Professor Virginia Reh speaks about life in theatre and the production of Phèdre that was performed by students of DART in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre in February of 2011. Video interview from the series University People by BROCK TV. (click image to play)
Brock TV, Phèdre, university people, Virginia Reh
Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Plays
Phèdre
Written by Jean Racine
Translated by Ted Hughes
Directed by Virginia Reh
Designed by David Vivian
Feb. 17, 18, 19, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
Student Matinee: Friday, Feb. 18, 2011 at 01:00 p.m.
adults $15.00
students and seniors $12.00
$5.00 matinee for Brock students and staff
The myth of Phèdre is one of the most powerful in all of classical mythology. Believing her absent husband Theseus to be dead, the Queen confesses her obsession for stepson Hippolytus, thus entering a nightmare world and spinning a tale of passion that unwinds with disastrous consequences.
Held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, call the Centre for the Arts Box Office, 905-688-5550, ext. 3257 for tickets.
High School teachers and Educators: A description of the play and the performance is available for download (3 mb, PDF). Subjects include: The Play, Artistic Direction, Curriculum Ties, Student Matinee Booking, Study Guide/School Outreach.
Phèdre: A Primer, is an introduction to our production, prepared by our Dramaturge and Fourth Year DART student, Spencer Smith. Included are:
1) Collaboration, 2) Play Synopsis, 3) Director’s Notes, 4) Scenographer’s Notes, 5) The Playwright: Jean-Baptiste Racine, 6) The Translator: Ted Hughes, 7) Family Tree, 8) The Myths: Theseus, Phaedra, and Hippolytus, 9) The Labyrinth of Lexicon: People and Places, 10) The Many Faces of Phaedra, 11) Dramaturge’s Notes, 12) List of Figures, 13) Bibliography.
Download your PDF copy of Phèdre: A Primer (PDF, 16.1 MB, remotely hosted)
See the article in The Brock News
Professor Virginia Reh speaks about life in theatre and the production of Phedre that was performed by students of DART in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre in 2011. Screenshot from a video interview in the series “University People”, by BROCK TV.
Emma Bulpin, Eric Frank, Kasey Dunn, Mainstage, Phèdre, plays
Categories: Events, Plays
For those of you unable to attend Nuit Blanche Brock this year, check out the short video above to see dancers Shannon Perugino and Jessica Goncalves of the Department of Dramatic Arts perform on the beautifully lit top floor of Earp Student Residence at Brock University. The original piece was performed every half hour from 6pm to midnight on the chilly night of December 3, 2010, to audiences outside on the street below as part of Nuit Blanche Brock 2010.
Performed by Dramatic Arts students Jessica Goncalves and Shannon Perugino; Sound Op: Matthew Viviano; Tech and Design Support: Doug Ledingham and David Vivian; Conceived by Natalie Alvarez. Choreography by Jessica Goncalves, Shannon Perugino and Natalie Alvarez.
(Source: Carousel Players)
COMMOTION will give 23 Niagara students an opportunity to perform two new plays that they’ve created over a 12 week drama enrichment program at their high schools and present it at the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre from December 9-11, 2010. Thanks to support from TALK Niagara (Teams of Adults Listening to Kids) and Bonnie Prentice, students from 8 high schools all over Niagara will see these plays created by students from Eastdale Secondary School and Laura Secord Secondary School. Free performances at the Old Courthouse are Thursday, December 9th at 10 am and 12:30pm, Friday, December 10th at 10am and 12:30 pm, and Saturday, December 11th at 7pm. For ticket information call Carousel Players at 905-682-8326 X26.
The play On the Line by Laura Secord Secondary School students tackles the influence of technology and media on young people, bullying and family relations. Students from Eastdale Secondary School have created the play Squawk: Flippin’ the Bird which explores the use and abuse of authority, decision-making and issues of identity. Both plays open up new doors for discussion with teens on what happens on the internet, the social pressures they face, and they encourage students to share stories with their peers about their own experiences. Roxolana Chwaluk, Caitlin English, Brandon Pachan and Trevor Rotenberg, facilitators trained through Brock University’s Drama Department have been working with the students an estimated 240 hours at their schools since September 2010.
