News

Dramatic Arts Professor receives prestigious Richard Plant Award

Friday, September 27, 2013 | By Brock University

The Canadian Association for Theatre Research has, since its inception, been the principal catalyst for expansion of theatre research in Canada. The Association works to promote research and publication of the results of this research into Canadian theatre and drama. Every year, CATR announces the results of awards for innovative and forward thinking research into theatre and drama in Canada.

Dr. Natalie Alvarez, associate professor in the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University was recently awarded the Richard Plant Award by the Canadian Association for Theatre Research for her essay “Realisms of Redress: Alameda Theatre and the Formation of a Latina/o Canadian Theatre and Politics”. This essay, published in New Canadian Realisms: New Essays on Canadian Theatre edited by Roberta Baker and Kim Solga, digs deeply into the pressing practical and scholarly debates concerning racial embodiment on Canadian stages. It is grounded in a rich historical survey of policies, practices and theoretic debates on identity and casting that have shaped Canadian theatre practice. Her arguments draw from the perspective of a Latina/o Canadian theatre culture in formation, particularly as demonstrated by the distinctive casting practices of Toronto’s Alameda Theatre that seek a repressive realism. Professor Alvarez provocatively argues for the potential of an indexical realism to build the foundation for a more viable realism of redress.

At the 2013 Congress, Alvarez’s two edited books on Latina/o Canadian theatre and performance Fronteras Viventes: Eight Latina/o Canadian Plays and Latina/o Canadian Theatre and Performance were launched at the annual Playwrights Canada Press luncheon. These books are the first collections on Latina/o Canadian theatre and performance and engage in a cross-border dialogue with prominent and emerging US and Canadian scholars who take a hemispheric perspective in their examinations of Canadian “Latinidad.”

Professor Alvarez has been busy the last few years traveling for her Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada funded research project in performance studies which investigates live, immersive simulations in a variety of contexts. In her investigation into the emergence of “dark-tourism”, Alvarez has observed interactions between soldiers and Afgan actors in mock Afgan villages constructed for the final phase of intensive training. She also spent a week in the Utah mountains at an immersive “insurgent training camp” for US military and law enforcement personnel. She presented her research findings at the 2011 American Society of Theatre Research in Montreal in a working session on war and war-time performance. Prior to 2011, Alvarez’s proposal on the illegal border crossing reenactments for tourists in El Alberto, Mexico was selected for the American Society of Theatre Research’s opening plenary panel at the 2009 conference in Puerto Rico.

The Department of Dramatic Arts congratulates Professor Alvarez for her award and looks forward to the new knowledge and experiences she will share with the students when she rejoins the department in July 2014.

Tags: Canadian Theatre, Natalie Alvarez, The Canadian Association for Theatre Research
Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News
Dramatic Arts Professor launches a new look at the Eurovision Song Contest

Wednesday, September 25, 2013 | By Brock University

Performing the ‘New’ Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics at the Eurovision Song Contest

Professor Karen Fricker of Brock University’s Dramatic Arts Department has spent the last decade attending “Europe’s favourite TV show”, the Eurovision Song Contest.

Professor Fricker, who lectures in the praxis concentration, spent a week last May in Malmö, Sweden where she launched her new co-edited book Performing the ‘New’ Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics at the Eurovision Song Contest at the centre of the annual pop song festival watched by over 170 million people all over the world.

Performing the ‘New’ Europe: Identities, Feelings and Politics at the Eurovision Song Contest argues that this popular music competition is a symbolic contact zone between European cultures: an arena for European identification in which both national solidarity and participation in a European identity are confirmed, and a site where cultural struggles over the meanings, frontiers and limits of Europe are enacted.

With her new book, Karen has received much attention as a Eurovision media expert. She covered the contest as a journalist for the Irish Times and wrote a blog post this year for the Guardian about the U.K. and Eurovision.

The Department of Dramatic Arts is celebrating the launch of Professor Fricker’s book on September 26th in TH 235 from 5:00pm – 6:00pm. Refreshments and musical entertainment will be provided, as well as a brief and entertaining introduction to all things Eurovision.

Tags: Book launch, Eurovision, Karen Fricker
Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News
The Walker Cultural Leader Series 2013-14 at the Department of Dramatic Arts

Monday, August 26, 2013 | By mbalsom
The Walker Cultural Leader series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society. Please join us.

This educational program is generously funded by Marilyn I. Walker.

Here is the programming hosted by the Department of Dramatic Arts for the WCL2013-14.
For complete program information please see the MIWSFPA.

