Spotlight on Alumni: Joanna Barrotta

October 22, 2012

Spotlight on Alumni: Joanna Barrotta

Joanna Barrotta

Joanna Barrotta is a York University alumni who graduated in 2004 with a BFA in Theatre Production. She is a stage manager in both theatre and opera, and has been fortunate to have been building this career since even before she graduated. Her very first paid “Assistant Stage Manager” position actually meant being cast as “The Bear” while she was still in school (find her on Facebook, or buy her a beer and ask her about it sometime). Things have changed quite dramatically since.

Upon graduating, Joanna landed a production assistant position at the Canadian Opera Company. She has worked her way up the ladder, starting with her first real professional assistant stage manager job on Götterdämmerung, part of Wagner’s The Ring Cycle, which opened the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in 2006. Joanna has been assistant stage managing at the Canadian Opera Company every season since, working with world-class directors, singers, designers, crew and staff, not to mention superb fellow stage managers.

Joanna has also developed her opera stage management career with other prestigious opera companies such as Opera Atelier, Opéra de Québec and Opera Lyra. One of her favourite experiences was traveling to Seoul, Korea with Opera Atelier in 2007. At Opera Atelier, Joanna has assistant stage managed many productions, and has acted as tour manager as well.

Queen of Puddings Music Theatre and Joanna have been collaborating for their past 4 productions, including the upcoming tour of a Serbian a capella opera called Svadba which had its European concert debut this fall. Joanna is absolutely in love with the Queens and their incredible contribution to contemporary, edgy, rich opera and chamber music, and feels honoured to be their resident stage manager.

Theatre, being her training and her first love, is still a staple in Joanna’s professional life. To balance the grandness and opulence of the opera, Joanna gravitates towards working in independent and smaller theatre with such companies as Cahoots Theatre Company, Volcano Theatre, Factory Theatre, Blyth Theatre Festival, Absit Omen. Most of her work in theatre has been on new plays, which is highly rewarding, particularly with playwrights such as Anusree Roy (BA 2006) and Hannah Moscovitch.

This season, Joanna finds herself working in larger theatre companies, including her first stage management position at Canadian Stage on The Arsonists with director Morris Panych, and her Tarragon debut on David Yee’s carried away on the crest of a wave with director Nina Lee Aquino.

In addition to her career in stage management, Joanna was the first General Manager for the SummerWorks Theatre Festival in 2011.

Joanna returns to York University almost every year to as a guest lecturer for the Stage Management class.

Yes, things have changed quite a bit since putting on a black bear costume every day, under the guise of being an assistant stage manager. But it’s still a great story.

“If you had the chance to go back and visit your younger self as you were beginning at York, what advice would you give yourself?”

I would tell my younger self that I would actually go back and do the readings for my non-theatre classes after I graduated so stop sweating it now.

I would also remind myself that each experience is as valuable as the one before it. There are so many lessons that can be absorbed even in the most seemingly impossible situations. Never stop being curious and hungry to learn, and never give up on trying to be better every single day. That applies to your career but it should apply to everything else in your life. It’s really easy to get bogged down in the immediate set of tasks but knowing that the rest of the world is chugging along with or without your Vis portfolio so do it, enjoy it, absorb it, learn from it, then move on.

“Do you have any advice or tips for York students?”

It can get hard to see past theatre school. Students have to do readings, go to non-theatre classes, write papers – all of these things that seem like they get in the way of really feeling like you’re pursuing your dream in theatre. Just breathe – you’ll graduate and then you’ll have all this time to focus on those dreams. IT GETS BETTER. And if you get burnt out, take a step away. Go for walks, listen to music. Maintain your hobbies, even if it’s just for a half hour a week. Try to have a conversation with one non-theatre person a day about something other than theatre to get outside of it all. The pressure will always be there but school is the heaviest part. You’re learning exceptional time-management skills even though you are so exhausted that you don’t even care. Trust me. This is the hardest it will be because later on, you won’t have your nat/sci readings nagging at your soul while you’re trying to finish that draft or are about to go into tech.

