Behind the Scenes

Anita La Selva is a contract faculty member in the Department of Theatre, where she teaches Acting for theatre and on-camera.

Jeff Churchill is the owner and creator of Jitterbug Boy Original Footwear, a custom shoemaking company supplying specialized footwear for theatre, film, television and circus all over the world. He traces the fascinating career trajectory that got him there with stops in Stratford, Cirque de Soleil, and Las Vegas.

Francesco Antonio (BFA Acting 2017) has been very busy since graduating from the Theatre Department! His work in film, television and music, including his short film “Addiction,” has led Francesco to 4 awards and 9 nominations on the film festival circuit. Francesco joins us to share what was most important about his time at York, and how it impacts his working life today.

Shawn Kerwin joins us to share her experience of her 2017-18 sabbatical, which saw her designing two important works in Newfoundland with director and York alumna Jillian Keiley, and participating as a full-time student in the “Institute without Boundaries.” Shawn shares stories of the 2 shows, and of her time in the IwB, and how they’ve changed the way she thinks about design.

Professor James McKernan, is a scenic carpenter and a professor at York University. He’sbuilt over 200 hundred shows which include: films, live theatre and dance, trade show displays and custom items for performance pieces. Along with his BFA in Theatre Production from York, James received a B.Ed. from OISE at U of T and started teaching at an arts high school in the GTA; from there he got my job at York. He still builds shows to support research, dabbles in sound design and production manages the odd show. Really, he just likes solving problems.

1) Who are you? Heather Fitzsimmons Frey (Photo: Jeremy Mimnaugh) My name is Heather Fitzsimmons Frey and I am a Banting Post-Doctoral Fellow at York.  I’m working with Marlis Schweitzer in Theatre Studies in Art, Media, Performance and Design. One of …

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Marlis Schweitzer 1. Who are you? I’m Marlis Schweitzer, and I’m a theatre and performance historian and love spending time in archives looking at scrapbooks, photographs, letters, and other documents from the nineteenth and early-twentieth century. Th …

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Artistic Directors Kat Francis and Mackenzie Taylor The 25th Annual PlayGround Festival took place from the 7th of February till the 10th. We wanted people to find out more about the behind the scenes of the festival, so we met up with the Artistic Dir …

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