Jill Dolan

Jill Dolan is the Annan Professor of English and Professor of Theater at Princeton University, where she also directs the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Dolan will give a masterclass in online arts criticism, as well as a public lecture on “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings.” She will participate in a colloquium and open roundtable on the changing face of arts criticism in the digital age.

Feb. 20
- Masterclass in Online Arts Criticism: DART 3P95/96 students 2 – 5 pm, Rm. TH 257 (closed session)
Feb. 21
- Public Lecture: “Moving the Body Politic: How Feminism and Theatre Inspire Social Re-imaginings” 10 am, Sankey Chambers (free community event). Presented in association with the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies
- Colloquium: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,” 2 – 6 pm, Sankey Chambers Keynote and presentations. (free community event)
2:00 pm – 2:30 pm
- WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
2:30 pm – 4:00 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Critics and the arts in Niagara
- Chair: David Fancy, associate professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, co-artistic director, neXt Company Theatre.
- Participants: Monica Dufault, artistic director, Essential Collective Theatre; John Law, arts and entertainment writer, Sun Media; Sara Palmieri, Marketing Manager at the Centre for the Arts, Brock University and co-founder of the In the Soil Arts 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
- Respondent: Jill Dolan
4:15 pm – 5:45 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Embedded criticism: a new way forward, or criticism-as-PR?
- Chair: Lawrence Switzky, assistant professor of Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga
- Participants: Maddy Costa, critic and blogger, London, UK; Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, Brock University; Andy Horwitz, founder, Culturebot.org, New York; Jackie Maxwell, artistic director, Shaw Festival
- Respondent: Jacob Gallagher-Ross, assistant professor of Theatre, State University of New York at Buffalo
Feb. 22
- Colloquium cont’d.: “The changing face of arts criticism in the digital age,” 10 am – 1 pm, Sankey Chambers. There will be a roundtable component (free community event)
10:00 am – 10:30 am
- WELCOME AND PRESENTATION by students in DART 3P96: Studies in Praxis – Theatre Criticism
10:30 am – 12:00 pm
- PANEL DISCUSSION: Bloggers, critics, and cultural legitimation
- Chair: Karen Fricker
- Participants: Jill Dolan; J. Kelly Nestruck, lead theatre critic, The Globe and Mail; Richard Ouzonian, lead theatre critic, Toronto Star; Holger Syme, Chair, Department of English and Drama, University of Toronto at Mississauga, and blogger; Odette Yazbeck, director of public relations, Shaw Festival
- Respondent: Andy Horwitz
12:15 pm – 1:00 pm
- COLLOQUIUM WRAP-UP
- Chair: Karen Fricker
- Participants: Maddy Costa; Jill Dolan; Rosemary Drage Hale, Director of the Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brock University; Andy Horwitz
DOWNLOAD THE POSTER (click to download)

INFORMATION SHEET (click to download): The Changing Face of Theatre Criticism in the Digital Age A Colloquium at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University 21-22 February 2014

In addition to the support of the Walker Cultural Leaders series, the colloquium is funded by Brock’s Humanities Research Institute and its SSHRC Institutional Grant scheme, and by the St Catharines Performing Arts Centre.
We are grateful for these important investments by our collaborating partners.

CONTACT: Prof. Karen Fricker, Dramatic Arts, kfricker@brocku.ca

Jill Dolan is the author of The Feminist Spectator as Critic (1989, 2012); Utopia in Performance: Finding Hope at the Theatre (2005); Theatre & Sexuality (2010); and many other books and essays. She won the 2011 Outstanding Teacher Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and a lifetime achievement award from the Women and Theatre Program (2011). She writes The Feminist Spectator blog at www.TheFeministSpectator.com, for which she won the 2010-11 George Jean Nathan Award for dramatic criticism. A book of her selected blog posts and new essays, The Feminist Spectator in Action: Feminist Criticism for Stage and Screen, was published by Palgrave Macmillan in July 2013. Her full bio can be found at www.princeton.edu/arts/arts_at_princeton/theater/professor_bios/dolan/

Patrice Baldwin

Patrice Baldwin is a world leader in Drama, Education and the Arts in learning, and their connections to the latest developments in Neuroscience.

Baldwin will spend eight days teaching, speaking, and giving demonstration classes at Brock and throughout the Niagara peninsula.