“Did connections, friendships, relationships you made at York help you afterward?”

I still work with York profs and grads to this day. Sometimes we knew each other at York, sometimes we meet and after a conversation we realize that we both went to York. There are tons of York alumni out there. I’m currently working with a dear friend who was a year behind me at York. We’ve been friends for ten years and this is the first time we’re working together. It’s incredible to see how many people the York program influences.

“What was your favourite place at York, and why?”

The Ab ☺

“Wounds to the Face”: Opening Night Audience Reactions!

October 21, 2012

“Wounds to the Face”: Opening Night Audience Reactions!

Opening Night at “Wounds to the Face”

Theatre@York's Wounds to the Face officially opened last night at the Joseph G. Green Theatre and we were there to ask patrons what they thought of the show! Check out a snippet of some of their responses below.

“The acting was phenomenal. The visual effects were phenomenal. “—Hugh, parent

“That ending image was beautiful!” —Katherine, student

“I think it was the best Theatre@York show I've ever seen.” —Justyn, student

“That was the riskiest show I've seen at York. I thought some in recent years were risky, but this…” —Cass, student

“I was really impressed. I really, really, liked the costumes. There were so many and they were ALL phenomenal!” —Shawna, student

“Um… well…wow.” —Kathleen, student

“The script was a good choice and I appreciated the intensity and risks that all the actors took. I appreciated that they went for it and didn't hold back.” —Sarah, student

“I LOVED the Empress's costume with the long black dress and huge heels. Great costumes.” —Freeda, student

“So well done, one of the best shows I've seen at York in my 3 years. (The acronym for this show was so appropriate.)” —Caitlin, student

And a final thought which seemed to be a collective feeling within the room comes from student, Christoph, who could only say: “I'm digesting it.”

Don't miss your chance to experience to thrill, danger and audacity that is Howard Baker's Wounds to the Face tonight at 7:30pm, Thursday, October 24th at 7:30pm, Friday, October 25th at 1:00pm and 7:30pm and Saturday at 7:30pm!

Theatre @ York: “Wounds to the Face” Closes After an Exciting Run

October 19, 2012

Theatre @ York: “Wounds to the Face” Closes After an Exciting Run

Wounds to the Face Poster

Theatre @ York's 2012-13 Season ran from Oct 23-Oct 27 with Howard Barker's Wounds to the Face, featuring the Fourth Year Acting ensemble, directed by South African director-teacher Geoffrey Hyland (MFA 1994). For more on the play and the director, see our story here.

The show featured the design work of BFA Production/Design students: Vincent Perri (Set), Amelia Taverner (Costume), Garret Levine (Lighting), Wes McKenzie (Sound), and Stage Management by Natasha Rodmell. Take a look behind the scenes at the work of the cast and crew, building and rehearsing the show.

For audience reaction (hint: they loved it!) read our Behind the Scenes Blog entry.

Spotlight on New Faculty: Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston

October 16, 2012

Spotlight on New Faculty: Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston

Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston

New Theatre Studies professor Magdalena Kazubowski-Houston talks about her research interests doing performance ethnography with Polish Roma women, and her first months of teaching at York.

Please tell us about your work outside of teaching, your research and/or creative work.

The bulk of my research has involved working with Polish Roma (Gypsy) people. My doctoral project studied Roma women’s everyday experiences of violence in a small community in northern Poland. I conducted my research by means of performance ethnography, which is an approach to qualitative research that uses performance as both a research methodology and representation. In collaboration with a group of Polish Roma women, I developed a theatre performance in response to open-ended questions that addressed violence in the women’s lives.

