Articles tagged with: DART 4F56

  • Studio Taxi Theatre presents TomorrowLove, opening April 3 at the MIW Theatre

    EDITOR’S NOTE: This event has been cancelled as part of Brock University’s ongoing efforts to protect the health and safety of students, faculty, staff and the community in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

    Have you ever wondered what would happen if someone decided to erase you from their memory completely? Would you use an app that could match you with your soulmate? What if you could communicate with the dead via video chat?

    Rosamund Small’s TomorrowLove is a collection of stories about love, sex, technology, and the future. Studio Taxi Theatre’s (DART 4F56 – Advanced Studies in Theatre) production features 9 of Small’s stories performed as an immersive experience around the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts. The stories range from the poignant and comedic, to the dramatic and heartbreaking.

    Every audience member will see 4 stories as they travel through this experience, therefore, audiences are encouraged to see the show at least twice in order to catch as many stories as they can. The number of audience members is limited to 40 per show, split into 2 groups in order to allow for intimate audience/actor relationships, so it is recommended that audience members buy their tickets in advance and arrive early to choose their own adventure!

    Each location in the production is accessible and will have seating for audience members.
    If you anticipate extra assistance being needed, please contact studiotaxitheatre@gmail.com

    Content warning: contains scenes with sexual content, strong language, and references to sexual and physical violence.

    This is a presentation by the DART 4F56 (Advanced Studies in Theatre)/DART 4P97 (Collaborative Stage Production) graduating students’ ensemble for Spring 2020. All productions are created, produced and performed by DART students under the direction of Mike Griffin.

    Presented at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.
    Purchase your tickets at https://brocku.universitytickets.com/.

    When:
    April 3, 2020 — 5:00 p.m.
    April 3, 2020 — 9 p.m.
    April 4, 2020 —1:00 p.m.
    April 4, 2020 —5:00 p.m.
    April 4, 2020 —9:00 p.m.

    Where: Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines

    Director: Mike Griffin
    Assistant Director: Josh Loewen
    Set Designer: Josh Loewen
    Props Designer/Set Decoration: Joanna Trann
    Costume Designer: Rachel Frederick
    Lighting Designer: Lauren Reid
    Sound Design: Taylor Bogaert
    Dramaturge: Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk
    Stage Manager: Shannon Fletcher
    Assistant Stage Manager: Jasmine Case
    Production Manager: Jordine De Guzman
    Head of Publicity: Shannon Fletcher

    Cast:

    Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk
    Emily Clegg
    Paige Hunt-Harman
    Samantha Rideout
    Beth Martin
    Frances Johnson

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, News, Performance Season, Plays, Uncategorised

  • Drama students to tackle tough topics in Sunday on the Rocks

    Brock dramatic arts students and cast members Catherine Tait, left, and Kristina Ojaperv rehearse for their upcoming production of Sunday on the Rocks. Produced by dramatic arts students under the company name OverHead Theatre, the show is being staged at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts from Friday, April 12 to Sunday, April 14. Photo courtesy of OverHead Theatre.


    (From The Brock News, Friday, March 29, 2019 | By: Sarah Ackles)

    Brock Dramatic Arts students are bringing the work of Broadway heavyweight Theresa Rebeck to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA) this April with their production of Sunday on the Rocks.

    The show is produced by students in the University’s DART 4F56 class, under the company name Over Head Theatre, and is the follow-up to their successful first production A History of Everything.

    It opens at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre on Friday, April 12 and runs until Sunday, April 14.

    Set in 1994, Sunday on the Rocks is a comedic drama about four roommates stepping into adulthood and struggling with issues of harassment, sexual assault and abortion.

    It features the talents of fourth-year Dramatic Arts students Adria Dearden, Kristina Ojaperv, Tsipporah Shendroff and Catherine Tait as the cast, and is being staged by the production team comprised of Alicia Bender, Whitney Braybrook-Byl, Leah Eichler, Juan-Carlos Figueroa, Heather Janser, Holly Kurelek, Ryan Mahon, Emma McCormick, Mae Smith and Geoff Turner.

    Director and course instructor Neil Silcox said he was drawn to this play because of the rich and complex characters.

    “Living in 1994, they are struggling with all the same issues that women face today, but without the short-hand to talk about it that we’ve developed in the past 25 years with the rise of the #MeToo movement.”

    Assistant Director Colin Williams added: “Theresa Rebeck’s writing never shies away from difficult and sensitive subjects, is never preachy and is, above all, funny.”

