Tag: theatre

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Arts

Growth in adaptation and collaboration

Mich Cota (left) was given the lead role of Geryon (seen onstage with Seraphina Lewin as Babysitter). Photo by Sadie Mallon.

Concordia student leads cast and crew in production of Autobiography of Red

Phoebe Fregoli, a Concordia creative writing and women’s studies student, was drawn to McGill University’s Tuesday Night Cafe (TNC) Theatre by their 24-hour playwriting competition. After receiving critical acclaim for her play Be Tween—which was expanded into a full production early last year—she was inspired to adapt one of her favourite novels, Autobiography of Red, into a play for her follow-up production.

Fregoli’s biggest challenge was turning the verse novel into a traditional dialogue format. She left the majority of Anne Carson’s original words intact while writing the play, only adding or changing them when adapting the story to a different platform.

Autobiography of Red is a loose adaptation of the ancient Greek myth of Herakles’ Tenth Labour Cattle of Geryon, wherein Herakles travels to the far-off island of Erytheia to retrieve Geryon’s cattle, slaughtering the winged monster, Geryon, and his two-headed dog in the process. Carson’s 1998 novel modernizes the myth into a metaphorical coming-of-age tale. Now, the focus is on Geryon, a young winged boy coming to terms with his sexuality and abusive childhood while ending up in a love triangle with Herakles and his lover, Ancash.

Most of the cast learned about auditions through Facebook and jumped at the opportunity to connect with such a powerful and beloved story. José Camargo, who just finished his undergraduate degree in philosophy and psychology at McGill, was able to connect very closely with his character, Ancash, because of the similarities between Ancash’s homeland of Peru and his own homeland of Colombia.

“I think the play is a celebration of queerness in particular, but also just being different in general,” Camargo said. “It celebrates that not everyone is the same—that not everybody has to follow the script that society imposes on you.”
Mich Cota, a massive fan of the novel, was delighted to hear about the play and speechless when she was eventually cast in the lead role. “It’s so nice to come so close to this book in such a big way,” she said. “It’s just such a beautiful experience for me.”

Alex Huard performs as Tango. Photo by Sadie Mallon.

TNC is a student-run theatre company associated with McGill’s English department but open to students from other universities. The theatre encourages experimental and subversive plays focusing on issues of diversity and underrepresented voices in Quebec.

The theatre itself is a small, intimate affair, seating only about 30 people. Red lights illuminate the room as an operatic score sets the mood for what is to come.

The set design is simple, with a large bed being a mainstay on the left side of the stage, while kitchen tables, café chairs and patio porches get swapped around with efficiency for each new location. Simple sound effects, elaborate lighting cues, some convincing pantomimes and a hefty dose of imagination on the audience’s part help transform the small stage into a delightfully engaging sight. It’s simple in presentation but complex in its design.

Much of the show is anchored in Cota’s delicate and innocent portrayal of Geryon, who slowly matures over the course of the production. Every single character in this show is played with depth and reverence. Annah-Lauren Bloom’s Mother is overwhelmed but always loving as she cares for Cota’s Geryon and Connor Miles’s headstrong Brother. She is offered only a few brief moments of respite by Seraphina Lewin’s warm and protective Babysitter. Geryon’s trip to Peru brings him in contact with Alex Huard’s evocative Tango, a dancer who offers some helpful words, as well as a brief romantic fling with a charming waiter, played by Rafaël Khoury. Jess Waters’ Grandmother offers some of the show’s funniest moments with her dry wit and always controlling demeanor.

José Camargo as Ancash (left), onstage with Cota as Geryon. Photo by Sadie Mallon.

“We’ve spent a lot of time building up these emotional frameworks through which to understand each other’s characters and through which to make something available to the audience,” said Stephen Lawrence, who plays Herakles. He is currently finishing his thesis in media studies at Concordia. “I think, if you invest in this experience, there’s a lot there to unpack as a viewer.”

“I feel extremely lucky,” Fregoli said. “Lucky to be surrounded by a group of individuals as hardworking, positive, committed, talented and creative as we have here in this production.”

Autobiography of Red plays from Feb. 28 to March 3 at the TNC Theatre on McGill’s downtown campus. More information can be found on the play’s Facebook event page.

Photos by Sadie Mallon

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Student Life

From stage to screen to studio

Long-time instructor Harry Standjofski is bringing his ilm and theatre experience to the classroom

“I’ve never really had a job,” quipped Harry Standjofski, a part-time instructor in Concordia’s theatre department, when asked about the beginning of his career. Of course, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

Although his career may not fit the traditional nine-to-five model, Standjofski has spent years working as an actor, playwright and director in Montreal and across Canada. From quirky theatre anthologies to best-selling video games, Standjofski’s work transcends diverse mediums. While the highlights of a career spanning nearly four decades have included the publication of two original plays and a string of roles on both the stage and screen, no project has been as long-term as his work at Concordia.

“I started here as a student, actually,” Standjofski said. “A few years later, I was working here, so in that way, there wasn’t really a time before Concordia.”

After studying theatre and graduating from the university in 1982, Standjofski, who was born and raised in Outremont, spent three years traveling and working as an actor before signing his first part-time contract with Concordia. Since then, he has spent most years working with the university in some capacity, often teaching one or two studio courses per semester. Unlike theoretical courses, which focus on studying concepts, theory and the work of other theatre artists, many of the courses Standjofski teaches offer students practical knowledge of the theatre craft.

the invisible man
Caption: A scene from “L’homme invisible/The Invisible Man”, a bilingual production Standjofski directed in 2014
Credit: Amy Keith

“Actors [in the theatre program] will spend most of their classes actually acting and learning in the studio,” Standjofski said. In past years, he has also taught playwriting, theory and scene study, and has been involved in the process of auditioning actors for admission.

