Theatre at UBC
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Associate Professor Stephen Malloy and co-Artistic Director of Main Street Theatre, directs and designs Sam Shepard's A Lie of the Mind to rave reviews
Starring Theatre at UBC Alumni Ryan Beil & Kathleen Duborg, Josh Drebit, Daryl King, Rebecca Auerbach, Lara Gilchrist, Patrick Keating and Barbara Pollard. Stage managed by alumna Stephanie Meine.
>> Recent reviews:
- "Stephen Malloy directs a strong cast who, to a man and woman, understand that this masterpiece of manipulation sneaks its subtle ideas into our subconscious by shouting them out."
Peter Birney, Vancouver Sun. >>Read review - "Malloy ensures that the actors honour the words and rhythm of the play like a partnered dance that flows between scenes nailing the humour and the pathos in equal measure."
Andrea Rabinovitch, The Vancouver Observer. >>Read review - "...one of the best shows of the year."
Jerry Wasserman, vancouverplays.com. >>Read Review - "It's an actor's playground where each character is so meticulously crafted with psychological quirks--or downright psychoses--that once the actor has grasped the character, he or she can just let it rip. And rip they do."
Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier. >>Read Review
Alumna Joy Coghill recognised by Gemini’s
Oil painting of Joy Coghill from the collection “Hers” a series of 32 large-scale portraits of contemporary innovative Canadian women in the arts created collaboratively by Izabella Orzelski- Konikowski & Bogdan Koral- Konikowski
The 25th Annual Gemini Special Awards Announced
Congratulations to our esteemed alumna Joy Coghill who has just been named as this year’s recipient of the Gemini Humanitarian Award – This award is presented to an individual for exceptional contributions and commitments to community and public service outside the Canadian television industry.
Joy Coghill is co-founder and Honorary President of the Performing Arts Lodge Vancouver (PAL). Founded in 2001, PAL Vancouver provides affordable housing to performers and other industry participants while encouraging creative growth and development through strong intergenerational relationships. A performer, director, playwright, and teacher, Coghill was the driving force, with co-founder Theatre at UBC Alumna Jane Heyman, behind PAL Vancouver and the spokesperson for the organization’s fundraising initiatives. Coghill is the recipient of numerous awards for her contribution to the performing arts, including the Order of Canada, the 2002 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the 2005 Union of B.C. Performers John Juliani Award of Excellence, and the 2005 Vancouver Arts Award (Performing Arts). She is the recipient of four Jessie Awards and holds Honorary Doctorates from both Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia.
This award is one of five special Gemini awards that will be presented at the 25th Annual Gemini Awards Industry Galas, taking place November 2nd and 3rd at the Kool Haus Entertainment Complex, and at the Broadcast Gala, taking place November 13th at the historic Winter Garden Theatre. The Gemini Humanitarian Award is supported by Global. More: http://www.geminiawards.ca/gemini25/specialawards.cfm
Welcome to our new Theatre Studies SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Heather Davis-Fisch
HEATHER DAVIS-FISCH
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow
Theatre Studies
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Heather Davis-Fisch holds a PhD in theatre from the University of Guelph. Her research interest is in intercultural performance in the nineteenth century, with a focus on the Canadian Arctic. She has two articles forthcoming: the first, for Theatre Research in Canada, examines the connection between square dancing and interracial sexual liaisons on whaling ships; the second, for Performing Arts Resources, addresses the methodological and evidentiary challenges posed by an 1869 account of an Inuit re-enactment of a pantomime performed by Franklin expedition survivors. Heather is in the final stages of revising a manuscript adapted from her dissertation, which argues that performance is a crucial way of understanding the affective impact of the disappearance of the Franklin expedition. Her current project, entitled “Royal Arctic Theatricality: Shipboard Performance and Intercultural Contact in the Arctic, 1818-1876” examines the ways that the British Navy’s long tradition of shipboard theatre and contact performances between British and Inuit together shaped intercultural relations and understandings of race during this period.