I wanted to work with Polish Roma because I had witnessed numerous acts of discrimination and violence committed against the Roma people while living in Poland under communism, and during my subsequent visits there since 1992. I also thought that doing ethnographic work with Polish Roma was important because, when I had begun my research over a decade ago, there was still not a single published ethnography primarily conducted with Roma women anywhere. My desire to work with Roma women specifically was motivated my belief that the women were doubly victimized – first by living in a society that openly despised the Roma, and additionally, living in poverty within a traditionally male-dominated Roma culture. I wanted to create a space where the Roma women could tell their stories publicly, and performance ethnography seemed the best way to go about it. To me, theatre held the promise of a more participatory mode of ethnographic inquiry, and a means of telling audience members about the violence suffered by Polish Roma.

Yet the reality of the field and the challenges of creating an ethnographic theatre project with such marginalized people as the Roma forced me to focus my study on the power relations within my own ethnographic process instead. In my ensuing book, Staging Strife, I discuss the complicated nature of power at the different stages of my performance ethnography project, and the toll it took on the ethnographer/artist-research participant relationship. I also explore the tensions between art and ethnography, and artist and ethnographer.

My current research project is, in some sense, a continuation of my previous work with Polish Roma women, but this time I am only working with two Roma elders. While to date ageing has not been my area of research, what drew my attention to this topic was the fact that Roma have been migrating abroad in large numbers since Poland’s entry into the EU in 2004, leaving many Roma communities in Poland populated primarily by elders. They are now not only dealing with racial prejudice, marginalization and violence, but also, like many seniors in Poland, with inequities based in age, gender and class. I am trying to understand how current socio-political transformations in Poland shape Roma women’s experiences of ageing in the absence of younger family members.

But my performance ethnography work has not been limited to Polish Roma. I also did performance ethnography projects with Polish and Jewish Holocaust survivors, low-income residents in Vancouver’s downtown Eastside, and Polish youth. My postdoctoral research – a large-scale project involving researchers affiliated with the University of British Columbia and University of Western Ontario – explored theatre performance as a method for the participatory, critical and empathic involvement of citizens in the development of health policy on preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a controversial method for selecting the genetic characteristics of embryos created through in vitro fertilization.

Finally, I have worked for over fifteen years as a professional theatre director, performer and playwright in Canada and Poland. In addition to earning an MFA in Interdisciplinary Directing from Simon Fraser University, I trained in theatre direction with Polish avant-garde theatre artist Józef Szajna, a principal collaborator of Jerzy Grotowski. In Poland, my decade-long partnership with the International Festival for the Fine and Performing Arts in Tczew has included the staging of two of my plays. In 2009, my production, Death is Within Me…, was invited to open the festival to commemorate the first anniversary of Szajna’s death. I also organized, as part of the festival, physical acting workshops with actors from across Europe.

So far, I have directed a wide range of plays ranging from the classics to contemporary Canadian works that have been staged in both Canada and Poland, but I have always been particularly drawn to absurdist theatre and physical theatre. For several years now, I have been researching the politicizing potential of physical theatre, drawing both on my studio work and existing scholarly literature in cognitive neuroscience.

What has your first month of teaching been like? or Where were you teaching before you came to York? How does York compare?

Coming to York’s Theatre Department has been like returning home for me. I had previously taught at Trent University in the Department of Cultural Studies, and at Wilfrid Laurier University in the Department of Anthropology. While both appointments were rewarding, my heart has always been in the theatre. I really missed teaching theatre students, attending student theatre productions, and working with colleagues who share my passion for theatre. At York, students are an immense pleasure to work with, and I am surrounded by all-things theatre! I know I will always cherish my first lecture at York on Greek drama. I was so thrilled to dig up and revise my old lecture notes, and to be back teaching theatre again. And because York and the Theatre Department support interdisciplinary work, I have ample opportunities to teach both theatre and anthropology. This has so far been a very fulfilling experience, as many of my graduate students have background/interests not only in theatre, but also in anthropology and ethnography, and they bring unique and interdisciplinary perspectives into our seminars. Some of my students are professional artists, so I really have the best of both worlds. I am really looking forward to involving students in my future research projects. My hope is to have graduate students participating in various capacities in my performance ethnography projects, and I would love to work with undergraduate students on my studio research on the politicizing potential of physical theatre.

