Plays

The Suicide – A Russian Comedy

Sunday, October 07, 2012 | By mbalsom
November 8-10, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Student Matinee: November 09 at 11:30 AM

A Russian Comedy by Nikolai Erdman
Adapted by: Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine
Director: Gyllian Raby
Russian Consultant: Larisa Brodsky
Set Design: Nigel Scott
Costume Design: Roberta Doylend
Lighting Design: Ken Garrett
Assistant Director: Dylan Sylvester
Assistant Designer and Poster Design: Stephanie Baxter
Music Director: Anna MacAlpine
Movement: Trevor Copp, with Rachel Romanowski

A classic comedy that satirizes the New society which was developing in Russia under Lenin’s New Economic Policy of 1924 – a program that many communists considered to be a step backwards for communism. A fast moving, unpretentious examination of hubris and lifestyle and its expression in style: physical poise, dress and drawl. An examination of conformity. The play is ultimately very homely in its definition of human happiness with the physicalized characters, balancing serious satire and comedy.

Themes: big items in the human condition: love, ego, appetite, meaning of life and social convention.

There is NO mature language or sexual content and the violence is “keystone cops” – this show is fine for youth.

High-School teachers should read this letter about the Matinee performance opportunity (PDF, 247 KB)
A Study Guide is available for review, prepared by Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine.

A copy of this special new adaptation of the script is available for download here. (PDF, 120kb)

The Suicide, By Nicolai Erdman
Adapted by Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine
Thanks to Larisa Brodsky.
Royalty free with permission, 2012.
Gyllian Raby
Department of Dramatic Arts
Brock University
graby@brocku.ca

Photos:

Director Gyllian Raby and Set Designer Nigel Scott present the concept of the set design for this innovative new production of The Suicide, seen below:
Production images below courtesy of Naturally in Niagara. Click the link to see more of their images from our media call.
Tags: Mainstage, Nikolai Erdman, The Suicide - A Russian Comedy
Categories: Events, Plays
Graduates of the Department of Dramatic Arts are on the boards again and this time they are playing IN THE SOIL.

Tuesday, April 17, 2012 | By Brock University

The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte

April 27 @ 8:00pm and April 28 @ 2:00pm
Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre 101 King Street, St Catharines

Tickets: $10 at the door
Festival pass: $25 through inthesoil.on.ca

Nathan Tanner MacDonald – Director
Geoffrey Heaney – Performer
Dylan Mawson – Performer
Michael Pearson – Performer
Caitlin Popek – Performer
Kate Hardy – Stage Manager
Finn Archinuk – Designer

Nathan Tanner Mac Donald – a resident of the St Catharines and recent graduate of the Department of Dramatic Arts – has brought together a company of DART students to present The Clockmaker by Stephen Massicotte. A metaphysical rollercoaster, The Clockmaker may seem like little more than a love story set inside a murder-mystery-to-be, but it just might end up exposing the very truth of existence itself. The show will be performed April 27 @ 8:00pm and April 28 @ 2:00pm at the Sullivan Mahoney Courthouse Theatre in downtown St Catharines.

Nathan recently performed in the 2011 STRUTT wearable art show and this past summer he wrote and directed Circus, which played at Factory Theatre in the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival. Nathan’s company includes graduates and Geoffrey Heaney, Dylan Mawson, Michael Pearson, Caitlin Popek as Performers, current student Kate Hardy as Stage Manager and graduate Finn Archinuk as the Designer.

In the Soil Arts Festival brings Niagara artists from a range of disciplines together to provide unique audience experiences. The festival nurtures the creation of new work, showcases talent, encourages innovation, offers learning opportunities for youth and provides intimate and uncommon platforms for audiences to experience work by contemporary performing and literary artists, musicians and media artists. In the Soil is Niagara’s homegrown arts festival and is working to make a Niagara that is self-determining and culturally distinct.

for more information see the IN THE SOIL website.

Break-a-leg, Nathan, Caitlin, Dylan, Finn, Geoffrey, Kate and Michael!

Tags: Caitlin Popek, Dylan Mawson, Finn Archinuk, Geoffrey Heaney, In the Soil, Kate Hardy, Michale Pearson, Nathan Tanner MacDonald, The Clockmaker
Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Events, News, Plays
Shadows of a Toymaker

Sunday, March 11, 2012 | By Nikki Prudden

A new play starts April 11 in ST 103 “Black” at Brock University. The graduating students of DART 4F56 present the outcome of their year-long exploration in collective creation.

April 11, 2012 – 7:00pm
April 12, 2012 – 7:00pm
April 13, 2012 – 7:00pm

Shadows of a Toymaker is written and created by the graduating students of the Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, inspired by the gothic stories of writers Edgar Allen Poe and Angela Carter. This play explores the fictitious lives of the toymaker Mattel and his family, exposing their bizarre methods of survival as they confront the monsters lurking in the darkness within themselves and each other. Come join the madness as we search for the light!

This is the story of a house on a hill,
A house full of secrets sure to make your blood chill.
Nobody knows of what’s taken place,
In this house full of misfits all fallen from grace.
So take a peek inside these walls,
As the door swings open and the curtain falls.
For they are not enough to hide,
All of the madness that takes place inside…

Gather round everyone and open your ears,
I will tell you a story to quiet your fears.
We live in a world of darkness and sorrow,
But we have to believe in a brighter tomorrow.
Yes, there are monsters that live on this earth,
There were monsters before that had given them birth.
There have always been evils to put us to test,
But there have always been people to put them to rest…

Tags: DART 4F56, Shadows of a Toymaker
Categories: Events, Plays
Always loved the musical RENT!? Opening February 2nd for four performances only.

Thursday, January 26, 2012 | By Brock University

Always loved the musical RENT!? Brock Musical Theatre’s finest performers presented a fun-filled show that opened February 2^nd for four performances only.

RENT showcased the performing and producing talents of students in the Department of Dramatic Arts and the entire University community. The show was directed by Jessi Robinson with musical direction by Krystyna MacKay and choreography by Sarah Waller. Music was performed by local band Xprime.

Brock Musical Theatre is a university club with 19 cast members, as well as numerous production and volunteer crew members from several academic programs. BMT has been presenting music theatre to the Brock University community since 2005, showcasing such popular shows as Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose, and Urinetown. Brock Musical Theatre president Karyn Lorence thanks the Brock University Student Union for their support of this production and BMT.

Tags: BMT, Brock Musical Theatre, musical theatre, RENT
Categories: Events, Plays
Lion in the Streets

Thursday, January 12, 2012 | By Nikki Prudden
Written by Judith Thompson

Directed by Danielle Wilson
Designed by David Vivian

Lion in the Streets is a beautiful nightmare.
– Danielle Wilson, director

February 16, 2012 – 7:30 pm
February 17, 2012 – matinee 11:30 am AND 7:30 pm
February 18, 2012 – 7:30 pm

Adult $15 : Students/Seniors $12 : eyeGO $5 : Group Rates $10
Buy tickets at arts.brocku.ca

All DART Students receive ONE free ticket.

Lion in the Streets is a play in which the obsessions of the characters erupt forth in heightened, surreal and imagistic language. The young protagonist, a Portuguese immigrant to Toronto named Isobel, is a ghost in a purgatorial condition. She deftly moves in and out of critical, extreme moments in each of the characters lives while searching for the man who killed her seventeen years prior. Twentieth century music underscores the critical moments in these characters’ lives animated with contemporary movement inspired by dance company La La La Human Steps. This unique mixture complements and elucidates surreal moments while revealing Thompson’s brilliant, sparkling humor. The production embodies our contemporary quest for faith, truth, and a ‘state of grace’ while contending with the absurdity of daily life.

Lion in the Streets is written by award-winning Canadian Playwright Judith Thompson. Premiered at the Tarragon Theatre in 1990 the play won the Chalmers Outstanding New Play Award in 1991. Thompson’s plays embrace subconscious elements of human experience not often seen on stage, capturing audience’s attention across the country. Canadian theatre companies regularly perform her work, such as Soulpepper’s 2011 production of White Biting Dog at the Young Center in Toronto.Lion in the Streets continues to be one of Thompson’s most known and most popular plays. High School students will be confronted with daring subject matter which could provide context and relevance to their lives. The play explores themes of repressed violence and sexuality, the search for identity and the powerful nature of love and forgiveness. While the subject matter is dark, Thompson has crafted this exquisitely surreal play with moments of humor, hope and redemption or what she calls “moments of grace”.

Contemporary movement will be choreographed by Gerald Trentham, Artistic Director of Toronto’s Pounds Per Square Inch Performance company. Our production will showcase 8 second to fourth year Brock students, playing a total of 29 roles, with additional assistance from students studying the areas of production, stagecraft, design and directing.

With this production both Director Danielle Wilson and scenographer David Vivian look forward to honoring the wit and intelligence of our departed colleague, Dr Marlene Moser, a leading scholar of the oeuvre of Judith Thompson. Moser’s published thesis entitled “Postmodern Feminist Readings of Identity in selected works of Judith Thompson, Margaret Hollingsworth and Patricia Gruben” (Ph.D. Thesis, 1998. Graduate Center for Study of Drama University of Toronto) and the article “Identities of Ambivalence: Judith Thompson’s Perfect Pie” (Theatre Research in Canada, Volume 27 Number 1/ Spring 2006), explore themes of gender, narrative, identification of the subject and patriarchal abuse, dwelling upon their relationship to the stage, the language and how the audience will perceive them.

High School Teachers and Educators: please read this letter for detailed information about the production, curriculum ties, and student matinee booking.

Lion in the Streets: A Study Guide, is an introduction to our production, prepared by our Dramaturge and Third Year DART student, Erica Charles. Included are: 1) Collaboration, 2) Play Synopsis, 3) The Playwright: Judith Thompson, 4) Director’s Notes, 5) Designer’s Notes, 6) Isobel and her Lion, 7) Symbolism, 8) Images, 9) An Interview with Judith Thompson by Eleanor Wachtel, 10) Additional References, 11) List of Figures, 12) Endnotes and Bibliography.

Download your PDF copy of Lion in the Streets: A Study Guide
(PDF, 8.7 MB, remotely hosted)

Download a copy of the poster (PDF, 1 MB)

Buy tickets at arts.brocku.ca

Press:

“Dramatic Arts play explores the death of a young girl” – see the article in The Brock News

Photos:
Tags: Danielle Wilson, David Vivian, Judith Thompson, Lion in the Streets, Mainstage, plays
Categories: Events, Plays
Orpheus Descending

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 | By Nikki Prudden
Written by Tennessee Williams

Directed by Virginia Reh
Designed by Michael Greves

The tragedy of a closed society, destroying the ‘other’ within and without.
– Virginia Reh, director

November 10, 2011 – 7:30 pm
November 11, 2011 – matinee 1 pm AND 7:30 pm
November 12, 2011 – 7:30 pm

Adults $15 : Students/Seniors $12 : eyeGO $5 : Group Rates $10. Buy tickets at arts.brocku.ca

All DART students receive ONE free ticket.

Orpheus Descending is a modern version of the Greek myth in which Orpheus, the beloved musician of the gods, goes down to the underworld to rescue his dead wife Eurydice. Orpheus is forbidden to look at his wife until they are clear of the underworld, but he cannot resist, looks, and loses her forever. In Williams’ play, Valentine Xavier (Val), a guitar-playing stranger, comes into a small town in the U.S South and “rescues” an unhappy Lady Torrance. He breaks the rules of the tight society of the town, with catastrophic results.

The play was first performed on Broadway in 1957 and was adapted for the screen in 1959, starring Marlon Brando. With this presentation the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is celebrating the 100th birthday of this great twentieth century American playwright. This is one of many productions from the Williams’ canon to be seen this season, including The Night of the Iguana at Hart House Theatre in Toronto, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Shaw Festival, Camino Real at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago and The Wooster Group’s innovative rendition of Vieux Carré in New York.

Director Virginia Reh is delighted to have Brock alumnus Michael Greves design this production of Orpheus Descending. Since graduating from the Department of Dramatic Arts Greves has been involved in countless productions including the Shaw Festival and was seen recently on stage in Stray Theatre’s production of Les chaises at the Sullivan Mahoney Theatre. Our production stars 17 second through fourth year students supported by student colleagues in direction, dramaturgy, stagecraft and production.

High School Teachers and Educators: please read this letter for detailed information about the production, curriculum ties, and student matinee booking.

Orpheus Descending: A Study Guide, is an introduction to our production, prepared by our creative production team. Chapter titles include: Collaboration, List of Characters, The Plot, The Playwright: Tennessee Williams, Director’s Notes, Production History, Faith, Myth and Spirituality, Aunt Conjure and the Choctaw, Historical Content, Dramaturge’s Notes, Discussion Questions, List of Terms, List of Figures, Endnotes and Bibliography.

Download your PDF copy of Orpheus Descending: A Study Guide
(PDF, 2 MB)

Selected Press Coverage:

Brock University’s Orpheus Descending points spotlight at outsiders
see the article by Jonathan van Ekelenberg in The Niagara News

preview article and video in the St. Catharines Standard

Celebrating 100 years of Tennessee Williams in The Brock Press

This year, the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University presents Tennesse Williams’ Orpheus Descending directed by Virginia Reh. Pictured is a screenshot from a video feature in the series “Artist Profiles” by BROCK TV, which includes questions answered by Virginia Reh, and actors Trevor Ketcheson and Rebekka Gondosch. This video is not currently online.

Photos:
Tags: 2011-12, Mainstage, Orpheus Descending, plays, Tennessee Williams
Categories: Events, Plays
DART on BROCK TV

Tuesday, March 01, 2011 | By Brock University

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)

Tags: Brock TV, Phèdre, university people, Virginia Reh
Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Plays
Phèdre

Tuesday, February 01, 2011 | By Brock University
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)

Media:

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.

Photos:
Tags: Emma Bulpin, Eric Frank, Kasey Dunn, Mainstage, Phèdre, plays
Categories: Events, Plays
Blood Relations

Tuesday, October 12, 2010 | By Nikki Prudden

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)

Tags: Blood Relations, Danielle Wilson, Kelly Wolf, Lizzie Borden, Mainstage, plays, Sharon Pollock
Categories: Events, Plays
Theatre at Brock embraces BIG LOVE

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 | By Brock University

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.

Tags: Big Love, Mainstage, plays
Categories: Events, Media Releases, News, Plays