“The characters, scenes and stories from the plays evolved from improvised scenes created by the students and developed through a play building process called RSVP. In Commotion, we start exploring resource materials, like umbrellas or ironing boards, and allow the stories, issues and insights to emerge from this work” said COMMOTION leader Pablo Felices Luna, Artistic Director at Carousel Players. “The COMMOTION program is led by Professor Gyllian Raby with designers Michael Greves, Joe Lapinski and Doug Ledingham. We thank drama teachers Tracey Garratt from Eastdale Secondary School and Tracy Thorpe from Laura Secord Secondary School for welcoming us into their schools, for actively fostering creativity in their students and for their passionate commitment to drama at their school.”
This is the second year of the three year COMMOTION project and involves Carousel Players, Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts and TALK Niagara (Teams of Adults Listening to Kids). Last year 35 students from E.L. Crossley Secondary School and St. Catharines Collegiate participated in the program. COMMOTION is made possible by SSHRC: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and approval from the District School Board of Niagara to work with participating high school students on the project.
Written by Sharon Pollock
Directed by Danielle Wilson
Designed by Kelly Wolf
November 11, 12, 13, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Student Matinee: Friday, November 12, 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
“Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks…” In June of 1893, Lizzie Borden stood trial for the brutal murders of her father and stepmother, thus inspiring the popular children’s rhyme. Borden was acquitted but the crime was never solved. So did she, or didn’t she?
Held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, call the Centre for the Arts Box Office, 905-688-5550, ext. 3257 for tickets.
Adult $15 / Seniors $12 / Students $12 / Groups $10 / eyeGo $5
Presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts.
Please see the MEDIA RELEASE
High School teachers and Educators: A description of the play and the performance is available for download (3 mb, PDF). Subjects include: The Play, Artistic Direction, Curriculum Ties, Student Matinee Booking, Study Guide/School Outreach.
Blood Relations: A Primer, is an introduction to our production, written by our Dramaturge and Fourth Year DART student, Spencer Smith. Included are: 1. Production Synopsis; 2. Lizzie Borden: The Legend; 3. Veins of Blood Relations; 4. Director’s Notes; 5. Sharon Pollock: The Playwright; 6. Collaboration; 7. List of Figures; 8. Bibliography.
Download your PDF copy of Blood Relations: A Primer (PDF, 10.3 MB, remotely hosted)
Blood Relations, Danielle Wilson, Kelly Wolf, Lizzie Borden, Mainstage, plays, Sharon Pollock
Categories: Events, Plays
LyricCANADA 2010 – Thursday, October 21 through Saturday, October 23, 2010.
Brock University, St. Catharines ON (daytime program)
Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake (evening program)
Lyric Canada 2010 is an inaugural international conference consisting of one Keynote presentation, two Plenary presentations, Moderated Roundtable, 14 presentations by scholars and practitioners, and 15 Showcase presentations involving composers, librettists and performers.
Lyric Canada 2010 will bring together creators of lyric theatre in Canada and abroad with scholars whose research does or could encompass their work. In this context the term “lyric theatre” encompasses a wide range of dramatic works in which sung text is an integral part. Thus it includes cabaret, musicals, operetta, opera and all points in between.
By uniting a transnational group of researchers and creators of lyric theatre, we intend to develop a network from which to draw inspiration, expertise and experience for anyone pursuing research or production of this unique art form.
Why is this an important event?
This is an innovative ground-breaking project that nobody else is doing.
For the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts this conference broadcasts Community Outreach and collaboration with the Shaw Festival, our major international collaborator in cultural creation and industry in the Niagara Peninsula.
We are fostering the development and enrichment of Pedagogical Experiences and Institutional Relationships.
