Articles tagged with: Stratford Festival

  • Dramatic Arts students discover “this rough magic.” Brock University returns to the Stratford Festival.

    Wednesday, January 21, 2026 | By

    Seen above: The Festival Theatre at Stratford.  Having begun performances in 1953 under a tent, the Festival moved into its first permanent theatre in 1957.  

    Every year, students at Brock University participate in a unique immersive and stimulating two weeks of study at Canada’s preeminent festival of theatre, the Stratford Festival of Theatre in Stratford, Ontario. Whether in the performance studios, rehearsal halls, seminar rooms or the four theatres of the Festival, our students are the leading participants in a diverse community from Guelph, Western, Waterloo and Windsor universities.

    To learn more about the courses Shakespeare: Voice & Text, Shakespeare in Performance, and the Stratford experience, we spoke with Dramatic Arts (DART) students Colby Code (Dramatic Arts BA(HONR)/BED Concurrent Education 2028), Lu Charters (Dramatic Arts BA(HONR)/BED Concurrent Education 2027), Emma Marcy (Dramatic Arts BA(HONR) 2026) and Professor Danielle Wilson of the Department of Dramatic Arts.  Danielle is a specialist in voice, performance, and devised theatre. She also directs mainstages for the Dramatic Arts and creates and performs in original new plays that tour the festival circuit.   In June 2024 Danielle hosted the inaugural National Voice Association/Association Nationale De La Voix (NVA/ANV) conference at Brock University. She is the Stratford Festival program liaison for Brock University.

    2026 Season promotion for The Tempest.

    The studio-based course Shakespeare: Voice & Text is an intensive immersion that focuses on acting the language of Shakespeare. The work is practical in its philosophy and its application, wholly designed to give the aspiring actor a handful of tools with which to explore, personalize and perform Shakespeare’s text. Combining tools to decipher Shakespeare’s language and make it their own along with exercises in voice, the course experience encourages and enables the actor to develop those facets of their vocal instrument, opening new access, experience and communication in Shakespeare’s language.

    Reflecting on the Voice and Text course, Colby emphasized the unique opportunity to learn about the textual understanding, analysis and proper use of the voice with Stratford’s voice and text coaches. “I gained deep insights into the work that Stratford performers put into their craft and much deeper knowledge about understanding Shakespeare text.”

    Emma remarked that “as an aspiring actress, the coaching I received from Martha Farrell and Tim Welham allowed me to grow as a performer, layering my action work with specificity and detail while learning new techniques and strategies.”

    Noting that this course deepened his understanding of heightened, Shakespearean language, Lu added that he feels “more confident than ever in my ability to perform Shakespeare’s text in fresh and honest ways.”

    From the perspective of a faculty specialist, Danielle remarked that for almost 20 years she has witnessed students returning from the Stratford Shakespeare intensive with a new appreciation and love for language. “It is an invaluable experience for a young person to immerse themselves in learning about and speaking the words of Shakespeare within a professional theatre context.”

    2026 Season promotion for Othello.

    The course Shakespeare in Performance invites students to explore both academic and experiential learning about three of Shakespeare’s plays in the current season. The course consists of intensive classroom study and discussion, visits with renowned artists in the Festival Company, as well as talkbacks and discussions with cast members of shows. Together the students see performances of three plays and engage with the productions through the lens of stage history, performance choices, changing reception and social contexts.

    Danielle remarked that the success of the Stratford program rests on the students’ opportunity to take full advantage of their learning in an immediate way by watching shows at night and speaking with the artists who are involved in bringing the plays to life. “I have seen them become more passionate about their learning and understanding of the world they live in as they discover that Shakespeare is grappling with the same themes that we continue to grapple with today.”

    With both a classroom and experiential approach to the study of Shakespeare, Emma noted that “having the opportunity to see the shows we were studying live immersed me in the stories and text in a way that could not be achieved in a classroom setting. After each show, we had the opportunity to meet actors in a talk-back setting which would not be possible without the festival’s amenities.”