Although most of the acting courses are reserved for students in the program, Standjofski misses a time when students from other departments were also allowed to enroll.

“One of the greatest feelings was when a student [from another program] would take a class, and then afterwards actually decided to switch into theatre, which happened more than once,” Standjofski recalled.

In addition to his work as a teacher, Standjofski is also heavily involved with the Concordia University Part-time Faculty Association (CUPFA) as a representative for the theatre department. He acknowledges the fact that the experiences of part-time staff members are varied across departments and faculties, but he has been happy with his experiences as a part-time staff member, and the theatre department has embraced his involvement with CUPFA.

“I really couldn’t ask for anything better,” Standjofski said about his experience in the department. “They’ve done everything they can to work with us, and they’ve listened to my recommendations. […] The theatre department wants the best for us. In that sense, it has been really great.”

An award-winning theatre career

In the worlds of both theatre and film, Standjofski said there is often an expectation that artists, particularly actors, have to travel for their work, whether it’s for touring theatre productions or location film shoots. For many actors, being rooted in one city might make finding work a challenge, but Standjofski has thrived in Montreal’s vibrant theatre community.

“I’ve spent time travelling a lot in Canada. I did shows in Vancouver, in Calgary […] I found myself all over the place,” Standjofski said about his early years as an actor. “I don’t see Concordia or being in Montreal as something that has limited me in terms of opportunities.”

Despite the fact he has worked at Concordia since 1986, Standjofski has balanced his position with consistent theatre work. Acting may be the craft he focuses on as an instructor, but he has also made waves as a playwright. In 1986, he began his professional playwriting career as a playwright-in-residence at the Centaur Theatre, one of Montreal’s most prominent English theatres. In 1992, he published Urban Myths, an anthology book that featured Anton and No Cycle, two of his original plays. However, he said he has seen many more of his plays produced in cities across the country, from Edmonton to Montreal.

Some of these written works have earned him notable awards. In 2004, his one-act play jennydog earned two Montreal English Critics Circle Awards (MECCA), and in 2005, his play Here & There was nominated for a Masques Award, a provincial award for theatre excellence in Quebec.

Along with playwriting, Standjofski has established himself as a notable Montreal actor. One of his standout passion projects is Urban Tales, an anthology series that runs annually at the Centaur. Consisting of multiple short pieces linked by distinct themes, Urban Tales is an opportunity for emerging and established Montreal artists to work together. Over the past 11 years, Standjofski has directed and written for the series, and performed as both an actor and musician. One of his most recent roles was the part of Russ in Bruce Norris’s Pulitzer-winning play Clybourne Park. Produced by the Centaur, the show ran in April 2017.

Standjofski said teaching part-time offers an element of flexibility that allows him to pursue other projects during the academic year.

“I’m able to teach my classes, mark my students and that’s it,” Standjofski said.

From the stage to the screen

While theatre may be his first love, many of the projects Standjofski has taken on have been on-screen roles.

Some of his film credits include roles in Canadian films like Café Olé, as well as critically acclaimed international films like the 2010 adaptation of Mordecai Richler’s novel Barney’s Version and Martin Scorsese’s Oscar-winning film, The Aviator.

Standjofski (back row, second from right) with the cast of Clybourne Park in April 2017
Credit: Centaur Theatre (photographer not named)

Standjofski has also tapped into a lesser-known entertainment market: voice acting.

“At this point, if you watch [animated series] or like video games, you’ve probably heard my voice,” he said. Standjofski has lent his voice to everything from Canadian-made animated series like Young Robin Hood to mainstream animated movies like Arthur’s Perfect Christmas. Perhaps most surprisingly, Standjofski’s vocal work can be heard in a variety of video games, including every one of the popular Assassin’s Creed video game installments. “It’s a lot of f

un to do, and it has been consistent work,” he said.

Standjofski has also benefited from being a bilingual performer. He has appeared in a number of French-language television series, such as L’imposteur and A nous deux.

In Standjofski’s experience, there is much more fanfare when working in French television, compared to its much larger, more saturated English-language counterpart. While there may be more anglophone roles in Canadian television, francophone fans are much more likely to recognize him in public.
“It’s a lot different,” Standjofski said. “People you meet recognize you, they’ll know you from the things you’ve done. There’s a connection there.”

Training the next generation

While film and voice acting are fulfilling careers in their own right, Standjofski’s teaching position keeps him close to the work that made him fall in love with theatre in the first place.

Harry Standjofski with actress Sylvie Moreau on the set of the French film Un Capitalisme Sentimentale

“You can appear in dozens of things, and never do anything you really love,” Standjofski said about working in the film industry. “In class, we read [Anton] Chekhov, we’re looking at work on that level, and I like being able to get back to that work […] I can’t speak for every student, but most of the time, they’re here because that’s the work they want to be doing.”

Despite the versatility and longevity he has found in his own career, Standjofski admitted there are barriers for emerging and established artists within the theatre world, namely when it comes to finances. Specifically, some of the most illustrious job opportunities may be very removed from the works Standjofski is so happy to teach.

