28 beginning at 7:30 p.m. at St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario St., St. Catharines.

The show features celestial-inspired music, exploring the harmony and mystery of the universe with a range of primarily 21st-century works.

The program includes pieces such as Gloria Patri by Urmas Sisask, And Einstein Said by Trent Worthington, Stars by Eriks Ešenvalds, and the centerpiece of the program, Lux Aeterna by Morten Lauridsen.

The Avanti Chamber Singers is a mixed chamber choir comprised of experienced choral singers from across the Niagara region. The group performs under the direction of Artistic Director Rachel Rensink-Hoff, who is also conductor of the Brock University choirs, Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University.

“It has been a wonderful year,” she said when describing the choral and concert season as a whole. “We are seeing more and more people from the local community coming to our concerts, which is so exciting and motivating for our performers.”

Looking forward to the 2018-19 Music season, there will be new choral opportunities for students and the community. The Brock choirs are being restructured to feature two ensembles: a mixed chamber choir and a women’s choir. Both are open by audition to all Brock University students, staff and faculty. New for this year, the women’s choir will also be open to the wider Niagara community “in hopes that it will function as a bridge between Brock’s music program and the wider singing community here in St. Catharines,” Rensink-Hoff said.

Women’s choir rehearsals will be on Thursday evenings from 6 to 8:45 p.m. in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre. Interested singers from the community are encouraged to contact Rensink-Hoff by email at rrensinkhoff@brocku.ca for an audition.

Advance tickets for the last choral concert of the season are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $5 for students and under the eyeGo program. They can be purchased at Thorold Music, 289 Glendale Ave.; Booksmart, 350 Vine St.; online through Eventbrite; or through members of the Avanti Chamber Singers.

Tickets will also be sold at the door for an additional $5.

Tags: Avanti Chamber Singers, Boundless, Brock University, choir, choral, Choral Series, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, Dr. Rachel Rensink-Hoff, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, St. Thomas Anglican Church, The Brock News, Viva Voce Choral Series, Viva Voce!
Categories: Department/Centre News, Events
Three exhibits this week for Visual Arts

Monday, April 02, 2018 | By dtemprile

This is a busy week for exhibitions under Brock’s Department of Visual Arts (VISA).

From April 2 to 6, students in the VISA department are presenting three exhibitions: CORE, SITE-SEER, and (un)hidden.

Now open in the Rodman Hall Art Centre is the exhibit CORE. VISA students will have their smaller works in Rodman Hall’s Flex Space, which will be imagined as a larger site and a centre from where the work branches out to the other destinations in the show. CORE is open to view at Rodman Hall from now until April 13. Gallery hours can be found on their website and admission is by donation, but free for members and students.

When visiting Rodman Hall be sure to see the Brock University Department of Visual Arts Honours Exhibition: just resting my eyes, on display until April 8.

The second exhibit, SITE-SEER, is an extension of the first. SITE-SEER is a one-night exhibition being held Wednesday, April 4 from 4 to 9 p.m., where the downtown area of St. Catharines will serve as gallery space. Students from Donna Akrey’s Advanced Art Practices course are taking their creations from the CORE exhibit and dispersing them throughout downtown St. Catharines in hopes that their pieces will lure locals into seeing sites in a new way.

Participating artists for both CORE and SITE-SEER include: Hani Ahmed, Jess Angelevski, Teresa Badgley, Jessica Bradley, Tom Denton, Isabella Domaradzki, Kylie Haveron, Emma Hutchison-Hounsell, Laura Levesque, Avery Mikolic-O’Rourke, Amanda Misale, Anna Podvalni, Victoria Reid, Kourtney Spadoni and Desiree Veino.

Maps with more information about the artworks, their locations and times will be available at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Wednesday night when SITE-SEER is held.

Change, a contemporary exploration of Hidden Mother photography. One of many polaroid emulsion lifts featured in the upcoming show (un)hidden by Amber Lee Williams.

A third show, (un)hidden by Brock Visual Arts student Amber Lee Williams, opens in the Visual Arts Exhibition Space of the MIWSFPA on Thursday, April 5 with a reception from 5 to 9 p.m. Williams is both a student and a mother of two, who gave birth to her second child while preparing for this exhibit. She is now in the process of installing her show while carrying her two-month-old baby in a sling.

In the (un)hidden exhibit, Williams presents photographs, sculptures and installations investigating motherhood, relationships within the family and loss. (un)hidden will be open at the MIWSFPA until Saturday, April 28. Regular gallery hours are Tuesday through Saturday from 1 to 5 p.m.

Tags: (un)hidden, Amber Lee Williams, Amy Friend, Brock University, CORE, downtown St. Catharines, exhibition, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, photography, Rodman Hall Art Centre, SITE-SEER, The Brock News, VISA, VISA 3M90, VISA Honours Exhibition, visual arts
Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News
Music@Noon season to end on high note

Monday, April 02, 2018 | By dtemprile

Sherry Yu is one of six pianists who will perform in the last Music@Noon concert of the 2017-18 season on Tuesday, April 3.

The curtain will close next week on this season’s RBC Foundation Music@Noon Recital Series.

The final performance of the 2017-18 season takes place Tuesday, April 3, with first- and second-year Bachelor of Music piano students taking the stage at Cairns Recital Hall.

Short videos of this season’s Music@Noon performances are available on the Department of Music Instagram page.

The free recital series will return to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in late September.

Tags: Brock University, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, free, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, music, music@noon, rbc foundation, The Brock News, Tuesday Tunes
Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events, In the Media, News
Encore! Professional Concert Series presents Pat & Emilia

Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By dtemprile

Encore! Professional Concert Series presents: Pat & Emilia: A Mixed-Media Chamber Opera

Pat & Emilia is a new mixed-media chamber opera based on the lives of two Windsor, Ontario artists – photographer Pat Sturn (1910-2011) and opera singer Emilia Cundari (1930-2005). Act One, created by Tara Sievers-Hunt, features opera arias from Emilia’s repertoire alongside monologues inspired by newspaper interviews given by the singer from the 1950s to 1970s. Act Two showcases new music by Canadian composer Jeff Smallman with text by Windsor Poet Laureate Marty Gervais.

Tara Sievers-Hunt (soprano) as Emilia | Jocelyn Zelasko (soprano) as Pat
Margaret Gillie (clarinet) | Velda Kelly (violin)
Nadine Deleury (cello) | Mary Siciliano (piano)

The concert includes familiar arias from Italian opera as well as new music by composer Jeff Smallman. Text by Marty Gervais.

Preceded by the documentary film, ‘Imagining Angels’, on the making of the opera

Friday March 23, 2018

Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, 250 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines

Tickets: $28.50† adults; $22.50† seniors/students; $12.50† child (14 and under); $5* eyeGo program. General admission. † Includes the $2.50 FOPAC Cultural Capital Improvement Fund (CCIF); other applicable fees and taxes are extra. *No CCIF applied; other applicable fees and taxes are extra.

Order tickets from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca.

Tags: Brock University, chamber opera, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, Encore! Professional Concert Series, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Mixed-media chamber opera, music, Partridge Hall, Pat & Emilia
Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events
Dramatic Arts offers three-day lineup of events

Wednesday, March 14, 2018 | By dtemprile

Ruth Howard of Jumblies Theatre, Kerr Mesner of Arcadia University, and Lina de Guevara of Puente Theatre, will be part of three days of programming presented by Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts from March 15 to 17.

It will be a busy week for Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, with a theatrical performance, panel discussion and series of public workshops all lined up in a matter of three days.

The programming, sponsored by the Walker Cultural Leader Series, takes place Thursday, March 15 to Saturday, March 17 at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) in downtown St. Catharines.

