News

• Dramatic Arts presents: In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times

  Monday, March 12, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  featuring Dr. Kerr Mesner, Arcadia University (performer) with
  Dr. Stephen Low (Moderator, Discussant and Talkback Facilitator)

  Thursday, March 15, 2018 7:00-9:00 pm, in the MIW THEATRE

  In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times is a one-person performance piece, combining multimedia, live theatrical performance, and audience engagement to create an evocative and thought provoking dramatic experience. This autoethnographic theatrical piece explores the intersections of queer identities, Christianity’s contributions to antiqueer
  violence, and the challenges of embodying transgender identities within our current political contexts. Mesner weaves a narrative arc between current live theatrical performances from his 2017 piece, In Transit and multimedia excerpts from the filmic
  version of his 2014 play, Intervention, that was part of his doctoral dissertation.

  This performance will be of interest to scholars, graduate students, practitioners, and activists working in such areas as arts based educational research, performance studies, transgender and queer studies, religion/theology, and anti-oppressive education.

  All events take place at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  15 Artists’ Common, St Catharines ON L2R 0B5
  A free community event!
  Tickets and registration not required. Limited parking available.

  Contact Dr. Joe Norris jnorris@brocku.ca for more information.

  Dr. Mesner is one of our Walker Cultural Leaders for 2017-18.  This series brings leading artists, performers, practitioners and academics to the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Engaging, lively and erudite, these  sessions celebrate professional achievement, artistic endeavour and the indelible role of culture in our society.
  This education program is generously founded by Marilyn I. Walker. Please join us!

  Tags: Department of Dramatic Arts, dramatic arts, In Transit: Artistic Interventions in Precarious Times Kerr Mesner, Walker Cultural Leader Series, WCL
  

• MIWSFPA offers ticket promotion in honour of International Women’s Day

  Tuesday, March 06, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Brock Dramatic Arts students Manchari Paranthahan and Meryl Ochoa in the production of Top Girls playing at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts March 2 to 10.

  (Source: The Brock News | Wednesday, March 13, 2018)

  The Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts is offering a special Top Girls promotion in honour of International Women’s Day.

  Tickets for the Brock production’s March 9 and 10 performances will be two for the price of one when buyers mention International Women’s Day.

  The promotion will be available in person at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre box office or by phone at 905-688-0722. Box office hours are Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

  Top Girls, Brock’s second mainstage production of the year, is a contemporary play that takes a critical look at women and their relationship to power and success.

  More information on the show is available on the Brock News.

  Tags: BOGO free, Brock University, dart, downtown St. Catharines, dramatic arts, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, FOPAC, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, plays, The Brock News, Ticket Promotion, Top Girls
  Categories: Announcements, Events, In the Media, News

• Recital series to showcase student talent

  Thursday, March 01, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Second-year violinist Jessica Tigchelaar takes centre stage at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on Friday, March 2 at 7:30 p.m.

  The stage is set for the stars of Brock’s Department of Music to shine.

  Student talent will be highlighted during a month-long recital series that begins Friday, March 2.

  The inaugural performance will feature violinist Jessica Tigchelaar, a second-year student, accompanied by Luis Molina on the piano. The show will take place at the Concordia Seminary Chapel on campus, where half of the recitals will take place. The remaining shows will happen at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre in downtown St. Catharines.

  

  Fourth-year pianist Luis Molina accompanies Jessica Tigchelaar on stage Friday, March 2. Molina then has his own solo performance Monday, April 2 at 7:30 p.m. in the Cairns Recital Hall of the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

  The series will feature Brock’s most talented performers, who enrol in recital courses for credit following a rigorous audition process.

  Details for the following performances are available at the respective links:

  •   Friday, March 2: Jessica Tigchelaar and Luis Molina
  •   Monday, March 5: Rebecca Heathcote and Karen Lam 
  •   Friday, March 9: Alyssa Shanghavi and Gary Forbes
  •   Monday, March 19: Ryan Baxter
  •   Saturday, March 24: Jesse Luciani
  •   Sunday, March 25: Eric Godfree
  •   Monday, March 26: William Sadler and Lesley Kingham
  •   Monday, April 2: Luis Molina

  Tags: Brock University, Cairns Recital Hall, Concert, Concordia Seminary Chapel, department of music, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, Instrumental students, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, miwsfpa, Student Solo Recitals
  Categories: Current Students, Department/Centre News, Events

• Expressions of Today / Expressions d’aujourd’hui

  Saturday, February 24, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  Art by Mat Vizbulis.

