News

  • Brock Students & Carousel Players Share Their Love of Theatre With Special Gift

    Wednesday, April 16, 2014 | By

    brockconnectionsdonationapril2014Brock University students showed their support for Carousel Players with a $600 donation this month. All of the box office proceeds from their Brock Connections production of Star-Crossed: A Musical Shakespeare from March 28-29, 2014 were donated to Carousel Players, Niagara’s theatre for young audience company. Directors of the one-act parody of Romeo & Juliet, Megan Dene & Nick Leno added “Please continue to inspire young people and their families to pursue and be involved in the arts.”

    “We were deeply touched by this unexpected gift that showed the true passion for the arts of these 23 students, “said Jane Gardner, General Manager of Carousel Players. “We used the funds to give the gift of theatre to St. Christopher Catholic School who received a free performance of Carousel’s Dib and Dob and the Journey Home at their school. Paul Lukacs, a teacher at St. Christopher told us of the wonderful theatre experiences the children aged 4 and up had at his school that day. For many children it was their first theatre experience.”

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    Categories: Current Students, News

  • Dramatic Arts Design students’ Open House exhibit on now

    Thursday, March 27, 2014 | By

    Theatrical Design Exhibition (DART 3F61)
    When: March 26 – April 2, 2014, 9 am – 5 pm
    Location: Design Studio Room ST102, Schmon Tower, Brock University.
    Admission: Free

    A public showing of Theatre Design projects by senior design students.  Scale maquettes of set designs, costume designs and storyboards for a variety of plays, musicals, songs and proposed films.

    Sponsored by the Department of Dramatic Arts, part of the Industrial Fabric 2014 Festival.

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    Categories: Current Students, Events, News

  • DART graduate produces film about the Japanese Tsunami of 2011

    Tuesday, March 11, 2014 | By

    nicolinaThe work of Dramatic Arts graduate Nicolina Lanni (2005) was featured at the conclusion of CBC’s The Current on March 11, 2014.  She recently began the documentary film “Lost & Found” with colleague John Choi about the continuing impact on the lives forever changed by the Japanese Tsunami that occurred on this day three years ago.

     

    From the film’s website:

    Imagine losing everything. Your home, your business, all your worldly possessions. Gone forever… or are they?

    Right now an epic endeavor is underway involving 2 continents, 3 countries and the largest body of water on earth. Join us as we go on a journey to discover the stories of those whose lives were stolen by the sea.

    Nicolina’s project is made possible by HotDocs and the Doc Ignite crowd-funding platform.  “We feel so lucky to have been given the opportunity through Hot Docs and Doc Ignite to share our film with you and to work towards reaching our goal of raising $30,000 to help make this film and tell the amazing stories behind the artifacts that have washed ashore,” she exclaims on the film’s website.

    Learn more about Nicolina’s film at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival website and the project website www.lostandfoundthefilm.ca.

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    Categories: Alumni, News

  • Renowned Canadian Theatre Director visits Department of Dramatic Arts

    Wednesday, February 19, 2014 | By

    img_4449_x331_crOn 13 February, 2014, the director Peter Hinton visited the Department of Dramatic Arts for a two-hour talk about his work as a director and adaptor. He responded to questions from students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism, as well as from other students in the department.

    Hinton spoke about a number of his recent projects, including his adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull, which premiered Montreal’s Segal Centre in February 2014; his 2013 Shaw Festival production of Wilde’s Lady Windermere’s Fan; and his upcoming staging of the musical Cabaret, also at Shaw. Discussion focused on Hinton’s research processes and how these inform his directorial concepts, in particular on his approach to existing and canonical works. Hinton also spoke about his relationship to theatre critics: “I’m not after five stars; I’m after a respectful dialogue,” Hinton said of the critics who regularly review his work. “I don’t want to be in search of [their] praise or victim of [their] ignorance.” When asked for his advice for a new generation of Canadian theatre artists and professionals, Hinton reminded the group that the professional relationships they form during their student years may be the most important ones in their careers, and urged them to consider their professional creative lives as already underway: “I always thought that theatre was an elite club to get into, but theatre already belongs to you.”

    Hinton has worked with major theatre companies across Canada including Theatre Passe Muraille and Canadian Stage; Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver; Playwrights Workshop Montréal; and the Stratford and Shaw Festivals. He was the director of the English theatre division of the National Arts Centre from 2005-2011, and is originally from Toronto.

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    Categories: News, Visiting Artists

  • Join us for the special two-day colloquium ‘The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age,’ beginning February 21, 2014.

    Wednesday, February 19, 2014 | By

    Jill Dolan

    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.]

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, News

  • Brock community event looks at theatre criticism in the digital age

    Monday, February 10, 2014 | By

    (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”]

    —

    SCHEDULE: The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age

    All events take place in Sankey Chamber at Brock University

    FRIDAY, FEB. 21:

    * 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”

    • Jill Dolan (respondent)
    • Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre
    • David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre (chair)
    • John Law, arts and entertainment writer, Sun Media
    • Sara Palmieri, co-founder, In the Soil Festival
    • Stephen Remus, minister of energy, minds, and resources, Niagara Arts Centre
    • Steve Solski, director, St. Catharines Centre for the Performing Arts
    • Candice Turner-Smith, managing director, Niagara Symphony Orchestra

    * 4:15 – 5:45 p.m.: Panel discussion “Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?”

    • Maddy Costa, critic and blogger
    • Karen Fricker
    • Andy Horwitz, founder, culturebot.org
    • Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival
    • Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of theatre, University of Buffalo (respondent)
    • Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga (chair)

    SATURDAY, FEB. 22:

    * 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”

    • Jill Dolan
    • Karen Fricker (chair)
    • Andy Horwitz (respondent)
    • J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail
    • Richard Ouzounian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star
    • Holger Syme, chair, Department of English and Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger (disposito.net)
    • Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival

    * 12:15 – 1 p.m.: Colloquium wrap-up

    • Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Karen Fricker (chair); Rosemary Drage Hale, director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; and Andy Horwitz

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    Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News

  • Media Release: Jehanne of the Witches

    Tuesday, January 28, 2014 | By

    jehanne_promo_dvBrock University
    Media Release
    St. Catharines, ON
    January 28, 2014

    The Department of Dramatic Arts’ mainstage production of Jehanne of the Witches is beset with twists and turns, black magic, illusion, sexuality, and the use – and abuse – of power!

    Students of Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts present Jehanne of the Witches, a Canadian play that probes into the nature of magic, truth and illusion. Performances will be held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University on February 13, 14 and 15, 2014.

    Jehanne of the Witches, written by award-winning Canadian playwright Sally Clark, recounts Joan of Arc’s story with historical accuracy, and explores modern, feminist ideals, as well as Christianity and Paganism. Using historical facts, Clark weaves a story exploring the strange relationship that existed between Joan of Arc and her comrade-in-arms, Gilles de Rais – the notorious Bluebeard. In this production, Gilles de Rais is in his own personal purgatory where he is condemned to endlessly relive the events of his life from his first contact with Jehanne to his own death.
    Directed by Virginia Reh, with scenography by David Vivian, and lighting by Cameron More, this second mainstage production of the Department of Dramatics Arts’ 2013-14 Season showcases the talents of students in the undergraduate program: Katie Coseni, Mallory Muehmer, Rachel Romanoski, Hayley Malouin, Elizabeth Smith, Nikki Morrison, Erik Bell, Derek Ewert, Josh Berard, and Lewis Whiteley.

    “Sally Clark’s unique and unorthodox look at the Joan of Arc legend has called to me for a very long time,” states Reh. “This multi-layered play questions the very nature of history: how and by whom it is relayed and manipulated. It deals in power, mystery, a yearning to believe and the very nature of theatre itself. Layers behind layers are torn away in a search for the elusive “truth.” Who is a saint? and who is a monster?”

    This play contains sexual themes and occasional strong language.

    Performances for Jehanne of the Witches will be held in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University on February 13, 14, and 15, 2014 at 7:30 p.m., with a matinée performance on February 14 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $18 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, $12 for groups, and $5 for the eyeGo high school ticket program. Available from the Centre for the Arts Box Office: 905-688-5550 x3257 or visit: http://arts.brocku.ca/ For more information about this production and the Department of Dramatic Arts visit: brocku.ca/miwsfpa/dramaticarts.

    Productions from the Department of Dramatic Arts are an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to build connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.

    If you wish to experience the legend of Joan of Arc through the media of classic film and live choral performance, then you won’t want to miss Chorus Niagara’s CN CINEMA – The Passion of Joan of Arc, taking place on February 28 and March 1 at 7:30 p.m., held at St. Thomas Anglican Church in St. Catharines. Tickets can be purchased through the Centre for the Arts Box Office (purchase information is listed above).

     

    Media call: Thursday, February 6, 2014 at 6 p.m., held in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University

    For interviews please contact:
    Marie Balsom, Communications
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    T: 905.688.5550, x4765| E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: brocku.ca/finearts

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    Categories: Media Releases

  • Dramatic Arts Professor directs Canadian premiere of a Benjamin Britten opera

    Tuesday, November 19, 2013 | By

    vb-glorianaThe 2013-2014 season of Toronto’s Voicebox/Opera in Concert showcases some ‘rarities of performance’ and features Gloriana by Benjamin Britten.

    The one-time concert performance at the Jane Mallet Theatre in Toronto is directed by Brock University Dramatic Arts Professor Virginia Reh.

    Gloriana was composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in June 1953 and VOICEBOX’s performance marks the 100Th Anniversary of the Composer’s birth.

    Queen Elizabeth I is approaching the end of her reign. Her affection for the impressive Earl of Essex is tested when he grows increasingly ambitious. Should she listen to the guidance of her advisors or be swayed by emotion? Moving from the pomp of state ceremony to the intimacy of the Queen’s private rooms, Gloriana depicts the public and private faces of the Virgin Queen, and the deterioration of her relationship with the impulsive Earl of Essex.

    The opera features 15 soloists. In this concert production 10 of the soloists will be coming out of the chorus. The production is in memory of Reh’s friend Stephen Ireland who passed away last October from complications arising from prostate cancer.  The production is sponsored by his foundation.

    Professor Reh will be directing the next Mainstage production of the Department of Dramatic Arts, Jehanne of the Witches, opening February 13, 2014.

    BENJAMIN BRITTEN
    GLORIANA

    Sunday, November 24, 2013 — 2:30pm
    IN english
    Jane Mallett Theatre (at the St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts) Sunday, November 24 @2:30 p.m.

    purchase tickets here

    Featuring
    Peter Tiefenbach, Music Director and Pianist
    Virginia Reh, Dramatic Advisor
    Robert Cooper, Chorus Director

    Betty Waynne Allison as Queen Elizabeth I
    Jennifer Sullivan as Penelope (Lady Rich)
    Adam Luther as Lord of Essex
    Dion Mazerrole as Cecil
    Jesse Clark as Lord Mountjoy
    Christina Campsall as Countess of Essex
    Marco Petracchi as Sir Walter Raleigh
    Domenico Sanfilippo as Henry Cuffe
    Fabian Arciniegas as The Recorder of Norwich
    Joshua Wales as The Spirit of the Masque
    Keenan Viau as The Master of Ceremonies
    Gregory Finney as Old Man
    Lise Maher as Page
    Jessika Monea as Lady in Waiting

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Dramatic Arts Professor gives plenary address “Performance and Its Genealogies of War” in Gothenburg, Sweden

    Wednesday, November 13, 2013 | By

    (Source: Skogen)

    Department of Dramatic Arts Professor Natalie Alvarez will be presenting her plenary address lecture “Performance and Its Genealogies of War” in the Seminar: CREATIVITY AND AUTHORSHIP IN WARFARE to be held November 27, 2013 at the Skogen performance space in Gothenburg, Sweden (Göteborgs Konsthall).

    Professor Alvarez moves through several sites of her field research at military bases in the US, Canada, and the UK to observe the ways in which the performance paradigm has been taken up by the military-industrial-academic complex as it attempts to advance training methodologies nimble enough to take on a new frontier of irregular and asymmetrical warfare. Each site raises a particular set of concerns that, when taken together, trace the genealogies of performance and war. In her studies of scenarios at an insurgent training camp for US Special Forces in Utah, USA, and mock Afghan villages at CFB Wainright, Canada, and the Stanford Training Area in England, Alvarez raises questions concerning how the affective entrainment of soldiers through large-scale immersive improvisations converges in unsettling ways with histories of performance theory. She examines the instrumental use of empathy in military strategy and queries how the immersion of soldiers in the mise en scène of an Afghan village designed to foster Cultural Intelligence (CQ)—positioned by military strategists as a “force multiplier”—prepares soldiers to engage in an irreconcilable paradox of punitive, yet culturally “sensitive,” militarism.

    Professor Alvarez is an associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University, Ontario, Canada, where she teaches in the Theatre Praxis concentration. She holds a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of Toronto. In 2010, she received a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for her current book project on immersive simulations and intercultural performance in military training and dark tourism, which allowed her to conduct field research at military bases and tourist sites in Mexico, the US, Canada, and the UK. Her research on performance and simulation, performance theory, and contemporary experimental performance in the Americas has been published in a variety of periodicals, as well as national and international book collections. She is the editor of the first two collections on Latina/o-Canadian performance, which establish the field of Latina/o performance studies in Canada. She is the recipient of the 2013 Richard Plant Essay Prize and the Robert G. Lawrence emerging scholar prize, both by the Canadian Association of Theatre Research.

    The seminar is curated by Cecilie Ullerup Schmidt and Skogen. It is presented in collaboration with Göteborgs Konsthall and Glänta with support from Västra Götalandsregionen and Goethe-Institut Schweden.

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Teaching Opportunity: Assistant Professor – Drama in Education/Applied Theatre & Performance

    Tuesday, October 29, 2013 | By

    miwsfpa-icon-220Full-time Teaching Opportunity in the Department of Dramatic Arts:
    Assistant Professor – Drama in Education/Applied Theatre and Performance

    The Department of Dramatic Arts in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University invites applications for a tenure-track appointment in Drama in Education/Applied Theatre and Performance at the rank of Assistant Professor starting July 1st, 2014. The position is subject to final budgetary approval.

    Qualifications

    The successful candidate must hold a PhD with an emphasis on process drama/participatory theatre and exhibit exemplary practice in the profession. Teaching experience in elementary/secondary schools is an asset. Applicants should be able to teach courses with mixed studio/lecture components as well as larger-scale survey courses and studio performance intensives.

    The successful candidate will teach a range of courses in drama in education, applied theatre, performance, movement, and praxis. The preferred individual will bring knowledge of a spectrum of teaching methodologies in diverse pedagogical situations and critical performance theory, as well as expertise in synthesizing these modes of knowledge. The individual will engage energetically with departmental production activity, specifically the conceptualization and realization of departmental main-stage events and/or outreach educational outcomes. Skills in a secondary area featuring interdisciplinary research and practice may also be of value. Administrative skills are a definite asset.

    The salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications.

    Notes

    The Department of Dramatic Arts offers a BA Honours in Dramatic Arts. For Honours students, Concentrations are available in Drama in Education/Applied Theatre, Performance, Production and Design, and Theatre Praxis. The Department also offers a four-year (20 credit) BA with Major Dramatic Arts degree and a three-year BA Pass degree, as well as two concurrent BA (Honours)/BEd programs over five years. For more information, see  www.brocku.ca/dramatic_arts/

    Located at the center of Canada’s beautiful Niagara peninsula in St. Catharines, Ontario, we are a community of learners and researchers with a strong and expanding regional base, with excellent resources in cultural, social, and athletic enrichment. Canadian and American metropolitan centres are within easy distance.

    In the summer of 2015 the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, including the Department of Dramatic Arts, will move to its new comprehensive facility in downtown St. Catharines, adjacent to a new regional performing arts centre built by the City of St. Catharines.

    Applications will include a brief covering letter, a letter of intent (1200 words max.) and a current curriculum vitae including a teaching dossier and/or artistic/academic portfolio in a theatrical field (mask, movement, directing, publications etc.). A five-year research plan should indicate directions for the future. In addition, candidates will provide the names of three referees who will be contacted in the event of a short listing. Please address applications to:

    Professor David Vivian
    Chair, Department of Dramatic Arts
    Brock University
    St. Catharines ON L2S 3A1
    dvivian@brocku.ca

    The application deadline is December 10th, 2013. This position is subject to budgetary approval. More information on Brock University may be found on the University’s website: brocku.ca. Brock University is actively committed to diversity and the principles of Employment Equity and invites applications from all qualified candidates. Women, Aboriginal peoples, members of visible minorities, and people with disabilities are especially encouraged to apply and to voluntarily self identify as a member of a designated group as part of their application. Candidates who wish to have their application considered as a member of one or more designated groups should fill out the Self-Identification Form available at https://brocku.ca/hr-ehs/career-opportunities-2 and include the completed form with their application. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadians and permanent residents will be given priority.

    This posting can be found at
    www.brocku.ca/hr/careers/position_detail.php?id=1370

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    Categories: Announcements, News

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