Events

• Always loved the musical RENT!? Opening February 2nd for four performances only.

  Thursday, January 26, 2012 | By Brock University

  Always loved the musical RENT!?  Brock Musical Theatre’s finest performers presented a fun-filled show that opened February 2^nd for four performances only.

  RENT showcased the performing and producing talents of students in the Department of Dramatic Arts and the entire University community. The show was directed by Jessi Robinson with musical direction by Krystyna MacKay and choreography by Sarah Waller.  Music was performed by local band Xprime.

  Brock Musical Theatre is a university club with 19 cast members, as well as numerous production and volunteer crew members from several academic programs. BMT has been presenting music theatre to the Brock University community since 2005, showcasing such popular shows as Jesus Christ Superstar, Footloose, and Urinetown. Brock Musical Theatre president Karyn Lorence thanks the Brock University Student Union for their support of this production and BMT.

  Tags: BMT, Brock Musical Theatre, musical theatre, RENT
  Categories: Current Students, Events, News

• General Brock’s October Soiree for 2011 a brilliant success!

  Monday, October 17, 2011 | By Brock University

  Students from the Department of Dramatic Arts along with their colleagues in the Departments of Music and Visual Arts entertained almost 350 guests and dignitaries in period costume at the General Brock’s October Soiree, held Saturday October 15, 2011.  More than $110,000 was raised, fifty percent of which after costs will accrue to scholarships in support of students in the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  Douglas Kneale, Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, remarked “To judge from the comments of guests during the evening, it was universally acknowledged as the best Soiree yet, with a high degree of talent and professionalism in our re-enactors, emcee Derek Ewert, and all the singers and dancers.”

  See the Cogeco TV news item which includes on-camera interviews with several Brock spokespeople.

  Tags: General Brock Soiree, Soiree
  Categories: Events

• Special performance: Which Way to the Bastille? at Rodman Hall

  Thursday, September 29, 2011 | By Brock University

  

  Image: Milutin Gubash, The Hotel Tito, 2010. Lambda color print (24″ x 50″). Image courtesy of the artist.

   

  MILUTIN GUBASH
  The Hotel Tito
  September 16 – December 30, 2011
  Opening Reception: September 15, 2011, 7 -9 pm
  Curated by Shirley Madill

  In collaboration with Musee d’art de Joliette

  Special performance:  Which Way to the Bastille?
  Following the premier on September 15 the second of eight short performances by students of the Department of Dramatic Arts (DART) occurs September 23, 2011 after 12 noon. Tanisha Minson and Dylan Mawson, senior students in the DART program have collaborated with the artist and faculty of DART to create a brief interpretation of the text during the course of the exhibition.  The performance will function as a dramatic evocation of the principal tenets of the artist’s and the curatorial program.

   

  Performance are scheduled for:
  Thursday, September 15, evening, at the opening reception.
  Friday, September 23, 12 noon, last day of the artist’s residency
  Thursday, September 29, 6:30 pm
  Saturday, October 15, 2:30 pm
  Thursday, October 27, 8 pm
  Sunday, November 6, 2:30 pm
  Friday, November 18, 11:30 am
  Saturday, December 3, 2:30 pm

  The exhibit in brief:
  Milutin Gubash has pursued a multidisciplinary practice revolving around video, photography and performance since 2002. This ten-year survey of work by Milutin Gubash includes a residency project with the Department of Dramatic Arts and the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts at Brock University. Beginning with the work titled, Re-Enacting Tragedies While My Parents Look On, the exhibition includes various works that focus on daily-life occurrences with historical and philosophical narratives. Gubash is interested in exploring how individuals and ideas can overwrite commonly held perceptions of landscape, politics and expectations of representation.
  www.milutingubash.com
  —-
  The exhibit in detail:
  Milutin Gubash has pursued a multidisciplinary art practice revolving around video, photography and performance since 2002. He first made a name for himself in 2003 with the webcast project Re-Enacting Tragedies While My Parents Look On, in which he “re-created,” with his parents, various tragic news stories reported in the Calgary Herald. Gubash plays the part of the victim, dressed in a dark suit that now has become a signature for the artist.

  By layering daily-life occurrences with historical and philosophical narratives, Gubash is interested in exploring how individuals and ideas can overwrite commonly held perceptions of landscape, politics and expectations of representation. His imagery portrays the same individuals (family and friends) living absurd situations or experiencing actual moments of psychological reflection. Together, the Gubash family and friends create a dreamscape of funny and sincere gestures while experimenting with their own relational identities. Gubash often insists on creating multiple contexts within which to engage his series of mini- narratives. By locating his own performative gestures at the scenes of such events, Gubash dares to heighten his personal psychological inquiry and that of his collaborators.

  This exhibition includes a selection of works produced over the past ten years with emphasis on the recent interconnected projects: Which Way to the Bastille?, These Paintings, and Hotel Tito.

  During a residency with the Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University, Gubash worked with Associate Professor David Vivian, Associate Professor Dr. Natalie Alvarez, and a company of selected students to develop a “live animation” of Which Way to the Bastille? Situated as an ongoing and regular interpretation of the text during the course of the exhibition, the performance will function as a dramatic evocation of the principal tenets of the artist’s and the curatorial program. Associate Professor Catherine Parayre (Modern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures) of Brock University will lead an upper-level course in text and image based around this exhibition under the auspices of the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

  A version of this exhibition will also be seen at the Carleton University Art Gallery, Ottawa; Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Lethbridge; and the Musée d’art de Joliette, Quebec.

  Milutin Gubash was born in Novi Sad (Serbia) and has been living in Montreal since 2005.

  Shirley Madill
  Exhibition Curator

  Tags: dylan mawson, milutin gubash, special performance, tanisha minson, which way to the bastille?
  Categories: Events

• Interacting with Immersive Worlds Conference Organizers Announce Newly Reduced Registration Fees

  Monday, February 28, 2011 | By Brock University

  Interacting with Immersive Worlds: Third Brock University Conference on the Interactive Arts & Sciences

  BROCK UNIVERSITY, ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO JUNE 13th – 14th, 2011
  
  https://brocku.ca/conferences/immersive-worlds

  Thanks to a combination of generous support from the City of St.Catharines and corporate sponsorship we are delighted to announce that we are able to reduce our conference registration fees to:

  Regular: $150.00
  Student: $75.00

  Tags: Avatar, Dejan Momcilovic, iasc, Interacting with Immersive Worlds, interactive arts & sciences, King Kong, Lord of the Rings, motion capture, The Generator at One, WETA studios
  Categories: Announcements, Events, News

• Interacting with Immersive Worlds conference announces Guest Appearance by Dejan Momcilovic of WETA Studios, New Zealand

  Friday, February 18, 2011 | By Brock University

  Interacting with Immersive Worlds: Third Brock University Conference on the Interactive Arts & Sciences

  BROCK UNIVERSITY, ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO JUNE 13th – 14th, 2011
  
  https://brocku.ca/conferences/immersive-worlds

  We are excited to announce that Dejan Momcilovic of WETA studios, New Zealand, will give a talk on Monday June 13th on “Lord of the Rings,” “King Kong,” and “Avatar” and motion capture, prior to the guided tour of the motion capture studio at the Generator at one. Further details will be announced on the conference web site as they become available.

  Tags: Avatar, Dejan Momcilovic, iasc, Interacting with Immersive Worlds, interactive arts & sciences, King Kong, Lord of the Rings, motion capture, The Generator at One, WETA studios
  Categories: Announcements, Events, News

• Dramatic Arts Mainstage production opening Feb 17, 2011: Phèdre

  Tuesday, February 01, 2011 | By Brock University

  Phèdre

  Written by Jean Racine
  Translated by Ted Hughes
  Directed by Virginia Reh
  Designed by David Vivian

  Feb. 17, 18, 19, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.

  Student Matinee: Friday, Feb. 18, 2011 at 01:00 p.m.

  adults $15.00
  students and seniors $12.00
  $5.00 matinee for Brock students and staff

  The myth of Phèdre is one of the most powerful in all of classical mythology. Believing her absent husband Theseus to be dead, the Queen confesses her obsession for stepson Hippolytus, thus entering a nightmare world and spinning a tale of passion that unwinds with disastrous consequences.

  Phèdre: A Primer, is an introduction to our production, prepared by our Dramaturge and Fourth Year DART student, Spencer Smith. Included are:
  1) Collaboration, 2) Play Synopsis, 3) Director’s Notes, 4) Scenographer’s Notes, 5) The Playwright: Jean-Baptiste Racine, 6) The Translator: Ted Hughes, 7) Family Tree, 8) The Myths: Theseus, Phaedra, and Hippolytus, 9) The Labyrinth of Lexicon: People and Places, 10) The Many Faces of Phaedra, 11) Dramaturge’s Notes, 12) List of Figures, 13) Bibliography.

  Download your PDF copy of Phèdre: A Primer (PDF, 16.1 MB)

  Tags: dramatic arts mainstage, Phèdre
  Categories: Events

• Earp Dance at Brock Nuit Blanche 2010

  Wednesday, December 08, 2010 | By Brock University

  For those of you unable to attend Nuit Blanche Brock this year, check out the short video above to see dancers Shannon Perugino and Jessica Goncalves of the Department of Dramatic Arts perform on the beautifully lit top floor of Earp Student Residence at Brock University.   The original piece was performed every half hour from 6pm to midnight on the chilly night of December 3, 2010, to audiences outside on the street below as part of Nuit Blanche Brock 2010. 

  Performed by Dramatic Arts students Jessica Goncalves and Shannon Perugino; Sound Op: Matthew Viviano; Tech and Design Support: Doug Ledingham and David Vivian; Conceived by Natalie Alvarez. Choreography by Jessica Goncalves, Shannon Perugino and Natalie Alvarez.

  Tags: david vivian, earp dance, earp residence, jessica goncalves, matthew viviano, nuit blanche brock, shannon perugino
  Categories: Current Students, Events, News

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

  Friday, October 08, 2010 | By Brock University

  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

  Tags: LyricCANADA
  Categories: Announcements, Events, News