What are looking forward to, now that you're at York—what's on the horizon for you?

I think York’s interdisciplinary environment is perfectly suited to my work that requires both studio and field research. In the near future, I am hoping to extend my storytelling project with the Polish Roma elders to other communities in northern Poland. I will be applying to York’s internal funding sources, as well the SSHRC Insight Development Grant to fund this research. I am also planning to work with Polish Roma in Toronto to study the Roma immigration experience. The outcome of this work will be a book manuscript that will examine my approach to dramatic storytelling developed with Polish Roma in relation to collective creation in Canadian theatre. I am also hoping to continue my research that draws on cognitive neuroscience to examine the politicizing potential of physical modes of expression and empathy in performance ethnography contexts. This research will require studio work with theatre students, and York is the ideal place for this kind of project. Finally, I am very excited about a new collaborative project I am currently involved in with colleagues from Simon Fraser University and York. We founded the Centre for Imaginative Ethnography (CIE) two years ago, and are gearing up for the official launch of the Centre’s website in the spring of 2013 here at York. The Centre is committed to advancing experimental, critical and politically conscious research. In the future, we are hoping to initiate a wide range of projects engaging other researchers and communities in creative work that bridges ethnography, fine arts and fiction, and seeks to address local concerns and needs.

Behind the Scenes: Theatre @ York Cast and Crew of “Wounds to the Face”

October 15, 2012

Behind the Scenes: Theatre @ York Cast and Crew of “Wounds to the Face”

Wounds to the Face

by Howard Barker, directed by Geoffrey Hyland. Cast and Crew photos by EmmaRose MacDonald.

Behind the Scenes with Theatre @ York: Silkscreening with the Technical Direction team

October 14, 2012

Behind the Scenes with Theatre @ York: Silkscreening with the Technical Direction team

Stephanie Gundert went behind the scenes with Blair from the Technical Direction team to take a look at the spray booth and the process of silkscreening that was used to make the placards for our first show of the season, Wounds to the Face.

Behind the Scenes with Theatre@York: Silk Screening with the Technical Direction Team from Theatre | York University on Vimeo.

Blog: The Ashley Plays

October 8, 2012

Blog: The Ashley Plays

The Ashley Plays

Do you think you know all of York University’s hiding places and secrets? As anyone who has been on campus knows, York is a maze of corridors, doors and staircases. The theatre department’s Playwrighting and New Play Dramaturgy class takes advantage of York’s nooks and crannies in their project The Ashley Plays. Conceived by Professor Judith Rudakoff, The Ashley Plays are a series of site-specific works all connected to a character, place, object, or idea named Ashley.

What is site-specific work, you may ask? Site specific refers to a play where the location of the performance is a major influence on the subject matter. This leads the playwright to ask, “Why here? Why now?” Why is this space significant to this character? Is the space public or private? How does it feel to be in this space? Exploring the possible answers to these questions helps to shape the piece.

At the beginning of the school year each fourth year playwright is assigned a site specifically chosen to challenge and inspire them. They are also given a list of circumstances to work with. Each week the playwrights bring in drafts of their monodramas and gain feedback from Professor Judith Rudakoff and the dramaturgy students. This feedback consists mainly of questions that hopefully clarify the piece and ignite further exploration. Sentence by sentence, The Ashley Plays appear.

On the day of the performance, audience members travel from site to site and witness each playwright perform their own work. The plays range in subject matter and will include adult situations. The plays’ non-linear narrative style allows for audiences to discover connections between the diverse pieces. This year some of the sites include a window in a classroom, a hallway full of paintings, and an underused staircase.

Judith Rudakoff has worked with this project all over the world and has found that most cultures have a name related to Ashley. It could be Asho in Persia, Ashling in Ireland, or Ashanti in Ghana. The bones of the project remain essentially the same as the piece travels, but the individual plays investigate different themes and issues. The Ashley Plays are an opportunity to consider connections between diverse experiences both globally and locally.

—EmmaRose MacDonald

The Ashley Plays will take place at 12:45 on October 13, 2012 in the Centre for Film and Theatre at York University. Please meet at the Joseph Green Box Office. The performance is free. For more information please see The Ashley Plays facebook page.

Spotlight on New Faculty: Ian Garrett

September 22, 2012

Spotlight on New Faculty: Ian Garrett

Ian Garret

New Production/Design faculty member Ian Garrett takes a moment to answer our questions about his creative work and research, his return to teaching and what the future might hold for him here at York

Please tell us about your work outside of teaching, your research and/or creative work.

I'm really trying to figure out the new balance between my teaching at YorkU and a number of outside projects. I continue to hold a director position with the Center for Sustainable Practice in the Arts (CSPA). One of the big questions right now is to figure out what to do with the fact that, now that i'm in Canada, we should also use the spelling Centre. A lot of my previous work in sustainable development and the arts has happened under that umbrella. Right now, we're closing out the last round of our award for sustainable production at the Edinburgh Fringe. We partnered with Festivals Edinburgh, the organization that coordinates between Edinburgh's festivals, to provide complimentary inquiries into how work is being done in the setting this past year. Also, we're drafting our impact report on the Fusebox Festival in Austin,TX. We'll publish the findings from both by the end of 2012, and have issue 9 of our quarterly to compile. On my own, I'm also programming the sustainability component of World Stage Design in Cardiff next September and serve a member of the Twin Cities Sustainable Theatres Group. Also, I contributed a chapter, entitled “The Carbon Footprint of Theatrical Production”, to the new book Readings in Ecology and Performance, edited by Wendy Arons and Theresa J May, which came our this past May around the third Earth Matters on Stage Festival/Symposium.

Creatively, my projects are split between design and producing. I was involved in 6 shows at the Edinburgh Fringe this past August. I did the production design for and produced Kristina Wong's “Going Green the Wong Way” (which also ran in Los Angeles in july and is touring in a condense format in the US right now), designed the lights for Jliilan Lauren's (Author of “Some Girls”) solo show “Mother Tongue” and returned for the 5th year as producer for CalArts Festival Theater at Venue13.

About Venue 13…

Oddlie, one of the CalArts Student shows.

I just learned that Matthew McCray's “Eternal Thou”, which I designed in March, is going to be remounted at South Coast Repertory Theatre in Costa Mesa, California next June. I'll also be returning to the Indy Convergence (http://vimeo.com/39598389), a 2 week pop-up residency for the development of new work in Indianapolis, as resident designer for the 6th year in May (I'm also on staff there, so we're deep in planning now).

What is the Indy Convergence?

And I'm involved in an experimental mixed-realty theatre project that's playing with everything from Holograms to Second Life that's in it's infancy. (Here's a video of my co-producer Patty Rangel talking about the tech.)

Something that people may not realize is that I'm also heavily involved in the administration of dance. I'm vice chair of the board for DanceUSA, the national service organization for professional dance in the US (like the Canadian Dance Assembly), where I work with the technology, branches, and strategic planning committees and the affiliates working group. This is a video I'm in from the last conference.

What has your first month of teaching been like? or Where were you teaching before you came to York? How does York compare?

My first month teaching at York has been really great. I really enjoy teaching and working with students, and am thrilled, almost surprised, by the high level of engagement and ambition. I previously taught at the California Institute of the Arts, which is a pretty different institution. It's solely an arts school, offering only BFA and MFA degrees (except for 2 programs). It is as though FFA weren't part of York as a whole. It is also pretty evenly split between undergraduate and graduate education, but almost entirely practice based with admissions based nearly entirely on a student's portfolio. Though I did my graduate work there, I came from a background in Architecture and Art History, so I missed the greater theoretical context and academically focused side of the education. That's something that I feel has a greater integration in the York environment. My own field of research and interest sort of sits in this area between theory and practice, covering both site eco-activism through performance as well as sustainable building methods, so I feel like York is really a place where that research can thrive.

