Articles tagged with: alumni

  • Congratulations to 2013 SSHRC award recipient and Dramatic Arts graduate, Erica Charles

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

    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.)

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  • Our Grad, Julia Course – break-a-leg!

    shaw_ourbetters_webgallery_8DART Alumna Julia Course was recently given a nod by J. Kelly Nestruck in the The Globe and Mail for her role in one of “6 can’t-miss stage productions for spring”.

    from the Globe and Mail, Wednesday, Apr. 17 2013:

    Our Betters, Shaw Festival

    The Shaw Festival is hoping some of the smell of Downton Abbey rubs off on its production of W. Somerset Maugham’s Our Betters, a 1923 comedy about rich American women trying to snag a British noble. Julia Course, a young company member who has turned heads in smaller parts in recent seasons, gets her first starring role in this production from acclaimed director/designer team Morris Panych and Ken MacDonald.

    Royal George Theatre, April 3-Oct. 27, www.shawfest.com

    You can see Julia interviewed and on stage in this short video available from PBS.

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  • SHAW Summer Internship Program

    Robyn Cunningham, seen in one of her Tumblr vlogs

    Robyn Cunningham, seen in one of her Tumblr vlogs.

    Every year Brock’s emerging artists have an opportunity to intern with one of Canada’s most renowned theatre organizations, the Shaw Festival, for a six-week intensive learning experience. Early in the new year an application is offered to students who successfully complete DART 4P92 “Voice and Text of Bernard Shaw” as part of their final year of study. One deserving student is invited to polish their studies at DART by interning with professionals at the top of their game as they create productions for the Shaw Festival season.

    Graduating student Robyn Cunningham will be the Summer Intern at the Shaw Festival for 2012.  Under the guidance of Co-Artistic Director Eda Holmes, Robyn will experience an intense period of production rehearsal and development from first read through to season premieres.  Some of the shows Robyn will witness in development include The Millionairess and Present Laughter.  Robyn (seen below) will be regularly posting to her tumblr vlog across the six weeks – check in regularly and say ‘hi!’.

     

    Brock graduate Jacqueline Costa was the first DART Intern at the Shaw Festival in 2011. Jacqueline graduated with a BA (First Class Honors) in Brock University’s Theatre Stream with strong interests in both production and performance. While a student her success in theatre creative research and production was seen in the Brock main-stage performances like Charles Mee’s Big Love (2010) and Sharon Pollock’s Blood Relations (2010) and in her work as Departmental Technical Production Assistant and Research and Production Assistant to faculty.

    While at Shaw Jacqueline worked together with Lighting Design Director Kevin Lamotte and assisted with the development of his lighting designs for the 2011 performances of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Heartbreak House, where she also had the privilege of meeting directors Eda Holmes and Christopher Newton. Jacqueline attended various dress-tech rehearsals, show previews, read-throughs and clean-up calls. Jacqueline remarks that “it was interesting seeing lighting levels, lighting hangs, load in’s and changeovers for the shows on such a grand scale at the Shaw Festival.”

    During the remaining weeks, Jacqueline worked with Design Director William Schmuck, where she was able to preview other shows from the 2011 season such as Drama at Inish – A Comedy and My Fair Lady. She also witnessed the build of lighting level sets for Alan Brodie’s Admirable Crichton and Louise Guinard’s On The Rocks. In addition, Jacqueline toured to other Shaw facilities including the properties, scenic painting and carpentry shops and met with designers Sue Lepage, Charolette Dean and Christina Poddubiuk. Jacqueline comments, “in terms of being introduced to interesting members of the professional design/theatre community, this internship succeeded.”

    Working closely with the Shaw Festival, Brock’s Dramatic Arts Department aims to develop these programs, and many more, to it’s young emerging artists – offering them post-graduate opportunities to interact and network with the greater professional performing arts community.


    Also at the Shaw Festival this season are recent Department graduates working in various aspects of technical theatre production.  Anrita Petraroia (DART ’07) is back at the Festival this year, having helped out on a couple projects in Technical Direction last season. Chris Penney (DART ’08) has secured a regular season’s call in the audio department. Sadie Isaak (DART ’10) is now being trained to take over the Cobbler’s position in Production Wardrobe and will be joining the Wardrobe Running staff later in the season.

