Star of the the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Broadway, Soulpepper Theatre Company, and cinema (among his many successes), Canadian actor Brent Carver visited the students of the Department of Dramatic Arts to talk about his upcoming return to the Stratford Festival and his experiences training and maintaining a career in theatre. Carver attended the second last performance of Big Love, produced by the Department of Dramatic Arts in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre of Brock University.
News
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Brides escape across Italy in Big Love
Performers in Big Love include, from left: Sadie Isaak, Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa. Photo credit: Bethany Scholl
(Source: The Brock News. Friday, February 5, 2010)
The age-old story of love versus power is the focus of the upcoming Brock production Big Love.
The play tells the story of 50 brides (all sisters) who flee arranged marriages to 50 grooms (their cousins) who pursue them across Italy. A contemporary look at Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women, the play will be performed by the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Feb. 11 to 13.
In Big Love, three of the runaway brides seek asylum in an Italian family’s villa. Their hosts are unable to negotiate the moral predicament and allow the forced marriages, so the brides make a pact to kill their husbands on their wedding night.
“I am drawn to the play because it has the scale of a Greek tragedy, but it is dressed in the global culture of today,” said Gyllian Raby, director and associate professor in Dramatic Arts. “(Playwright Charles) Mee invites a wild post-modern performativity, but his story is so deeply sourced in western culture that it is very accessible.”
Karyn McCallum designed the set. The choreography is from Gemini-nominated director Allen Kaeja.
Performers are from the Dramatic Arts undergraduate performance concentration. They include Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa, Sadie Isaak, Rob MacMenamin, Corey Mehlenbacher, Trevor Ketcheson, Jen Bender, Chris Boyle, Michael Pearson, Eric Frank, Dylan Mawson and Kasey Dunn.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors and students.
Performances:
Thursday, Feb. 11 – 7:30 p.m.
Friday, Feb. 12 – 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, Feb. 13 – 7:30 p.m.To order tickets:
Centre for the Arts box office
905-688-5550 x3257
boxoffice@brocku.caBig Love, Mainstage, The Brock News
Categories: In the Media, News -
Theatre at Brock embraces BIG LOVE
From left: Sadie Isaak, Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa. Photo credit: Bethany Scholl
Performance Dates:
Thurs., Feb. 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. & 7:30 p.m.
Sat., Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.Location: Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue in St. Catharines, Ontario
Tickets: $15 adults; $12 seniors & students; $10 groups; The Department of Dramatic Arts is proud to be a partner of eyeGo to the Arts, encouraging high school students to attend live performing arts through an innovative $5 ticket program.
Announcing $5 Friday! – attend the matinee performance on Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. for only $5 – available to holders of Brock ID cards.
Available at the Centre for the Arts Box Office, 905-688-5550, ext. 3257, or e-mail boxoffice@brocku.ca.Charles Mee’s contemporary look at Aeschylus’s Greek tragedy The Suppliant Women is an astonishingly fresh take on an age-old story: love versus power.
BIG LOVE tells the story of fifty brides (all sisters) who flee from arranged marriages to fifty grooms (their cousins) who pursue them across the sea to Italy. Three of the brides seek asylum in an Italian family’s villa. When their hosts are unable to negotiate their way through the moral predicament and allow the forced marriages, the brides make a murderous pact to kill their husbands on their wedding night. One of them fails to kill. Who betrayed whom?
Director Gyllian Raby states, ”I am drawn to the play because it has the scale of a Greek tragedy, but it is dressed in the global culture of today. Mee invites a wild post-modern performativity, but his story is so deeply sourced in western culture that it is very accessible.” Designer Karyn McCallum has set our production in an installation suggestive of a temple-gymnasium where the body wrestles with the spirit. Mattel’s gendered Ken and Barbie dolls hang from the lighting grid and punch-bag mannikin forms are anchored to the stage floor. A deeply passionate movement score with choreography from Gemini nominated Director and Award winning Choreographer Allen Kaeja conveys chaotic savagery and the tenderness of love, as well as the dark endurance of the survivor.
BIG LOVE showcases the talents of students in Brock University’s Department of Dramatic Arts undergraduate acting classes: Rebecca Durance-Hine, Jacqueline Costa, Sadie Isaak, Rob MacMenamin, Corey Mehlenbacher, Trevor Ketcheson, Jen Bender, Chris Boyle, Michael Pearson, Eric Frank, Dylan Mawson and Kasey Dunn.
BIG LOVE exhibits the extremes of passion as it explores two impossibilities: love and forgiveness. Performed on stage at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University, performances are held on Thurs., Feb. 11, 2010 at 7:30 p.m., Fri., Feb. 12 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., and Sat., Feb. 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Such productions by the Department of Dramatic Arts are a key part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of talent and creativity at Brock University.