“You might have to do something that’s not really […] what you’re passionate about,” Standjofski said about the challenges of finding acting work that’s both profitable and fulfilling. “But taking a commercial and doing something like that can be what funds everything else.”

Ultimately, his favourite moments as a teacher don’t come down to a single production or class. In fact, his proudest memories don’t take place in the studio at all—they come later, when he sees his students succeeding post-graduation.
“In a lot of things, like Urban Tales, I’ve worked with students, year after year. I’ve cast a lot of graduates,” he said. “There’s something really nice when I can work with someone, and not as their teacher, but now just as a collaborator.”

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Arts

Showcasing talent from concept to performance

Caitlin Stever (left) and Eli Gale, both theatre and development students at Concordia, took part in this year’s One-Act Play Festival. Photo by Maggie Hope.

Concordia theatre students discuss One-Act Play rehearsals and learning experience

Members of Concordia’s theatre program delivered engaging, heart-wrenching, captivating performances as the department’s One-Act Play Festival brought four plays to life from Nov. 3 through 11.

The theatre department’s second edition of the festival featured well-known contemporary Canadian and absurdist work, as well as pieces constructed by the students themselves. Students across the entire program took part in productions of Beckett Shorts, If We Were Birds, The Freddie Stories and Love In Seven Languages. They applied to be in the festival at the end of last year’s winter term, were assigned to one of the four plays and auditioned for specific roles. From there, workshops and rehearsals were held up until opening day. The One-Act Play Festival is a public performance project (known as a PPP in the theatre department). PPPs give students the option to take part in projects to gain experience and academic credits.

Beckett Shorts

Beckett Shorts is comprised of six short plays written by legendary absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett. The cast was divided into groups of two or three, and each group performed one of the pieces. In each short, the stage was mostly dark and very minimally lit, sometimes only for a moment. According to the performance’s pamphlet, “Beckett’s work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human existence.”

The spoken aspects of the performances conveyed raw human emotion while leaving the viewer to puzzle over what exactly they had witnessed. Short, sporadic outbursts paired with prolonged silences created an engaging and at times unsettling experience. This is a key characteristic of Beckett’s work. In the show’s program, director Clea Minaker wrote that “to step inside of any one of these ‘Beckettian’ compositions [is] also to submit oneself to an ‘authored’ body.” In Beckett Shorts, the cast and crew surrendered themselves to expression in absurdity.

If We Were Birds

Like Beckett Shorts, If We Were Birds stuck quite closely to the original play (written by Erin Shields). The piece, however, would definitely be described as more conventional theatre, as Johan DeNora, a third-year theatre performance student pointed out. If We Were Birds deals with extremely brutal and intense subject matter, and viewers were warned about scenes of infanticide, misogyny and sexual violence. When asked if performing such subject matter seemed daunting or intimidating, fifth-year theatre performance student Arianna Markle said she was actually empowered by being able to tell the story. “For me it was, ‘I want to be that voice,’” she said. “There are the experiences of so many women standing behind me, beside me, with me and through me [in this role]. It’s humbling for sure.” Markle added that she finds the play to be especially relevant due to the recent increase in discussion about cases of sexual violence.

Maureen Adelson, a second-year acting student, initially found it hard to approach her role as Bleeding, because she has “never gone through anything as traumatic and as tragic” as what her character endures in the piece. After doing some research on the historic events that the character was based off of, however, Adelson said her mindset changed and she became determined to tell her character’s story.

DeNora added that he is extremely pleased with the work the entire ensemble put into the production, especially given it was such an intense piece. “This is a lot of heavy material for people who are still training, and there’s always a fear of not giving it the respect it deserves,” he said. “I’m so glad that we have managed to get it to a point where I think it really is respectful and important.”

The Freddie Stories

The Freddie Stories was adapted from a graphic novel by Lynda Barry and converted into a theatre piece by the ensemble and crew. Also directed by Minaker, the play follows a young boy named Freddie who struggles with mental disabilities. It takes the audience through the boy’s daily life, revealing that he gets bullied by classmates and abused by his mother. This piece effectively deals with intense themes while presenting a lightheartedness that could only be expressed through young characters.

Emma Corber, a fourth-year theatre major, said that because her group started without a set script, they spent most of their rehearsal time in workshops determining how to convert the novel into a theatre piece. Though at times the process was rushed and stressful, Corber insisted this experience allowed her to grow as a performer in ways she had never been able to in previous productions. The piece incorporates puppetry and mask work, which were new disciplines for most of the cast, she added.

Caitlin Stever, a third-year theatre and development student, was immediately interested in The Freddie Stories and was tasked with the job of stage manager. “Talking about childhood trauma through the lens of childhood is super interesting to me,” she said. Stever found the entire adaptation process extremely challenging, but was also able to exercise her creative abilities to a great degree. “A hundred per cent of my energy, and my whole human force and thought and emotion have been put into this show because of that collaborative process that demanded so much of me, and I’d say a lot of the actors felt that same way,” Stever said.

Love In Seven Languages

Sketches of the costume designs for Love In Seven Languages by Aurora Torok. Photo by Mackenzie Lad.

The ensemble of Love In Seven Languages were also very involved in the creation of the piece, from writing the script to developing its overarching themes. Preliminary workshops were held where the students would brainstorm ideas together and develop their collective vision for the play. “Most of our lines [in the piece], someone said at some point in a writing exercise,” according to third-year theatre and development student Eli Gale. “It’s a little spooky.” Gale said being so involved in the creative process allowed each performer to feel especially connected to the part they play. “When you’re acting in a character that is so close to your own reality, how do you separate what is and what isn’t there?” she asked.

This piece was not advised for viewers under the age of 18 because of mature content and mentions of suicide. The story follows seven royal siblings who are locked in a room of their father’s castle and are never allowed to leave. When they become of-age, the siblings are told they will be married off one by one, which causes them to consider drastic measures in order to escape.

Aurora Torok, the designer of the show, worked closely with literature the play was based off of to construct a minimal but stunning setting. She began designs for the set and costumes in the summer, and worked alongside the cast and crew until the performances began. “There are so many challenges that come with it,” Torok said. “But the fact that the designers were ready to take them all on was fantastic.”

 

Feature photo by Maggie Hope

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Arts

Delving into queer experiences

The History of Sexuality will be playing at the MainLine Theatre from Sept. 21 to 30. Photo courtesy of Erika Rosenbaum Photography.

Dane Stewart debuts a self-written, directed and produced endeavour

While reflecting on the intent behind writing his newest theatrical piece, Dane Stewart expressed that he wanted “to combine Foucauldian, feminist, queer theorists and their texts with lived experiences of people in Montreal.”

As one of Concordia’s recent graduates of the individualized master’s program, Stewart is set to debut his play at the MainLine Theatre on Sept. 21. The production, titled The History of Sexuality, explores themes of power, sex and queerness in the context of student life in Montreal. The plot follows five graduate students who are enrolled in a seminar studying the philosophy of French intellectual Michel Foucault. Stewart said he had studied Foucault’s work at Concordia himself and became particularly inspired by the philosopher’s book, also titled The History of Sexuality.

Foucault’s philosophy, along with a number of theatrical pieces using a technique called verbatim theatre prompted Stewart to start writing his own play. Verbatim theatre involves the playwright conducting a series of interviews, transcribing the interviews and using the direct quotes to script the play. So, as Stewart explained, the actors in a verbatim theatre piece would speak the words of the interviewees.

Dane Stewart wrote the play as part of his thesis for his master’s degree. Photo by Alex Hutchins.

Typically, this method is used in documentary-style plays so actors portray the real-life people whose words they are speaking. Stewart, however, decided to use the verbatim theatre technique in order to adapt real-life experiences into the lives of fictional characters. He conducted interviews with several people within Montreal’s queer community about their experiences. Then, Stewart extracted sections of these interviews to be spoken by the characters in his play. By doing so, the playwright added, he was able to include a variety of perspectives outside of his own without needing to speak for anyone.

Stewart called this technique “fictionalized verbatim theatre,” although he recognizes that he may not be the only playwright using it. He developed this method while working on his thesis for his master’s degree, and received a grant from CALQ (Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec) to further improve it himself. The grant allowed him and his team to hold workshops in order to explore and develop this writing technique. With this help, they were able to write several drafts and spend time perfecting Stewart’s work.

After finishing his thesis and graduating from the master’s program where he studied theatre, communications, and gender and sexuality studies through an interdisciplinary program, Stewart began working towards showing his play at the MainLine Theatre. He worked alongside Michelle Soicher, a fourth-year undergraduate theatre student who took on the role of assistant director and stage manager to gain experience as well as academic credits.

“Queerness, non-normative sexual identity and sexual practice have been a big part of my life. It’s also been a very challenging part at times,” Stewart said.

Although drawing upon his own experience as someone who identifies as queer was extremely useful, Stewart said he wanted to capture the realities of other people in Montreal’s queer community as well. Through conducting a number of interviews and refining his writing technique with the workshops funded by CALQ, Stewart is finally left with a piece that he said he believes tells the stories of the individuals featured “very well.”

The playwright also recognized that the stories explored in his play are just a small portion of the diverse experiences that make up the queer community as a whole. He added, “I also am a believer in intersectionality and striving—as someone who takes up a lot of space or has the capacity to take up a lot of space in life and in society—to subscribe to the mandate of ‘take space to make space.’”

According to Stewart, The History of Sexuality is very much based in reality. The setting is a replication of what attending graduate school in Montreal is like today. It was important to Stewart to not only acknowledge the diversity within the queer community in Montreal, but also to represent the characters in his play as real people living real lives.

“One of my goals with the piece,” he said, “is to present queerness—to present non-normative sexual practices, sexual identities and expressions of gender—as just intimate and honest and real.”

“A lot of media and a lot of art that’s surrounding queerness and queer sexualities and genders these days, I feel is quite sensational,” he added. “[The characters in the play] are just people going through their daily lives. I think it’s important for us to see that.”

The History of Sexuality will be playing at the MainLine Theatre, at 3997 Boul. St-Laurent, from Sept. 21 to 30. Showtime is at 8 p.m. with additional showings at 2 p.m. on Sept. 23 and 30. Tickets are available through the Facebook event and the MainLine Theatre’s website. Prices can vary depending on your financial situation.

Feature photo courtesy of Erika Rosenbaum Photography

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Arts

Perm’s Swan Lake premieres in Montreal

The Russian ballet troupe discussed their premier of Swan Lake last Wednesday

Russia’s Perm Ballet Opera performed its rendition of Swan Lake for the first time at Place des Arts last Wednesday, as part of the Grands Ballets’ 2017-2018 season. At the pre-show talk before the premiere, arts journalist Shelley Pomerance sat down with the artistic director and two principal dancers from the Perm troupe to discuss some of the history behind the Perm Ballet Opera and the ballet piece itself.

Perm is the third-biggest Russian ballet company and has a rich history, intertwined with that of the Mariinsky ballet company. Perm’s artistic director, Alexey Miroshnichenko, explained that, during World War II, the Mariinsky ballet theater, which was located in St. Petersburg, moved to Perm, Russia for safety reasons. The ballet troupe stayed there for four years, turning Perm into a well-known centre for ballet. Before moving back to St. Petersburg, they founded a ballet school.

Miroshnichenko said Perm has a dance style that is a combination of the Moscow and St. Petersburg traditions, but is still closer to the St. Petersburg style because of its history. “In the St. Petersburg school, they teach to dance with the soul,” he said. “In the Moscow school, they dance with the head.” He chuckled when asked where he comes from—he answered: “St. Petersburg.”

The role of the artistic director in the Russian ballet tradition is overarching. Miroshnichenko explained it has changed very little since the first appearances of ballet companies in the Russian Empire, when artistic directors were also the main choreographers. He has been the troupe’s artistic director since 2009 and oversees the adaption of all ballets. “I am responsible for everything that’s going on,” he said.

When asked what he thinks his most important role is as the artistic director, Miroshnichenko smiled slightly and answered “discipline,” rising a chuckle out of the audience.

To the surprise of many, Swan Lake was not a success when it was first presented in Moscow in 1877. Miroshnichenko explained that, while many people think Swan Lake is the most originally-preserved ballet, many modifications were brought to it after the death of its composer, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. A mere four original musical pieces were kept.

Pomerance has been doing this type of pre-show analysis and introduction for four or five years. “If you only see [a ballet] once, it’s helpful to have something to guide you through the ballet so you know what’s going on and what the choreographer was thinking,” she said. Pomerance said the old artistic director of Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal felt very strongly about having these types of introductions, especially for contemporary ballets, which is what Les Grands Ballets specializes in.

While Pomerance does not have a preference for one type of art over the other, she said the more she works with ballet and other types of dance, the more she has developed a fondness for its combination of music and movement. She said music and dance “are two art forms where there are no words, and where so much is expressed… You can convey so much emotion through the body and through music.”

Les Grands Ballets’ next production, Minus One, will premiere on March 23 at Place des Arts.

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Arts

The Watershed sheds light on political issues

Politics, water and the Experimental Lakes Area take centre stage at the Centaur Theatre

Have you ever heard of the Experimental Lakes Area(ELA) near Kenora, Ontario? Have you ever thought about how much clean water is worth? Are you willing to find the answers by driving across the country in a Winnebago crammed with three children, a husband and a bacon-loving dog? Maybe not, but thanks to Montreal playwright Annabel Soutar, you can experience that journey from the comfort of the Centaur Theatre.

The Watershed is Porte Parole and Crow Theatre’s newest venture in documentary and political theatre. According to the Porte Parole website, documentary theatre is a creative process whereby artists record current event stories from many different perspectives, such as TV segments, in person interviews, radio and online sources. They then sort and mediate those perspectives for an audience in the form of a play. All of the dialogue in The Watershed came from recorded interviews and family conversations about water and the ELA. The Watershed explores Soutar’s journey to find answers about why the Canadian ELA the world’s only freshwater research site, was shut down by the Harper government in 2013, after a scientist who worked there published an unflattering review of the Oil Sands.

The Watershed follows playwright Annabel Soutars family as they journey across Canada to find answers about the ELA. Photo courtesy of Porte Parole Productions

Commissioned for the 2015 Panamania Festival, the play begins with Soutar speaking to a local plumber about how water comes into the home. It then grows to become a cross-country journey to find out why the Harper government cut funding to the ELA, which had an annual budget of about $2 million.

The greatest part about this play is its documentary style, specifically the dialogue and characters. The play’s characters range from Soutar’s hilarious children to former Prime Minister Harper and scientist Diane Orihel, who put aside her research to fight for the ELA. The documentary style gives the characters depth, reliability and reasoning since they are real people speaking their own words, rather than ones made up by a playwright to go along with a story.

Soutar’s children, Ella and Beatrice (the third child on the trip, Hazel, is director Chris Abraham’s daughter), played by Amelia Sargisson, and Ngozi Paul, are almost like average audience members within the play. They begin the journey with little knowledge about water, watersheds or where freshwater comes from. As the play continues, the girls become more and more knowledgeable as they sit in on many of the interviews—which the audience also witnesses as they are reenacted on stage.

By the end of the play, the children are conducting their own interviews and learning more about how different people view the oil sands—for example, as a vice president of sustainability for a Montreal oil company said in her interview with Soutar, “People who are for it call it the oil sands. People who hate it call it the tar sands.”

Both The Watershed and Soutar’s previous documentary play, Seeds, have definitely solidified documentary theatre as my favourite style of theatre. While traditional playwriting definitely has its place, this new documentary style feels much more sincere and appeals to modern-day audiences. The Watershed runs until Dec. 4 at the Centaur Theatre. Tickets are available online, at centaurtheatre.com.     

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Arts

Concordia grad joins Second City’s holiday show

Aimee Ambroziak joins the famous Second City Touring Company in Eat, Buy, Repeat

Aimee Ambroziak joins the famous Second City Touring Company in Eat, Buy, Repeat

As of Monday, Nov. 21, Concordia theatre grad Aimee Ambroziak will be joining the ranks of hilarious female comics. Ambroziak will be a part of the Second City Touring Company’s new holiday show, Eat, Buy, Repeat: The Second City’s Guide to the Holidays.