  Students in Studies in Arts and Culture as well as in French Studies at Brock University explore contemporary expressions in art and literature and create unusual stories mixing narrative and art-making. Their starting point is a graffiti artwork by artist Mat Vizbulis.

  Des étudiants en Etudes en français et en Studies in Arts and Culture à l’Université Brock explorent des expressions contemporaines dans l’art et la littérature, et construisent des histoires inhabituelles mélangeant narration et création d’art. Leur point de départ est un graffiti de l’artiste Mat Vizbulis.

  Exhibition: Saturday Mar. 3 to Friday Mar. 16 / samedi 3 mars à vendredi 16 mars

  Gallery hours: Wednesday 10-5, Thursday 12-9, Friday 12-9, and Saturday 12-5 / mercredi 10-5, jeudi 12-9, vendredi 12-9, et samedi 12-5

  Opening Reception: Thursday Mar. 8 from 6-8 pm / jeudi 8 mars 6h-8h en soirée

  Location: Niagara Artists Centre (NAC)

  354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines, ON

  This is free community event!

  Tags: french studies, graffiti, Mat Vizbulis, NAC, Niagara Artists Centre, studies in arts and culture
  Categories: Announcements, Events, Faculty & Instructors

• TOP GIRLS: opens March 2!

  Saturday, February 24, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  by Caryl Churchill.

  Directed by DANIELLE WILSON
  Set Design by NIGEL SCOTT
  Costume Design by KELLY WOLF
  Lighting Design by JENNIFER JIMENEZ
  Original Music by MAX HOLTEN-ANDERSEN
  Assistant Direction by MICHELLE MOHAMMED
  Dialect Coaching by JANE GOODERHAM

  When: March 2-10, 2018

  FRIDAY, MARCH 2 and SATURDAY, MARCH 3 at 7:30 pm
  SUNDAY, MARCH 4 at 2:00 pm
  FRIDAY, MARCH 9 at 11:30 am and 7:30 pm
  SATURDAY, MARCH 10 at 7:30 pm

  What would you sacrifice to get to the top?
  Top Girls opens at the MIWSFPA on March 2.

  TOP GIRLS, by celebrated playwright Caryl Churchill and directed by Danielle Wilson, runs from Friday, March 2, 2018 to Saturday, March 10, 2018 in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, 15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines.

  

  Manchari Paranthahan as Nell, Meryl Ochoa as Win, in Top Girls at Brock University.

  The Department of Dramatic Arts, part of Brock University’s Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, is proud to present an original production of this venerable play about women and power. First produced in 1982, last seen in Niagara at the Shaw Festival in 2015, this contemporary play tells the story of Marlene, a career-driven woman who is only interested in women’s success in business.

  The play is an exploration and critical look at women and their relationship to power and success. For the director, Professor Danielle Wilson, the main question at the heart of the play is “what would you sacrifice to get to the top?”

  The play follows the story of Marlene, who in 1980’s London has just been promoted to managing director of the Top Girls Employment Agency. With a magic realist twist we see Marlene celebrate her success at a dinner party with five women from history, literature, and art, and as the drink begins to flow, so do their stories of family, adventure, and loss which overlap in witty and humorous dialogue.

  

  Manchari Paranthahan as Nell, Meryl Ochoa as Win, Helena Ciurciura as Marlene, in Top Girls at Brock University.

  Throughout the play we also meet the real-life women in Marlene’s life at the office. They struggle to rise to the top of the corporate ladder but are held back by lack of opportunity and the harsh competitiveness of the business world.

  The themes and story of the play are extremely topical.  The play examines the challenges of working women who choose self-promotion and career over motherhood, family, domesticity. We learn of the cost of Marlene’s ‘successful’ life. Set during the reign of the British Prime Minster Margaret Thatcher, known as the “Iron Lady”, the play asks whether it was an advance to have a woman prime minister if we elected someone with policies like hers.

  TOP GIRLS highlights the contradictions between feminism and capitalism. A running theme throughout the play is the secrets that underpin Marlene’s success which in some ways serve to perpetuate the patriarchal structure common in many workplaces. We only learn of these secrets in the final confrontational scene with her closest family, Joyce and her daughter, Angie.

  The play is directed by Dramatic Arts faculty Danielle Wilson. Professional collaborating artists include set designer Nigel Scott, costume designer by Kelly Wolf, lighting designer Jennifer Jimenez and music composer Max Holten-Andersen. Jane Gooderham is the Dialect Coach.

  

  Helena Ciurciura as Marlene, Emma McCormick as Angie, in Top Girls at Brock University.