Media Day: Thurs., Feb. 4, 2010 at 6 p.m. held at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre, Brock University.
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Big Love
By CHARLES MEE
Director: Gyllian Raby
Scenographer: Karyn McCallum
Click here for Media Release in PDF format, or here to see it online.Performance 1 (Opening): Thursday February 11, 7:30 pm
Performance 2: Friday February 12, 1:00 pm
(group and student Matinee)
Performance 3: Friday February 12, 7:30 pm
Performance 4: (Closing): Saturday February 13, 7:30 pmDART’s February production, Big Love, is American Charles Mee’s contemporary update of Aeschylus’ The Suppliants. First performed circa 423 BC, The Suppliants is one of the oldest plays in the world and the only play to survive from the trilogy in which it originated. Aeschylus titled the trilogy The Danaids after the daughters of Danaius who are also the protagonists of his play.
Big Love took America by storm in 2000 to 2003 precisely because Mee is in tune with his age. It is not just the ideas and the exhilarating physicality within Mee’s plays that caught the attention of America, but also his use of freeware. Posting the script online provided an open invitation for people to re-make the play however they would like.
The intensity of the scenario bursts the bounds of rational discourse and must sometimes be danced, sung, howled and fought out. Designer Karyn McCallum has set our production in an installation where Mattel’s gendered Ken and Barbie dolls hang from the lighting grid and punch-bag forms are anchored to the stage floor. Together, they reach for one another in an uneasy balance. Some of the music proposed by Mee will be used in the production but paired with contemporary pieces selected for this version. A deeply passionate movement score with some choreography from Allen Kaeja (of Toronto’s independent dance company Kaeja d’dance) moves the play through an exhaustive demonstration of the gender anxieties felt by men and women alike, to a finale that lies beyond justice. The production aims to move seamlessly from pop culture to philosophy to physical extremes. This is in an attempt to convey the chaotic savagery of love, the dark psyche of the survivor and, at the end, the impossibility of justice or forgiveness.
Educators and Counsellors:
Big Love : A Primer, is an introduction to our production, written by our Director, Gyllian Raby
Download your PDF copy of Big Love: A PrimerBig Love is an intellectually and theatrically challenging show recommended to the campus community (and with teacher guidance to students in grade 11 or 12) who are interested in law, philosophy and/or classics. Students can study and discuss Big Love (which Mee has posted free online!) prior to attending the production. This will enable students to look beyond the pop-culture surface and see the underlying issues that echo yet vary from its classic antecedent.
Photos:
Video:
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview of the Director and DART Professor, Gyllian Raby, by DART student, Tanisha Minson (produced by Brock TV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)Aeschylus, Big Love, Charles Mee, Gyllian Raby, Karyn McCallum, Mainstage, The Danaids, The Suppliants
Categories: Events, Plays -
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A Little Night Music goes right to the source
Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music was waltzing across the stage at Brock University this past November. To prepare this gem of lyric theatre the director and company of actors and singers recently took their questions right to the source.
Using a video conference link-up from the famed Friars Club in Manhattan, the Canadian actor and director Len Cariou answered our students probing questions about the development of A Little Night Music for the 1973 Broadway premiere. Cariou won a Tony nomination for the role of Frederic Egerman in the original production. He recreated the role for the 1977 Harold Prince-directed screen adaptation with Elizabeth Taylor. Six years later he won both the Tony and a Drama Desk Award for his portrayal of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street. His recent credits include the 2002 casting in the award-winning drama Proof. Cariou’s film credits include Flags of Our Fathers, About Schmidt, Thirteen Days, and The Four Seasons. He played the father in the 2007 film 1408. On television, Cariou has appeared in The West Wing, Law & Order, Star Trek: Voyager, The Practice, Ed, The Outer Limits, and multiple episodes of Murder, She Wrote. He had a continuing role in 2006-2007 as power broker Judd Fitzgerald in the Showtime series Brotherhood.
Cariou spoke with candour and humour about the creation of the musical and his challenges as a young actor. For almost an hour he regaled the students of the Departments of Dramatic Arts and Music with personal stories and professional insight. After saying their goodbyes and making a promise to report back to Cariou about their experience, Brock student Trevor Rotenberg – who plays the role of Frederic Egerman in this production – exclaimed, “I was really moved by his enthusiasm and generosity. Cariou made the challenge of bringing the role to life so much more real for me – he helped me understand how through music and lyrics we can talk about very real and important human things. He helped me see my future: this was the real deal.” After the meeting with Cariou the company rehearsed for three hours, energized by his infectious enthusiasm.
A fresh young approach to a whirl of intoxicating music, dance and witty lyrics, the production of A Little Night Music ran in the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre November 12-14, 2009. The show was directed by Virginia Reh and designed by David Vivian, both of the Department of Dramatic Arts. Harris Loewen of the Department of Music lead a cast of 17 talented young performers through this musical based on Ingmar Bergman’s Smiles of a Summer Night.
A Little Night Music, Len Cariou
Categories: Current Students, News -
A Little Night Music
Music and Lyrics by STEPHEN SONDHEIM
Book by HUGH WHEELER
Suggested by a film by Ingmar BergmanDirector: Virginia Reh
Scenographer: David VivianThree households, three generations, twisted love triangles, upstairs/downstairs come together for “A Weekend in the Country”. Tangled romance and passion in the relentless daylight of the northern midsummer night, all in 3/4 waltz time. The musical, probably best known for the song “Send in the Clowns”, is based on Ingmar Bergman’s film Smiles of a Summer Night, which was set in turn-of-the-20th century Sweden. A fresh young approach from major collaboration between the Departments of Dramatic Arts and Music. A whirl of intoxicating music, dance and witty lyrics.
Performance 1 (Opening): Thursday Nov. 12th, 7:30 pm
Performance 2: Friday November 13th, 1:30 pm (group and student Matinee) ***new time/ new price!***
Performance 3: Friday November 13th, 7:30 pm
Performance 4: (Closing): Saturday November 14th, 7:30 pmEducators and Counsellors:
A Little Night Music: A Primer is an introduction to our production, written by our Director, Virginia Reh
Download your PDF of A Little Night Music: A Primer.To prepare this gem of lyric theatre the director and company of actors and singers recently took their questions right to the source. Using a video conference link-up from the famed Friars Club in Manhattan, the Canadian actor and director Len Cariou answered our students probing questions about the development of A Little Night Music for the 1973 Broadway premiere.
Photos:
Video:
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview with DART actors Becca Pleschke and Jordan Imray, and with the Director and DART Professor, Virgina Reh (produced by BrockTV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)A Little Night Music, David Vivian, Mainstage, Stephen Sondheim, Virginia Reh
Categories: Events, Plays -
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Dr. Joe Norris appointed to the Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University
The Department of Dramatic Arts welcomes Joe Norris to the Department as of July 1, 2009. Joe has had a long history of teaching in, through, and with drama both at the secondary and post-secondary levels and is eager to serve the Ontario educational theatre community. Please see the attached PDF for more information about our new colleague.DART faculty, Joe Norris
Categories: Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, News -
Excellence in Teaching and Research
In February 2009 Associate Professor Gyllian Raby was awarded a very significant SSHRC Research and Creation Grant in the Fine and Performing Arts for her project Devised Theatre with Youth in Niagara Schools. Gyllian’s project draws on her RSVP research and is in collaboration with Carousel Players of St. Catharines.
Services for Students with Disabilities awarded Associate Professor David Fancy the Making A Difference Award from the Services for Students with disABILITIES department in the Student Development Centre. The award was presented in April of 2009.
In 2008 our part-time instructor in Drama in Education and Society – Suzanne Burchell – received this award.
Associate Professor David Vivian was awarded the 2009 Faculty Award for Excellence in Teaching (Faculty of Humanities), presented at the 2009 June Convocation.
Part-time Instructor and recent Limited Term Appointee Helen Zdriluk was awarded the Best Practices Recognition Award, 2008 by the Brock Centre for Teaching, Learning and Educational Technologies (CTLET).
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Niagara Centre for the Arts Receives $36 Million
(Source: Brock University Web News)The city-owned Niagara Centre for the Arts will be adjacent to Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. The project is “the cornerstone of Council’s vision for a revitalized downtown,” St. Catharines Mayor Brian McMullan said.
Brock University President Jack Lightstone hailed the announcement. “This is a day we have all been looking forward to for a long time,” he said, “not just because this cultural landmark will complement our Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, but because it illustrates how a whole community can benefit when people work together.”
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New Concentrations in DART
Beginning with the 2009/10 academic year DART students choose to pursue their studies in one of five concentrations: Applied Theatre, Drama in Education, Performance, Production and Design, and Theatre Praxis.
The previous streams of Dramatic Literature, Drama in Education and Society, and Theatre will be concluded over the next few years.
Please see the Academic Calendar for more details.
By CHARLES MEE
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview of the Director and DART Professor, Gyllian Raby, by DART student, Tanisha Minson (produced by Brock TV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)
Click on the screenshot to the left to watch a video about our production, including an interview with DART actors Becca Pleschke and Jordan Imray, and with the Director and DART Professor, Virgina Reh (produced by BrockTV). (NOTE: link currently broken. We are tracking down the original video.)
The Department of Dramatic Arts welcomes Joe Norris to the Department as of July 1, 2009. Joe has had a long history of teaching in, through, and with drama both at the secondary and post-secondary levels and is eager to serve the Ontario educational theatre community. Please see the 
(Source: