Articles tagged with: The Brock News

  • Dramatic arts prof interviewed on national radio

    Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, was inteviewed on CBC Radio's Q Monday morning.

    Karen Fricker, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, was inteviewed on CBC Radio’s Q Monday morning.

    (Source: The Brock NewsMonday, January 21, 2013 | by )

    A Brock University dramatic arts professor was interviewed on national radio about the current state of affairs of entertainment giant Cirque du Soleil.

    Karen Fricker was a guest Monday on CBC Radio’s Q, a daily arts and culture magazine. The assistant professor talked about the implications of Montreal-based Cirque du Soleil’s recent announcement that it was laying off 400 people.

    “This is significant because Cirque du Soleil is a very strong brand and usually the coverage around it is positive,” Fricker said.

    The segment of the show, hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, looked at whether the company was in crisis and if the layoffs meant the end of a Canadian success story made world famous for its performances that incorporate gravity-defying acrobatics and stunning choreography.

    From Fricker’s perspective, Cirque du Soleil isn’t going anywhere but it has grown at an unsustainable rate.

    The company has even admitted to not having appropriate control over its spending.

    “That’s an important admission,” Fricker said. “They’re making money but they’re spending too much and (cutting jobs) is a line in the sand, a signal their practices need to change .”

    Fricker was joined by J. Kelly Nestruck, a theatre critic for the Globe and Mail, on the show.

    The segment will air again Monday night on CBC Radio One at 10 p.m. and can be heard online or as a podcast.

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Brock actress scores top honour at Spanish international film festival

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    Katie Coseni with her Silver Shell Award for best actress from the San Sebastián Film Festival in Spain

    (Source: The Brock NewsFriday, October 5, 2012)

    It was a callback Katie Coseni won’t soon forget.

    The second-year dramatic arts student had just returned from six days at the San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain, where the film in which she plays one of the lead roles, Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, was given the red carpet treatment.

    It was her second stop on the international film festival circuit, after the film’s premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in early September.

    She was alone in her room when she got the call.

    “I looked at the number and it was from France,” says Coseni. “I was like that’s really weird, why is someone from France calling me?”

    It was one of the producers from the film on the other end of the line notifying her that the festival wanted her to come back so that she could accept her award.

    foxfire6-267x299_dvI was like, what award?” Coseni remembers.

    The award in question was the Silver Shell for Best Actress.

    “I made her repeat it six times because I thought she was joking,” says Coseni. “It was really incredible.”

    Coseni was given the honour along with Spanish actor Marcarena García for her turn in Blancanieves, a silent black-and-white reinterpretation of Snow White set in 1920s Spain.

    “It’s kind of like ‘did that actually happen?’” says Coseni about receiving the award. “I still can’t believe it.”

    “I see the box that the award came in on my desk and I forget what it is for a second, and then I remember ‘Oh yeah, I got this really awesome prestigious award,’” she says. “It’s just incredible.”

    Created in 1953, this year is the 60th anniversary of the San Sebastián International Film Festival, one of the most important cinema festivals in the world.

    “San Sebastien was just a whole otherworldly experience,” says Coseni. “It was all just a huge whirlwind.”

    “I would wake up in the morning and then I would go to hair and make-up and then I’d go to a photo shoot and then a press conference and then interviews and then I’d have an hour for lunch, and then I’d have to go get ready for the red carpet, and then I’d have to do this and this and this,” she says. “But it was really fun.”

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    above, Katie Coseni in the film Foxfire

    When asked about her future in acting in light of her recent accolades, the first-time film actor is looking to take advantage of her recent success.

    “I’m taking steps now towards getting agents,” she says. “Hopefully that will lead to more auditions because I really do want to do this for as long as I can because I love it.”

    After a busy few months of publicizing Foxfire, Coseni is ready to switch gears and get back to her studies.

    “For right now, it’s just school and trying to get back to normal,” she says.

    foxfire06_dv

    A film still from the movie Foxfire featuring Brock-student Katie Coseni (right)

    But that all depends on what you consider normal. Coseni received her callback on a Friday morning, hopped on a plane later that night, arrived in Spain Saturday night one hour before she was to receive the Silver Shell at the awards gala, woke up Sunday morning to fly back home, arrived home Sunday night and was back in class Monday morning.

    “It feels like it happened so long ago, it’s really weird,” she says laughing. “It took like a day or so getting back to my regular sleeping pattern. It feels like I just got back from summer vacation.”

    Foxfire is slated for theatrical release in France in January 2013 and plans are in the works for a Canadian release in Spring 2013.

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    Categories: Current Students, News

  • Brock student hits the international red carpet 

    Katie Coseni

    Coseni on the red carpet at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival.

    DART student Katie Coseni was recently featured in an article in The Brock News:

    “Katie Coseni’s first experience at the Toronto International Film Festival was not typical.

    Rather than chasing celebrities for autographs and crowding the edges of red carpets in hopes of catching a glimpse of movie stars, the second-year dramatic arts student found herself on the red carpet soaking up the limelight.

    Coseni plays one of the lead roles in the film Foxfire: Confessions of a Girl Gang, which premiered at this year’s festival on Sept. 10.”

    The article continues: “. . . . Coseni’s long journey to the red carpet in Toronto all started when she responded to an open casting call in 2010.

    “A friend and I went to a drama camp when I was in middle school,” she says. “I guess we stayed on their mailing list and they sent out a flyer about this audition.”

    . . . Coseni credits her fellow students and professors in the dramatic arts program at Brock for being extremely supportive of her foray into film. Students would share their notes with her when she missed classes and professors were accommodating when it came to handing in assignments.

    “Because I was going to school for drama and I was missing school because of a movie, they understood,” she said. “It’s a very supportive and friendly environment.””

    From the article by Jeffrey Sinibaldi in the Brock News.  Read more of the article here.

    congratulations to Katie!

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    Categories: Current Students, News

  • Powwow held on Campus Sept.7

    Adrienne Smoke. Photo By: DK Martin

    Adrienne Smoke. Photo By: DK Martin

    (Source: The Brock NewsMonday, August 27, 2012 | by )

    Students, staff and Niagara residents were invited to start their school year off to the beat of a different drum.

    The Student Justice Centre hosted a powwow on Friday, Sept. 7 in Jubilee Court to celebrate the fall harvest in partnership with the Tecumseh Centre for Aboriginal Research and EducationAboriginal Student Services and Brock University Students’ Union.

    The event featured inter-tribal drumming and dance demonstrations, and opportunities for audience members to participate in traditional dancing.

    “It’s a gathering to celebrate life and be thankful as well as to hang out with old friends and make new ones,” said Adrienne Smoke, a third-year drama student, who came up with the idea for the event. “Powwows are about sharing our culture to help educate people about the current native people not the ancient ones we read about in old outdated textbooks.”

    This free event also featured a barbecue, vegetarian options and samples of traditional food, such as three sisters soup, corn bread and strawberry juice. The Brock farmers market was also held during the powwow.

    Doors opened at 10 a.m. with the grand entry happening at noon. Closing ceremonies were at 3:30 p.m.

    For more information or to participate as a dancer, drummer or vendor, email the Student Justice Centre, visit them online or call 905-688-5550, ext. 6325.

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    Categories: Current Students, In the Media, News

  • Dramatic Arts performance of Phèdre examines passion, politics and jealousy

    (Source: The Brock News, Monday, February 14, 2011)

    Suppressed desire and ancient power struggles collide in this week’s production of Phèdre at Brock.

    Phèdre, written by Jean Racine, will be presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts at the Sean O’Sullivan Theatre. Phèdre – translated into English by British poet Ted Hughes – mixes poetry, political intrigue and sexual jealousy.

    The play contains a principal love triangle of Phèdre, her husband Theseus and his son Hippolytus. Phèdre has a forbidden passion for her stepson that unleashes a wave of tragic consequences.

    The roles are played by Dramatic Arts undergraduate students, including Kasey Dunn, Michael Pearson, Eric Frank, Emma Bulpin, Lauren Beaton, Josh Davidson, Kedie McIntyre, and Madison Roca. The play is directed by Virginia Reh and designed by David Vivian, both Dramatic Arts faculty members.

    The myths around Theseus, Phaedra and Hippolytus have fascinated playwrights for ages, Reh said.

    “Racine’s masterpiece distils the best of his major sources, particularly Euripides’ Hippolytus,” she said. “From Euripides he borrows the fundamentally principled Phaedra, an essentially moral woman who is tormented by a forbidden passion and chooses to die rather than surrender to it. The tragedy is at once epic and domestic.“

    Performances:

    • Thursday, Feb. 17, 7:30 p.m.
    • Friday, Feb. 18, 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
    • Saturday, Feb. 19, 7:30 p.m.

    Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for students and seniors. To order, call 905-688-5550 x3257 or email boxoffice@brocku.ca

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    Categories: In the Media, News

  • Musical theatre takes centre stage

    virginiareh

    Assistant Professor Virginia Reh in the DART Props Shop

    Canadian musical theatre is a little like Canadian film and Canadian writing. It takes place in our own backyard, but our brightest stars are often hidden from public consciousness.

    Virginia Reh is on a mission to change that.

    An assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, Reh is the driving force behind an upcoming conference called Lyric CANADA 2010 from Oct. 21 to 23. David Vivian, associate professor and director of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture, is also an organizer.

    With the conference, Reh hopes to push Canadian musicals and opera into the minds of academics and the general public. That way, she said, more people will write about it. More people will study it. And most importantly, more people will know that it exists. (See the full article here.)

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, News

  • Professor studies dark tourism

    (Source: The Brock News. Thursday, September 9, 2010)

    Imagine a tourism experience where you pay to spend hours pretending to illegally cross the American border from Mexico.

    You trudge through muddy fields under the blare of gunfire. You run exhausted through sewer tunnels. You are placed, scared and blindfolded, in the back of a truck, only to end up where you started — at a restaurant, gift shop and main office, and people telling you to enjoy your stay.

    This is the new trend in post-9/11 dark tourism, a term that describes the act of visiting the sites of tragedies as a tourist. This experience is called immersive simulation, and Natalie Alvarez, assistant professor of Dramatic Arts, is writing a book about it.

    Alvarez has received $23,449 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council for her research project, “Enactments of difference: immersive simulations and performance from training to dark tourism.” Alvarez will study two types of immersive simulation: that experienced by tourists, and that experienced by soldiers who train in increasingly popular model villages to prepare them for overseas interaction with foreign cultures. Included in that is investigating how performance techniques are used in counterterrorism and intelligence training.

    One dark tourism experience Alvarez will study is that of El Alberto, Mexico, where the community has been depleted by immigration to the U.S. Mexicans pay $20 (U.S.) each to be taken on an overnight fake U.S. border crossing. Ironically, the popularity of the adventure tourism has rejuvenated the town’s economy. Alvarez has twice experienced the tour, which she describes as frightening and surprisingly political, given that it’s billed as adventure tourism.

    “It started with a rousing speech by members of the community about how the work is an homage to those who lost their lives crossing the border,” she said. “We sang the Mexican anthem, followed by the sounds of sirens in the distance of the U.S. border patrol and shouts telling us to start running.”

    Other examples include a recreated Stalin-era Gulag prison camp in Lithuania, where people pay to spend a day as prisoners. In Liepaja, Latvia, tourists stay overnight in a naval jail.

    Alvarez will also visit simulated villages used to train soldiers for duties in Iraq and Afghanistan. There is a recreated Afghani village in Norfolk, England, and simulated Iraqi villages in California and Arizona, where actors are recruited to play insurgents and civilians.

    Demand for these simulations has skyrocketed since 9/11, she said.

    “A lot of performance scholars and performance artists talk about the border hysteria and the kind of war on difference that evolved from 9/11,” she said. “There seems to be a desire to rehearse encounters with the cultural ‘other’. I want to know what kind of anxieties are being played out in these scenarios.”

    While on the surface, immersive dark tourism and immersive military simulation seem unrelated, “there are intersecting themes that make them worth putting together in conversation,” she said.

    Alvarez will spend the next two years traveling and observing these simulations, followed by a year of writing.

    Alvarez, who is cross-appointed to Liberal Arts, joined Brock in 2006. She currently serves as a co-editor of the Canadian Theatre Review’s Views and Reviews and has two forthcoming edited books: Fronteras Vivientas, an anthology of Latina/o-Canadian plays, and New Essays on Latina/o-Canadian Theatre and Performance. Both are published by Playwrights Canada Press.

    Links:
    • Natalie Alvarez faculty page
    • Full list of Brock’s SSHRC recipients
    • Past “researcher of the month” profiles

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    Categories: Faculty & Instructors, In the Media, News

  • 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.ca

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    Categories: In the Media, News