Also, it's just nice to be working with students of any stripe again. I actually left CalArts at the beginning of 2011 to take a position as Executive Director of an arts service organization focused on marketing and communication in Houston. Though I love management and infrastructure to support the arts, and I was part of a team developing an Arts Business Certification at the University of Houston, it wasn't the same. That organization merged with another, allowing me to return to teaching as a result of the restructuring, as everything started coming together with York. So it feels like the right place and the right time in a very serendipitous way.

What are looking forward to, now that you're at York—what's on the horizon for you?

First and foremost, I'm extremely excited about this appointment. York's commitment to sustainability AND integrating this in the arts makes it a unique and extremely special place. I had been working on the level of integration that York has committed to while I was at CalArts, and it never came together. This work was always in addition to everything else I was doing or teaching. So to be in a place that fully embraces this pursuit, it's a little like being handed a fantastic gift. I'm excited to take full advantage of now being encouraged to throw my full effort behind this pursuit. We're in prime position to be entirely ground breaking, and I can't ask for more than that.

As I get more settled–being new to York, Toronto and Canada–I'm looking forward to a number of projects. York's partnership with Canadian Stage will be looking at sustainability soon. The Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology has started a sustainability commission with which I'm looking forward to getting involved. The Grand Theatre in London, ON is interested in housing some new exploration into resources used in performance. I'm extremely excited for how sustainability with be discussed by the global theatre community in Cardiff for World Stage Design. And, I'm hoping to get students involved with things like the Indy Convergence and Edinburgh Festival Fringe, unique working environments which I call home.

Katelyn McCulloch

September 20, 2012

Katelyn McCulloch

Actor Katelyn McCulloch (BFA 2011) shares her tips on getting the best out of your York experience, and updates us on her high-flying adventures since she graduated.

“What attracted you to York in the first place?”

I was living in Nova Scotia and I knew I wanted to study theatre in Toronto. I knew someone who had gone there so I applied and flew to Toronto to audition. I got the best vibe from my audition. The faculty and facility were amazing and I just felt at home. It quickly became my top choice.

“What was the most valuable thing you learned while studying in Theatre at York?”

How to fuel myself as an artist. Especially since I have chosen an extremely physical form of theatre I need to continue to inspire and feed my creative soul. This means, knowing when my body has had enough, knowing when to get a massage or sleep in. Eating in a way that can keep me going for a 3 hours silks rehearsal and also doing something everyday for creativity. So if it means reading a new play, watching a youtube video that I love, writing in my journal (yes I still write every day, it keeps me sane) or knowing when its time to put on some bad TV and relax. York taught me the importance of checking in with my body and listening to what it tells me. Otherwise you'll burn out.

“What was the most challenging aspect or experience of training/studying at York?”
Knowing when to ask for help. That was the hardest thing I had to learn but has helped me the most since school. I would like to try and do it all by myself, but I would just burn out or get frustrated and shut down. I had to learn that letting someone help me didn't make me weak or bad at something, it actually made me better.

“What is your fondest memory of studying Theatre at York?”

My fondest memory was definitely being a frog in our 4th year show Ti Jean and his Brothers (see the Flickr set of pictures from this show). My best friend was also a frog and we graced the stage in unitards and hopped around having the time of our lives. We had so much fun!!! I loved doing our fourth year shows.

“What was your favourite place at York, and why?”

Berries and Blooms—for the sandwiches. I still crave them.

“Do you have any advice or tips for York students just entering the dept.?”

BE A SPONGE! You have an amazing faculty that want to HELP you grow and develop into the best artist you can be. So listen to them. Even if you don't care about production, soak up your labs (I've use my c wrench and my sewing skills post school…seriously!). Even if you don't care about acting, absorb what your teacher is saying and take notes. As an actor, I prefer working with directors and designers who have a basic understanding and respect for the work I do because I have it for them.