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  • DART Alumna Kate Trotter awarded Distinguished Alumni Prize for the Humanities

    kate-trotter-alt220Kate Trotter, a celebrated actress of theatre, cinema and television was presented with the “Distinguished Alumni Prize for the Humanities” on March 31, 2012 at Brock University.  Ms. Trotter graduated from Brock University with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Dramatic Literature, First-Class Standing, in 1975 and the National Theatre School of Canada in 1978.

    During the past 37 years Ms. Trotter has established an international reputation as a lead actress in film, television and stage production.  Roles in theatre have included significant work in both classics and modern pieces: she has performed in Canadian plays by Anne Chislett, Tmothy Findley,  David French, John Murell and Sharon Pollock among others as well as various Shakespeare, comic, tragic, and lyric theatre productions.  She has collaborated with Canadian luminaries such as Martha Henry, Bill Hutt, Brent Carver, Robin Phillips, Richard Monette, RH Thompson, Al  Waxman, Bill Shatner and Donald Sutherland.

    Roles in cinema include Marie Currie in Glory Enough for All, and working alongside actors such as Charles Bronson, Angelina Jolie, James Woods, the three Carradine brothers, Claire Bloom, Clive Owen, Gary Sineese, Whoopi Goldberg, Edward Woodward, Jon Voight and Sophia Loren, to name a few.

    Her numerous roles in television include Being Erica, The Murdoch Mysteries, The Jane Show and CSI.

    She has also directed for the National Film Board and for women in the director’s chair as well as for the stage.  Ms Trotter has taught Shakespeare at George Brown College, is co-founder of a program supporting kids at risk called youth and the law and for several years has been part of training programs for Canadian judges teaching communication skills in the courtroom.

    The “Distinguished Alumni Prize for the Humanities” was founded in 2002 to celebrate the achievements of Brock’s finest graduates. The award is conferred upon alumni who have made outstanding  contributions to their field of study and the larger Brock community, as both a scholar and role model.

    On March 30, 2012 from 7pm-9pm the Department of Dramatic Arts hosted a special event (studio location TBA) to introduce Ms Trotter to our current students and aspiring artists. All DART students and faculty were welcome to join the Department as we celebrate her success and raise a glass to toast this alumna of Brock Theatre.

    For more information see Ms Totter’s YouTube DEMO REEL or her entries in the Internet Movie Database and Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia (last updated 2009).

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  • DART graduates premiere new work from Theatre Beyond Words

    Theatre Beyond Words

    Theatre Beyond Words

    The Resident Theatre Company of Brock University Theatre Beyond Wordswill soon premiere the 2012 Edition of Tales from the Garden.  This brand-new Potato People show includes the characters Nancy Potato and friend George Beanstock entwined in hilarious escapades with industrious giant ants, a demanding trio of baby birds, a metamorphosizing caterpillar and a flash storm.

    Theatre Beyond Words was founded in 1977 and remains a pioneer in the development of mask and visual theatre in Canada.  The Potato People is a series of 13 non-verbal mask plays for family audiences with a unique style of visual storytelling that has inspired a generation of artists in physical theatre across the country and has won the hearts of audiences around the world.

    The comedy and adventure of this Theatre Beyond Words original creation comes from the collaboration of Jacqueline Costa (DART BA ’11), Katharine Dubois (DART BA ’05, BEd ’10), Caitlin English (DART BA ’09) and Carlene Thomas (DART BA ‘09, BEd ‘10). Brianne Lidstone (DART BA ‘15) is the lighting operator.  Jacqueline Costa also designed and built the production.

    Following four performances beginning March 23, 2012 at the Sullivan-Mahoney Courthouse Theatre in St. Catharines the company tours the show throughout Ontario.

    Theatre Beyond Words will be leading a three week-long intensive Introduction to Physical Theatre during the Spring session of 2012.  For more information contact dramatic.arts@brocku.ca

    Check out the trailer and sneak peak at theatrebeyondwords.ca
    For more information contact 905 468 7582  or  tbw@cogeco.ca

    Break-a-leg Theatre Beyond Words!

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  • DART Alumnus on the stage of The Grand Theatre

    Eric Frank (DART 2011) was recently seen on stage in a production of To Master the Art at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario. It’s the story of Julia Child and the writing of her famous cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking. The play opens with Julia and her husband Paul’s arrival in France in 1948. Paul introduces her to fine French cuisine and she is completely smitten.