The Second City opened in 1959 and has since become a world-renowned comedy club, theatre and improvisation school. Its notable alumni include Tina Fey, Catherine O’Hara and Bill Murray, all of whom Ambroziak said are her heroes.

“While theatre is my first love, I started thinking about who my heroes are, and I realized that all of them had something to [do] with improv at Second City,” she said.

Ambroziak grew up in Hudson, Que. and was a member of the Hudson Village Players theatre group, with whom she performed with throughout her teenage years. After graduating from Concordia in 2007 with a BA in theatre performance, Ambroziak immediately found work with Geordie Productions. For a year, she toured Eastern Ontario elementary and high schools, performing various children’s theatre plays, including a Robert Munsch adaptation.

After attending a Level A improvisation class—a weekend-long, entry-level intensive course—at the Second City in Chicago, Ambroziak auditioned for the Second City in 2013. For the past three years, Ambroziak has been a part of the Second City’s Boat Company, performing on Norwegian Cruise Lines’ Pearl and Epic ships, as well as the Second City’s Family Company, which performs children’s shows. She is now making her debut with the Second City’s touring group in Eat, Buy, Repeat: The Second City’s Guide to the Holidays.

Ambroziak said the show draws inspiration from world events, as well as themes like consumption. The show was created through various improvisation sketches performed in front of a live audience.

“We got to see what worked and what didn’t,” she said. The show includes original songs and some Second City favourite performances from past holiday shows. Because the show draws inspiration from world events, some of the sketches have evolved to fit the changing news, particularly after the U.S. election on Nov. 8. “There is actually one scene where, as I was doing, I thought ‘I wonder if this will change when Hillary wins,’” Ambroziak said. “Evidently, it didn’t.”

The show is now all planned out, excluding a few scenes that require audience interaction. Ambroziak said if there is time after a performance, the troupe will perform a completely improvised third act. As this is a comedy show, Ambroziak wants the audience to enjoy themselves and feel refreshed. “I want them to leave the theatre having laughed a lot,” she said “Ideally, I hope they feel like it is something they haven’t seen before.”

Eat, Buy, Repeat: The Second City’s Guide to the Holidays runs from November 24, 2016 to January 5, 2017 at the Second City Mainstage Theatre in Toronto. Tickets start at $25 and can be purchased online at secondcity.com.

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Welcome to your worst nightmares

Underbelly is a collective play created over the past eight months by a group of six Concordia students and four theatre students from Erlangen, Germany. Photo by Jessica Kinnari.

Concordia’s theatre students bring their much-anticipated collective Underbelly to the One-Act Play Festival

Filled with strobe lights, choral speaking and aggressive physicality, Underbelly explores themes of animality and fear. This one-act collective creation is the result of eight months worth of research.

The show was created by Camille Banville, Julian Duarte, Deborah Hartmann, Wilson Menary, Mariam Nazaryan, Lukas Reinsch, Madeline Smart, Sophie-Thérèse Stone-Richards, Leyla Sutherland and Luisa Zap, a group of both Concordia theatre students and students from Erlangen, Germany. It is part of the exchange program offered to theatre students at Concordia. Students travel to Erlangen, Germany for four months to attend classes, and begin to work on a show. Afterwards, the German students do the same and come to Concordia for the following four months. At the end of the process, the group debuts their collective at Concordia’s One-Act Play Festival.

Underbelly focuses on monsters and hybrids (mythological creatures). The show explores people’s inner monsters and what they can become, through scenes of abuse and control. A particularly difficult scene to watch was one of abuse that features three couples who, in a synchronized sequence, appear to abuse their partners, both physically—by twisting their arms—as well as psychologically and sexually. It ends with a somewhat long segment of erotic and suggestive movements, and the three victims smearing vaseline on a plexiglas board and licking it off. While rather difficult to watch, it also leaves the audience wondering what is happening, especially when watching three people lick vaseline. Although it is a powerful image, it is quite unpleasant to observe.

The show’s transitions often featured a strobe light and a group of actors walking across the stage posing in various positions. Sometimes they engaged the audience with choral speaking, sometimes the transition was simply covered by music. Either way, it made for a more refreshing take on the typical transitions of a collective. The show is mostly about audience interpretation, as not many of the scenes are explained, due to the strobe light it was sometimes difficult to see what was happening. However, after attending a rehearsal of the show, it became clear that that was the point. If the audience is questioning what’s happening, and wondering if what was happening was real, then the actors seemed to be content. The One-Act Play Festival ran at Concordia’s D.B Clarke Theatre from November 9 to 13. It was composed of five student acted plays, some original some not.

To see what performance is coming up next for Concordia theatre, be sure to check out the Fine Arts department calendar.

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A theatrical look at a refugee’s life in Canada

Teesri Duniya Theatre is making a statement with another politically charged play, The Refugee Hotel.

The Refugee Hotel is a politically charged, dark-comedy play that chronicles the experience of Chilean refugees and pays tribute to the positive influence their Canadian hosts had on their resettlement. The play was performed in English with Spanish surtitles on a screen. Put on by the Teesri Duniya Theatre, the play features four Concordia grads, including Mariana Tayler, Sally Singal, Gilda Montreal and Charles Bender.

In the aftermath of the Chilean coup d’état in 1973, Canada welcomed over 7,000 Chilean refugees. At the time, a right-wing dictatorship seized power from the democratically-elected government. The dictatorship tortured and killed those they considered dissidents and imposed severe economic control by the state, according to Paulina Abarca-Cantin, the play’s director. Canada’s offer to these reluctant immigrants was a beacon of hope that soothed their physical and emotional pain.

Abarca-Cantin said the play is based on her story, as well as Carmen Aguirre’s, the playwright. “It is her true story and it is also mine, except that Carmen arrived in Vancouver and my family arrived in Montreal,” Abarca-Cantin said.

The play takes place in Montreal during a snowy week in February 1974. The story is told from a child’s perspective, a technique used to represent the refugees’ innocence upon arrival, explained Abarca-Cantin. She said some refugees opposed the dictatorship, while others, such as teenagers, were exiled despite not having yet formed any political leanings.

The Refugee Hotel opens with a monologue by eight-year-old Manuelita (Mariana Tayler) describing the determination and courage these refugees required to adapt to their new country. Although delivered in a child-like tone, the message is loaded with wisdom that comes from the processing of childhood memories later in life as an adult.

Much of the play takes place in a hotel, where Manuelita and her family are staying. Pat Keleman (Sally Singal), the social worker overseeing their resettlement, is caring and kind, but speaks no Spanish, causing the family to misunderstand everything she says. Each day, more Chileans arrive at the hotel and they quickly bond and share details of their escape—a cathartic and helpful part of the healing process.

The Refugee Hotel tells the tale of Chilean refugees who fled to Canada after a coup d’état overturned the government in 1973.
Photo by Jean-Charles Labarre

Eventually, to everyone’s relief, Bill O’Neill (Charles Bender), a Canadian NGO activist, visits the hotel and uses his not-too-fluent Spanish skills to communicate with the refugees. Having O’Neill in their corner helps the refugees understand Canada’s commitment to helping them rebuild their lives.

“My character is an activist,” Bender said. “[He] would have sat in front of the government to try to convince it to change policies [on refugees] by showing up with placards.”  He added that O’Neill “is a free-spirited kind of guy,” who worked alongside an interfaith church and helped the refugees find jobs, apartments and furniture—unlike the bureaucrat social worker who did nothing but check the boxes on her government-issued forms.

“The Refugee Hotel is ultimately about love and its power to heal,” Aguirre stated in the program notes. “It is the best way I know that I can send on a love letter to new people [refugees],” Abarca-Cantin said.

The Refugee Hotel is playing everyday except Fridays, until Nov.13 at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts, at 5170 Côte-Sainte-Catherine Road. Student tickets are $18.  A talk-back with the audience takes place after each performance.

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Off with her head! And let them eat cake!

Alex Petrachuk gave an amazing performance as Queen Elizabeth in Obra anaïs: performance ensemble’s production of Mary Stuart.

Mary Stuart brings the battle of the two Tudor queens to life onstage

A techie and costume designer’s dream, Mary Stuart brings to life the historical struggle between Queen Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots. The multimedia-filled show ran at the Salle Jean-Valcourt du Conservatoire from Oct. 21 to 30, and featured a number of Concordia grads, including Alex Petrachuk and Curtis Legault. A production by the Obra anaïs: performance ensemble, the play featured solid character development as well as captivating music and interesting staging choices.

The set was versatile, with chains and sheer pieces of fabric hanging from the ceiling along the back of the stage. Above them was a screen onto which images and videos were projected throughout the play. The curtains created a transparent hallway for characters to walk through, and could also be tied into slip knots to create different silhouettes for different settings. The black and white colour scheme of both the costumes and sets played well with the lighting. The characters would step in and out of the light depending on whether they were lying or telling the truth.

A definite highlight was the standout performance by Alex Petrachuk, who played Queen Elizabeth I. Her character engaged the audience with her inner turmoil about signing the death warrant of her cousin and royal counterpart, Mary Stuart. Both queens exuded power, but Petrachuk also gave her queen a more human and compassionate element that the audience could relate to. She made me, as an audience member, feel both angry about her spoiled attitude, yet sorry for her, as she was trapped in her role as a monarch.

The music included renaissance choral singing alongside a more contemporary drag performance, which added an updated feel to the Brechtian show. The sound design was done by Vanessa Zaurrini, who mixed together sounds and songs, from Madonna to metal, in an electroacoustic style. The music tied in with many of the staging ideas and created intensity in many of the scenes.

However, even though this version of the play was obviously a more contemporary take, some of the music, specifically the more modern and metal songs, seemed unnecessary and didn’t really add anything to the performance. The case was the same for a number of the theatrical choices. For example, actor Megan Schroeder seemed to play both Lady Kennedy and the embodiment of Mary Stuart’s inner thoughts. This was just as confusing as it sounds. During a few of Mary Stuart’s monologues, Schroeder would move in out of the curtains in the background, sometimes spinning or crawling or even brandishing an invisible sword. While I can see the idea behind the choice—to show how Mary Stuart was actually feeling inside, despite appearing strong to the outside world—it was both distracting and confusing—especially since Schroeder was playing another character the rest of the time. Had a different actor played the “inner Mary Stuart” and been present in every scene, the idea may have come across better.

A well-acted and visually appealing play, Mary Stuart is not for anyone with a short attention span. The play ran close to three hours, with only a 10 minute intermission, and while that length is normal for most Brechtian plays, it definitely felt very long. To find out more about Obra anaïs: performance ensemble, check out their Facebook page.