We are bringing internationally known Composers and Writers to share their creative intelligence and experience with the Brock and Niagara communities.
SHOWCASE PRESENTATIONS AT THE SHAW FESTIVAL
A special component of the conference program will be the presentation of new and recent works in the Lyric CANADA 2010 Showcase. The Shaw Festival is a major collaborator in this project, facilitating three evenings of presentation of new and recent works in the Lyric Canada 2010 Showcase program in the Studio Theatre at the Shaw Festival. Details of the Showcase program are available on the website lyriccanada.ca. The program includes:
Leslie Arden One Step Forward
Tapestry New Opera: Tapestry’s Creative Process: Marjorie Chan, Writer in Residence as hostess; A writer/composer team from the most recent LIBLAB; 2 Opera Briefs (10 minutes)
Paul Sportelli, Jay Turvey, and members of the Shaw Company Maria Severa
Bram Gielen, Tracy Michailidis, with the Summerworks hit Biggish Kids
among other established and new artists on the Canadian and American lyric theatre scene.
Tickets to the Showcase performances are available through the
Centre for the Arts Box Office at Brock University boxoffice.brocku.ca
(search for lyric)
905.688.5550 x 3257 (within local region only) or 1.866.617.3257 (outside local region)
Cost: $25.00 for one evening program; $65.00 for all three evening programs
PLENARY SPEAKERS
Stewart Wallace (the composer of Harvey Milk and The Bonesetters Daughter) is coming from Texas en route to China to present the Keynote speech: FATE! LUCK! CHANCE! Adventures in Opera Making
Sarah Schlesinger, Chair of Graduate Musical Theatre Writing at the Tisch School of Arts (NYU), Sarah is a multiple award-wining lyricist and librettist – her works include The Ballad of Little Joe, Prairie Songs, and Swing Shift. Sarah will be speaking about nurturing and training the next generation of writers and composers in lyric theatre. We are also programming a pedagogical experience between herself and students of the Departments of Music and Dramatic Arts wherein students of Brock can learn from this powerhouse writer in lyric theatre in an intensive workshop moment.
Our very special guest Canadian Plenary speaker is Jim Betts, Canadian composer, lyricist, and librettist (Colours in the Storm, Thin Ice, Shooting of Dan McGrew), and author of Field of Stars: Songs of the Canadian Musical Theatre (2004) and Field of Stars: More Songs of the Canadian Musical Theatre (2008) (Toronto: Northern River Music). Jim’s provocative presentation is entitled Why Canadians Can’t Write Musicals (And Why Almost No One Else Can, Either)
PANEL PRESENTATIONS
Thirty panel presenters from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States complete the wealth of the panel program to be presented at Brock University.
A selection of the three-day program includes:
JOINT SESSION:
Robert Walsh, composer will present From the Ashes: The development of lyrics in The Forbidden Phoenix, with Wayne Strongman and Tapestry New Opera, Toronto speaking about their production Iron Road
JOINT SESSION: Kathryn Harvey, University of Guelph’s L. W. Conolly Theatre Archives and Francesca Marini, Stratford Festival, ON, will speak about the challenges of archiving performance, particularly musical theatre, and the wealth of their respective archival collections.
Mel Atkey, London-based author of Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre will speak about his new volume: A Million Miles from Broadway: Musical Theatre from a Universal Perspective
Julie Salverson, Queen’s University, ON will present Opera meets clown and the Atomic Bomb . . . The development of Shelter
Sheldon Rosen, Ryerson University, and Darren Russo, McGill University, will present Hansel & Gretel: Typographic Play
Please see the online programme schedule at lyriccanada.ca
The Conference may be attended in whole or in part. Members of the public are welcome to the conference or only attend the evening performances at the Shaw Festival.
