News

Brock Dramatic Arts alumni nominated for St. Catharines Arts Awards

Tuesday, April 18, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden
The Department of Dramatic Arts is proud to announce that several DART graduates and one of our DART professors have been nominated for the Emerging Artist award at this year’s St. Catharines Arts Awards!
- Jo Pacinda, a recent DART graduate, works as a costume designer with local theatre companies.
- Twitches & Itches Theatre features a number of Brock dramatic arts graduates and is a “multi-disciplinary artist ensemble devoted to creating new theatre works through a collaborative process.” (Their production of The Bacchae with director Colin B. Anthes was featured in Brock News.)
- Danielle Wilson, a professor with Brock University Dramatic Arts, is co-founder and co-artistic director of Stolen Theatre Collective.
More information can be found at this news entry on the main MIWSFPA website. Congratulations, and good luck!
Tags: alumni, Danielle Wilson, Emerging Artist award, Jo Pacinda, St. Catharines Arts Awards, Stolen Theatre Collective, Twitches & Itches Theatre
Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News
Brock escape rooms at Niagara Military Museum ready for testing

Thursday, April 13, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden

(Source: The Brock News, Thursday, April 13, 2017 | by Maryanne Firth)

Two new escape rooms carefully crafted by Brock University students are undergoing final testing while readying for their public debut.

Brock’s Dramatic Arts and Interactive Arts and Science students have been working since January to create the physical adventure games through a partnership with the Niagara Military Museum in Niagara Falls.

The interactive experience sees players locked in a series of rooms and challenged to solve puzzles in exchange for their freedom as they race against the clock.

Brock University Dramatic Arts and Interactive Arts and Science students have been working since January to create two escape rooms in the Niagara Military Museum in Niagara Falls.

A group of about 30 students worked at the Victoria Avenue museum throughout the winter term to develop each aspect of the rooms, from the costumes to the puzzles to the props and sets.

The building, which dates back to 1911 and was once used as an armoury, inspired the historical First World War and Cold War escape room themes.

The rooms are unique in that they include live actors who guide players through the narrative.

“That’s how students hope to differentiate their rooms within Niagara’s escape room market,” said Dramatic Arts Associate Professor Natalie Alvarez, who was the driving force behind the experiential education project.

“I’m really hoping this will be a niche for students.”

Students are now working to test the rooms and will be evaluated on their work during an upcoming live testing event on Tuesday, April 18.

In attendance to evaluate the rooms will be representatives from Casa Loma’s escape room team, Canadian author and historian Christian Cameron, curator Kathleen Powell and archivist Alicia Floyd of the St. Catharines Museum, and Brock University faculty.

The escape rooms are set to open to the public at the end of May at a cost of roughly $25 per person.

Brock University Dramatic Arts and Interactive Arts and Science students have been working since January to create two escape rooms in the Niagara Military Museum in Niagara Falls.

Proceeds will assist in the maintenance and continued operation of the museum.

“It’s meant to leave a lasting mark on Niagara tourism, helping to make the museum more sustainable,” Alvarez said, while expressing gratitude to museum operators Jim and Kathy Doherty for their ongoing support.

“It’s been really rewarding to see the students form what I hope will be a lasting relationship with the museum,” she said.

Students will have the opportunity to remain at the helm of the escape rooms going forward, first on a voluntary basis and then potentially in paid positions if the rooms become financially viable.

The museum’s partnership with Brock was made possible through a cultural development grant provided by the City of Niagara Falls, as well as a service-learning grant provided by the University.

Students who created the escape rooms will be doing a takeover of Brock’s Snapchat account on the afternoon of April 18 when the escape room testing takes place. To follow along and view behind-the-scenes footage, add brockuni to Snapchat.

Tags: Cold War, Escape Room, First World War, Interactive Arts and Science, Natalie Alvarez, Niagara Falls, Niagara Military Museum
Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, In the Media, News
Moving on up!

Wednesday, April 05, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden
The Department of Dramatic Arts has moved to our new location! We are part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts located at 15 Artists’ Common, adjacent to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines. During the summer of 2015 we will preparing our new location for the very first classes to begin in September 2015. Please visit this page again to read about our excellent new facilities.

When we were located on the main campus at 500 Glenridge we had a variety of facilities including 3 stages and numerous workshops to allow students to work in all aspects of design, set building, wardrobe and rehearsal.

Students had access to the following facilities at Brock:
- 543-seat Sean O’Sullivan Theatre with its thrust stage
- The Studio Theatre, a 99-seat proscenium stage (renovated 2009)
- The Playhouse Theatre, a 508-seat proscenium theatre
- three Acting studios, including Black which doubles as a ‘black box’ theatre (renovated 2005, 2009)
- Scenery and properties construction workshops
- Wardrobe workshop
- Wardrobe Storage for 7000 items (new 2009)
- Design Studio (renovated 2005)
- Green Room/student lounge
- For more information about the two large performing venues, please click here.
Tags: Brock University, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, our new home, our old home, Sean O'Sullivan Theatre, Thistle
Categories: Announcements, News
DART 4F56 presents Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom

Thursday, March 16, 2017 | By Brock University

There’s something strange in the neighbourhood…

The Department of Dramatic Arts 4F56 Ensemble presents Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom by Jennifer Haley, a chilling play that blurs the line between the real and the virtual in present day suburbia. This production runs April 21and 22, 2017, and will be held in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common.

The kids are obsessed with Neighborhood 3, a new video game that uses GPS technology to map their own suburban homes into a battle terrain. Pets start disappearing, players freak out, and suddenly the parents can no longer keep track of their teens. As the young players battle a legion of zombies to reach the Final House, they confront their family’s dysfunctions as well as the dreaded Neighborhood Association. In this community, good parenting is nowhere to be found and the adults’ lackadaisical involvement in their teens’ lives has devastating repercussions.

Award winning playwright Jennifer Haley, referred to as “the first major playwright of the digital age” by New York Theatre, focuses her theatrical work on virtual reality and its effect on families. Her cautionary tale explores the transition from technological escapism to violent obsession. Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom asks ‘what is the impact of the virtual on the real? Can real life violence be blamed on violent video games? Who is raising your child – you or your iPad?’

Production managed by Linda Duong, and built by Dana Morin, Neighborhood 3 is directed by Gyllian Raby (Professor) and Olivia De Sousa, and designed by Kaitlyn Seguin (set), Nicole James (properties), Allison Pressnail (projections and lighting), Sydney Francolini (sound), John Clancy (costume), Rachelle Scott, and Demetri Tsioros (choreography and fights). The 4F56 Ensemble further includes Sarah Bradford, Nikka Collison, Caroline Coon, Ben Fallis, Lena Hall, Chantal Hatton, Alexandra Li Tomulescu, Jonah McGrath, Elena Milenkovski, Dana Morin, and Elizabeth Pereira.

Plan to join us for this provocative and unsettling melodrama held in Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, in downtown St. Catharines. Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom runs April 21 and 22, 2017 at 7:30 pm. There will be a free preview day on April 21 at 11:30 am. Tickets are $5 (applicable fees and taxes are extra) and are available for purchase at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Box Office at 905.688.0722; toll-free 1.855.515.0722; e-mail: boxoffice@firstontariopac.ca; or online: firstontariopac.ca

Tags: DART, Dramatic Arts, MIWSFPA, Play, theatre
Categories: Events, Plays

ONE ACT FESTIVAL 2017

Thursday, March 16, 2017 | By Brock University

Theatre students take charge in Brock University’s ONE ACT FESTIVAL 2017!

Every year, Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts presents an exciting festival of ten one-act plays, all completely directed by, designed by and starring the bright and talented students of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. This year’s ONE ACT FESTIVAL 2017 will be held at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre on April 7 and 8, 2017, and promises an engaging and diverse variety of experiences for the theatre-going audience.

The ONE ACT FESTIVAL 2017 is presented in two parts over two days. Both parts are performed each day of the festival. Audiences may choose to view the full run of plays in one day, or watch one part per day.

Part One (April 7 at 2 pm & April 8 at 7:30 pm):

Part Two (April 7 at 7:30 pm & April 8 at 2 pm):

Pillow

by Frederick Stroppel

Directed by: Kelli Sitarski

The Tarantino Variation

by Seth Kramer

Directed by: Samantha Mastrella

A Florentine Tragedy (excerpt)

by Oscar Wilde

Directed by: Mark Dickinson

Ghost Trio

by Samuel Beckett

Directed by: Helena Ciuciura

One for the Road

by Harold Pinter

Directed by: Michelle Mohammed

Check Please

by Jonathan Rand

Directed by: Candice Burn

The Cowboy

by Patrick Holland

Directed by: Mackenzie Kerr

Irene and Lillian Forever

by Bonnie Farmer

Directed by: Tarndeep Pannu

Batteries Not Included

by Caitlin English

Directed by: Iain Beaumont

All By Myself

by Robert Scott

Directed by: Naomi Richardson

As the final assignment for the third-year Directing II class, each directing student chooses a one-act play to produce for the ONE ACT FESTIVAL 2017. This year, the directing and design students are mentored by Visiting Director (and retired faculty member) Professor Virginia Reh, collaborating with Professor David Vivian. The students direct, design and perform ten short plays as they complete their courses in directing and theatrical design.

Topics of the plays include the exploration of human relations in historical settings through to the thrills and chills of contemporary life. Professor Virginia Reh states, “Over the years I have enjoyed watching the young directors select challenging plays and grow their confidence and artistry during the 10 weeks of rehearsal development. Completing the One Act Festival is a capstone achievement as they prepare for their final year of study.

This is the first year the directing and design students have collaborated together to realize the festival. Professor David Vivian states, “As we complete the second season at 15 Artists’ Common our students will bring their bold visions to life in a reconfigured Marilyn I. Walker Theatre. With every production we learn about innovative possibilities provided by our excellent new facility.”

The festival will be held in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre at 15 Artists’ Common, downtown St. Catharines on April 7 and 8, 2017. Part One will be performed on April 7 at 2 pm and April 8 at 7:30 pm. Part Two will be performed on April 7 at 7:30 pm and April 8 at 2 pm. Seating at this event is limited. Tickets are available at the door, and admission is “pay-what-you-can.”

Parking is not available on-site, however, there are more than 1,000 spots available in nearby parking garages, surface lots, and on city streets within a five-minute walk to our address at 15 Artists’ Common. Visit http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/livein/ParkingLotsGarages.asp for a list of parking locations.

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

Tags: BrockU, DART, Dramatic Arts, MIWSFPA, One Acts, One Acts Festival, Play, theatre
Categories: Events, Plays

Brock Professor Collaborates with Dramatic Arts Graduates on New Circus Theatre Show in Niagara Falls

Monday, March 06, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden

MEDIA RELEASE
David Fancy, a faculty member of the Department of Dramatic Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, is no stranger to new ventures.

A veteran creator of new theatre productions that explore current events and engage the Niagara Region, he joined forces with former Cirque du Soleil performers Kosta Zakharenko and Christine Cadeau in 2010 to form Zacada Entertainment.

“We wanted to combine theatre and circus in new ways,” says Fancy, who’s equally comfortable in the classroom as in the rehearsal studio. “The fusion of genres really permits some unique opportunities for dynamic forms of contemporary expression,” he notes.

This year, the Zacada Entertainment crew will present a new Cirque Cabaret show, entitled Shotgun Wedding, at Niagara Falls’ 650-seat Greg Frewin Theatre.

Shotgun Wedding features the story of two star-crossed lovers forced to get married by their deeply religious parents. On their way to Niagara Falls for the ceremony they each secretly decide to have one last fling with the person of their dreams.

“The production deals with perennial concerns of love and relationships,” says Fancy, “but also shines a humorous and probing light on issues pertaining to Niagara, including migrant labour, tourism, and gambling.”

Zacada is particularly happy to be working with three recent graduates of Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) who will be taking up the acting and singing roles in Shotgun Wedding.

Mitchell Allanson, Marley Kajan, and Sean Rintoul have all finished their Honours Dramatic Arts degrees over the past three years, and have gone on to further training and professional creative opportunities around the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA).

Kajan, a native of Welland, is pleased to be joining the company. “All three of us DART grads are super-happy to have been brought aboard to help bring this show to life,” she says.

“These kinds of opportunities for intensive professionalization are gold,” says Rintoul, a 2- year veteran of other Zacada productions.

Marly Kajan, DART Graduate

Recent Zacada show Fancy has written and directed that have toured Ontario include Circus Revolution, a story about Marxist clowns who escape a gulag by means of their circus prowess, and Circus Labyrinth, a piece that explores creative responses to contemporary forms of social control.

For its part, Shotgun Wedding features original Niagara-themed musical theatre numbers with support from a seven-piece band, as well as high-octane performances from over 10 cirque artists from Zacada Entertainment’s extensive pool of talent.Silks artists, contortionists, acrobats, and a host of other highly skilled cirque performances each grace the stage for every performance of Shotgun Wedding.

The production team for Shotgun Wedding is currently in high gear with rehearsals and development for the June 9th opening. The show will be performed sixty times over the course of the summer.

“We’re deeply excited about this new show,” says Vittoria Wikston, General Manager of the Greg Frewin Theatre, “Especially with how it offers national level talent and serves as a unique reflection of the many strengths and talents of our region.”

“We couldn’t be happier about having this exciting new addition to our roster of shows,” says master magician and theatre owner, Greg Frewin.

He adds, “It’s going to be an awesome summer.”

Website: shotgunwedding.ca
Brock Promotional code for 20% discount is ShotgunBrock

Tags: Christine Cadeau, circus, Cirque du Soleil, David Fancy, Greg Frewin, Greg Frewin Theatre, Kosta Zakharenko, Marley Kajan, media release, Mitchell Allanson, Sean Rintoul, Shotgun Wedding, Vittoria Wikston, Zacada Entertainment
Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, Media Releases, News
On Cultural Power: The August Wilson/Robert Brustein Discussion, Re-enacted!

Wednesday, February 15, 2017 | By Brock University

Experience the famous and controversial 1997 debate that took New York by storm: “The intellectual equivalent of extreme fighting” – Frank Rich

March 15, 2017 at 6 pm

Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

To reserve your tickets for this free community event, visit this link: http://bit.ly/2k8CbnP

Tags: alumni, DART, Debate, Discussion, Dramatic Arts, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, plays, theatre
Categories: Events, Plays
Moral decay exposed! Radium Girls on stage at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre

Monday, January 30, 2017 | By Brock University

Brock University
MEDIA RELEASE

Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
905.688.5550, x4765

Moral decay exposed! Radium Girls on stage at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre

Radium Girls, by D.W. Gregory, is a chilling tale of unchecked corporate greed, market demand, and scientific ambition exceeding human empathy. This production runs March 3 – 11, 2017 in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common.

Between 1918 and 1928 in Orange, New Jersey, towards the end of World War I, applying luminous paint to watches, clocks and military dials was thought of as a desirable occupation for young working-class American women. Their employer, United States Radium Corporation (U.S. Radium), lead them to believe that the paint was harmless, that it contained only minute quantities of radium, and besides, radium was good for your health. Across the country, patent medicines pushed radium as a cure for all ailments. So, the young women happily painted, often putting their paint-covered brushes into their mouths to create a finer point.

Within a year or so, an alarming number of women fell ill: their teeth were falling out, their jaws were rotting away, and cancer was rampant. U.S. Radium denied all liability, suppressed information that supported the women’s claim of negligence, and smeared their reputations to protect their bottom line.

In today’s political landscape, where dangers to human health are suppressed to protect corporate interests, this story of women labourers struggling to claim a voice in an unjust society is hauntingly appropriate.

Directed by Philip McKee and designed by Kelly Wolf, with music composed by Holger Schoorl, Radium Girls showcases the talents of students in the Department of Dramatic Arts undergraduate program. Performers include: Nikka Collison, Olivia De Sousa, Rebecca Downing, Ben Fallis, Sydney Fracolini, Bernadette Kahnert, Mackenzie Kerr, Adrian Marchesano, Samantha Mastrella, Elena Milenkovski, Michelle Mohammad, Sean Rashotte, Naomi Richardson, and Colin Williams.

Director Philip McKee stated, “Today, the excitement of innovation and the opportunity to make money results in ordinary workers around the world being exposed to deadly substances. This is especially true in the global south where the laws which protect labourers in more developed countries don’t apply. The protagonists of the play discover that laws cannot guarantee our safety or our guiltlessness, as there will always be ways in which laws can be manipulated or ignored. Radium Girls helps us to see that we are ultimately dependent on the ethics and good intentions of individuals to protect ourselves and others from harm.”

Radium Girls runs March 3, 4, 10, 11 at 7:30 pm; March 5 at 2 pm.; and March 10 at 11:30 am, and will be held in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines.

Tickets are $18 Adults; $15 Students/Seniors; $10 Groups; $5 eyeGo high school program, and are available through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office at 905.688.0722, or online, or via email: boxoffice@firstontariopac.ca

Such programs from the Department of Dramatic Arts (https://brocku.ca/miwsfpa/dramatic-arts) are an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.

Parking is not available on-site, however, there are more than 1,000 spots available in nearby parking garages, surface lots, and on city streets within a five-minute walk to our address at 15 Artists’ Common. Visit http://www.stcatharines.ca/en/livein/ParkingLotsGarages.asp for a list of parking locations.

Media Day: Thursday, February 16 at 5:30 pm, held in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, ON.

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For more information or to set up interviews contact:
Communications
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
T: 905.688.5550, x4765
C: 905.964.7646
E: miwsfpa@brocku.ca
W: http://brocku.ca/miwsfpa

Videos:

View the video teaser for RADIUM GIRLS below:

View the TVCogeco feature for RADIUM GIRLS below:

Tags: DART, Dramatic Arts, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Radium Girls
Categories: Events, Media Releases, News, Plays
Brock alumni showcase talents in The Bacchae

Thursday, January 19, 2017 | By Nikki Prudden
(Source: The Brock News, Thursday, January 19, 2017 | by Alison Innes. Photo: “The Bacchae, a Twitches & Itches Theatre production, is hitting the stage at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre from Jan. 19 to 21. (Photo by David Vivian)”)

The worlds of ancient Athens and modern Niagara have come together in a theatrical production led in part by Brock alumni.

The Bacchae, a modern adaptation of a play originally performed in 405 BCE, is hitting the stage at FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre from Jan. 19 to 21.

The Twitches & Itches Theatre production challenges ideas of identity and explores what happens when extreme left- and right-wing politics collide.

When the ensemble began working on the play in February 2015, they had no idea how timely it would be when presented on the eve of the presidential inauguration of 2017.

“We had no idea Brexit and Donald Trump’s rise to power were just around the corner,” said director Colin Bruce Anthes (BA ’14, MA ’16).

“The play was miles ahead of us. Many of the play’s original themes are shockingly reflected in our present society.”

The play engages with current social issues, as Dionysus, an androgynous foreigner, arrives in St. Cadmus and starts changing the entrenched norms. The conservative rule of King Pentheus is challenged by this new god of wine, theatre and ritual madness and the women who abandon the city core to follow him.

“Some of the dialogue looks like headlines stolen from today’s newspapers,” Anthes said.

“In our production, the priest of a new religion arrives as a David Bowie-esque glam-rock star, bursting through a city’s eternalized film-noir surface.”

Issues of identity are central to this play, as xenophobia, transphobia and intolerance of different body types are all challenged.

Brock student Iain Lidstone found playing the role of Dionysus both rewarding and exhausting.

“I am a trans man playing a gender-fluid character,” he said.

“On the one hand, I find utter relief and excitement that as a queer artist I get the opportunity to give a voice to queer identities on the stage.”

Lidstone’s own experiences informed the development of his character.

“My character’s gender-fluidity and effeminate nature means I am constantly challenging my own internalized transphobia and trans-masculine identity in order to authentically portray our ‘queerified’ image of Dionysus.”

Hayley Malouin (BA ’15) plays the role of Agave, mother to King Pentheus.

“As a fat actor I’ve seen my inordinately unfair share of motherly characters,” she said, while adding that her most recent role has been different.

“(Agave) is a person before she is a mother and this production pays particular attention to her journey as an intelligent, politically savvy, but ultimately oppressed agent.”

General manager Marcus Tuttle (BA ’15) describes the production as a play that “makes sense for St. Catharines.”

Niagara issues are woven throughout the play: the disappearing manufacturing economy and the experiences of migrant workers, as well as challenges faced by the LGBTQIA community.

Twitches & Itches Theatre is committed to developing local acting talent.

The group was founded by Anthes and Tom DiMartino in 2009 and moved to St. Catharines in 2013.

They have gradually built up a core ensemble of nine performers, eight of whom trained at Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

This is the group’s sixth full production and their first independent production at the Performing Arts Centre.

Tickets are available on the FirstOntario Performing Art Centre’s website.

Brock students/alumni included in the production: Iain Lidstone, Hayley Malouin, Sean Rintoul, Kaitlin Race, Sean Aileen McClelland, Chelsea Wilson, Marcus Tuttle, Colin Bruce Anthes.

Media:
TVCogeco’s feature on The Bacchae:
Tags: alumni, Chelsea Wilson, Colin Bruce Anthes, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Hayley Malouin, Iain Lidstone, Kaitlin Race, LGBTQIA, Marcus Tuttle, Sean Aileen McClelland, Sean Rintoul, The Bacchae, Tom DiMartino, Twitches & Itches Theatre
Categories: Alumni, In the Media, News
Humanities students partner with Falls museum on escape rooms

Wednesday, January 18, 2017 | By Brock University

(Source: The Brock News, Tuesday, January 17, 2017 | by Maryanne Firth. Photo: Brock University Dramatic Arts and Interactive Arts and Science students are developing two escape rooms in partnership with the Niagara Military Museum. Students are in the initial stages of the project and have been brainstorming the path the two rooms will take.)

They’re planning a great escape from a 100-year-old building.

Brock University Dramatic Arts and Interactive Arts and Science students have come together for an innovative project that in a few months will open for the public to experience.

Throughout the winter term a group of nearly 30 students will work to create two escape rooms at the Niagara Military Museum in Niagara Falls.

The physical adventure games, which have become increasingly popular in recent years, lock players in a room — or in this case a series of rooms — and challenge them to solve puzzles in exchange for their freedom.

The museum’s partnership with Brock was made possible through a cultural development grant provided by the City of Niagara Falls, as well as a service-learning grant provided by the University.

Work on the project began Jan. 10 with students touring the Victoria Avenue museum, learning its background and brainstorming the direction the escape rooms will take.

The building, which dates back to 1917 and was used as an armoury in the First World War, has an “incredible history,” said Dramatic Arts Associate Professor Natalie Alvarez, who was the driving force behind Brock’s involvement.

That history, which includes an “infamous escape” by Austrian spy George Heinovitch, will act as inspiration for the stories students are planning to tell through the project, she said.

“They’re going to build an escape room that tries to uncover that history.”

Students will be responsible for each aspect of the project, including the narrative, puzzles, costumes, props and sets.

“We’re building it from the ground up, tapping into my students’ expertise in costume design, directing, acting and scriptwriting,” Alvarez said.

It was also a natural fit to include Interactive Arts and Science students and their skills with interactive narrative, game structure and puzzle building.

“Escape rooms are this interesting hybrid of different theatre traditions,” Alvarez said.

“It’s immersive performance. It’s kind of like a living museum. It’s also tapping into site-specific theatre, where you build a theatre piece that’s intimately attached to the site itself and its own history.”

The escape rooms will be ready for testing by an invited audience April 4.

“The assessment is going to be entirely in the hands of those experiencing it,” Alvarez said. It will include museum personnel as well as members of Brock’s Service-Learning Resource Centre.

Museum operators have created a rubric based on what they hoped to see accomplished through the project and students will be evaluated accordingly.

The escape rooms will go live to the public in May at a cost of $20 per person.

Proceeds will assist in the maintenance and continued operation of the museum.

Students will have the opportunity to remain at the helm of the escape rooms going forward, first on a voluntary basis and then potentially in paid positions if the rooms become financially viable.

“That’s the incentive for them to build the social media machine to advertise it and get people out to experience it,” Alvarez said, adding she’s seen “100 per cent investment” from the students involved.

She credited Brock for investing in such an innovative approach and nurturing the University’s connection with the community.

Tags: Escape Room, Natalie Alvarez, Niagara Falls, Niagara Military Museum
Categories: Current Students, In the Media, News