Upcoming Events at DART

DART Performances in 2012-13:

A government land surveyor (Julia) uncovers the history of an acre of land near the Ottawa River, a barren rectangle that contains the memories of all who passed through it, from the last native hunter to the first white settler. Somehow, the layers of loss, land and remembrance enable Julia to grasp what she needs in order to let go.

Room ST107 (Studio Theatre) Schmon Tower, Brock Campus
Admission: Donations accepted

This is part of the Industrial Fabric 3 program.  For more information see:

http://www.brocku.ca/humanities/departments-and-centres/fine-and-perform...

BROCK UNIVERSITY
MEDIA RELEASE

April 2, 2013
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts
905.688.5550 x4765

An Acre of Time by Jason Sherman, presented on stage at the Studio Theatre, Brock University Inspired by the book of the same title by Phil Jenkins.

Graduating Dramatic Arts students enrolled in Advanced Studies in Theatre (DART 4F56) at Brock University, will perform An Acre of Time by Canadian award-winning playwright Jason Sherman, held at the Studio Theatre at Brock University, from April 11 – 13, 2013 at 7:30 p.m.

An Acre of Time tells the story of government land surveyor (Julia) who uncovers the history of an acre of land on the LeBreton Flats near the Ottawa River. This barren rectangle contains the memories of all who passed through it, from the last native hunter to the first white settler. Somehow, the layers of loss, land and remembrance enable Julia to grasp what she needs in order to let go.

The LeBreton Flats is a blank urban space that has been in limbo for decades.  In 1962,  the government expropriated it and knocked down its community. The Flats represent not only a government's abdication of responsibility, but also an emotional void that can only be filled by recognizing and honouring the ghosts who still live there.

Julia, played in different time periods by three actors: Kaitlin Race, Cassandra van Wyck, and Olivia Jackson, learns that there are different kinds of mapping processes, and that the most important survey brings our own lives to light. Julia's government work crew colleagues, played by Kanthan Annalingam, Karyn Lorence, Shauna James and Emma Strong, become guides on Julia's journey as she encounters the ghosts of Samuel de Champlain, played by Erica Charles, and surveyor John Stegmann, played by Jessi Robinson. The speculator John LeBreton is played by Stephanie Neale. Tom, a first nations artist played by James Lowe, conjures the spirit of Constant Penency, an Algonquin hunter who has joined the spirit of Julia's daughter, Louise, played by Grace Ruppenthal. Evan Mulroney plays Bill, Julia's husband who lost their daughter Louise to a river drowning.

The set, lighting and video design, by Dylan O'Connor, James McCoy and Nathan Heuchan, is a meditation on mapping and memory that pulls the layers of story into a unified whole with props and costumes designed by Jo Pacinda and John McGowan. The production, in its complex entirety, is stage
managed by Kate Hardy and directed by professor Gyllian Raby.

An Acre of Time performances run: Thursday, April 11, Friday, April 12, and Saturday, April 13, 2013, at 7:30 p.m., and will be held at the Studio Theatre (Rm. ST107) Schmon Tower, Brock University. Admission is by donation.

For more information about this production, e-mail dramatic.arts@brocku.ca
or visit:
www.brocku.ca/humanities/departments-and-centres/dramatic-arts/events-at-dart

Such productions from the Department of Dramatic Arts are an integral part of the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts’ mandate in building connections between the community and the breadth of creative talent that defines our academic programs at Brock University.

-30-

February 14-16, 2013 at 7:30 PM 
Student Matinee February 15 at 1:00 PM
By David Hare, freely adapted from Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde

Director: Virginia Reh
Scenographer: David Vivian
Lighting Design: Ken Garrett
Assistant Director: Jessi Robinson

Directed by Professor Virginia Reh, The Blue Room is David Hare's 1998 adaptation of Schnitzler's Reigen (La Ronde), first produced in 1921. The plot is a "sexual daisychain": the Girl couples with the Cab Driver, then the Cab Driver with the Au Pair, etc. Each time the new participant in one scene moves on to the next scene and so on, until in the final scene the Girl returns and encounters the Aristocrat. The play looks at casual sexual encounters as a (mostly) unsatisfactory substitute for human connection. This is a universal and timeless quest. The play is an important exploration with diverse current points-of-view: as each character has encounters with two different partners, the play explores the shifting status relationships (both social and personal). The relational dynamics of the play have interesting correspondences to explorations on social media.

Tickets: Adults $15.00, Students/Seniors $12.00, Groups $10.00, eyeGo $5.00 H.S.T. extra

Theme-oriented and moderated workshops will be available. DART 3F93: Social Issues Theatre for Community Development, taught by Professor Joe Norris,  will employ Process Drama and Applied Theatre techniques to explore themes that underlie the Blue Room. Scenes will be created that delve into issue of identity, innocence, risks, thresholds, secrets, awkwardness, beliefs, mores, taboos, exploitation and power. With a participatory dimension cast and audience will enter into conversations to explore the issues further.

