A public showing of Theatre Design projects by senior design students.
When: March 26, 2014 – 9:00am – April 2, 2014 – 5:00pm
Location: Room ST102, Schmon Tower, Brock University.
Admission: Free
DART 3F61, Theatrical Design Exhibition
Categories: Events
Break-a-leg! to the student directors, cast and crew, faculty and staff who are opening the One Acts Festival TODAY!
Every year as the final assignment for the Third Year Directing class each student choses a one act play to produce for the One Act Festival. This year’s One Acts Festival is approaching and the dates are as follow:
Friday March 21st: Group A starting at 2pm Group B at 7pm
Saturday March 22nd: Group B starting at 2pm & Group A at 7pm.
Group A’s shows are:
The Feast
Overtones
Hide & Seek
Fourteen
Group B’s shows are:
Tales of the Grotesque
Don Juan in Chicago
Playwriting 101
Rat Snake
When: March 21 & 22, 2014 at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m.
Location: ST 107 “Studio Theatre” and ST 103 “Black”
Admission: Donations Accepted
Contact: [email protected] or 905-988-5550 x 5255
Come out and support the 3rd year directors and all the students involved this year! Seating is limited, so please show up early to get your seats! See the FB events page here.
One Acts, One Acts Festival
Categories: Events, Plays
In photo: Jill Dolan
Listening to theatre companies, they’ve never needed theatre critics more. Listening to them after a bad review, they’ve also never resented them more. This strange dance of mutual need has been going on since the first time someone recited dialogue on stage, and someone in the next day’s paper wrote “it doth sucked, verily.” But what of that relationship today? Do critics matter? Can anyone with a blog call themselves a theatre critic? Are critics there to serve theatre companies or readers? (John Law)
See the complete article by John Law in the Niagara Falls Review about his upcoming participation in the two-day colloquium ‘The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age‘ organized by Professor Karen Fricker of the Department of Dramatic Arts on the occasion of the special visit by Jill Dolan, Annan Professor in English, Professor of Theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts, Director, Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies, at Princeton University, noted theatre blogger (thefeministspectator.com) and a Walker Cultural Leader for 2013-14. Special guests J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe and Mail and Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star will join local guests and luminaries including cultural leaders like Jackie Maxwell, artistic director of the Shaw Festival, and Steve Solski, director of the St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts.
The two day program begins this Friday morning with the public lecture, “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings” by Professor Jill Dolan. The lecture is presented in association with the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies.
For a complete list of participants and more information please see the Brock News Article, the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts web pages.
Come join us! There is no charge to attend and engage in what will surely be a remarkable exchange of ideas and opinions in this “blossoming” cultural scene of Niagara (Professor Karen Fricker).
All events will be live-streamed at BrockVideoCentre’s DART channel [Click on the “live video” button on that page.]
(Source: The Brock News, Monday, February 10, 2014)
An upcoming series of community discussions at Brock University later this month will debate the question: is everyone a critic?
Media professionals, theatre experts, scholars and students will assemble in Sankey Chamber at Brock Feb. 21 and Feb. 22 to take part in the colloquium, The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age, hosted by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.
“The rise of blogging and Twitter, combined with the decline of print journalism, is raising important questions about what counts as legitimate, professional criticism,” says Karen Fricker, event co-ordinator and a professor of dramatic arts. “Our discussions will focus on the current critical scene in Niagara, as well as imagining possible futures for the arts in our community.”
Panel members include two of Toronto’s most influential theatre critics: J. Kelly Nestruck of The Globe and Mail and Richard Ouzounian of the Toronto Star. Others include local figures like Jackie Maxwell, artistic director of the Shaw Festival, and Steve Solski, director of the St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts.
The colloquium will also feature international critics: Jill Dolan, Princeton University professor and noted theatre blogger (thefeministspectator.com); Maddy Costa, a London, England blogger and journalist; and Andy Horwitz, founder of New York arts blog culturebot.net
Dolan is visiting Brock as part of the Walker Cultural Leaders series. While here, she will deliver a public lecture, “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” Her lecture, co-sponsored by the Department of Dramatic Arts and Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock, takes place Friday, Feb. 21, from 10 a.m. to 12 noon, also in Sankey Chamber.
All of these events are free and open to the public.
Funding for these events is provided by the Walker Cultural Leaders Series, the Brock Humanities Research Institute and the SSHRC Institutional Grant scheme, and the St. Catharines Performing Arts Centre.