    Rebeck, who has four plays under her belt, was presented the PEN/Laura Pels Award in 2010 and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2013. Her other notable plays include Seminar, starring Alan Rickman, Dead Accounts, starring Katie Holmes, and most recently, the 2018 Broadway hit Bernhardt/Hamlet, starring Janet McTeer.

    Sunday on the Rocks runs from Friday, April 12 to Sunday, April 14 at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre of the MIWSFPA, located at 15 Artists’ Common in downtown St. Catharines. Tickets are $5 (plus taxes and fees) and are available for purchase through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre online box office or by phone at 905-688-0722.

    For more information and showtimes visit the DART web page. Limited parking is available on site.

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    Categories: Current Students, Events, News, Performance Season, Plays

  • Dramatic Arts TA recipient of multiple awards

    Brock’s Three Minute Thesis winner Kaitlyn Kerridge, and award winners Shasha Hu and Jonathan Brower all spoke at the Graduate Student Awards and Donor Recognition Celebration on Thursday, May 10.

    (adapted from: The Brock News Monday, May 14, 2018 | by )

    It wasn’t until he started at Brock University that Jonathan Brower was able to marry his passions: theatre, LGBTQ2 studies and spirituality.

    During the Graduate Student Awards and Donor Recognition Celebration held on campus Thursday, May 10, the Master of Social Justice and Equity Studies student spoke about how the University and its donors have made a difference in his life.

    An actor, playwright and producer, Brower told the more than 100 guests in attendance about how support from donors allows him to focus on his research and continue artistic pursuits, without having to worry about financial pressures.

    “For research to truly be enriched, you need to be able to immerse yourself in it completely,” he said. “Support from donors allows me to focus my creative energy on academia, rather than having to worry about how my bills are being paid. Every layer of support I have received lifts me closer to success.”

    Brower was the recipient of multiple awards at the celebration: a Bluma Appel Graduate Entrance Scholarship for Excellence in Social Sciences, the Scotiabank Graduate Award and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council CGS Master’s Scholarship.Hosted by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, the awards event celebrated student success and thanked donors for their generous support of graduate students.

    Brower came to Niagara from Calgary, where he co-founded and ran a queer theatre company and wrote and produced a play, oblivion, about the struggle to reconcile faith and sexuality. The production toured Canada over three years, visiting major cities including Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto, with a stop in St. Catharines last year.

    Starting his master’s at Brock seemed a fitting next step for the student researcher, whose work explores “queer religious agency through narrative inquiry and applied theatre.”

    “My own experience as a queer person in the Christian faith was marginalized, which led to the creation of oblivion,” Brower said. “This thesis project takes things a step further using collective theatre creation to bring the experiences of queer individuals from different faith backgrounds into conversation.”

    In 2017-18 Brower was a teaching Assistant in the Department of Dramatic Arts for the courses DART 1F91 Introduction to Theatre and Performance (Dr. Jacqueline Taucar, Instructor) and DART 4F56 Advanced Studies in Theatre (Professor Gyllian Raby).  He recently collaborated on WE WHO KNOW NOTHING ABOUT HIAWATHA ARE PROUD TO PRESENT HIAWATHA as part of the Rhizomes for the 2018 In The Soil Festival.

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    Categories: Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Graduating students present gritty play about oil in Canada

    The cast of Lac/Athabasca takes the stage from April 12 to 14 in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre for the last Dramatic Arts production of the 2017-18 season.

    For the final production of the regular 2017-18 season, Brock’s fourth-year Dramatic Arts students will tackle some hard-hitting Canadian issues.

    The DART 4F56 ensemble will present Len Falkenstein’s award-winning play Lac/Athabasca in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre. The production, inspired by the Lac-Mégantic train explosion of 2013, tells the dark truth of the forces behind the disaster.

    Co-directed by Professor Gyllian Raby and student Mark Dickinson, the play premiered at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts on Thursday, April 12 and will continue nightly until Saturday, April 14.

    Production poster designed by Michelle Mohammed. click to download a PDF copy.

    Audiences follow the train filled with explosive fuel as it journeys across time and place, beginning with townsfolk sharing their experiences of the tragic event and lamenting for the lives lost. The crowd is taken to tour the magnificent Athabasca glacier and meets workers at the oil sand companies in Fort McMurray, witnessing Canada’s exploitation of its land and peoples from the 1800s to now. The beauty and terror of these encounters reveal a Canadian dream as twisted as the train tracks that stretch across it.

    The DART 4F56 students unanimously picked the play not only because of its Canadian roots, but also because “it’s about something that matters,” says Raby. The production tells the story of the train explosion, but audiences can also “expect to see a First Nations story play out,” she says.

    “We were fortunate enough to be advised by Adrienne Smoke of the Six Nations and William Constant, a Cree mentor, to make sure we were approaching the Indigenous story correctly.”

    On a daily basis, Canadians are reading about the problem of oil and the exploitation of natural resources. Lac/Athabasca is a deeply Canadian play that provokes reflection on corporate greed, environmental policies and the future transportation of oil.

    In addition to Dickinson, the 2017-18 Dramatic Arts fourth-year ensemble features cast members Mackenzie Kerr, Adrian Marchesano, Sarah Marks, Michelle Mohammed, Tarndeep Pannu, Naomi Richardson and Kaylyn Valdez-Scott. Set construction is by Helena Ciuciura, costume design by Samantha Mastrella, properties design by Rebecca Downing, sound design by Jillian Wardell, lighting design by Meryl Ochoa, and projections design and production management by Chelsea Wilson, assisted by guest instructor and Brock University Dramatic Arts alumnus, James McCoy. The production team also includes Allie Aubry as stage manager and Candice Burn as head of publicity.

    Lac/Athabasca plays Friday, April 13 and Saturday, April 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the MIWFSPA in downtown St. Catharines. Tickets are $5 (plus taxes and fees) from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office at 905-688-0722 or online. Tickets will also be available at the door. Limited parking is available onsite.


    see the preview article by Mike Balsom on YourTV Niagara/Cogeco

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    Categories: Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, News, Performance Season, Plays

  • DART presents: Five Women Wearing the Same Dress

    It’s the perfect day for the perfect Tennessee wedding– but where are the bridesmaids?

    Skulking in her attic refuge, Meredith rebels. Frances prays. Mindy eats. Georgeanne lusts, and Trisha swears off romance forever– until Tripp, the wise-cracking usher turns her eye. Trouble lurks everywhere for these colourful and disorderly women, and as the music gets louder and things get rowdier, they must come together to figure out past burns and current conundrums. With a little booze, a little wisdom, and lot of crazy talk, they help one another navigate the storms of life.

    Five Women Wearing the Same Dress comes to St. Catharines from Academy Award winning author Alan Ball of “American Beauty”.

    You have never experienced a wedding party like this one!

    Directed by professor Gyllian Raby, and assisted by Tarndeep Pannu. Other students from the 2017-2018 4F56 ensemble include cast members Helena Ciuciura, Meryl Ochoa, Samantha Mastrella, Rebecca Downing, Candice Burn and Mark Dickinson. Set Design is by Jillian Wardell, Costume Design by Sarah Marks, Sound Design by Naomi Richardson, and Lighting Design by guest instructor James McCoy. The production is Stage Managed by Chelsea Wilson, Allie Aubry and Michelle Mohammed with Kaylyn Valdez-Scott as Publicist, and Adrian Marchesano and Mackenzie Kerr on the Production Team.

    Characters:

    Meredith Marlowe: The bride’s rebellious, pot-smoking younger sister who is very sarcastic and much annoyed with the whole fiasco downstairs. Sporting an outwardly tough attitude, she has a lot of insecurity to hide. Bridesmaid.
    Georgeanne Darby: Tracy’s “ugly sidekick” in high school and college. Accepted the invite to be a bridesmaid even though her relationship with Tracy is strained because Tracy’s boyfriend had once got her pregnant. Bridesmaid.
    Trisha: One of Tracy’s former friends with a supposed bad reputation; a jaded beauty. Bridesmaid.
    Frances: The very naive and religious cousin of the bride. Bridesmaid.
    Mindy McClure: The groom’s clumsy and outspoken lesbian sister. Bridesmaid.
    Tripp Davenport (Griffen Lyle Davenport the Third): An usher who falls for Trisha.

    When: FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1 and SATURDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2017

    Time: 7:30 pm to 9:15 pm.

    Location: The Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, Brock University

    Tickets: $7†; $5† child (14 and under); $5† eyeGo program. Free admission to current students of the MIWSFPA with valid student ID card. † Applicable fees and taxes are extra. ONLY 100 SEATS AVAILABLE for each performance, don’t delay.

    Available from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

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    Categories: Events, Performance Season, Plays

  • Lac/Athabasca

    By Len Falkenstein.

    A play about the Lac Megantique explosion and the environment.

    DART 4F56 is a production class that morphs each year depending on the people enrolled, but is always student driven and student produced. It enables students to work as a company in multiple production roles, utilizing the spectrum of skills they have developed in DART, from in depth research, to dramaturgical analysis resulting in the staging choices.

    A Media Release for this production will be available.

    When: FRIDAY, APRIL 13, 2018 and SATURDAY, APRIL14, 2018. Matinee (TBC): SATURDAY, APRIL14, 2018

    Time: 7:30 pm to 8:45 pm.

    Location: The Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, Brock University

    Tickets: $7†; $5† child (14 and under); $5† eyeGo program. Free admission to current students of the MIWSFPA with valid student ID card.

    † Applicable fees and taxes are extra.

    Available from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office: 905.688.0722 or Long Distance Toll Free: 1.855.515.0722; online: firstontariopac.ca

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    Categories: Events, Performance Season, Plays

  • DART 4F56 presents: The Flu Season by Will Eno

    Will Eno’s “The Flu Season” plays whack-a-mole with everything you expect love to be.

    On stage in the Dramatics Arts Theatre, this Oppenheimer award-winning play has been selected by the graduating dramatic arts students as the strangest, most theatrical screen shot of the state of romantic affairs today.

    This unexpected comedy comes from the playwright the New York Times hails as “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.”

    Romance is hacked and hijacked when a man and woman meet in a “retreat centre” that is surely unique in the known universe. They are under the observation of technicians and caretakers who are themselves infected by the multiplying pathetic fallacies of romance. Lovers are mad. Love hurts. Love makes you do crazy things. Love is The Flu Season.

    Guided by director and Professor Gyllian Raby, the 4F56 company includes: Elizabeth Amos, Eliza Anthony, Kelsey Burcher, Mary Askwith, Maria Evers, Alex Franks, Mark Harrigan, Robert Herr, Daryl Hunter, Jeremy Knapton, Katelyn Lander, Kevin Langendyk, Cole Larson, Oriana Marrone, Melinda Mohammed, Josh Sanger, and Raylene Turner.

    Such programs 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. For more information about the Department of Dramatic Arts visit: brocku.ca/dramaticarts The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is located at its new, state-of-the-art teaching, production and performance facility in the heart of the City of St. Catharines.

    The Flu Season runs April 14, 15, and 16, at 7:30 pm, in the Dramatic Arts Theatre at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, in downtown St. Catharines. Tickets are $5 (applicable fees and taxes are extra) and can be purchased at the door, or through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office at 905.688.0722; long distance toll free 1-855-515-0722; email: boxoffice@firstontariopac.ca; online: firstontariopac.ca

    You can receive a $2 discount on your ticket with a purchase of a meal of $5 or more from the following participating downtown eatries: Mahtay Café, Rise Above, The Bull BBQ Pit, Sky Bar Lounge at Brock University, Bella Noella’s Pizzeria, Gwen’s Teas, and So Jollof. Simply bring your restaurant receipt or voucher to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office to receive this discount. This offer is not available online.

    Limited paid parking is 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 stcatharines.ca/en/livein/ParkingLotsGarages.asp for a list of parking locations

    For interviews please contact:
    Marie Balsom, Communications,
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    T: 905-688-5550, ext. 4765 | E: mbalsom@brocku.ca | W: brocku.ca/miwsfpa

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  • The Flu Season

    Showtime: April 14 – 16, 2016, Curtain at 7:30 pm

    Location: the Dramatic Arts Theatre at 15 Artists’ Common

    Will Eno’s “The Flu Season” plays whack-a-mole with everything you expect love to be.

    On stage in the Dramatics Arts Theatre, this Oppenheimer award-winning play has been selected by the graduating dramatic arts students as the strangest, most theatrical screen shot of the state of romantic affairs today.

    This unexpected comedy comes from the playwright the New York Times hails as “a Samuel Beckett for the Jon Stewart generation.”

    Romance is hacked and hijacked when a man and woman meet in a “retreat centre” that is surely unique in the known universe. They are under the observation of technicians and caretakers who are themselves infected by the multiplying pathetic fallacies of romance. Lovers are mad. Love hurts. Love makes you do crazy things. Love is The Flu Season.

    Guided by director and Professor Gyllian Raby, the 4F56 company includes: Elizabeth Amos, Eliza Anthony, Kelsey Burcher, Mary Askwith, Maria Evers, Alex Franks, Mark Harrigan, Robert Herr, Daryl Hunter, Jeremy Knapton, Katelyn Lander, Kevin Langendyk, Cole Larson, Oriana Marrone, Melinda Mohammed, Josh Sanger, and Raylene Turner.