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Children’s theatre takes on Halloween

Exploring death: the surprisingly philosophical children’s play The Halloween Tree  is on until October 31st

Playgoers of all ages were buzzing with excitement as they gathered outside Concordia’s D.B Clarke theatre, awaiting the start of a beloved adventure. Geordie Productions did not disappoint—the Montreal-based theatre company brought the thrilling tale of The Halloween Tree to life.

The story of The Halloween Tree has become a seasonal classic. Based on the 1972 children’s book written by Ray Bradbury, the tale follows five children who travel through time, experience history first-hand and come to terms with death. The hour-long play begins as the children head off to trick-or-treat, but soon realize one of their friends is missing. The group then embarks on an adventure to save their friend, Pipkin, from death. With Halloween fast approaching, this is the perfect play to get you in the holiday spirit.

Even though the story is based on a children’s book and the acting is geared towards a younger audience, with over dramaticized physicality and language, the performance did not neglect the adults in the audience. The script included some very philosophical undertones—one of my personal favourites being the description of death as change. Death was compared to the setting of the sun every night and the beginning of a new day every morning. Every day the sun is “killed” by the night, but in the end, the sun always comes back, transformed into a new day, like hope after death.

The play also touches on the historical evolution of Halloween and it’s significance in different cultures, from Ancient Egypt, to the Irish Druids, all the way to modern-day Mexico.

At it’s core, the play is about friends standing together and facing their fears. The characters—and the audience—learn the value of friendship, of taking risks and of making selfless sacrifices to save one of their own.
The play also featured entertaining music and songs, which complimented the atmosphere of the story. Each of the six actors gave their character unique quirks, which helped bring them to life on stage.

Amanda Kellock, the director of this stage adaptation, wrote in the program that Halloween is an important holiday in her everyday life, and this play gave her the chance to share her delight of the holiday. She did note that it is a play about death, but quickly followed this by stating that it is also a play about life. By exploring death and confronting it, we are able to appreciate life more—to enjoy every moment of life and to savour it.

The play also helps explain death to younger audiences, and helps them come to terms with it. Although the play ends all tied up in a pretty bow, I believe it is setting unrealistic expectations for children about death. However, I understand the need for a happy ending for the sake of the children. My issue, though, is that it gives children impossible hope. If they happen to have a relative close to death, it gives them an improbable expectation that they can save them by giving up something precious to them, just as the children in the play did. As a whole, I did enjoy the show and it tackled questions that everyone should consider. If you love Halloween and want to get into the spirit, I would recommend going to see this show.
The Halloween Tree runs from Oct. 21 to 30 at the D.B Clarke Theatre, and tickets range from $13.50 to $19.50. To learn more about the director, you can also check out The Concordian’s profile of Amanda Kellock on our website here.

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Puzzling play comes to Montreal’s English theatre

Zachary Creatchman, who plays Jerome, is the only actor who did not play multiple roles.

Jerome of Sandy Cove crawls from a Nova Scotia bay to Mainline Theatre

Persephone Productions is bringing its brand new play, Jerome of Sandy Cove, to the Mainline Theatre from Oct. 6 to 16. Based on the true Canadian story of a man named Jerome, who mysteriously washed up on the shores of a Nova Scotia town back in the 1800s, the play examines the man’s life and origins.

Written and directed by Persephone Productions’ artistic director, Christopher Moore, the play features many talented actors including Concordia graduate Natasha Perry-Fagant.

While the performance was engaging, figuring out the plotline without a synopsis is not an easy task. I spent most of the play wondering, “Who was that person supposed to be?” and “Why is this happening?”

The play alternated between a chronological story about Jerome’s life after washing up on shore and various short scenes that depicted his possible life before the incident. The play begins with multiple scenes where the dialogue is solely in Italian. At times, it was easy to follow along, however, I feel like I missed many important pieces of information altogether.

Spoiler alert: the Italian man who I presumed to be Jerome is quite suddenly, and I really mean suddenly, being chased by a police officer and must flee on a ship. While the officers did seem to be explaining his crime, it was in Italian and I was left utterly confused. There were scenes with pirates, confederate soldiers and a random cowboy, all of whom seemed to be random. There was never any solid connection to Jerome in any of the scenes as they were just all speculations. To top it off, almost the entire cast played multiple roles. The plotline wasn’t extremely coherent throughout.

The play did have its upsides though, mostly due to the cast of talented actors. The scenes of Jerome’s life in Nova Scotia featured intriguing interactions between lead actor Zachary Creatchman (Jerome) and the rest of the cast, particularly the female actors. Any scenes with Creatchman and Dawson theatre graduate Dominique Noel were particularly captivating—they drew the audience in with their chemistry. Creatchman is a true artist and, though he did not talk, for Jerome had lost his ability to speak, his eyes and facial expressions captivated the audience with their depth and intrigue.

The music throughout the show was performed live by Sarah Segal-Lazar, and all of the songs and lyrics were written and composed by Segal-Lazar herself. It gave the show a more folksy and intimate feel, and made me feel more at home as an audience member.

While this play featured great acting and did have many heartfelt and humorous moments, it fell short in the plot department, and viewers should definitely read a synopsis before heading into the theatre. The show runs until Oct. 16 at the Mainline Theatre on St Laurent.

Tickets are $20 for students and $25 for the general public. To learn more about the production, visit their website.

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