All events will be live-streamed. [Click on “live video”]
—
All events take place in Sankey Chamber at Brock University
* 2 – 2:30 p.m.: Welcome
Presentation by Brock dramatic arts students from the third-year class, Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
* 2:30 – 4 p.m.: Panel discussion “Critics and the arts in Niagara”
* 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.: Panel discussion “Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?”
* 10 – 10:30 a.m.: Welcome
Presentation by Brock dramatic arts students from the third-year class, Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
* 10:30 a.m. – 12 noon: Panel discussion “Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation”
* 12:15 – 1 p.m.: Colloquium wrap-up
Andy Horwitz, art criticism, Candice Turner-Smith, colloquium, DARTcritics, David Fancy, Holger Syme, J. Kelly Nestruck, Jackie Maxwell, Jacob Gallagher-Ross, Jill Dolan, John Law, Karen Fricker, Lawrence Switzky, Maddy Costa, Monica Dufault, Odette Yazbeck, Richard Ouzounian, Rosemary Drage Hale, Sara Palmieri, Stephen Remus, Steve Solski, The Brock News, theatre criticism, visiting artists, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News
2 minutes, 2 actors! Gimme 2! is the first presentation of our first year students in short performances written and directed by their senior DART mentors. An Homage to Jerzy Growtowski!
Open Rehearsal at 6 pm, show at 8 pm. Admission is first-come, first-seated.
For more information: [email protected] or 905-688-5550 x5255
Contact [email protected] to reserve a seat if you know you can only attend one or the other presentations.
Date & Time: March 5, 2014: 8 pm – 10 pm
Location: ST 107 (Studio Theatre), Schmon Tower, Brock University
Cost: $0.00
Contact: [email protected] or 905-688-5550 x5255
JEHANNE OF THE WITCHES
by Sally Clark
February 13-15, 2014 at 7:30 PM
Student Matinee February 14 at 1:00 PM
DIRECTED BY Virginia Reh
Scenographer: David Vivian
Assistant Director: Casey Gillis
Assistant Designer: James McCoy
Dramaturg: Brittany Stewart
Black magic, illusion, and the suppression of Truth. Voices swirl as Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, the infamous Bluebeard, concoct a witches’ brew of sexuality and the use – and abuse – of power.
The Department of Dramatic Arts of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is proud to present this play by Canadian playwright Sally Clark. Ms Clark was part of a wave of female playwrights in the 1980s who wrote plays about notable women from a female perspective. The play is mostly based on solid historical fact; Clark weaves her magic through unique interpretation and theatricality.
View our media release.
High-School teachers should read this letter about the Matinee performance opportunity available for Jehanne of the Witches (February 2014). We’re also providing information on Secondary Education Curriculum Ties.
NEW! An Audience Guide is available for download.
Join us on our Facebook event page
see the preview on Cogeco TV below:
see the article in the Brock News:
That burning feeling: Jehanne of the Witches
Jehanne of the Witches, Mainstage, plays
Categories: Events, Plays
image by Nitin Vadukul
TWELFTH NIGHT, (or what you will)
a comedy by William Shakespeare
November 7 – 9, 2013 at 7:30 PM
Student Matinee November 08 at 11:30 AM
DIRECTED BY Gyllian Raby
Co-Director and Vocal Coach: Danielle Wilson
Assistant Director and Dramaturge: Keavy Lynch
If music be the food of love, play on!
“Twelfth Night, (or what you will)” presented on stage at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre
The Department of Dramatic Arts’ rendition of Twelfth Night gives this classic Shakespearean comedy a 20th century twist, setting it in the 1950s and taking audiences to the era of soul-searching country blues. This production runs November 7, 8 and 9, 2013 at 7:30 p.m., and November 8 at 11:30 a.m., held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University.
The magical fictitious kingdom of Illyria is a modern world where boys are boys and girls are girls and subterranean passions blow apart rigid conventions. Fools, lovers, and shipwrecked souls grapple adverse fortunes and comic misunderstandings to find what truth and love might mean. To meet Shakespeare’s demand that Illyria be a land where music is “the food of love,” we present the fool musician Feste as the leader of a country blues band.
The production is a directorial collaboration between Dramatic Arts faculty Gyllian Raby and Danielle Wilson, assisted by Keavy Lynch. Raby states, “We are performing Twelfth Night using music rooted in contemporary culture, so although this production is not a musical, music is threaded throughout the play.” Wilson adds, “The play has many of the elements common to Elizabethan romantic comedy, including the devices of mistaken identity, separated twins, and gender-crossing disguise, and its plot revolves around whether one can manage betrayal, and overcome the obstacles to truth and love.“
Have a look at our media release (PDF).