    The Flu Season runs April 14, 15, and 16, at 7:30 pm, in the Dramatic Arts Theatre at the Marilyn I.Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, in downtown St. Catharines. Tickets are $5 (applicable fees and taxes are extra) and can be purchased at the door, or through the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office. email: boxoffice@firstontariopac.ca; or visit online at: firstontariopac.ca

    You can receive a $2 discount on your ticket with a purchase of a meal of $5 or more from the following participating downtown eatries: Mahtay Café, Rise Above, The Bull BBQ Pit, Sky Bar Lounge at Brock University, Bella Noella’s Pizzeria, Gwen’s Teas, and So Jollof. Simply bring your restaurant receipt or voucher to the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre Box Office to receive this discount. This offer is not available online.

    Limited paid parking is 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.

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  • DART 4F56 presents: Mnemonic

    DART 4F56: Performances by graduating students
    by Theatre Complicite

    Stories of journeys fragment, reflect, repeat and revolve like the act of memory itself as Mnemonic questions our understanding of time, our capacity to distort history and our attempts to retell the past. In order to rehearse and present the play, the students in DART 4F56 must disassemble the assemblage devised by the original creators, and put it back together twenty years in the future.

    Tweets by @dartmnemonic

    Showtimes: October 23 and 24, 2015 at 7:00 p.m.
    Location: the Dramatic Arts Theatre at 15 Artists’ Common

    Tickets: $5.00, and are available for purchase through the box office of the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre in St. Catharines. Online purchases may be made at www.firstontariopac.ca

     

    MNEMONIC examines globalization and the on-going refugee crises and diasporas of our world today

    Mnemonic is a dramatic performance presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART 4F56), held in the Dramatic Arts Theatre, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, on October 23 & 24, 2015 at 7 pm.

    The script was originally devised by the Théâtre de Complicité, a company celebrated internationally for its insights into the human implications of globalization. The DART 4F56 ensemble re-devises Mnemonic by exhuming the past in order to examine it in the present. A show that was personal and immediate to the Balkan crises of the 1990’s, it demands a personal and cultural reflection into the on-going refugee crises and diasporas of today’s world.

    Mnemonic takes us on an odyssey to find a father, and new possible meanings for the word “home.” Stories and characters are intertwined and bound in a quest that takes the audience across Europe and back in time 5000 years to explore the fate of an Ice Man. Mnemonic shows that, like the veins on a leaf, our identity and culture are connected through a web of associations embedded in our memories. What makes us who we are? What triggers our awareness of others and ourselves in the difficult process of relationship?

    Guided by professor Gyllian Raby, ensemble members include: Elizabeth Amos, Eliza Anthony, Kelsey Burcher, Mary Askwith, Marie Evers, Alex Franks, Mark Harrigan, Robert Herr, Daryl Hunter, Jeremy Knapton, Katelyn Lander, Kevin Langendyk, Cole Larson, Oriana Marrone, Melinda Mohammed, Josh Sanger, and Raylene Turner.

    Such programs 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. For more information about the Department of Dramatic Arts brocku.ca/dramaticarts The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is located at its new, state-of-the-art teaching, production and performance facility in the heart of the City of St. Catharines, at 15 Artists’ Common.

    Mnemonic runs October 23 & 24, at 7 pm, and will be held in the Dramatic Arts Theatre (second floor), at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, in downtown St. Catharines. For more information, visit the Mnemonic Facebook Event Page.

    Tickets are just $5 and are available at the door, or through the FirstOntario Box Office at 905.688.0722; long distance toll free: 1.855.515.0722 or online at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre website.

    Parking is available in the downtown parking lots shown below:

     

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    Categories: Events, Plays

  • DART 4F56 presents: Awkward and Uncomfortable

    Saturday, April 18 2015, 7:30 pm to 10 pm

    Three interlocking stories explore how to survive the turbulence that washes over us when we question fundamental aspects of our identities. Is it better to find the answers to our secrets or to leave them locked away? And where is that elusive happy ending?

    Presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART 4F56).

    Location: Room ST107 (Studio Theatre), Schmon Tower, Brock University, 500 Glenridge Avenue, St. Catharines.
    Admission: Donations accepted

    Book your tickets by emailing: awkwardanduncomfortable@gmail.com or calling 906.688.5550 x5255

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    Categories: Events, Plays