  TOP GIRLS showcases the talents of students in the Department of Dramatic Arts undergraduate program. Michelle Mohammed is the Assistant Director, Alicia Marie Bender is the Stage Manager, Whiney Braybrook-Byl is Assistant Stage Manager. Performers include: Helena Ciuciura, Emma McCormick, Samantha Mastrella, Meryl Ochoa, Manchari Paranthahan, Catherine Tait and Kristina Ojaperv.

  READ ALL ABOUT IT!

  Director Danielle Wilson discusses feminism, ambition, #MeToo and the unique challenge of mounting this play in a brief interview found at the bottom of this page.
  
  Fourth-year student and Assistant Director for the production, Michelle Mohammed, is writing about the development of the show in a dedicated blog: darttopgirls.wordpress.com and dartcritics.com

  The public presentation program of the Department of Dramatic Arts is an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate to contribute to regional cultural development and build community connections by engaging our audiences with the breadth of talent and creativity of the students, staff, guest artists and faculty of Brock University.

  The Department invites teachers and educators to bring their students to see this exciting production of TOP GIRLS.
  Read the Special Invitation to learn more.

  Marilyn I. Walker Theatre at the
  Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
  Limited parking onsite.

  Purchase tickets at the FirstOntario PAC Box Office
  905.688.0722 or online firstontariopac.ca
  Tickets: $18 Adults|$15 Seniors/Students| $5 eyeGo | $12 Groups
  *Applicable fees and taxes are extra

  See the article in the Brock News.

  ---

  We asked the director of Top Girls, Professor Danielle Wilson, about feminism, ambition, and the unique challenges of mounting this play.

  What type of feminist beliefs does Top Girls draw upon?

  The play is an exploration and critical look at women and their relationship to power and success. For me the main question at the heart of the play is “what would you sacrifice to get to the top?” Something is always sacrificed, whether it be relationships, personal integrity, mental health, leisure time etc., in the pursuit of success. Top Girls looks specifically at women’s responsibilities and relationships with each other in a capitalistic and individualistic society. It tackles these issues in a broader political spectrum vs. it being about women overcoming their oppression. You can’t get away from being a woman in this play, no matter how hard these women try. What I understand is that the play was inspired by two streams of feminism: one which is about changing the economic situation for everyone which is more collectively oriented and one that accepts and supports an individual’s success over the collective gain. Top Girls examines an individualistic society in which the few thrive at the expense of many and one in which isolated female success overshadows the plight of the majority.

  How do you connect the feminism of the 1980’s portrayed in Top Girls to feminist movements and/or beliefs today? How do you think our students will understand the representation of feminist thought in your production?

  Fourth wave feminism, which we are seeing now, tends to be more collectively oriented. Social media started an entire #MeToo movement, which questions abuse of power. Top Girls discusses power and success in relationship to women. The main character in the play, Marlene, tends to use what one might call more ‘masculine’ tactics in the workplace. The entire corporate structure has been built on more masculine characteristics of leadership. When a woman is in a top position, masculine qualities can run contrary to what is expected of her gender, so she may be perceived as cold or distant or a bitch. Margaret Thatcher, who serves as an unseen character in the play was described as the ‘Iron Lady”, but no man who ruled in the way she did was ever called the ‘Iron Man’, he was just a man. She even had voice lessons to help her sound more masculine so that her cabinet would take her seriously. One of the characters in the play, Nell says that “an employer is going to have doubts about a lady, whether she’s got the guts to push through to a closing situation. They think we’re too nice. They think we listen to the buyer’s doubts. They think we consider his needs and his feelings.” We’re becoming aware that there is more than one way to lead and it is not an imperative to oppress or step on others in order to succeed.

  I think students will recognize the issues being debated between Marlene and Joyce as they each argue opposite political viewpoints. Today, there is definitely a more collectively oriented mindset as evidenced by the Occupy movement, Idle No More, and the #MeToo movement. There is resistance to the social and economic status quo. Young people, both men and women, are building strength through bonds with each other and challenging systemic abuse, racial profiling, and poor economic prospects.

  What is “the top”?

  I think it depends on the person. Success and reaching ‘the top’ is complicated and is defined by each person differently. For some it may be reaching the top over someone else, for others it may be reaching the top of one’s own potential.

  Marlene’s character seems to be the one striving for the “top” and stepping on anyone in her way, should we be feeling empathy for her? Should we like or dislike her? What should we be learning from her actions?

  I think ultimately it will be up to the audience to decide how they feel about her.  We learn a lot about her personal life in the third act and what she has sacrificed to get to where she is. Caryl Churchill, the playwright, has written a complex character who is flawed, but what human being isn’t? Some may admire and empathize with her actions. She did what she had to do. Others may not. We see both sides of the story in the final act in which she has a showdown with her sister, Joyce, who has taken a very different path in life. Ultimately, Churchill has written a play that involves more questions than answers, but that’s the beauty of it, you get to chew over these questions after the play is over. To me, that’s the mark of a great play.

  Are there significant challenges with this production that our audience would be interested in knowing about?

  The play involves a big dinner party at the very beginning. Caryl Churchill has written overlapping dialogue where people are talking over each other, like at a real dinner party. It has been challenging to choose what the audience hears and doesn’t hear.  Sometimes the audience will hear both and have to choose which to listen to. It has been both a challenge as a director and as an actor. Not only must the actors learn their lines, but they must also learn when they begin speaking in the middle of someone else’s line.

   

  February 17, 2018
  /dv

  Tags: Caryl Churchill, Danielle Wilson, Department of Dramatic Arts, mainstage
  

• Community collaboration leads to a new play by Brock prof

  Wednesday, February 14, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  (Source: The Brock News | Monday, February 12, 2018 by Alison Innes)

  It was a simple, yet powerful statement.

  “We need to pay attention to the lives of Niagara’s migrant agricultural workers,” René Lopez, a worker advocate, said to Brock University Associate Professor David Fancy in 2010.

  That conversation began a journey of community collaboration that lead to the production of Our Lady of Delicias by the Essential Collective Theatre, which runs from Friday, Feb. 23 until Sunday, March 4 at the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre.

  Fancy, a professor with the Dramatic Arts program, collaborated with dozens of migrant workers and Dramatic Arts students for two years to develop the play. The story features the character of Rangel, a Mexican migrant worker who has been travelling to Canada for years to work in the vineyards and greenhouses of Niagara.

  “I’m excited by this new script,” says Essential Collective Theatres’ Monica Dufault, a long-term Brock instructor who is directing the production. “It explores migrant worker issues in considerable depth with a real artistry that I’m keen to share with audiences.”

  “Having lived in Niagara for more than a dozen years now, I still feel that this is a reality that is consciously ignored: the lives of people who are our neighbours,” says Fancy.

  The cast of four, including Carla Melo, Juan Carlos Velis, Camila Diaz-Varela and Josée Young, features an exceptional range of Canadian acting talent with extensive stage and screen credits. Brock Dramatic Arts graduates James McCoy and Jo Pacinda are creating the design and costume design for the production.

  What: Our Lady of Delicias, performed by the Essential Collective Theatre

  When: Friday, Feb. 23 to Sunday, March 4

  Where: Robertson Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre

  SPECIAL OFFER: Present your ECT show program or ticket stub to receive a 20% discount on tickets for Top Girls presented by the Department of Dramatic Arts!

  Tags: Applied Theatre, David Fancy, dramatic arts, Essential Collective Theatre, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre, FOPAC, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Monica Dufault, plays
  Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, Uncategorised

• Exhibition – Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between, opens Feb. 15

  Thursday, February 08, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  Brock Visual Art student Sarah Martin and Brock Visual Arts Alumna Caterina Stambolic present photographs and sculptures investigating the interruptions between mind and body.

  Exhibition: Thursday Feb. 15 to Saturday Mar. 24

  Regular visiting hours are Tuesday through Saturday 1-5 pm.

  Opening Reception: Thursday Mar. 8, 5 – 8 pm

  Location: Visual Arts Exhibition Space, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Brock University

  15 Artists’ Common, St. Catharines, ON

  This is a free community event!

  Tags: Amy Friend, Brock University, Caterina Stambolic, Department of Visual Arts, exhibition, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, photography, Sarah Martin, Sculptures, Silent Areas: The Spaces in Between, VISA, visual arts, Visual Arts Alumni
  Categories: Alumni, Current Students, Events

• The Viva Voce! Choral Series welcomes back the Avanti Chamber Singers

  Wednesday, February 07, 2018 | By dtemprile

  

  The Avanti Chamber Singers performing under the conduction of Rachel Rensink-Hoff from a previous Viva Voce! Choral Series concert in 2017.

  

  Special guests, The Walker String Quartet, joins the Avanti Chamber Singers at the St. Thomas Anglican Church on Saturday Feb. 17. Pictured from left to right is Anna Hughes (2nd violin), Faith Lau (viola), Gordon Cleland (cello) and Vera Alexeeva (1st violin).