“Do you have any advice or tips for York students just about to graduate? about to join the job market?”

Start treating yourself as an actor NOW! The switch from student to actor can be tricky for some people and you need to start conducting yourself as an actor now and take responsibility for the choices you make on and off the stage. You have to trust your guts and go after what you want. No one is going to spoon feed it to you, so you have to put yourself out there and kick some butt. Oh yeah.. and HAVE FUNNNNNNNN, you're almost done!!!!

“If you had the chance to go back and visit your younger self as you were beginning at York, what advice would you give yourself?”

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF! The amount of things I worried about in first year is insane. I worried about things I had no control over, that was the hardest part. So, if you're new at York…remember you can only control you and your actions, focus on yourself and no one else. And surround yourself with people you love and who love you. I found the best group of girlfriends who are still my friends today and we really helped each other through all of the tough times and celebrated with each other during the great ones!

“Did connections, friendships, relationships you made at York help you afterward?”

Absolutely! First of all, the people who were studying in other streams have helped me with stage management, design and other tech skills on various shows. Whenever I need someone in the production realm I have a ton of talented people I know who can get the job done. Also, the MFA's who were at York while I was in my undergrad have been colleagues of mine post York. Marvin Ishmael recently directed me as Puck in his adaptation of Midsummer Night's Dream and I have helped Jack Grinhaus (Co founder of Bound to Create) workshop some pieces and lent my talents as a movement coach.

“Are you still working in Theatre, or related Arts? In what ways?”

Katelyn McCulloch performs aerial silks

I sure am!

Upon graduating York I performed in a Fringe (2011) show called Infinitum by the Cheshire Unicorn. This was a movement based piece that also involved aerial silks. We went on to win Patrons Pick and Critics pick from NOW (NNNN)! and went on to have a successful remount in the fall of 2011. BUT most importantly I fell madly in love with aerial arts. I began training at Cirque-ability on aerial hoop, trapeze and silks as well as hand balancing, acrobatics and partner balancing. While in my undergrad I always loved doing physical theatre and using my dance background to fuel my acting. For me, aerial arts was the next step. Currently I am a full time coach at Cirque-ability and the Artistic Director of the school's aerial performance team. Last year I directed their two sold out shows Exposed and Alter Eco. I also choreographed and played Puck in Marvin Ishmael's Caribbean Dream where we received an excellent review from Mooney on theatre. I have also been performing with Dr. Draw (an electric violinist) as a dancer and aerialist. Together we've rocked Toronto and Montreal including the MOD club, ROM and Toronto Buskerfest. I recently launched my own theatre company No Parachute Theatre which is my current adventure. No Parachute is an interdisciplinary theatre company dedicated to pushing the physical and emotional boundaries of the human body through aerial dance, movement and text. We are currently in development of our first show. Find us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/NoParachuteTheatre.

No Parachute Theatre

I was also was chosen for Labcab (2011) at the Factory Theatre where I wrote, choreographed and performed What have 270 calories, 17 grams of fat and reeks of Dill? (which was actually my Archetype Project—our final 4th year project) I have also performed at Aertime, Dance expeditions, Dance Ontario and spent time training in San Miguel Mexico since school. I signed with the agency ETM right of school and have been auditioning for TV/film and filmed some commercials since.

Updates and news www.katelynmcculloch.com

What Has 270 Cal, 17g of Fat, and Reeks of Dill? by Katelyn McCulloch from Theatre | York University on Vimeo.

Alum Kate Fenton discusses her show “Mister Baxter”

September 9, 2012

Alum Kate Fenton discusses her show “Mister Baxter”

Playwright Kate Fenton (MFA 2005 Acting) discusses her show Mister Baxter, which plays at TPM this month. The show features many York alumni!

Mister Baxter

After our successful run at the 2011 Toronto Fringe Festival (Audience Choice Award-InspiraTO 2010, Outstanding Ensemble, Fringe Festival 2011 – NOW Magazine), the play returns for nine shows and features an art instillation created by Toronto-based artist Mariuxi Zambrano, and a photo exhibit exploring the theme of ‘Displacement’, inspired by our underground subway experience.