Oct. 3 & 8
- Teaching/Demonstrations: DART 1F95, 2P01, 3P03, 3F92 students, scheduled class times (closed session)
Oct. 5
- Drama in Education Intensive Workshop: 9:30 am – 5:30 pm,Centre Stage Theatre School and Productions, 3505 Mainway, Burlington, ON (free for DART students; all others $20 to cover costs for refreshments and venue). Limited registration.
Oct. 7
- Teaching/Demonstration Classes: FOE pre-service and DART students and alumni, 8 am – 2 pm, Faculty of Education (FOE), Hamilton Campus, 1842 King St. East, Hamilton, ON (closed session)
Oct. 9
- Teaching/Demonstrations in Niagara Schools: FOE pre-service students, DART students and alumni, and Niagara teachers (closed session)
- Public Lecture: “Neuroscience, Creativity, and Learning: Recent Research and Connections to Drama in Education and Arts-Based Learning,” 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Pond Inlet (free community event)
CONTACT: Georgann Watson, Administrative Assistant, Dramatic Arts, dramatic@brocku.ca

Patrice Baldwin is president of the International Drama, Theatre and Education Association (IDEA), and Chair of National Drama (the UK’s leading professional association for drama teachers and theatre educators), and is also an Executive Forum member of the World Alliance for Arts Education. A renowned advocate for the Arts and Drama Education, she is a prolific and respected author, with a particular interest in: Drama as a way of teaching literacy and as a way of learning across the curriculum; Drama and Arts-based creativity; and Drama and Neuroscience. Baldwin, a visiting lecturer at the University of Warwick, is known for her lectures, keynote addresses, and workshops at international conferences.

DOWNLOAD THE POSTER
Tags: Jill Dolan, Patrice Baldwin, Walker Cultural Leader Series
Categories: Events
Fabric sale to benefit scholarship fund, Aug. 23 and 24

Wednesday, August 14, 2013 | By Brock University

The Department of Dramatic Arts will be hosting a Fabic Sale. The fabrics are priced to sell. A grocery store bag full of smaller pieces – good for quilting – will go for $20. Bolt prices will run $2 to $10 a metre. The fabric sale happens Aug. 23 and 24 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. each day in Thistle 141.

Sewers and crafters with their own stockpiles of materials are also welcome to offer up their wares for sale. Tables at the fabric sale can be rented for $30, with rental proceeds also going to the scholarship fund.

Proceeds from the sale will go to the Marlene Moser Memorial Scholarship Fund, named for the former Dramatic Arts chair, who died of breast cancer in 2010. The fund provides financial help to drama students.

For more information or to inquire about renting a table, email Roberta at rdoylend@brocku.ca.

See the story in the Brock News

Tags: fabric sale, Marlene Moser Memorial Scholarship, Roberta Doylend, The Brock News
Categories: Announcements, News
Technical Theatre Job Opportunity in the Department of Dramatic Arts

Monday, July 15, 2013 | By Brock University

IATSE 01/2013 Theatre Technical Production Assistant, Department of Dramatic Arts (DART), Faculty of Humanities

(closes Friday, July 19, 2013)

Reporting to the Production Manager and/or Technical Director, the Theatre Technical Production Assistant is responsible for providing the technical elements for departmental production and teaching, supporting teaching of technical production by instruction or lab demonstration, supervising and maintaining DART spaces, technical inventory and equipment, and coordinating and supervising students and hired technicians.

for more information and to apply please please see this page for the posting

download the posting in a PDF file

Inquiries about the job opportunity may be sent to the Production Manager, Brian Cumberland bcumberland@brocku.ca

Inquiries about the Department and its programs may be sent to the Chair, Professor David Vivian dvivian@brocku.ca

Tags: careers, job opportunities, theatre technical production assistant
Categories: Announcements, News
Dramatic Arts student adventuring at the Banff Centre

Thursday, June 27, 2013 | By Brock University

The Banff Center, located in the scenic Rocky Mountains of Alberta, is the largest arts and creativity incubator on the planet. Every year over 8000 artists, leaders, and researchers come from all over Canada and worldwide to participate in a large variety of arts programs. This year, a Dramatic Arts student, Gina Greco, is participating in a work study program as a wardrobe technician.

Gina, a Dramatic Arts Student concentrating in Production and Design, has worked on a number of projects within the department. Focusing on aspects of costuming, she has worked on the One Acts Festival, the Fall 2012 Mainstage The Suicide – A Russian Comedy by Nikolai Erdman, directed by Gyllian Raby, Empty Box Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, and the independent production Runner, written and directed by colleague and student in the Dramatic Arts program, Nicole Titus.