    What makes this two-week intensive such a stimulating learning experience and an important part of our students’ degree portfolio they carry forward to teacher training, graduate or conservatory studies?

    Lu appreciated how much he will be able to incorporate his learning at Stratford into his own emerging career as an educator. “The courses give you a real opportunity to experience Shakespeare’s work in both personal (monologue performance) and external (performance viewing and play analysis) ways. Having such in-depth knowledge of how to break down and analyze Shakespeare’s text will help me teach my future students how to build the same skills,” he added.

    2026 Season promotion for Midsummer Night’s Dream.

    Emma offered that her participation in these courses strengthened her understanding of Shakespeare’s work, allowing her to view plays with new eyes, discovering hidden meanings and nuances where she never had before.

    She also exclaimed how many other students were involved. “This was a great experience to meet theatre-makers and students from the province that shared similar goals and interests to me. I also found myself surprised at the amount of curriculum that was covered, specifically in the performance portion of the class. Even though the course was only 2 weeks, I felt myself grow immensely as a performer. We broke Shakespeare’s text into manageable, digestible pieces, playing close attention to detail, we completed work surrounding vowels, consonants, punctuation, etc. and every day I left class feeling like a stronger actor.”

    Asked if she would recommend these courses to future students, Emma enthusiastically described her learning in Stratford as a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience. “The opportunity to work closely with Tim and Martha is one that should not be passed up. They are highly experienced and knowledgeable. Reading and analyzing Shakespeare’s plays with a highly knowledgeable professor made me a better theatre-maker as I understand how text is purposeful, and how performance can challenge tradition in remarkable ways.”

    Facade of the Stratford Festival Theatre.

    Colby summed it up: “Overall the experience is incredible and definitely something to consider taking if you’re passionate about Shakespeare. The Stratford courses are one-of-a-kind experiences. Getting to work so closely with the Stratford professionals is an opportunity not to be missed.”

    In 2026 the two-week session runs from June 1 through June 13. The Festival season will feature Shakespeare’s The Tempest, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Othello.

    Other productions to see at the Festival include Guys and Dolls, Something Rotten!, Waiting for Godot, Death of a Salesman, The Hobbit, The Importance of Being Earnest, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, The King James Bible Play, and the world premiere of The Tao of the World.

    For more information about Brock’s program at Stratford and how to register, contact Professor Danielle Wilson at [email protected].

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    Categories: Announcements, Current Students, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, Media Releases, News, Uncategorised

  • IBPOC Critics Lab introduced to diversify criticism industry

    Monday, April 10, 2023 | By

    A man in decorative costume with long braided hair with face paint, perfroms on stage with other cast members and stage setting with red lighting in the background.

    Jay Emmanuel as Shiva with the company of Why Not Theatre’s production of Mahabharata that played at the Shaw Festival in March. Photo by David Cooper.

    From the spectacular recent staging of the Sanskrit epic Mahabharata at the Shaw Festival, to upcoming productions of Indigenous playwright Frances Koncan’s Women of the Fur Trade at the Stratford Festival and the world premiere re-imagining of Scott Joplin’s lost opera Treemonisha in this summer’s Luminato Festival, work by artists of colour in the Canadian performing arts is thriving.

    Lacking on the scene, however, are critics from diverse backgrounds to respond to these and other productions.

    A new initiative co-organized by Dramatic Arts Adjunct Professor Karen Fricker intends to fill this gap. The IBPOC Critics Lab is an initiative of Intermission magazine, where Fricker is editorial advisor, and the Stratford Festival, in association with the Honduran theatre critic Jose Solís, who piloted this model of training in the US.

    The Critics Lab is a space for Indigenous, Black and People of Colour to explore and develop theatre criticism skills. Eight emerging critics will participate in the Lab, which includes six sessions on Zoom and a face-to-face residential session at the 2023 Stratford Festival. Solís is developing the curriculum and will teach alongside Canadian critics and editors of colour including Glenn Sumi and Joshua Chong.

    “Opening up criticism to those who might not have thought there was a place for them in the field is very important to me and others in the field. It’s very exciting to bring Jose Solís’s pioneering work in this area to Canada for the first time,” said Fricker, who is co-organizing the lab with the Stratford Festival’s publicity director Ann Swerdfager, a former journalist.

    The program is open to Canadian residents who have not yet written but wish to pursue theatre criticism or those who already have some experience in the field. Participants will have the opportunity to explore criticism through writing as well as less traditional methods such as social media, podcasts, and more.

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Current Students, Events, Faculty & Instructors, Future students, In the Media, Media Releases, News, Performance Season, Plays, Shaw Intern Blog, Uncategorised, Visiting Artists

  • Distinguished Graduate a class act in Canadian theatre

    Friday, September 30, 2022 | By

    Headshot of a male in a light pink suit sitting on the armrest of a couch

    Originally published in The Brock News | THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2022 | by Charles Kim

    Though the spotlight may seem daunting to many people, it’s where Jordin Hall (BA ’10) feels most at home.

    The Brock Dramatic Arts graduate has found much success in his acting career and credits the groundwork he developed at Brock for helping to set his course.

    “Brock set the foundation for me early in my career. I learned how to respect the room, be diligent and work my craft,” says Hall, who was honoured during Brock’s Homecoming weekend as the Faculty of Humanities Distinguished Graduate Award recipient. “Those skills were all transferable and it immediately impacted my career following graduation.”

    Hall received his Bachelor of Arts in Dramatic Arts with a performance concentration from Brock in 2010. Following graduation, he found success as an actor in Toronto, working with many independent theatre companies and performing in leading roles for several Shakespearean productions, including Love’s Labour’s Lost and The Winter’s Tale (Dauntless City Theatre), Titus Andronicus (Seven Siblings Theatre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Humber River Shakespeare Company), and the title role of Othello for Driftwood Theatre.

    A woman on the left presenting a framed certificate to a male on the right pictured in front of a red backdrop.

    Carol Merriam, Dean of Brock’s Faculty of Humanities, presents Jordin Hall with the Faculty’s Distinguished Graduate Award at the Alumni Recognition Reception on Saturday, Sept. 24.

    Although he is now confident and eager to perform the works of Shakespeare, this wasn’t always the case.

    “From what I learned in high school, I thought I hated Shakespeare. In hindsight, this wasn’t the case at all; it was just how it was taught to us,” Hall says. “After breaking down the words and understanding how it was supposed to be read, I felt excited. I understood it and I was hungry for more.”

    Brock Dramatic Arts Professor Danielle Wilson says Hall was “always dedicated and driven.”

    “He was extremely passionate about performing even from a young age,” she says. “It was clear to me after a scene from Othello completed in one of my classes, he had an ability with language. He already knew how to use the words and had the voice to support them.”

    Following his success in Toronto, Hall found a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to study classical theatre with the Stratford Festival’s Birmingham Conservatory.

    “It is a prestigious organization to be with and it’s every young theatre person’s dream to be part of the conservatory,” he says. “I remember I had my callback, and I didn’t really know how it went. When I got a call offering me a spot, it was surreal, and I was so excited. I was truly grateful for that opportunity.”

    After achieving his dream of working with the Birmingham Conservatory, Hall joined the Stratford acting ensemble in 2018. Since then, he has been part of seven Stratford productions, including his acclaimed leading role of Bertram in this year’s production of All’s Well That Ends Well.

    Dramatic Arts Professor David Fancy praised Hall’s impact as a professional in Canadian theatre.

    “Jordin was very engaged with critical issues of representation and made strong intelligent contributions as a student,” he says. “There have been barriers to inclusion historically for racialized individuals in Canadian theatre. The fact that he is now working at one of the most recognized cultural institutions in the country is a huge sign of success.”

    As for what’s next, Hall says he wants to continue pursuing his craft.

    “In many ways, I am still finding my way as a performer, and I can’t say for sure what the future holds, but I can see myself with the Stratford Festival for a while,” he says. “I enjoy it and hope that we can continue to produce more great work together.”

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    Categories: Alumni, Announcements, Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • Much work to be done on live theatre’s road to recovery, says Brock prof

    Friday, August 27, 2021 | By

    Brock Dramatic Arts graduate Amanda McDonnell (BA ’15), who is part of the front of house team at the Shaw Festival, welcomed audiences back this summer. Photo credit: Michelle Mohammed. 

    THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2021 | by 

    After 17 months, the live theatrical experience is slowly making its return — but not without challenges ahead, says Brock theatre expert Karen Fricker.

    “Amidst the adversity that live performing arts have been faced with through the pandemic, a wonderful thing has happened this summer: the return of live theatrical performance, because it has been able to be outside,” says the Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Officer in Dramatic Arts (DART), who is an expert in theatre criticism, theatre theory and contemporary theatre.

    The Shaw and Stratford Festivals, two of Ontario’s most celebrated repertory companies, have been staging performances outdoors under canopies (tents with no walls) with mandatory masks for audiences in addition to capacity limits in accordance with provincial guidance. Both festivals are taking audience, artist and staff safety seriously, with COVID-19 protocols in place, says Fricker, who is also a theatre critic for the Toronto Star, writing about performances in the city as well as the Shaw and Stratford Festivals each summer.

    Although these outdoor performances do not come close to hosting the usual number of spectators, Fricker says this is a “big step in the right direction.”

    “Artists are being paid and creativity is happening,” she says, adding that while “innovative digital work has been heroic during the pandemic, experiencing live performances in a shared space is a joyous return.”

    Brock’s Dramatic Arts Department engages with the Shaw Festival in numerous ways, including the annual DART/Shaw internship and course-based experiences with Shaw artists and arts workers. A number of DART students and graduates work at the festival in front of house, producing and administration, and creative capacities.

    Seeing some of those familiar faces at Shaw this summer has been a particular highlight, Fricker says.

    While outdoor performances are a step in the right direction, Fricker says there is still more work to do. There will be limited live, in-person programming in the performing arts sector this fall, mainly due to unclear guidance from the provincial government around reopening, she says.

    In the early summer, the performing arts industry lobbied the government to address live performances in the official stages of reopening. Now that the performing arts have been included, companies have been able to plan. However, “you can’t just lift a theatre production off in a few weeks; you need a runway,” Fricker says.

    Colleen Smith, Executive Director of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre (PAC) adjacent to Brock’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, says the team at the PAC has experienced these challenges first-hand.

    “Never did any of us whose lives revolve around bringing together artists and audiences believe that we would witness the end of the age-old adage, ‘the show must go on,’” she says. “In fact, the show stopped for months at a time. It’s been an unbelievable period of disruption, heartache and loss of purpose for so many artists and arts workers.”

    Smith says that “buoyed by our partners at the City of St. Catharines and Brock University, as well as the support from our Board of Directors, we have used the first half of 2021 to develop a three-year recovery strategy that will place the PAC firmly within our community as a centre for creative and artistic experiences and learning.”

    The PAC is planning a gradual return, starting with the annual Celebration of Nations gathering, which will be in a hybrid format in September.

    Among the local theatre organizations taking important steps to make innovative work and engage the public in Niagara safely is the young people’s theatre company Carousel Players, which is focusing on new play development in August and September.

    “We are experimenting with a range of forms, including clown, puppetry and mask,” says Artistic Director and Brock graduate Monica Dufault (MA ’11). “We want to offer new pieces that are dynamic and theatrically alive when we meet our audiences again.”

    The company will present an outdoor performance, The Giant Puppet Party, for Culture Days in October, a new digital play for ages 12 to 17 called Meet Chloe starting in November, and a school touring production of The Velveteen Rabbit for ages four to seven in March 2022.

    Suitcase in Point, another St. Catharines-based theatre company, recently announced the launch of a reimagined In the Soil Arts Festival running Friday, Aug. 27 to Saturday, Sept. 25. The festival includes opportunities to see live, original theatre, new music, comedy acts, installations and participatory workshops. All-inclusive festival passes are available for purchase online.

    DART graduate Deanna Jones (BA ’02), the Artistic Director of Suitcase in Point and In the Soil, says the limits of the last 17 months have been a “unique test on our arts organization and the arts community at large.”

    “We knew this 13th edition of our annual In the Soil Arts Festival would be different, and we were determined to find inspired ways to get off of our screens and offer artists and audiences safe ways to connect — in person.”

    During In the Soil, artists from Essential Collective Theatre will be set up on James and St. Paul Street interviewing community members about their pandemic experiences. Working on this initiative are DART graduates Jordine de Guzman (BA ’20), Kristina Ojaperv (BA ’19) and Ren Reid (BA ’20). The project will culminate in the Pandemic Stories Project, a new play to be read at St. Catharines’ Culture Days in early October.

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  • DART students attend Stratford Shakespeare Academy

    Wednesday, September 28, 2011 | By

    Stratford Shakespeare Academy.
    DART Students Josh Davidson and Emma Bulpin engage in valued ‘Art Talk’ between classes!

    Every summer students of the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) attend the annual Stratford Shakespeare Academy for a three week intensive two-course experience. The courses present an opportunity to study Shakespeare through the lenses of both performance and structured analytical criticism with some of Ontario’s leading university professors and Stratford professional coaches. During the typical 7.5 hour day students observe and enquire of the talent of working actors, trainers and directors while experiencing first-hand the programming of one of Canada’s most triumphant theatre Festivals.

    Josh Davidson, a fourth year performing arts student at DART, describes this opportunity as “…an experience unlike any other. During my traditional school experience, I never had the opportunity to embody Shakespeare, or any stylized theatrical form, quite like this course offered. My fellow students and I are always asked to focus on a multiplicity of various forms, in relationship to different classes during the school year. The Stratford Shakespeare Academy offers you the opportunity to study Shakespeare, and only Shakespeare, for a three week period. The benefit of this intensive class structure was invaluable.”

    The course encouraged students to formulate opinions and discussions in response to the four Shakespearean plays presented during the 2011 Stratford season. Davidson says “having the ability to witness professional Shakespeare productions, while in the midst of studying Shakespeare, was helpful and inspirational.” Acting students train to develop a personal artistic palette, molded and shaped with specific skill sets, knowledge and vocabulary. He continues, “Observing Shakespearean acting professionals “live” allowed me to reflect upon what my artistic palette already consists of and helped identify the areas needing more time and improvement.”

    Complementing the coursework is the opportunity for theatre students from the sponsoring universities – Guelph, Windsor, Queens and Waterloo – to meet and share their learning experiences. Josh asserts “the other side of this adventure was found in the social environment. We were able to share experiences, class work, opinions, and beliefs with other students who have been trained in different forms, theories and techniques from our own. This made for some great art-talk! I brought what Brock had to offer, and they brought what their own school offered. This intermingling between schools sparked new friendships, new artistic discoveries and made the course experience very rewarding as a student and actor.”

    Josh concluded, “I would encourage any high-school student with performance interests to attend Brock University for these types of remarkable course experiences. The benefit of this intensive class structure is invaluable… I don’t think anyone could walk away from this experience without finding something to enrich their studies, while also helping to form the work they create in the future.”

    In September these fourth year students return to DART, fresh with the legacy of these formative course experiences.  Working together with their newly tuned artistic palettes, they will create provocative and innovative theatrical performance for the Brock community.

    Students interested in more information about the Stratford Shakespeare Academy should contact the Department at [email protected]

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  • Canadian Actor Brent Carver Visits DART

    Wednesday, March 03, 2010 | By

    brentcarverStar 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.

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