  The Avanti Chamber Singers come back “With Strings Attached” for another round with Brock’s Viva Voce! Choral Series. This time around they’re bringing special guests, The Walker String Quartet!

  This concert will feature Ola Gjeilo’s Dark Night of the Soul, Eric Whitacre’s Hebrew Love Songs and Telemann’s Laudate Jehovam, with other works of love and longing by Lassus, Pearsall, Hassler and contemporary composers Laura Hawley, John Butler, Jared Tomlinson and Jonathan Quick.

  The Chamber Singers will bring their signature sound to the St. Thomas Anglican Church, 99 Ontario Street in St. Catharines, Saturday, Feb. 17 at 7:30 p.m. The group is conducted by their Artistic Director, Rachel Rensink-Hoff, who is also Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music Education at Brock University.

  Advance tickets are $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and students, and $5 under the eyeGo program. They can be purchased at Thorold Music, 289 Glendale Ave., and Booksmart, 350 Scott St., or online.

  Tickets at the door will be $25 for adults, $20 for seniors and students, and $5 under the eyeGo program.

  Visit the Department of Music’s Concert Series page for more information.

  Tags: Avanti Chamber Singers, Brock University, BrockUMusic, department of music, downtown St. Catharines, miwsfpa, Rachel Rensink-Hoff, St. Thomas Anglican Church, Viva Voce Choral Series, Walker String Quartet, With Strings Attached
  Categories: Events, Faculty & Instructors, News

• Jane Bunnett visits St. Catharines!

  Friday, February 02, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  The Department of Music presents Encore! Professional Concert Series

  CUBAN RHAPSODY

  with Jane Bunnett and friends.

  Friday, Feb. 9, 2018 , 7:30 p.m.
  Partridge Hall, FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre,
  250 St. Paul St., St. Catharines

  Jane Bunnett looks back and presents some of the most elegant music from Cuba’s rich musical history. Performing music from the beginning of the 20th century until the present, this evening explores the rarely heard European influences in Cuban music by great composers such as Lecuona, Valdes Cervantes, etc., melding European classical styles with Jazz and Afro Cuban Rhythms.

  Tickets: $28.50† adults; $22.50† seniors/students;
  $12.50† child (14 and under); $5* eyeGo program.
  General Admission.
  † Includes the $2.50 FOPAC Cultural Capital Improvement Fund (CCIF);
  other applicable fees and taxes are extra. *No CCIF applied; other applicable
  fees and taxes are extra.

  Order tickets from the FirstOntario Performing Arts Centre
  Box Office: 905-688-0722; 1-855-515-0722; firstontariopac.ca

  Tags: Cuban Rhapsody, department of music, Encore!, Encore! Professional Concert Series, Jane Bunnett
  Categories: Announcements, Events

• Department of Dramatic Arts welcomes Playwright/Actor Damien Atkins

  Friday, February 02, 2018 | By dvivian

  

  Toronto based actor and playwright Damien Atkins will do a reading from his work followed by a conversation with students in DART 3P92 Scriptwriting

  Date: Tuesday Feb. 13

  Time: 10:30 am

  Location: STUDIO B MW247 Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts

  This is a free community event! All are welcome to attend.

  Damien Atkins is a playwright and actor who has performed across Canada and the United States. Playwriting credits include miss chatelaine (The Grand Theatre/Theatre Passe Muraille), Real Live Girl (Buddies in Bad Times/Manitoba Theatre Centre/The Grand), the adaptation (with Marjorie Chan) of Hisashi Inoue’s play In The Garden, Two Suns for Crow’s Theatre, Good Mother (Stratford Festival), Lucy (Canadian Stage Co./Ensemble Studio Theatre – NYC/Delaware Theatre Co.), The Mill, Part Four: Ash (theatrefront), The Gay Heritage Project (with Andrew Kushnir and Paul Dunn – Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), and We Are Not Alone (Crow’s Theatre/Segal Centre). He is the youngest playwright ever produced by the Stratford Festival. Damien has been nominated for nine Dora Mavor Moore Awards for acting and writing, including nominations for Best New Play for Lucy and The Gay Heritage Project. He has received the PRISM/UBC Creative Writing Residency Prize for Good Mother and a Dora for Best New Musical for Real Live Girl. Damien has been playwright-in-residence at UBC, Canadian Stage, Crow’s Theatre, and Factory Theatre, as well as a Guest Instructor at The National Theatre School.

  Tags: Damien Atkins, DART 3P92, Department of Dramatic Arts, dramatic arts, Free community event, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Scriptwriting
  Categories: Announcements, Events