Gina Greco at the Banff Centre

Banff’s Theatre Arts Production, Design, and technology training programs have been running for more than 60 years. Participants are guided by many creative and design teams working simultaneously in opera, dance, theatre and interdisciplinary performance. With a combination of hands-on experiences and skill based training, the program seeks to inform and inspire the next generation of theatre makers and artists.

Some projects Gina will be working on are preparing a costume set for the opera Marriage of Figaro, making alterations on the costumes of an opera arriving from England, as well as a professional dance show. She will be working along side three other work-study technicians as a cutter and a First Hand under the guidance of the Head of Wardrobe Patsy Thomas.

“The most exciting thing is getting an opportunity to practise my craft in one of the most beautiful places in the world. It’s my first time out west and I couldn’t ask for a better reason to be here,” Gina exclaimed.

“I think the biggest challenge will be adapting to working in a professional theatre environment, since I’ve never done something on this scale. But I’m totally up to that challenge!” she added.

To follow Gina’s experiences as cutter and first hand at the Banff festival, check out her blog on Tumblr.

Tags: Gina Greco, production and design, The Banff Centre
Categories: Current Students, News
Congratulations to 2013 SSHRC award recipient and Dramatic Arts graduate, Erica Charles

Saturday, June 22, 2013 | By Brock University

Erica Charles seen with her father at the recent Faculty of Humanities Convocation on June 11, 2013.

Published on June 22 2013

The Department extends its hearty congratulations to 2013 SSHRC award recipient and Dramatic Arts graduate, Erica Charles. Erica was awarded the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Award: Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship — Master’s for her work “The voice in phenomenology and semiotic theory.”

Erica is one of 31 Brock graduate students who received a share of $975,000 of funding under SSHRC’s Talent Program, designed to give master’s and doctoral students a boost.

Most of these students, including Erica, received funding under SSHRC’s Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master’s category. The remainder had grants under two doctoral categories.

“Graduate students are involved in outstanding research that matters in so many ways to people of all ages living in our closest neighbourhoods, in communities around Canada, and in the far reaches of the world,” says Mike Plyley, Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies.

“We are very proud of the success of our students in these highly competitive awards. This is a measure of excellence and recognition of the scope and calibre of work that our students pursue as they create their distinct identities as the researchers, scholars, and leaders of tomorrow.”

Erica was recently seen performing in An Acre of Time by Jason Sherman, Studio Theatre, and The Blue Room by David Hare, Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, both productions of the Department of Dramatic Arts of the Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. She will be seen on the stages of the Toronto and Hamilton Fringe Festivals in Fulcrum Theatre’s production of HERE. A multimedia dance-theatre piece from the company that won Best of Hamilton Fringe in 2012, HERE examines the notions of being stuck and learning when to say goodbye to something you love.

View the complete list of grant recipients and their research.

(With notes from: 31 Brock grad students receive SSHRC scholarships, posted by tmayer on Jun 18th, 2013.)

Tags: alumni, DART grads, Erica Charles, Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, SSHRC award, The Brock News
Categories: Alumni, News
Dramatic Arts students engaging in new challenges at the Shaw Festival

Wednesday, May 29, 2013 | By Brock University

Kevin Chew and a bust of George Bernard Shaw

Every year Brock’s emerging theatre artists have an opportunity to intern for a six-week intensive learning experience at one of Canada’s most renowned theatre organizations, the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Kevin Chew, a Concurrent Education student studying Dramatic Arts at Brock University, is the successful Intern candidate for 2013. Kevin was recently seen performing on the stage of the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre of the Centre for the Arts at Brock University in the Department’s February Mainstage The Blue Room by David Hare, directed by Virginia Reh. For his upper year thesis project Kevin conceived and directed the innovative investigation of restaurant service industry in the immersive dinner theatre event entitled Table 99, self-produced at Isaac’s Bar and Grill at Brock University.

Students of the Department of Dramatic Arts are eligible to apply for this intensive residency following the successful completion of DART 4P92 Voice and Text of Bernard Shaw. Their academic studies in the Department come alive in the festival milieu of Shaw company professionals producing at the top of their game.

During his six weeks in Niagara-on-the-Lake Kevin will be working with Shaw’s Director of Audience and Community Engagement, Norm Bradshaw (former Senior Major Gifts Officer for Brock’s Faculty of Humanities), Shaw Intern directors Paul Van Dyke and Rose Plotek, Festival Co-Artistic Director Eda Holmes (directing Arcadia by Tom Stoppard), and Festival Artistic Director Jackie Maxwell (directing Enchanted April by Matthew Barber).