Set in Toronto’s subway system, Mister Baxter is a new work I’ve written, directed by Adam Seybold (MFA 2005 Acting), starring Christopher Stanton (Dora Award Outstanding performance New Electric Ballroom MacKenzieRo), Ginette Mohr (MFA 2005 Acting and three-time Dora nominee), Mark Gibson (BFA 2005 and Star of Exit Humanity), Alex Dault (Single Thread Theatre), Kaleb Alexander (BFA 2010 and Summerworks 2012 Dumbo Squid) and Ewa Wolnizcek (Summerworks 2012 The Frenzy of Queen Maeve). Featuring Live Performance and Original Music by Melanie Brulee.

One of the themes that emerged for me while writing the play was that of displacement. In the play, I look at displacement from a psychological perspective, as a sub-conscious defense mechanism. Often a character feels something or experiences something that they are unable to deal with and as a result they transfer that emotion on to another person in potentially harmful ways. In my experience, social crisis, conflict and trauma are endlessly displaced into sexuality, often resulting in a chain-reaction, with people unwittingly becoming both victims and perpetrators of displacement. In Mister Baxter, a teacher crosses an inappropriate boundary with one of his students and as a result many people are traumatized and left to deal with the aftermath of his actions.

As I continued to explore this theme, I thought it would be useful to hear what other people thought or experienced when struggling with displacement. So we came up with a fundraising campaign where we could create with our audience.

Photography is a beautiful art that captures a moment in time. In a photograph, the experience is frozen. Similarly, a traumatic experience can hold a person captive in a particular time or experience. The events that lead to that moment cannot be changed but what will happen after is what defines us and is what fascinates me most about being alive. There is no other art form that can distill a real and immediate experience in quite the same way as photography.

So here is what we did….

Photographers, artists and creative people were encouraged to submit up to three photos to The Quickening Theatre Photo Contest reflecting their experience of displacement. Their photos are posted on our website. A jury of professionals selected five winning photographs. The five winning photos are being used by Artist Mariuxi Zambrano to create an art installation that will transform the mainspace to reflect ‘displacement’ in an interactive and compelling way.

Mister Baxter opens September 20 and closes September 29 at Theatre Passe Muraille’s Mainspace as part of their Bring the Buzz Festival. The run also includes an Opening Night Art Gala on September 20, beginning at 5:30pm and features an art exhibit and photo auction.

Three stories collide in this hopeful and harrowing new play. On a subway platform, a chance encounter between a troubled man and a young boy takes a strange turn. A teenage couple stuck on a subway train deal with more than one delay. A husband and wife confront a marriage running on opposite tracks. Mister Baxter explores the very depths of our urban experience with compassion and depth.

The Quickening Theatre presents

MISTER BAXTER

A Bring the Buzz Project, produced by The Quickening Theatre with the support of

Theatre Passe Muraille and the George Cedric Metcalf Foundation

Written by Kate Fenton

Directed by Adam Seybold

Featuring:

Christopher Stanton
Ginette Mohr
Mark Gibson
Alex Dault
Kaleb Alexander
Ewa Wolniczek

Live Performance and Original Music by Melanie Brulee

Stage Manager: Kate Sandeson
Lighting Design: David DeGrow
Projection Design: Cameron Davis
Sound Design: Kirill Belousov

Show times are as follows:

September 20, 21 at 7:30 pm
September 22 at 2:00 and 7:30 pm
September 26, 27, 28 7:30 pm
September 29 at 2:30 and 7:30 pm

Opening Night Art Gala: September 20 at 5:30pm

For tickets, call the Theatre Passe Muraille Box Office at 416.504.7529
or visit www.passemuraille.on.ca/box-office/

Quickening Theatre Photo Contest Sponsors: Pikto, Midtown/WadeTech.