    Professor Virginia Reh, who directed Eric in two mainstage productions at Brock,  journeyed to London to see him in his professional debut and remarked, ‘In a production with 24 roles played by 10 actors, Eric proved a veritable chameleon, creating four very different vibrant characters. He was clearly comfortable in this professional milieu and his colleagues are enthusiastic about working with him.'”

    Break-a-leg, Eric!

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  • TAP Jamaica celebrates five successful years

    TAP participants in 2011Turn Around Projects of the Arts – lead by graduates, students and colleagues of the Department of Dramatic Arts of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts – began its fifth year on July 7th, 2011 in Port Antonio, Jamaica.  TAP is a multi-national initiative using the arts and education to build sustainable communities.

    This year, four talented Brock students attended TAP Jamaica: Lescia Poppe, Jamez Townsend, Dorothy Kane and Meaghan Gowrie, as well as seven Brock graduates, Tiffany Stull, Rox Chwaluk, Mike Irwin, Whitney Lee, Alycia McQueen, Christine Cassar, and Matt McLeod. Along with 8 others, the Canadian/American team developed successful workshops in dance, visual arts, music, creative writing, dramatic arts, culinary arts, film, and photography. Many weeks since the conclusion of the program the spirit and principles of TAP persist in the hearts of the Canadian facilitators and the Jamaican youth who participated. The hard work, dedication and compassion that every single team member brought to the project has once again guaranteed its success.

    The TAP pilot project began in 2007 with a collaboration between the programming director of the project and former Drama in Education and Society program graduate, Tiffany Stull, her classmates, and their guest professor the renowned Canadian Dub Poet Michael St. George. Students of the third year dramatic arts course Alternative Forms of Theatre worked together to create a two-week long program of intensive educational workshops for the youth in an impoverished region of Jamaica.  With the leadership of former DART professor Jane Leavitt and Michael St. George a five year commitment to TAP Jamaica was established with the intention of initiating and maintaining integrated arts workshops every July.

    Participant and third-year DART student Meaghan Gowrie exclaimed, “From a personal standpoint, I can proudly say that when facilitating the music workshop, my success was in part rooted deeply in the skills, knowledge and values that I have been taught so far as a Drama in Education and Society student at Brock University.”

    Now that the five year commitment to TAP Jamaica has come to an end the Canadian team is prepared to move into Phase 2 of the program, training Jamaican youth to become facilitators of an autonomous and self-directed workshop program.  This summer the groundwork was laid for Phase 2 with the creation of the F.I.T. team (Facilitators in Training). This team included ten Jamaican youth who have successfully achieved the objectives of TAP through their actions and leadership skills in previous years.  Five of these participants graduated the F.I.T. program in 2011 and will facilitate workshops in July 2012.

    Gowrie added, “The experience that I had as a Canadian team member, educator and friend to the amazing 44 Jamaican youth that attended the program is completely impossible to describe in words or writing. It is my hope that anyone who comes in contact with the pictures, videos, and people of TAP will get a small taste of the impact that the first five years has made on everyone who has ever helped in the execution of, or attended the program. The optimism and positivity that is now ever-presently radiating in each of us will inspire the people of Brock University and eventually the world that the arts can change lives, that anything is possible and that step by step, we WILL make it to the top!”

    Further information about the 2011 program can be found at the project blog http://turnaroundproject.ca/blog/ .  For information about TAP please contact info@turnaroundproject.ca .

    TAP participants in 2011

    TAP participants in 201

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  • The experience of a young actor’s lifetime

    Caitlin Popek at the National Voice Intensive in 2011. photograph courtesy of Fabrice Grover www.fabricegroverphoto.com and the National Voice Intensive.

    Caitlin Popek at the National Voice Intensive in 2011. photograph courtesy of Fabrice Grover www.fabricegroverphoto.com and the National Voice Intensive.

    Caitlin Popek, graduate of the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART), recently returned from Canada’s National Voice Intensive.  This renowned five-week professional training workshop in Vancouver is attended by professional artists from across North America and abroad.

    An ambitious, dedicated and focused student in her academic studies, Caitlin excelled on the stage when she played the lead character Desiree Armfeldt in the DART 2009 production of the Stephen Sondheim musical A Little Night Music.  More recently she honed her skills as the Teaching Assistant for DART 3P54 Directing and she has just begun production managing for Showboat Festival Theatre in Port Colborne.

    “My experience at the Voice Intensive was absolutely amazing! . . . One of the first things they told us was, ‘You will be confused and that’s exactly where we want you to be.’  Even with that statement I was confused!” she says, “You mean, we’re not here to get answers?”  After experiencing 5 weeks of intense vocal, physical, emotional, and mental work that first statement made complete sense. “I did leave with a lot of confusion, but it was the kind of confusion that drives me to keep digging and discovering and investigating in my work.”

    Caitlin adds, “There were things that I understood already about my voice from classes experienced at Brock and the Intensive just pumped up the volume on all those things. . .   For example, I knew that my voice reveals who I am but I did not really understand how much my voice reveals, AND that that is the only thing it can do.  As a speaker, all you can do is allow what is inside you to be revealed and the response is out of your control!  To allow myself to be fully revealed is a very scary thing but when I achieved this feat it was the most wonderful feeling I have ever experienced.  To allow myself to be whoever I am inside, at any given moment, became an amazingly freeing thing.”

    Caitlin graduated in 2010 with First-Class Standing in the Performance Concentration of the Honours Dramatic Arts program. Working with some of the best emerging actors and trainers in Canada in 2011 Caitlin has already achieved an experience of an actor’s lifetime.

    “Without the help and guidance from many professors at Brock I would not have been able, or ready, to experience what I did at the Voice Intensive.  It was such a wonderful experience and I want to thank everyone who helped me to get there!!”

    Congratulations on your success, Caitlin!

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  • DART Alumnus on stage in Toronto in Marat/Sade

    af220Dart Alumnus Andrew Fleming hits the boards playing Duperret in Soup Can Theatre’s production of Marat/Sade. The show runs from July 19-24 at the Alumnae Theatre in downtown Toronto (Berkeley Street). All performances are at 8pm except for the final show which is a 2pm matinee.

    Andrew first performed in the play on the stage of the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre at Brock University when the Department of Dramatic Arts produced Mara/Sade in 2009.

    Please see www.maratsade.ca for information including the production concept as well as promotional photographs of the production.

    Break-a-leg, Andrew!

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  • DART alumni at the Toronto Fringe

    circus-poster-one-final-copy-copy-220Once again DART alumni are taking the stage and making scenes at the Toronto 2011 Fringe Festival.  Some of the productions were first work-shopped or developed during our students’ academic year at Brock.  Shows include:

    “Circus”
    by Nathan Tanner Mac Donald
    presented by Moment by Moment from St Catharines, ON

    http://fringetoronto.com/fringefest/indoorBYOV_listings.html#C

    Come one, come all! Enter the Big Tent! Witness everything from a baby’s first steps to the dart board of death! BING, BAM, POW! Ever feel like your mind is the centre ring of a circus? Well, John does.

    Director: Nathan Tanner Mac Donald
    Genre: Play, Drama
    Warning: Mature Language
    Venue 12 Factory Theatre Mainspace

    50 min.
    Wed, July 6 10:30 PM 1203
    Fri, July 8 5:15 PM 1209
    Sun, July 10 3:00 PM 1221
    Tue, July 12 8:45 PM 1236
    Thu, July 14 4:00 PM 1247
    Fri, July 15 7:30 PM 1256
    Sun, July 17 Noon 1266

    “Visa Called this Morning”
    by Jen Gallant
    (www.jjmoneyproductions.ca)
    presented by JJ Money Productions from Toronto, ON

    Her creditors are calling. Her bank accounts are freezing. Jen finds herself feeling more like a criminal than a valued customer. she is forced to reconcile her toxic relationship with debt. Jen’s struggle to survive her maxed out reality leaves her realizing that, the banks don’t love you like your parents.

    Cast: Jen Gallant
    Genre: Play, Comedy
    Venue 11 Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace

    60 min.
    Wed, July 6 10:00 PM 1103
    Fri, July 8 4:45 PM 1109
    Sat, July 9 6:45 PM 1116
    Mon, July 11 5:45 PM 1127
    Tue, July 12 8:30 PM 1135
    Wed, July 13 3:00 PM 1138
    Thu, July 14 9:45 PM 1148
    Sun, July 17 4:00 PM 1163

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