Following the development of world-class theatre productions from rehearsal studio through to opening night Kevin is also involved with projects such as cataloguing, appraising and photographing pieces in the art collection of the Shaw Festival, developing templates for potential community outreach/ engagement programs, education and engagement research, and assisting in the Festival’s Stage Properties shop in Virgil, Ontario.

Through participation in singing and Alexander technique workshops, scheduled lunches and casual conversations with his new peers and mentors, Kevin is discovering what it means to contribute to the wealth of creative talent in the Festival company of theatre artists, production staff and administrators.

For original insight into theatre production at Canada’s second largest repertory theatre company, follow Kevin’s Facebook group Brock-Shaw Internship.

The DART Shaw Festival Internship program is generously supported for three years by proceeds from the annual General Brock’s October Soiree. DART graduates who have completed the internship include Robyn Cunningham (2012) and Jacqueline Costa (2011).

Tags: DART 4P92, Kevin Chew, Shaw Festival, summer internship
Categories: Current Students, News
Dramatic Arts graduate speaks to future theatre makers

Thursday, May 23, 2013 | By Brock University

At the second Dramatic Arts Invitational for 2013 graduate Spencer Charles Smith inspired the 60 applicants with a short presentation about his professional development since he first enrolled at Brock in 2007. After graduating from Brock University’s Dramatic Arts program in 2011, he went on to complete a MA in Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies (specializing in queer performance) at the Center for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto. Spencer is now a playwright, performer, dramaturge and Artistic Director of the queer theatre company, Straight Camp. Theatre credits include: Breath in Between (Crow’s Theatre/SummerWorks 2012), Spoon: A Queer Play (Straight Camp), Still Life (lemonTree creations/SummerWorks 2011), among others. Spencer is also co-owner of the famous Glad Day Bookshop in Toronto.

Spencer concluded his presentation with inspiring advice for the new Brock students:

1. Always say ‘Yes.’
You never know what will come from a job. You never know who’s watching and who’s looking for someone new to collaborate with on future projects. One job almost always leads to the next. Keep busy.

2. Take advantage of your resources and fail.
Theatre school offers you free rehearsal space, a free theatre and a team of people who all want you to learn and grow. Take risks, play and don’t be afraid to fail. This is where you will discover your strengths, your weaknesses and your obsessions.

3. See theatre.
The only way you will ever realize theatre’s emotional, intellectual and creative potential is if you experience it first hand. Let it expand your imagination and inspire you to recreate it, deconstruct it, or refine it.

4. Don’t burn bridges.
The theatre community is very small and we need to support each other. We need to keep the dialogue going because art is meant to spark conversation. Find at least one positive in everything you see. Plus, you never know who will be on the other side of that audition table.

5. Make your own opportunities.
Don’t wait around for someone to offer you a job. Keep writing. Keep creating. Maintain your momentum. People respect passion, ambition and drive. I repeat: Keep busy.

Tags: DART Invitational, Spencer Charles Smith
Categories: Alumni, News
The Art of the Clown Doctor at the Department of Dramatic Arts: Register today!

Wednesday, May 08, 2013 | By Brock University

Dr. Bernie Warren

There’s a great new course taught by a world specialist in Clown Doctoring, Dr. Bernie Warren, being offered by the Department of Dramatic Arts in Spring 2013.

Current students in Dramatic Arts, New students with some relevant experience and specialists in the field (who are not students registered at Brock) are invited to apply!

DART 3V91: The Art of the Clown Doctor
D27: 2013/05/08 to 2013/05/14 MTWRF 900 -1600 TH 141 (running May 08-10 and 12-14, 6 days only)

This course is a unique opportunity to learn about the practice of clown-doctoring in lifespan maintenance and therapeutic environments. Involving lectures, lab, and running 7 hours per day, this course will be of particular interest to students interested in Drama in Education and Applied Theatre.

Dr Bernie Warren of the University of Windsor will be returning from his travels abroad to lead this very special opportunity for students and professionals in the field. See the article in the Brock News about Dr. Warren and the profession of Clown Doctoring. Did you see the banner picture on the homepage of University website brocku.ca? this is a big deal. Don’t miss out!

The course is open to DART (single or combined) and DART (Honours)/BEd (Intermediate/Senior) majors AND OTHERS with permission of the Department. The only prerequisite is DART 1F95 or permission of the Department.

for more information contact dramatic.arts@brocku.ca
and see the story: “Clown doctor in the house this summer at Brock” in the Brock News.

Tags: clown, Clown Doctor, DART 3V91, Dr. Bernie Warren, The Brock News
Categories: Announcements, Current Students, News