Please contact us for more information.

High-School teachers should read this letter about the Matinee performance opportunities available for The Suicide! (November 2012) and The Blue Room (February 2013)  (PDF, 247 KB)

Themes: pop culture, psychology, human sexuality, popular media representations of sexuality and power, Gender and Women's Studies. 

to purchase tickets

THE BLUE ROOM: A Primer
is available for review before
you come to see the production

low res 709kb
high res 2139 kb
print res 3690 kb

Interactive Arts and Science program student Patrick Gagliardi has put together a sultry trailer for the show.

from COGECO TV,
Published on Feb 8, 2013:
The Department of Dramatic Arts at Brock University are hoping to spice up your Valentines Day with their new production "The Blue Room'.

In the buff with Brock's Blue Room.

A fun full-first-page-of-the-section article about our upcoming mainstage
in the city paper -
another great reason to study dramatic arts at Brock University.
Come see the play and discover
what its really all about.

See the article about the show in
The Brock Press, the independent student newspaper.

The Suicide - A Russian Comedy

November 8-10, 2012 at 7:30 PM
Student Matinee November 09 at 11:30 AM

A Russian Comedy by Nikolai Erdman
Adapted by Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine

Director: Gyllian Raby
Russian Consultant: Larisa Brodsky

Set Design: Nigel Scott
Costume Design: Roberta Doylend
Lighting Design: Ken Garrett
Assistant Director: Dylan Sylvester
Assistant Designer and Poster Design: Stephanie Baxter
Music Director: Anna MacAlpine
Movement: Trevor Copp, with Rachel Romanowski

A classic comedy that satirizes the New society which was developing in Russia under Lenin's New Economic Policy of 1924 - a program that many communists considered to be a step backwards for communism. A fast moving, unpretentious examination of hubris and lifestyle and its expression in style: physical poise, dress and drawl. An examination of conformity. The play is ultimately very homely in its definition of human happiness with the physicalized characters, balancing serious satire and comedy.

Themes: big items in the human condition: love, ego, appetite, meaning of life and social convention.

There is NO mature language or sexual content and the violence is "keystone cops" - this show is fine for youth.

High-School teachers should read this letter about the Matinee performance opportunity  (PDF, 247 KB)

A Study Guide is available for review,
prepared by Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine:
full-resolution for print purposes (PDF, 10.9 MB)
lower resolution (PDF, 6.0 MB)

A copy of this special new adaptation of the script is available for download here. (PDF, 120kb)

The Suicide, By Nicolai Erdman
Adapted by Gyllian Raby and Anna MacAlpine
Thanks to Larisa Brodsky.
Royalty free with permission, 2012.
Gyllian Raby
Department of Dramatic Arts
Brock University
graby@brocku.ca

Click the image above to see a video from the production media call, published by TVCogeco.

Click the images above to see videos from the production media call, published by Naturally Niagara .

click on the poster to download
your own 11x17 in. copy (10.6 MB)

Click the image above to see pictures from the production media call,  published by Naturally Niagara .

Director Gyllian Raby and Set Designer Nigel Scott present the concept of the set design for this innovative new production of The Suicide, seen above. 

for the Mainstage performances:

• appropriate for High School-Age Audiences
• Shows may contain mature language and situations
• Post-performance Q&A with the actors and creative team are available for both productions.
• Teacher Workshops are available
• Audience Maximum: (535) Sean O'Sullivan Theatre

Other Events at DART

Community Theatre Production
Production scheduled March, 2013
Time and Location TBA

DART 4F56 Collective Creation Production
Production scheduled April, 2013
see above

One Acts Festival
(showcasing student Directors from DART 3P54)
March 2013 - various times TBA
Location:  ST 107 "Studio Theatre" and ST 103 "Black"
contact the Department for Details

Gimme 2 Festival
(showcasing first-year performance students)
October, 2012 - first term
March, 2013 - second term
Location:  ST 107 "Studio Theatre" TBC

Independent Productions
TBA

. . . check out the other performances in the Dramatic Arts community at Brock. To read about course-related performances, student and independent productions, please see the  DARTboard

Announcing $5.00 Fridays!
all holders of Brock ID cards - students, staff and faculty - are invited to take advantage of a special new price for the Matinee mainstage performance. Please present your ID card upon purchase of your ticket.

Tickets for all performances including the $5.00 Friday Matinees are available through the  Box Office of the Centre for the Arts
or  905.688.5550  905.688.5550  x 3257

For more information, please contact Marie Balsom, Co-ordinator of the School of Fine and Performing Arts, at 905-688-5550 905-688-5550 , ext. 4765; e-mail: mbalsom@brocku.ca

For a complete listing of upcoming events at the Centre for the Arts, click the logo below:

Visiting High School students meet with members of the Ring Round the Moon company after the Schools' Matinee in November, 2006.

Every year DART particpates in the Industrial Fabric Showcase event. 
For the 2012 program please see: