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
Every October DART students participate in a special General Brock Soirée. In 2008 the event was held in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. This is now a not-to-be-missed regional event held in the new Guernsey Market at Brock University’s Main Campus in St. Catharines, Ontario.
click on the poster above to download your own copy. Medea Media Release: download here (PDF)
by Euripides
directed by Natalie Alvarez. scenography by David Vivian.
November 13, 14, 15, 2008 @ 7:30 p.m.
November 14, 2008 @ 11:30 a.m. Student Matinee
An ancient Greek tragedy crashes against the shores of modern life and lingers in televised ruins.
A riveting retelling of Euripides’ Medea set in a multi-media talk-show environment, with a musical guest appearance, live cameras, and haunting visual effects.
Backstage Workshop, Performance, and Talk-Back Package:
Student groups can book a Medea field-trip package that begins with a pre-show workshop led by members of the Medea creative team, faculty, and students of the Department of Dramatic Art’s Drama in Education and Society Stream.
see here for more information: Medea Field Trip package (PDF)
Medea Teaching Module:
A series of thematic topics followed by discussion questions and exercises that high school teachers may use in preparation for their field trip to the Department of Dramatic Art’s production of Medea.
download here: Medea Workshop (PDF)
Medea promo for students (PDF file)
Watch the slideshow for Medea featuring images from the production and narration provided by Natalie Alvarez, the Director of Medea:
Listen to the Director of Medea, Natalie Alvarez, introduce you to the show:
November 13th, 14th, and 15th, 2008:
Medea
by Euripides
. . . an ancient Greek tragedy crashes against the shores of modern life and lingers in televised ruins . . .
Directed by Natalie Alvarez
Designed by David Vivian
February 12th, 13th, and 14h, 2009:
Smash!
Anarchic Comedy by Jeffrey Hatcher
based on the novel by Bernard Shaw
Directed by Gyllian Raby
by Caryl Churchill
directed by David Fancy, scenography by Kelly Wolf.
Set in the throes of contemporary environmental degradation, Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker features the Earth speaking back to human beings in terrifying ways. Join the haunting!
We have developed a Study Guide about the production – click on the link below: (be sure to use a recent version of Acrobat Reader)
February 14, 15, 2008 @ 7:30 p.m.
February 16, 2008 @ 2:00 p.m.
There is a Student Matinee at 11:30 AM on Friday, February 15, 2008. Please contact Marie Balsom for more information, at 905-688-5550 x 4765; e-mail: mbalsom@brocku.ca
Caryl Churchill, Mainstage, The Skriker
Categories: Events, Plays
The Department of Dramatic Arts presents . . .
Monday, January 14th, 2008
Pond Inlet at Brock University, St. Catharines, ON
On January 14, 2008, the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University will host an interdisciplinary, one-day symposium on the topic of mental health, ‘madness’ and creativity as part of its mainstage season featuring performances of Caryl Churchill’s The Skriker and Peter Weiss’ Marat/Sade. The symposium’s aim is to investigate this emergent theme of our mainstage productions from a multiplicity of vantage points by bringing together scholars and practitioners from a variety of disciplines. Of particular interest is the arguably contentious and challenging process of representing ‘madness’ in performance and other forms of artistic expression.
please see the conference website here
art, Brock University, creativity, madness, madness manifest, mental health, pond inlet, symposium
Categories: Events, News
(The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade)
by Peter Weiss
directed by Virginia Reh, scenography by David Vivian.
Set in the asylum in 1808, Sade’s drama is about the assassination of the populist revolutionary Jean Paul Marat by Charlotte Corday. This incident is viewed through the lens of Sade’s exploration of sexual excess and physical cruelty. In Brechtian fashion, the story is continually interrupted and analyzed. At the heart of Sade’s drama is the debate between himself as the author and his character Marat, who is played by another inmate.
We have developed a Study Guide incorporating information and ideas about the historical context of the play as well as our directorial and scenographic direction to this production. Click on the link below:
v. 16.11.07; Updates will be posted as available.
November 15, 16, 17, 2007, @ 7:30 p.m.
The Assistant Director has set up a Facebook Event Page for the project. Click here.
Mainstage, Marat/Sade, Peter Weiss, plays
Categories: Events, Plays