Kerr Mesner, of Pennsylvania’s Arcadia University, will kick-off the three-day lineup Thursday with the debut of In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times. The one-person performance piece combines multimedia, live theatrical performance and audience engagement to create an evocative and thought-provoking dramatic experience. His autoethnographic theatrical piece explores the intersections of queer identities, Christianity’s contributions to anti-queer violence and the challenges of embodying transgender identities within current political contexts.

Mesner weaves a story arc between live theatrical performances from his 2017 piece, In Transit, and multimedia excerpts from the film version of his 2014 play, Intervention, that was part of his doctoral dissertation.

He performs in the Marilyn I. Walker (MIW) Theatre Thursday, March 15 from 7 to 9 p.m.

On Friday, March 16, a panel discussion, “Tensions of Engagement in the Canadian Immigrant Theatre Context,” will take place in the MIW Theatre at 7 p.m.

Ruth Howard of Jumblies Theatre, Lina de Guevara of Puente Theatre and Professor Yasmine Kandil of Brock University will discuss how applied theatre with immigrants and refugees in Canada has evolved over the past few decades. Moderated by Brock Professor Natalie Alvarez, the panel will examine whether the medium has had a positive and tangible impact on this community, and on settler Canadians.

Kandil began her immigrant journey in Victoria, B.C., where she worked on multiple projects exploring celebration as a means for immigrant youth to claim a space in their new home. She is currently engaged in the second phase of devising a theatre piece that examines narratives of immigration and settlement for Brock students and local immigrants and refugees in relation to expectations, obstacles and assimilation.

Beginning Saturday, March 17, Brock’s visiting scholars and theatre makers, including two panelists from the previous evening’s event, will present workshops about their work in the Dramatic Arts field.

Howard, founder of Toronto-based Jumblies Theatre, explores her recent Four Lands touring project in a workshop held in Studio B of the MIWSFPA from 10 a.m. to noon. Her work on issues of diversity has won many awards. Jumblies Theatre is known for its work with minority groups, engaging non-artists and a larger spectrum of participants through community-based theatre.

Following from 1 to 3 p.m. in Studio C will be de Guevara’s workshop, which examines the different tools used to research immigrant and refugee narratives. She was the first immigrant artist to establish a theatre company in Victoria that focused solely on promoting the narratives of immigration and settlement, with the purpose of bridging the gap between the minority group and predominantly white culture of Victoria. Her work has spread to other provinces in Canada since she began her Canadian journey almost 40 years ago.

Admission to all three days of programming is free thanks to sponsorship from the Walker Cultural Leader Series, founded by Marilyn I. Walker. However, participants are asked to register for the March workshops in advance through Eventbrite.

The Walker Cultural Leader Series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University.

Tags: Applied Theatre, Brock University, dart, Department of Dramatic Arts, drama in education, dramatic arts, In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times, Lina de Guevara, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, natalie alvarez, Ruth Howard, Tensions of Engagement in the Canadian Immigrant Theatre Context, The Brock News, Walker Cultural Leader Series, Yasmine Kandil
Categories: Announcements, Department/Centre News, Events, In the Media, News, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Recital series to showcase student talent

Thursday, March 01, 2018 | By dtemprile
Second-year violinist Jessica Tigchelaar takes centre stage at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

The stage is set for the stars of Brock’s Department of Music to shine.

Student talent will be highlighted during a month-long recital series that begins Friday, March 2.

The inaugural performance will feature violinist Jessica Tigchelaar, a second-year student, accompanied by Luis Molina on the piano. The show will take place at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on campus, where half of the recitals will take place. The remaining shows will happen at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

Fourth-year pianist Luis Molina accompanies Jessica Tigchelaar on stage Friday, March 2. Molina then has his own solo performance Monday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

The series will feature Brock’s most talented performers, who enrol in recital courses for credit following a rigorous audition process.

Details for the following performances are available at the respective links:
- Friday, March 2: Jessica Tigchelaar and Luis Molina
- Monday, March 5: Rebecca Heathcote and Karen Lam
- Friday, March 9: Alyssa Shanghavi and Gary Forbes
- Monday, March 19: Ryan Baxter
- Saturday, March 24: Jesse Luciani
- Sunday, March 25: Eric Godfree
- Monday, March 26: William Sadler and Lesley Kingham
- Monday, April 2: Luis Molina
Tags: Brock University, Cairns Recital Hall, Concert, Concordia Seminary Chapel, department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Instrumental students, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Student Solo Recitals
Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events
Dramatic Arts presents: The State of Our Art: Drama in Education and Applied Theatre in Ontario

Thursday, January 04, 2018 | By dvivian

The Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University and the Walker Cultural Leader Series presents:

The Second Drama in Education and Applied Theatre Symposium.

January 26 and 27, 2018

Our world as we know it is rapidly changing, with scholars identifying present events as ‘post-normal’ (O’Connor and Anderson 2015). In this climate of anxiety and political uncertainty, how is the practice of drama in education and applied theatre a means to respond to and attempt to speak back to these times? The lectures and workshops will offer key insights into how our scholars use this practice to grapple with these issues.

Featuring Julie Salverson (Queens University), Kathleen Gallagher (OISE), and workshops by by Professors: Kathleen Gallagher, Joe Norris (replacing Kathy Lundy as listed in the PDF), Julie Salverson, Larry Schwartz, and Belarie Zatzman.

for more information download this PDF. see the article in the Brock News

Keynote: Friday, January 26 7:30pm
Professor Julie Salverson, Queens University

Marilyn I. Walker Theatre at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

All of us today, as scholars, artists and citizens, are challenged with listening to and telling forward the story of this home we call Canada. As we consider this task, where are the possibilities for change, for hope, and for honest listening – listening not to consume and extract (what scholar Dylan Robinson calls hungry listening) but to acknowledge and attend? I will talk about ways to think and feel about what it means to witness and respond to calls for justice as whole people who draw upon a rich variety of resources. How do all of us, individually and collectively, honour our own heritage, traditions and teachers? How do we bring these to the table and to how we live, work and attend? What do each of us offer to the conversation? This is about what it means to be “on the ground”, to negotiate the challenge to witness with the alarm and feeling of consequence that entails a meeting with a traumatized environment. I will draw on Karen Barad’s performative metaphysics, Donna Haraway’s “staying with the trouble” and E.V.Walter’s discussion of “places of experience” to re-imagine my ideas of foolish witness.

Keynote: Saturday, January 27 9:00am
Professor Kathleen Gallagher, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education

Marilyn I. Walker Theatre at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

In this keynote, I will use a case study of one research site in Lucknow, India, in my current multi-sited, applied theatre research, Youth, Theatre, Radical Hope and the Ethical Imaginary: an intercultural investigation of drama pedagogy, performance and civic engagement (2014-2019) to consider how drama can ‘speak back to these times’ if we deem- as some social innovation theorists do- the social world as made and imagined. How have the students in India, and how might we in our various pedagogical and creating contexts, use theatre to understand social systems and imagine a progressive sociality? In India, using drama, performance and critical dialogues, the work is both deeply political and radically hopeful through the ways in which it reorients, redefines and revisions the social world. Their classroom practice follows from a 19th century feminist theatre history, I will argue, that enables a transformative ambition, just what is needed in these harrowing global times. As democracies thin under populist and neoliberal regimes across most nation states, the young people and their teachers in India have long understood the power of collective opposition as a social practice and political resistance, but they have also seized upon drama and performance as the most powerful means to this end. Social innovation scholars have suggested that by harnessing what they are calling “collective intelligence”, it may be possible to dramatically improve societies’ ability to tackle seemingly intractable social problems. The students at Prerna school in India have positioned theatre as a “language of care” and a central tool for understanding the political economy and deconstructing the forces of oppression. It is time for all of us to harness the unimaginable, in our classrooms, on our stages, and in the street.

Workshops: Saturday, January 27, 2018
DART Studio A workshops: Julie Salverson (10:30 am-1:00 pm) / Belarie Zatzman (2:30-5:00 pm)
DART Studio C workshops: Joe Norris (10:30 am-1:00 pm) / David Booth (2:30-5:00 pm)
DART Studio D workshops: Larry Swartz (10:30 am-1:00 pm) / Kathleen Gallagher (2:30-5:00 pm)

Julie Salverson, Queens University.
10:30 – 1:00, Studio A
Who we are as witnesses
I have facilitated a few sessions this year based on a Quaker practice of holding a question in the light. The question for this workshop is: how can we live together better? I will speak for a few minutes about the deep preparation I require to enter the thorny territory of witnessing, the heritage, traditions and teachings that inform my work, and what a response to these times means to me. I will then invite people in the room to speak to this. There will be no direct interaction or discussion, this is about witnessing and listening.

Joe Norris, Department of Dramatic Arts, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University.
10:30 – 1:00 Studio C
Reexamining Canadian History through Story Circles, Picture Interpretation, Tableaus, Choral Speech and Writing in Role
Award winner for his publications in his pioneering work in playbuilding as research, duoethnography, a form of dialogic research, and alternative forms of arts-based assessment, Joe also devotes considerable time developing and piloting units of teaching the curriculum through drama. While this workshop will focus specifically on the Klondike, the approaches used can be applied to many curricular topics.

Larry Swartz, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.
10:30 – 1:00 Studio D
MORE THAN A PLAY
This practical interactive workshop will demonstrate strategies for using minimal and dialogue scripts to enhance interpretation skills, to build community and to address social justice issues. Handout provided.

Belarie Zatzman, Department of Theatre, School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design, York University.
2:30 -5:00 Studio A
Performing Objects
In this workshop, we will consider participatory practices that can be used in history, art and drama classes, or in museum / gallery contexts. We will explore applied theatre strategies for examining and interpreting “performing objects” in order to help us construct our encounters with archival objects or artworks, from the present.

David Booth, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto.
2:30 -5:00 Studio C
A Novel Approach to Drama
This workshop will explore the Young Adult novel as a source and inspiration for improvised role playing leading to dramatic scene building. This genre of contemporary literature is written especially for our students, and explores issues of coming of age, relationships, social justice, and identity. As teachers, we can use the themes and events in these texts as stimuli for interpreting, exploring and inventing situations and scenarios as a whole class, working in groups and partners, as we construct our scenes into a playmaking conclusion.

Kathleen Gallagher, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto.
2:30 -5:00 Studio D
Verbatim Theatre: telling other people’s stories
Physical, ethical, social, and artistic questions converge at the centre of Verbatim Theatre practice. This session will invite participants to explore and examine some of the techniques and practices that are currently in use, in the evolving genre of Verbatim Theatre. Part story-telling, part composite, part-mimicry, part invention, the work will invite critical discussion about the skills, the social value, and the creative impulses connected to this form of theatre-making. Extending its reach beyond theatre and performance, Verbatim has found a place, too, in social science research. Harnessed to ideas about power relations and ‘collaborative’, multi-vocal, qualitative research practices and forms of dissemination, this genre of theatre further opens up discussions about the ever-expanding defi nitions of research methodology.

Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University
A free community event, please register for the workshops:
the-state-of-our-art-symposium-workshops.eventbrite.com
(Maximum 20 per session)

for more information download this PDF.

Please note that limited parking is available at the MIWSFPA for guests and presenters on a first come, first served basis.

Due to multiple event programming on the evening of Friday, January 26 please allow ample time to find nearby parking.

Tags: Applied Theatre, Bellary Zatzman, drama in education, joe norris, Kathleen Gallagher, Larry Swartz, symposium, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Department/Centre News, Events, Walker Cultural Leader Series