Let us know you’re coming by joining our Facebook Event.
High-School teachers should read this letter about the Matinee performance opportunities available for Twefth Night (November 2013) and Jehanne of the Witches (February 2014) (PDF)
A Study Guide is available for review,
prepared by Gyllian Raby and Keavy Lynch:
download to print a copy (PDF, 2.0 MB)
watch this preview on Cogeco TV:
see the article in the Brock News!
(From left): Sean Rintoul, Chris Chapman and Bri Lidstone perform in the Department of Dramatic Arts production of Twelfth Night, which opens Nov. 7 at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre.
all holders of Brock ID cards – students, staff and faculty – are invited to take advantage of a special new price for the Matinee mainstage performance. Please present your ID card upon purchase of your ticket.
Tickets for all performances including the $5.00 Friday Matinees are available through the Box Office of the Centre for the Arts
or 905.688.5550 x 3257
For more information, please contact Marie Balsom, Co-ordinator of the School of Fine and Performing Arts, at 905-688-5550, ext. 4765; e-mail: [email protected]
comedy, Mainstage, plays, Shakespeare, Twelfth Night
Categories: Events, Plays
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. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us.
This educational program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.
Here is the programming hosted by the Department of Dramatic Arts for the WCL2013-14.
For complete program information please see the MIWSFPA.
Jill DolanJill Dolan is the Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theater at Princeton University, where she also directs the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.
Dolan will give a masterclass in online arts criticism, as well as a public lecture on “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” She will participate in a colloquium and open roundtable on the changing face of arts criticism in the digital age.
Feb. 20
Feb. 21
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
Feb. 22
10:00 am – 10:30 am
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
DOWNLOAD THE POSTER (click to download)
INFORMATION SHEET (click to download): The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age A Colloquium at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University 21-22 February 2014
In addition to the support of the Walker Cultural Leaders series, the colloquium is funded by Brock’s Humanities Research Institute and its SSHRC Institutional Grant scheme, and by the St Catharines Performing Arts Centre.
We are grateful for these important investments by our collaborating partners.
CONTACT: Prof. Karen Fricker, Dramatic Arts, [email protected]
Jill Dolan is the author of The Feminist Spectator as Critic (1989, 2012); Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre (2005); Theatre & Sexuality (2010); and many other books and essays. She won the 2011 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and a lifetime achievement award from the Women and Theatre Program (2011). She writes The Feminist Spectator blog at www.TheFeministSpectator.com, for which she won the 2010-11 George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism. A book of her selected blog posts and new essays, The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for Stage and Screen, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2013. Her full bio can be found at www.princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_princeton/theater/professor_bios/dolan/
Patrice BaldwinPatrice Baldwin is a world leader in Drama, Education and the Arts in learning, and their connections to the latest developments in Neuroscience.
Baldwin will spend eight days teaching, speaking, and giving demonstration classes at Brock and throughout the Niagara peninsula.
Oct. 3 & 8
Oct. 5
Oct. 7
Oct. 9
CONTACT: Georgann Watson, Administrative Assistant, Dramatic Arts, [email protected]
Patrice Baldwin is president of the International Drama, Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), and Chair of National Drama (the UK’s leading professional association for drama teachers and theatre educators), and is also an Executive Forum member of the World Alliance for Arts Education. A renowned advocate for the Arts and Drama Education, she is a prolific and respected author, with a particular interest in: Drama as a way of teaching literacy and as a way of learning across the curriculum; Drama and Arts-based creativity; and Drama and Neuroscience. Baldwin, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, is known for her lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops at international conferences.
Jill Dolan, Patrice Baldwin, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Events
Brock Musical Theatre, the company that brought you GLEE CLUB and RENT! Is returning again this year with Broadway’s hit SPRING AWAKENING; by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater, winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical. This rock musical explores the lives of adolescent students living in 19th century Germany as they journey through the confusing and frustrating world of teenager self-discovery.
The show opens at the Seneca Queen Theatre in Niagara Falls on Thursday, March 21st at 7:30pm and runs until Saturday, March 23rd. Tickets are $15.00 in advance as well as at the door. Tickets may be purchased through the Centre for the Arts at Brock University in person during business hours, or on the website, or over the phone, call 905-688-5550 x3257 or toll-free 1-866-617-3257.
FREE transportation has been arranged from Brock to the Seneca Queen Theatre as well as from the Theatre to St. Catharines (downtown), Brock University and the Thorold route.
More information about show times and the company is available here.
Brock Musical Theatre is a student run organization devoted to creating quality musical theatre for the Brock and St. Catharines/Niagara communities. Brock Musical Theatre is a ratified club under the Brock University Student’s Union. It is not affiliated with the Brock University Department of Dramatic Arts or with any University department, staff or faculty member.
Brock Musical Theatre was created in 2005 to provide all Brock University students with the opportunity to participate in quality musical theatre. Today, the company is open to all Brock students no matter their major field of study. Brock Musical Theatre has become a showcase for the wide range of talents that the entire Brock University community possess in the musical field. Students from the Department of Dramatic Arts have developed new learning opportunities and honed their craft by participating in this club. Brock Musical Theatre is devoted to a healthy, respectful and positive learning environment where students can learn and achieve hands on experience in all aspects of a musical theatre production.
SHOW DATES & TIMES
THURSDAY March 21st – 7:30pm
FRIDAY March 22nd – 7:30pm
SATURDAY March 23rd 1:00pm & 7:30pm
THEATRE
Seneca Queen Theatre
4624 Queen Street, Niagara Falls L2R 2L7
April 11, 12 & 13, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
A government land surveyor (Julia) uncovers the history of an acre of land near the Ottawa River, a barren rectangle that contains the memories of all who passed through it, from the last native hunter to the first white settler. Somehow, the layers of loss, land and remembrance enable Julia to grasp what she needs in order to let go.
Location: Room ST107 (Studio Theatre) Schmon Tower, Brock Campus
Admission: Donations accepted
This is part of the Industrial Fabric 3 program. (Click the link for more information.)
BROCK UNIVERSITY
MEDIA RELEASE
April 2, 2013
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
905.688.5550 x4765
An Acre of Time by Jason Sherman, presented on stage at the Studio Theatre, Brock University Inspired by the book of the same title by Phil Jenkins.
Graduating Dramatic Arts students enrolled in Advanced Studies in Theatre (DART 4F56) at Brock University, will perform An Acre of Time by Canadian award-winning playwright Jason Sherman, held at the Studio Theatre at Brock University, from April 11 – 13, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.
An Acre of Time tells the story of government land surveyor (Julia) who uncovers the history of an acre of land on the LeBreton Flats near the Ottawa River. This barren rectangle contains the memories of all who passed through it, from the last native hunter to the first white settler. Somehow, the layers of loss, land and remembrance enable Julia to grasp what she needs in order to let go.
The LeBreton Flats is a blank urban space that has been in limbo for decades. In 1962, the government expropriated it and knocked down its community. The Flats represent not only a government’s abdication of responsibility, but also an emotional void that can only be filled by recognizing and honouring the ghosts who still live there.
Julia, played in different time periods by three actors: Kaitlin Race, Cassandra van Wyck, and Olivia Jackson, learns that there are different kinds of mapping processes, and that the most important survey brings our own lives to light. Julia’s government work crew colleagues, played by Kanthan Annalingam, Karyn Lorence, Shauna James and Emma Strong, become guides on Julia’s journey as she encounters the ghosts of Samuel de Champlain, played by Erica Charles, and surveyor John Stegmann, played by Jessi Robinson. The speculator John LeBreton is played by Stephanie Neale. Tom, a first nations artist played by James Lowe, conjures the spirit of Constant Penency, an Algonquin hunter who has joined the spirit of Julia’s daughter, Louise, played by Grace Ruppenthal. Evan Mulroney plays Bill, Julia’s husband who lost their daughter Louise to a river drowning.
The set, lighting and video design, by Dylan O’Connor, James McCoy and Nathan Heuchan, is a meditation on mapping and memory that pulls the layers of story into a unified whole with props and costumes designed by Jo Pacinda and John McGowan. The production, in its complex entirety, is stage managed by Kate Hardy and directed by professor Gyllian Raby.
An Acre of Time performances run: Thursday, April 11, Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., and will be held at the Studio Theatre (Rm. ST107) Schmon Tower, Brock University. Admission is by donation.
For more information about this production, e-mail [email protected]
Such productions from the Department of Dramatic Arts are an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of creative talent that defines our academic programs at Brock University.
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An Acre of Time, DART 4F56, Jason Sherman
Categories: Events, Media Releases, Plays