We're in Canadian Theatre Review!
August’s issue of Canadian Theatre Review which is focused around the topic of improvisation features wonderful papers by both assistant Professor (and alumnus) Tom Scholte and alumnus Alex Lazaridis Ferguson.
The Stanislavski Game: Improvisation in the Rehearsal of Scripted Plays – by Tom Scholte
Abstract: Throughout theatre history, the power of improvisation to forge a deeper connection between actor and text has been made abundantly clear. And yet, in seventeen years as a professional actor in Canada, I have never once seen improvisation used in the rehearsal process for a scripted play. In the increasingly truncated rehearsal periods common to professional theatre practice in Canada, “exploratory” techniques such as improvisation may seem like an impossible luxury. However, I have come to believe that the integration of such techniques, rooted in the neglected “Later Legacies” of Konstantin Stanislaski, might, in fact, be the most effective way to make our work go further faster and to make the most of the extremely limited time available to Canadian theatre practitioners in a professional rehearsal context. This article outlines my ongoing research into the potential adaptation of these rehearsal practices to the reality of contemporary Canadian production.
Improvising the Document – by Alex Lazaridis Ferguson
Abstract: In a documentary play in which actors represent living or
historical people, textual artefact is replaced by creatively embodied document. Every stage of the construction of that document, from a subject's recall of events, to a researcher's transcription of the subject's testimony, to performance, is an act of improvisation. Reflecting on Nanay: a testimonial play, this paper examines the document as a necessarily creative construction. It describes improvisative decisions made at every stage of the rehearsal process, how they resulted in naturalistic or non-naturalistic staging, and how spectators and researchers correlated truth claims to the various theatrical genres employed. Referencing cognitive and event theories, Ferguson argues that the spectator engages with embodied performance somatically, and that “identification” based on mutual embodied encounter becomes critical to the spectator's acceptance or rejection of a documentary play's truth claims.
Published quarterly by the University of Toronto Press each issue of Canadian Theatre Review includes at least one complete playscript related to the issue theme, insightful articles, and informative reviews. CTR continues to delve into the urgent issues of Canadian theatre, providing theatre scholars with a starting point for further study of current developments in the field. Recent themes detailed by the Canadian Theatre Review include Native Theatre, Actor Training, Canadian Women Playwrights, and Scenography. Canadian Theatre Review is the major magazine of record for Canadian theatre. More at http://utpjournals.metapress.com
BFA Acting Candidate Barbara Kozicki earns prestigious Hnatyshyn Foundation award!
BFA Acting Candidate Barbara Kozicki has earned the prestigious Hnatyshyn Foundation’s Developing Artist Award for English Language Theatre. Barbara has just completed the Intermediate Year of our three-year Bachelor of Fine Arts Conservatory-style Acting Program.
During her Intermediate Year, which focuses on translating the fundamentals of acting into heightened language and styles, Barbara was involved in three publicly presented productions, as well as several classroom projects. These endeavours included a wildly divergent range of performance styles, all of which Barbara met with her typical engagement, attention to detail and passion; Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project in which she played, among other roles, Reggie Fluty, the police office who found Matthew and subsequently had to deal with possible HIV exposure; an acclaimed production of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, in which she played both a fire-spinning entertainer at the Capulet’s party and “Sister” Lawrence; and to finish the year, Catherine Petkoff in Shaw’s Arms and the Man. Her classroom work included scene studies in works by Chekhov, Shakespeare, and Congreve as well as training in commedia dell’arte. Barbara devoured all of these projects with her typical voracious theatrical appetite. Barbara is well known for her work ethic, her generosity, her grace, her heart and her talent. We heartily congratulate her on this well deserved recognition from the Hnatyshyn Foundation.
About the Hnatyshyn Foundation: In an effort to foster excellence in new talent, the Foundation assists the most promising young Canadian performing artists enrolled in post-secondary educational or training institutions. Eight grants of $10,000 are awarded annually, one in each of the following performing arts disciplines: classical music (orchestral instrument), classical music (piano), classical vocal performance, classical ballet, contemporary dance, jazz performance, acting (English theatre) and acting (French theatre). More: www.rjhf.com
The Hnatyshyn Foundation seeks to enrich the legacy of Canadian art by directly aiding exceptionally gifted individuals working in all disciplines – fully reflecting Canada’s linguistic and cultural diversity – while heightening public awareness of the role of private benefactors in nurturing talent and strengthening the bonds which unite us as a nation.” - The Right Honourable Ramon John Hnatyshyn (1934-2002)
Congratulations to faculty member Stephen HeatleyProfessor Heatley - Huzzah!
Congratulations to faculty member Stephen Heatley who has been promoted to Full Professor.
A real honour and well deserved for one of our most accomplished colleagues. Currently Stephen is Coordinator of the MFA Directing Program and before joining UBC he spent twelve seasons as Artistic Director of Edmonton's Theatre Network where he directed over thirty world premieres.
He is former Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton and has directed for many other companies in Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Toronto, Blyth, and Victoria. He has taught courses at Brock University and the University of Alberta - but now he is all ours.
Congrats to Our Scholars
A hearty congratulations to Amanda Konkin (Theatre Studies) and Michael Parker (FIPR) who have received Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Masters Fellowships for next year: officially, Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships. They join our PhD SSHRC Doctoral Fellow for next year, Allison Leadley (Theatre), and our SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Heather Davis Fisch (Theatre).
The Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master's Scholarships program seeks to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students in the social sciences and humanities who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies.
This program, together with the SSHRC Doctoral Awards, the Vanier CGS doctoral nominations, and SSHRC¹s Postdoctoral Fellowships program, helps train Canada¹s researchers and leaders of tomorrow.
>>More at http://www.sshrc.ca
Reid Gilbert, Adjunct Professor of Theatre, has been awarded an International Chair at l'Universite Libre de Bruxelles (Brussels University) for 2011.
He will be in residence for a month discussing issues in Canadian drama, especially the intersections among traditional and new voices in early 21st century theatre in Canada. Congratulations to Reid, who will be teaching Drama 300 for Theatre at UBC this fall.
Congratulations to three Theatre and Film faculty who have just been awarded Hampton Research Grants for three fascinating projects.
Brian McIlroy for "Vancouver Goes to the Movies: Towards a Social and Contextual History of Cinemagoing and Film Exhibition in Vancouver, 1889-1929"
Rachel Talalay for "Lewis Carroll in Wonderland: A 3-D Short Musical Film"
Steven Liu for "Cumberland: An Original Chinese Canadian Intercultural Theatrical Production"
Gerald Vanderwoude wins UBC's top staff award!UBC’s Top Staff Award Comes to Theatre & Film!
Gerald Vanderwoude, MFA directing Alumnus and Department of Theatre and Film Administrator & Business Manager, has been selected as one of the recipients of UBC’s President's Service Award for Excellence 2010.
"[Gerald’s] dedication and willingness to go beyond the call of duty have been truly outstanding, and I extend my warmest congratulations" - Stephen J. Toope, President, University of British Columbia
“I can think of no one with whom I’ve worked in my 37 years on faculty at UBC who better exemplifies the values of service excellence for which the President’s Award is given.” - Jerry Wasserman, Head, Department of Theatre and Film
“His business and administrative acumen is bar none, one of the best.” - Brian Lee, Director of Finance, Faculty of Arts
“[Gerald is] a man of extraordinary integrity and compassion whose ministrations go far beyond the job-description that he fills so extraordinarily well.” - Errol Durbach, Professor Emeritus, UBC Department of Theatre and Film
A medal and prize of $5,000 will be awarded to Mr. Vanderwoude at one of the ceremonies during Spring congregation (May 26-28 and June 1-2) or Fall congregation (Nov 24-26). