Announcements

• Joining us for your first year of studies? Interested in a DART minor or elective?

  Wednesday, July 15, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  Welcome to Brock University for September 2020!

  The Chair of the Department of Dramatic Arts, Dr. David Fancy, welcomes you!
  Watch the brief video (also posted on the MIWSFPA YouTube channel.)

  Minor in Dramatic Arts!

  Students in other disciplines may obtain a Minor in Dramatic Arts by successfully completing the following courses with a minimum 60 percent overall average.  You begin with courses in Praxis (Introduction to Theatre and Performance, and Performance as Cultural Practice I), or Drama in Education and Applied Theatre, or Performance and Production and Design, and then select three credits from the entire catalog of DART courses.  Be sure to check for prerequisites!

  DART 1P91 and 1P92, or DART 1P94 and 1P95, or DART 1P97 and 1P99

  three DART credits

  If you are seeking information about the courses at Dramatic Arts during this
  autumn of the covid-19 pandemic, check out this google doc advising sheet.
  You do not require a google account to read the document.

  

  click on the image to open the google doc

  Tags: DART, Dramatic Arts, electives, first year, MIWSFPA
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Future students, News, Uncategorised

• DART 1F01: Acting for Non-Majors, now available ONLINE

  Monday, May 25, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  [including content from an article published in The Brock News on TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 | by Alison Innes]

  Enliven your TikTok feed, gain the confidence of your own creativity, study acting with the Department of Dramatic Arts!

  The switch to online learning is offering Brock University’s Dramatic Arts students new ways of exploring their craft.

  

  download 2 portrait posters in pdf

  “We’re making some exciting changes to DART 1F01: Acting for Non-Majors,” says Professor David Fancy. “We’re using this opportunity to build a course that we can also share with students who have to work remotely in the future.”

  The course, which Fancy describes as “extreme monologuing,” is designed to help students discover the underlying principles of acting. Students will explore the actor’s process, including awareness, stimulus, impulse, intention and action. Exercises will help students become aware of their ingrained habits and develop playfulness and vitality.

  “We’ve drawn on expertise from actor trainers around the globe,” says Fancy, who has been working on a series of videos featuring professional actors being led through drama exercises. The course consists of 24 modules involving video, reading, and writing.

  Performance submissions (in the form of three separate monologues throughout the course) will be made to the teaching team by video, and there are no specific class times. You can proceed at your own pace though the course during the month-long duration (July). The instructor will be available regularly by phone or video to provide assistance as necessary.

  The course is offered online, July 2-29, 2020.  Please register before July 1, 2020

  For more information: David Fancy dfancy@brocku.ca

  

  download 2 landscape posters in pdf

   

  Tags: acting for non majors, DART 1F01, David Fancy, Dramatic Arts, online
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• Graduate Studies honours Dramatic Arts professor for outstanding mentorship and leadership

  Thursday, May 14, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  Associate Professor Karen Fricker, recipient of the Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award, virtually meets with her graduate student, Russ Martin, and his dog Odee.

  (Excerpted from the article published WEDNESDAY, MAY 13, 2020 in The Brock News | by Lauryn Carrick )

  The Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) has named the five recipients of the annual FGS Awards, which were delivered the news in a virtual format for the first time in the awards’ nine-year history.

  The awards, typically handed out at the Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Conference in April, celebrate the accomplishments and excellence of members of Brock University’s graduate community.

  “Despite not being able to recognize our winners in-person at this time, handing out these awards is still an important and meaningful celebration of the outstanding graduate culture that Brock has worked hard to grow,” says Diane Dupont, Interim Dean of Graduate Studies. “Our winners have all greatly contributed to making Brock an excellent place to pursue graduate education.”

  Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award

  The Michael Plyley Graduate Student Mentorship Award normally awards two Faculty members for their outstanding mentorship of graduate students, one in the category or mentorship of only master’s students, and one in the category of mentorship of both master’s and PhD students. However, this year the adjudication committee was unanimous in their decision to name four award winners.

  Michael Pisaric, Professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, and Karen Fricker, Associate Professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts, were awarded the Mentorship Award in the master’s only category.

  Pisaric says receiving the award was “easily one of the highlights of my career.”

  “When my students approached me about the nomination, I was touched that they thought of me in such regard as to nominate me. To actually receive the award, however, is humbling. Graduate students are at the heart of my research program. Without my amazing students, my research program would not be nearly as successful. We are creating the scientists and leaders of tomorrow ,and my goal is to ensure they are well prepared for whatever path they follow when they leave Brock.”

  Pisaric says one of the most important aspects of being a mentor to his students is cultivating a thoughtful and supportive experience for his students in the same way he received while he was a student.

  The award is equally as meaningful to Fricker, whose advice to students is to “seek out opportunities and giver ‘er. Such mentorship is one of the deepest rewards of academic life.”

  As there are currently no graduate programs in Dramatic Arts, the opportunity for Fricker to supervise graduate students is small. Working with her current student in the master of Arts in Popular Culture has been educational and helped her stay on her own theoretical and critical game.

  When asked to provide advice and insight to others on effectively mentoring students, all winners felt similar in that there was no perfect recipe, but touted open communication, understanding and kindness.

  The full list of this year’s FGS Awards recipients are below.

  Marilyn Rose Graduate Leadership Award

  Rachel Yufei Luan

  Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award

  Karen Fricker
  Michael Pisaric
  Madelyn Law
  Miriam Richards

  Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards (at least one recipient from each Faculty)

  Faculty of Applied Health Sciences

  Talia Ritondo, MA, Applied Health Sciences
  Nigel Kurgan, PhD, Applied Health Sciences

  Faculty of Education

  Monica Louie, MEd, Education
  Susan Docherty-Skippen, PhD, Education

  Goodman School of Business

  Ardalan Eyni, MSc, Management

  Faculty of Humanities

  Simone Mollard, MA, Classics
  Brett Robinson, PhD, Interdisciplinary Humanities

  Faculty of Mathematics and Science

  Scott Cocker, MSc, Earth Science
  Parisa Abbasi, PhD, Chemistry

  Faculty of Social Sciences

  Madeline Asaro, MA, Applied Disability Studies
  Megan Earle, PhD, Psychology

  Tags: Dramatic Arts, Graduate Studies, Karen Fricker, Michael Plyley Graduate Mentorship Award
  Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• The show must go on: Brock prof encouraged by theatre’s resiliency in midst of cancellations

  Wednesday, April 08, 2020 | By shashmi2

  

  Karen Fricker, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts, says that despite the impact of COVID-19 on the performing arts, she’s encouraged by what she’s seen from the industry.

  (published WEDNESDAY, APRIL 08, 2020| by The Brock News {Alison Innes})

  The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating blow on the performing arts, but a Brock University Dramatic Arts professor is encouraged by what she has seen from the industry.

  “A vibrant industry went to ground over a matter of days, with theatres at first announcing cancelled or postponed productions and then, in most cases, cancelling the remainder of their winter-spring seasons,” says Karen Fricker, Associate Professor of Dramatic Arts and theatre critic for the Toronto Star. “Most performing artists are precarious gig workers who are seeing current and future bookings evaporate.”

  In St. Catharines, arts organizations including the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, the Meridian Centre, Essential Collective Theatre and Carousel Players are among those that have cancelled or postponed programming through May.

  The Stratford Festival has cancelled performances through to late May, and Niagara-on-the-Lake’s Shaw Festival through June. While Shaw has not laid-off workers and is conducting rehearsals online, Stratford has temporarily laid off 470 employees, including actors, technicians and box office workers.

  But Fricker sees hope among the gloomy news.

  “Theatre companies and artists have been demonstrating amazing resilience and ingenuity during this time of crisis,” she says. “A lot of activity has gone online.”

  Essential Collective Theatre is turning its annual vaudeville fundraiser into an online affair. “Quarantine Cabaret” will feature short video recordings of various acts, including singing, magic, clowning, drag and melodramatic readings, which will be live-streamed at the end of April.

  Several Toronto-based companies are putting on telephone plays: one-on-one shows in which an audience member gets a hand-made personal story delivered to them over the phone, says Fricker.

  “DLT (DopoLavoro Teatrale), known to local audiences for their immersive shows including That Ugly Mess that Happened in St. Catharines, is producing a series of phone and online performances,” says Fricker. Some of the performances are inspired by Boccacio’s Decameron, a 14th^–century collection of novellas about a group of youth sheltering outside Florence to escape the Black Death.

  “I have been uplifted by engaging with online theatre over the past few weeks,” Fricker says.

  “Watching theatre this way is not the same as sharing the same physical space and time with fellow audience members and the artists themselves, but that doesn’t mean it’s a lesser experience. It’s different, and theatres and audiences alike are adapting to what is, for now, the new normal.”

  Tags: alumni, Carousel Players, DART, Department of Dramatic Arts, Dramatic Arts, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Karen Fricker, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, plays, The Brock News, theatre
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Performance Season

• Announcing DART 3P94: Theatre Criticism, an Online Intensive beginning June 2

  Thursday, April 02, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  [edited on May 25 reflecting the continuing closure of theatre around the world and with content from an article published in The Brock News on TUESDAY, MAY 19, 2020 | by Alison Innes]

  DART 3P94: Theatre Criticism
  Online intensive, June 2-12, 2020

  DART 3P94: Theatre Criticism is a new course that introduces students to the practical craft of and the theoretical background to theatre criticism. The activity of the course is divided between seeing productions and writing reviews of them; workshopping these reviews with the instructor and classmates; editing the reviews towards assessed submission, and eventual possible publication on a dedicated course blogsite; reading and discussing relevant academic and journalistic articles about criticism; and learning about alternative, digital, performative, and visual forms of criticism.

  

  download the poster

  The instruction of this summertime intensive will be online, conducted using a combination of video conferencing, online chatrooms, animated Powerpoint lectures, and related formats. There will be designated course times during which students will be required to be virtually present; other activities during the two-week course will include reading/class preparation; writing and editing reviews and other forms of written response to theatre; creating digital critical responses using social media and other online platforms; participating in digital forums; and developing a summative criticism project. A final research paper about criticism will be due at the end of June.

  Students will be required to see a minimum of four theatre productions as part of the course. While Fricker had hoped to take students on field trips to see live theatre, the pandemic situation has meant that students will be exploring theatre through video.

  “There is an increasing amount of video-captured theatre performances available online, both through online subscriptions and packages that the Brock Library already holds, to theatres and festivals making some of their captured content available to the public,” says Fricker. It may be that a combination of live and recorded viewing is possible but all the performances will be viewed online.

  “One of the interesting wrinkles of critiquing such performances is that you’re not reviewing live theatre but rather a recording of live theatre, and so questions of camera angles, cuts and actors’ relationships to each other and the camera come into play.”

  This is an intensive course experience and prospective students are advised to be prepared to engage with it full-time during the two weeks of the course.

  Prerequisite(s) are DART 2P96 and 2Q92 (2F94) or permission of the department. Interested students are invited to write to the instructor, Prof. Karen Fricker (kfricker@brocku.ca), as she is willing to consider relevant course experiences from other programs than DART.

  Please register before May 1, 2020.

  Karen Fricker is an associate professor in Dramatic Arts at Brock, a theatre critic at the Toronto Star, and vice-president of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association.

  A PDF version of this page is available for download.

  

  Tags: 3P94, DARTcritics, Karen Fricker, theatre criticism
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• Did you apply to study Dramatic Arts at Brock? We look forward to welcoming you in September!

  Saturday, March 14, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  A scene from our recent production of Perdita, or The Winter’s Tale, showing Jasmine Case (l) as Perdita and Avery Delaney(r) as Florizel.

  Dear applicants!

  As part of Brock University’s ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the community in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Department is cancelling the DART Invitational scheduled for May 2, 2020.

  We very much regret not spending a remarkable day of theatre making with you!

  If you are registered for the Invitational you are no longer required to come to campus on that day.  Refunds will be issued to all registered participants.

  In place of the DART Invitational we will be conducting online interviews.  This will require you to prepare some material in advance, answer questions from the two faculty interviewers, and will give you an opportunity to ask questions of us.

  Please read about this online interview, conducted using skype or a similar app, at this url:

  https://brocku.ca/miwsfpa/dramatic-arts/wp-content/uploads/sites/40/Alternate-Arrangement-2020.pdf

  Beginning next week, the Department will be contacting registered applicants to schedule an online interview.  We will provide you with a variety of dates and times to select from.  We hope to complete all of these interviews by May 2, 2020.

  We look forward to meeting you online and to welcoming you in our studios and theatre this coming September!

  Tags: applicant, apply, Covid-19, DART Invitational, Invitational, May 02, May 2
  Categories: Announcements, Future students, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

• Studio Taxi Theatre presents TomorrowLove, opening April 3 at the MIW Theatre

  Tuesday, March 03, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  EDITOR’S NOTE: This event has been cancelled as part of Brock University’s ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the community in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

  Have you ever wondered what would happen if someone decided to erase you from their memory completely? Would you use an app that could match you with your soulmate? What if you could communicate with the dead via video chat?

  Rosamund Small’s TomorrowLove is a collection of stories about love, sex, technology, and the future. Studio Taxi Theatre’s (DART 4F56 – Advanced Studies in Theatre) production features 9 of Small’s stories performed as an immersive experience around the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. The stories range from the poignant and comedic, to the dramatic and heartbreaking.

  Every audience member will see 4 stories as they travel through this experience, therefore, audiences are encouraged to see the show at least twice in order to catch as many stories as they can. The number of audience members is limited to 40 per show, split into 2 groups in order to allow for intimate audience/actor relationships, so it is recommended that audience members buy their tickets in advance and arrive early to choose their own adventure!

  Each location in the production is accessible and will have seating for audience members.
  If you anticipate extra assistance being needed, please contact studiotaxitheatre@gmail.com

  Content warning: contains scenes with sexual content, strong language, and references to sexual and physical violence.

  This is a presentation by the DART 4F56 (Advanced Studies in Theatre)/DART 4P97 (Collaborative Stage Production) graduating students’ ensemble for Spring 2020. All productions are created, produced and performed by DART students under the direction of Mike Griffin.

  Presented at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.
  Purchase your tickets at https://brocku.universitytickets.com/.

  When:
  April 3, 2020 — 5:00 p.m.
  April 3, 2020 — 9 p.m.
  April 4, 2020 —1:00 p.m.
  April 4, 2020 —5:00 p.m.
  April 4, 2020 —9:00 p.m.

  Where: Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

  Director: Mike Griffin
  Assistant Director: Josh Loewen
  Set Designer: Josh Loewen
  Props Designer/Set Decoration: Joanna Trann
  Costume Designer: Rachel Frederick
  Lighting Designer: Lauren Reid
  Sound Design: Taylor Bogaert
  Dramaturge: Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk
  Stage Manager: Shannon Fletcher
  Assistant Stage Manager: Jasmine Case
  Production Manager: Jordine De Guzman
  Head of Publicity: Shannon Fletcher

  Cast:

  Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk
  Emily Clegg
  Paige Hunt-Harman
  Samantha Rideout
  Beth Martin
  Frances Johnson

  Tags: 4F56, DART 4F56, love, Michael Griffin, Tomorrow, TomorrowLove
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, News, Performance Season, Plays, Uncategorised

• Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous Art Practice: Candidate Research Presentations

  Monday, January 06, 2020 | By dvivian

  

  The Brock and wider community is invited to attend the presentations by the three Indigenous artist/researchers who are finalists for the Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Indigenous Art Practice at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Our candidates are visiting the Marilyn I. Walker School in January. Each will give an hour-long presentation and engage in an additional half hour of discussion about their current research interests and focus, and about what they would hope to achieve as a Canada Research Chair at Brock University in the next five years.

  

  MATTHEW MACKENZIE

  Research presentation 5 – 6:30 pm,
  Friday January 10, 2020
  MWS 156
  
  Edmonton playwright, director and producer Matthew MacKenzie (Métis) is Artistic Director of Punctuate! Theatre, as well as the founder and an Artistic Associate with Pyretic Productions. In 2018, his play Bears won Dora Mavor Moore Awards for Outstanding New Play and Outstanding Production, was named a co-winner of the Toronto Theatre Critics Outstanding New Canadian Play Award, and won the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Carol Bolt National Playwriting Award. This past fall, Punctuate! premiered MacKenzie’s play The Particulars, which was named one of the top ten productions of 2019 by The Globe and Mail.

  

  MARK IGLOLIORTE

  Research presentation 11:30 am – 1 pm,
  Friday January 17, 2020
  MWS 156
  
  Mark Igloliorte is an Inuk artist born in Corner Brook, Newfoundland with Inuit ancestry from Nunatsiavit, Labrador. His artistic work is primarily painting and drawing. Igloliorte’s work has been featured in several notable national exhibitions including the 2015 Marion McCain Exhibition of Contemporary Atlantic Canadian Art, curated by Corinna Ghaznavi; Inuit Ullumi: Inuit Today: Contemporary Art from TD Bank Group’s Inuit Collection; Beat Nation, curated by Kathleen Ritter and Tania Willard; and The Phoenix Art-The Renewed Life of Contemporary Painting, curated by Robert Enright. In addition, Igloliorte has been profiled in features in Canadian Art magazine and Inuit Art Quarterly. Igloliorte is an Assistant Professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

  

  SUZANNE MORRISSETTE

  Research presentation 5 – 6:30 pm,
  Wednesday January 22, 2020
  MWS 207
  
  Suzanne Morrissette is a Métis artist, curator, and writer. Using various research-creation methods Morrissette addresses the philosophical roots of historical and contemporary forms of injustice facing Indigenous peoples. Her current and future research looks at the role of locally-based Indigenous knowledges within Indigenous community-based curatorial practice as a way of entering into conversations about robust and unexpected strategies for representing Indigenous art both within Canadian and international contexts. Currently she holds the position of Assistant Professor at OCAD University.r University of Art and Design.

  ---

  Please share and post this poster in your community.

  Tags: Canada Research Chair, CRC, Indigenous, MARK IGLOLIORTE, MATTHEW MACKENZIE, MIWSFPA, SUZANNE MORRISSETTE
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Uncategorised, Visiting Artists

• Identities Relocated: A LGBTQ Newcomer’s Story, at the Folk Arts Multicultural Centre

  Wednesday, November 20, 2019 | By dvivian

  

  In collaboration with the Folk Arts Multicultural Centre and Pride Niagara, Brock students in the Dramatic Arts Social Issues Theatre for Community Engagement course created a play based on interviews with LGBTQ+ newcomer and second-generation Canadians.

  The play blends direct quotations and true stories into Aminah’s journey trying to find her place as a lesbian newcomer from Pakistan in St. Catharines.

  The performance also includes a Forum Theatre segment, which invites audience members to join the characters onstage in dealing with conflicts faced by Aminah.

  As Alejandro, a gay Colombian Canadian character, says, “LGBTQ, newcomers, and everyone else is invited!”

  Please join us Monday, November 25th @ 5pm at the Folk Arts Multicultural Centre for the play entitled, Identities Relocated: A LGBTQ Newcomer’s Story.

  for more information please contact:

  Rachel Rhoades, PhD
  Assistant Professor, Applied Theatre
  Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University
  rrhoades @ brocku.ca

  Tags: Folk Arts, forum theatre, Niagara Folk Arts Centre, Pride, Rachel Rhoades
  Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Media Releases, News, Plays, Uncategorised

• Brock project aims to improve long-term care for veterans and brain injury patients

  Wednesday, October 09, 2019 | By shashmi2

  

  Brock University alumni now with Mirror Theatre perform a scene in Understanding person-centred care: Finding dignity within the shadows, a video series as part of a research project between Brock and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

  (From: The Brock News, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2019 | by Dan Dakin)

  Two Brock University faculty members from seemingly unrelated disciplines have collaborated on a project aimed at improving the relations of those involved in long-term care.

  Associate Professor of Recreation and Leisure Studies Colleen Whyte, and Professor of Dramatic Arts Joe Norris, were at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto Wednesday, Oct. 2 for the premiere of Understanding person-centred care: Finding dignity within the shadows.

  Two years ago, Sunnybrook Professional Practice and Education Leader Leanne Hughes came to Whyte with a research idea about how to help staff and family deal with the challenges associated with two specific groups in long-term care: veterans living with dementia and patients recovering from traumatic brain injuries.

  “I’ve known Leanne for 15 years and we’ve done research together in the past,” Whyte said. “She came to me and said: This is an issue we have. How do you think we could look at researching it?’”

  “What we’re looking at are person-centred approaches,” said Hughes, referring to a growing emphasis in health care that invites patients and family members to be involved in decision-making and strategizing ways to care for individual patients from a wide-range of services. It’s a more collaborative care model than a traditional top-down medical approach to care.

  In the fall of 2018, Whyte led research that included focus groups of those working in long-term care at the Toronto hospital such as doctors and hospital staff, as well as families of those in care.

  

  Brock University professors Joe Norris and Colleen Whyte hand a USB drive to Leanne Hughes from Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. Brock and Sunnybook partnered on a research project that included a 20-part video around patient-centred care. Pictured from left are Brock alumni Nadia Ganesh, Candice De Freitas Braz and Mike Metz, Hughes, Norris, Brock master’s student Kevin Hobbs, Whyte and Brock alumni Bernadette Kahnert.

  “We interviewed people who are doing this every day,” Whyte said. “This research is about taking the principles of person-centred care and trying to see how they are translated on a daily basis, when all partners experience unexpected challenges.”

  With the focus group data in hand, Whyte then turned to Norris, Chair of Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, who worked with the student-run Mirror Theatre to translate the conversations into dramatic action, known as ethnodrama and applied theatre.

  “We took the focus group transcripts, read them, analyzed them and created dramatic scenes,” said Norris. “The purpose is to evoke conversations.”

  The result is a 20-part video series, each dealing with a different component of the long-term care experience. They range from something as simple the challenge of what to pack when a family member is moved into a new living situation to what to do when a patient whose mind no longer has much of a filter says something that crosses a line.

  “It’s all about answering the question of ‘How do we treat each other with respect in stressful situations?’” Norris said.

  He said the Dramatic Arts students who were acting the parts in the videos — including the patients who are represented as shadowed silhouettes rather than specific people — learned about more than just acting.

  “Many cast members say they don’t only get extra-curricular experience with theatre, they get the experience of dealing with a range of topics. It’s like an extra class for them,” he said.

  With the video series now complete, the next stage of the project is to create workshops for staff and families.

  “It gives staff some insight and helps them think, ‘If I’m in this situation, let me strategize and be thoughtful about what options I have,’” she said. “It will equip new staff with possibilities and allow existing staff to be reflective about their approaches.”

  

  Brock University alumni Nadia Ganesh, Bernadette Kahnert, Lindsay Detta and Candice De Freitas Braz interpret a scene from Finding dignity within the shadows at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre in Toronto Wednesday, Oct. 2.

  Hughes said when the final videos were shown to those working with veterans suffering from dementia and patients dealing with brain injuries, the staff were impressed with how accurate they were in reflecting the situations they deal with.

  “It has been an absolute pleasure to see students take this data and enact it,” Hughes said. “We were in awe of their ability. They did a fantastic job.”

  The project, which was funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant and a Practice-Based Research and Innovation Seed Grant from Sunnybrook, will continue with the development of facilitator tools and training sessions. Those will be developed and led by Norris and Kevin Hobbs, a master’s student in Social Justice and Equity Studies, who directed the Finding dignity within the shadows series and incorporated the research into his master’s thesis.

  “They’re training videos, but not in the sense of, ‘Here’s how you give a needle,” said Norris. “It’s more of a dialogic conversation where our audiences are invited to comment on the scenes and add their own insights and stories.”

  Watch the full Understanding Person-Centred Care video below and individual scene videos can be found at this link. 

  Tags: Brock University Dramatic Arts, Department of Dramatic Arts, Dramatic Arts, Joe Norris, MIWSFPA, recreation and leisure studies, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre
  Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, Media Releases, News