Articles tagged with: Shaw Festival

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

    Saturday, April 20, 2013 | By

    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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    Categories: Alumni, News

  • SHAW Summer Internship Program

    Thursday, March 29, 2012 | By

    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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    Categories: Alumni, Current Students, News

  • Lyric Canada 2010

    Sunday, September 12, 2010 | By

    LyricCANADA 2010 – Thursday, October 21 through Saturday, October 23, 2010.

    Brock University, St. Catharines ON (daytime program)
    Shaw Festival, Niagara-on-the-Lake (evening program)

    Lyric Canada 2010 is an inaugural international conference consisting of one Keynote presentation, two Plenary presentations, Moderated Roundtable, 14 presentations by scholars and practitioners, and 15 Showcase presentations involving composers, librettists and performers.

    Lyric Canada 2010 will bring together creators of lyric theatre in Canada and abroad with scholars whose research does or could encompass their work. In this context the term “lyric theatre” encompasses a wide range of dramatic works in which sung text is an integral part. Thus it includes cabaret, musicals, operetta, opera and all points in between.

    By uniting a transnational group of researchers and creators of lyric theatre, we intend to develop a network from which to draw inspiration, expertise and experience for anyone pursuing research or production of this unique art form.

    Why is this an important event?
     This is an innovative ground-breaking project that nobody else is doing.
     For the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts this conference broadcasts Community Outreach and collaboration with the Shaw Festival, our major international collaborator in cultural creation and industry in the Niagara Peninsula.
     We are fostering the development and enrichment of Pedagogical Experiences and Institutional Relationships.
     We are bringing internationally known Composers and Writers to share their creative intelligence and experience with the Brock and Niagara communities.

    SHOWCASE PRESENTATIONS AT THE SHAW FESTIVAL

    A special component of the conference program will be the presentation of new and recent works in the Lyric CANADA 2010 Showcase. The Shaw Festival is a major collaborator in this project, facilitating three evenings of presentation of new and recent works in the Lyric Canada 2010 Showcase program in the Studio Theatre at the Shaw Festival. Details of the Showcase program are available on the website lyriccanada.ca. The program includes:

    Leslie Arden One Step Forward 
    Tapestry New Opera: Tapestry’s Creative Process: Marjorie Chan, Writer in Residence as hostess; A writer/composer team from the most recent LIBLAB; 2 Opera Briefs (10 minutes)
    Paul Sportelli, Jay Turvey, and members of the Shaw Company Maria Severa
    Bram Gielen, Tracy Michailidis, with the Summerworks hit Biggish Kids
    among other established and new artists on the Canadian and American lyric theatre scene.

    Tickets to the Showcase performances are available through the
    Centre for the Arts Box Office at Brock University boxoffice.brocku.ca
    (search for lyric)
    905.688.5550 x 3257 (within local region only) or 1.866.617.3257 (outside local region)
    Cost: $25.00 for one evening program; $65.00 for all three evening programs

    PLENARY SPEAKERS

    Stewart Wallace (the composer of Harvey Milk and The Bonesetters Daughter) is coming from Texas en route to China to present the Keynote speech: FATE! LUCK! CHANCE! Adventures in Opera Making

    Sarah Schlesinger, Chair of Graduate Musical Theatre Writing at the Tisch School of Arts (NYU), Sarah is a multiple award-wining lyricist and librettist – her works include The Ballad of Little Joe, Prairie Songs, and Swing Shift. Sarah will be speaking about nurturing and training the next generation of writers and composers in lyric theatre. We are also programming a pedagogical experience between herself and students of the Departments of Music and Dramatic Arts wherein students of Brock can learn from this powerhouse writer in lyric theatre in an intensive workshop moment.

    Our very special guest Canadian Plenary speaker is Jim Betts, Canadian composer, lyricist, and librettist (Colours in the Storm, Thin Ice, Shooting of Dan McGrew), and author of Field of Stars: Songs of the Canadian Musical Theatre (2004) and Field of Stars: More Songs of the Canadian Musical Theatre (2008) (Toronto: Northern River Music). Jim’s provocative presentation is entitled Why Canadians Can’t Write Musicals (And Why Almost No One Else Can, Either)

    PANEL PRESENTATIONS

    Thirty panel presenters from Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States complete the wealth of the panel program to be presented at Brock University.

    A selection of the three-day program includes:

    JOINT SESSION:
    Robert Walsh, composer will present From the Ashes: The development of lyrics in The Forbidden Phoenix, with Wayne Strongman and Tapestry New Opera, Toronto speaking about their production Iron Road

    JOINT SESSION: Kathryn Harvey, University of Guelph’s L. W. Conolly Theatre Archives and Francesca Marini, Stratford Festival, ON, will speak about the challenges of archiving performance, particularly musical theatre, and the wealth of their respective archival collections.

    Mel Atkey, London-based author of Broadway North: The Dream of a Canadian Musical Theatre will speak about his new volume: A Million Miles from Broadway: Musical Theatre from a Universal Perspective

    Julie Salverson, Queen’s University, ON will present Opera meets clown and the Atomic Bomb . . . The development of Shelter 

    Sheldon Rosen, Ryerson University, and Darren Russo, McGill University, will present Hansel & Gretel: Typographic Play

    Please see the online programme schedule at lyriccanada.ca

    The Conference may be attended in whole or in part. Members of the public are welcome to the conference or only attend the evening performances at the Shaw Festival.

    Conference Registration is available at the conference website lyriccanada.ca
    Cost: $150.00 to 290.00 depending upon program and including the Showcase program.

    questions or inquiries, please contact:

    Marie Balsom, Communications
    Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University
    Niagara Region | 500 Glenridge Ave. | St. Catharines, ON L2S 3A1
    mbalsom@brocku.ca | T 905 688 5550 x4765 | F 905 378 5712

    Your hosts for LyricCANADA 2010:

    Professors Virginia Reh (Dramatic Arts)
    vreh@brocku.ca

    David Vivian (Dramatic Arts/Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture)
    dvivian@brocku.ca

    LyricCANADA 2010 is produced with the generous support of:

    Brock SSHRC Institutional Grant (BSIG)
    The Humanities Research Institute of Brock University
    The Marilyn I Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
    The Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture
    The Department of Dramatic Arts
    The Department of Music
    Centre of Teaching, Learning and Educational Technologies, at Brock University

    and our special collaborator
    The Shaw Festival

    Hospitality vehicle provided by St. Catharines Mazda

    website: lyriccanada.ca
    general enquiries: info@lyriccanada.ca

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