Conference Registration is available at the conference website lyriccanada.ca
Cost: $150.00 to 290.00 depending upon program and including the Showcase program.
questions or inquiries, please contact:
Marie Balsom, Communications
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University
Niagara Region | 500 Glenridge Ave. | St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1
mbalsom@brocku.ca | T 905 688 5550 x4765 | F 905 378 5712
Your hosts for LyricCANADA 2010:
Professors Virginia Reh (Dramatic Arts)
vreh@brocku.ca
David Vivian (Dramatic Arts/Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture)
dvivian@brocku.ca
LyricCANADA 2010 is produced with the generous support of:
Brock SSHRC Institutional Grant (BSIG)
The Humanities Research Institute of Brock University
The Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
The Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture
The Department of Dramatic Arts
The Department of Music
Centre of Teaching, Learning and Educational Technologies, at Brock University
and our special collaborator
The Shaw Festival
Hospitality vehicle provided by St. Catharines Mazda
website: lyriccanada.ca
general enquiries: info@lyriccanada.ca
Lyric Canada, Lyric Canada 2010, Shaw Festival
Categories: Announcements, Events, News
DART students, graduates, and faculty participated in the second annual In the Soil: Niagara’s Homegrown Arts Festival. The festival featured 70 events in 11 venues in St. Catharines and area.
Click on the logo for more information.
In the Soil
Categories: Events
From left: Sadie Isaak, Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa. Photo credit: Bethany Scholl
Performance Dates:
Thurs., Feb. 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue in St. Catharines, Ontario
Tickets: $15 adults; $12 seniors & students; $10 groups; The Department of Dramatic Arts is proud to be a partner of eyeGo to the Arts, encouraging high school students to attend live performing arts through an innovative $5 ticket program.
Announcing $5 Friday! – attend the matinee performance on Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. for only $5 – available to holders of Brock ID cards.
Available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office, 905-688-5550, ext. 3257, or e-mail boxoffice@brocku.ca.
Charles Mee’s contemporary look at Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women is an astonishingly fresh take on an age-old story: love versus power.
BIG LOVE tells the story of fifty brides (all sisters) who flee from arranged marriages to fifty grooms (their cousins) who pursue them across the sea to Italy. Three of the brides seek asylum in an Italian family’s villa. When their hosts are unable to negotiate their way through the moral predicament and allow the forced marriages, the brides make a murderous pact to kill their husbands on their wedding night. One of them fails to kill. Who betrayed whom?
Director Gyllian Raby states, ”I am drawn to the play because it has the scale of a Greek tragedy, but it is dressed in the global culture of today. Mee invites a wild post-modern performativity, but his story is so deeply sourced in western culture that it is very accessible.” Designer Karyn McCallum has set our production in an installation suggestive of a temple-gymnasium where the body wrestles with the spirit. Mattel’s gendered Ken and Barbie dolls hang from the lighting grid and punch-bag mannikin forms are anchored to the stage floor. A deeply passionate movement score with choreography from Gemini nominated Director and Award winning Choreographer Allen Kaeja conveys chaotic savagery and the tenderness of love, as well as the dark endurance of the survivor.
BIG LOVE showcases the talents of students in Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts undergraduate acting classes: Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa, Sadie Isaak, Rob MacMenamin, Corey Mehlenbacher, Trevor Ketcheson, Jen Bender, Chris Boyle, Michael Pearson, Eric Frank, Dylan Mawson and Kasey Dunn.
BIG LOVE exhibits the extremes of passion as it explores two impossibilities: love and forgiveness. Performed on stage at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University, performances are held on Thurs., Feb. 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sat., Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Such productions by the Department of Dramatic Arts are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.
Media Day: Thurs., Feb. 4, 2010 at 6 p.m. held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University.
By CHARLES MEE
Director: Gyllian Raby
Scenographer: Karyn McCallum
Click here for Media Release in PDF format, or here to see it online.
Performance 1 (Opening): Thursday February 11, 7:30 pm
Performance 2: Friday February 12, 1:00 pm
(group and student Matinee)
Performance 3: Friday February 12, 7:30 pm
Performance 4: (Closing): Saturday February 13, 7:30 pm
DART’s February production, Big Love, is American Charles Mee’s contemporary update of Aeschylus’ The Suppliants. First performed circa 423 BC, The Suppliants is one of the oldest plays in the world and the only play to survive from the trilogy in which it originated. Aeschylus titled the trilogy The Danaids after the daughters of Danaius who are also the protagonists of his play.
Big Love took America by storm in 2000 to 2003 precisely because Mee is in tune with his age. It is not just the ideas and the exhilarating physicality within Mee’s plays that caught the attention of America, but also his use of freeware. Posting the script online provided an open invitation for people to re-make the play however they would like.
The intensity of the scenario bursts the bounds of rational discourse and must sometimes be danced, sung, howled and fought out. Designer Karyn McCallum has set our production in an installation where Mattel’s gendered Ken and Barbie dolls hang from the lighting grid and punch-bag forms are anchored to the stage floor. Together, they reach for one another in an uneasy balance. Some of the music proposed by Mee will be used in the production but paired with contemporary pieces selected for this version. A deeply passionate movement score with some choreography from Allen Kaeja (of Toronto’s independent dance company Kaeja d’dance) moves the play through an exhaustive demonstration of the gender anxieties felt by men and women alike, to a finale that lies beyond justice. The production aims to move seamlessly from pop culture to philosophy to physical extremes. This is in an attempt to convey the chaotic savagery of love, the dark psyche of the survivor and, at the end, the impossibility of justice or forgiveness.
Educators and Counsellors:
Big Love : A Primer, is an introduction to our production, written by our Director, Gyllian Raby
Download your PDF copy of Big Love: A Primer
Big Love is an intellectually and theatrically challenging show recommended to the campus community (and with teacher guidance to students in grade 11 or 12) who are interested in law, philosophy and/or classics. Students can study and discuss Big Love (which Mee has posted free online!) prior to attending the production. This will enable students to look beyond the pop-culture surface and see the underlying issues that echo yet vary from its classic antecedent.
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview of the Director and DART Professor, Gyllian Raby, by DART student, Tanisha Minson (produced by Brock TV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)
Aeschylus, Big Love, Charles Mee, Gyllian Raby, Karyn McCallum, Mainstage, The Danaids, The Suppliants
Categories: Events, Plays
Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Book by HUGH WHEELER
Suggested by a film by Ingmar Bergman
Director: Virginia Reh
Scenographer: David Vivian
Three households, three generations, twisted love triangles, upstairs/downstairs come together for “A Weekend in the Country”. Tangled romance and passion in the relentless daylight of the northern midsummer night, all in 3/4 waltz time. The musical, probably best known for the song “Send in the Clowns”, is based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, which was set in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden. A fresh young approach from major collaboration between the Departments of Dramatic Arts and Music. A whirl of intoxicating music, dance and witty lyrics.
Performance 1 (Opening): Thursday Nov. 12th, 7:30 pm
Performance 2: Friday November 13th, 1:30 pm (group and student Matinee) ***new time/ new price!***
Performance 3: Friday November 13th, 7:30 pm
Performance 4: (Closing): Saturday November 14th, 7:30 pm
Educators and Counsellors:
A Little Night Music: A Primer is an introduction to our production, written by our Director, Virginia Reh
Download your PDF of A Little Night Music: A Primer.
To prepare this gem of lyric theatre the director and company of actors and singers recently took their questions right to the source. Using a video conference link-up from the famed Friars Club in Manhattan, the Canadian actor and director Len Cariou answered our students probing questions about the development of A Little Night Music for the 1973 Broadway premiere.
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview with DART actors Becca Pleschke and Jordan Imray, and with the Director and DART Professor, Virgina Reh (produced by BrockTV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)
A Little Night Music, David Vivian, Mainstage, Stephen Sondheim, Virginia Reh
Categories: Events, Plays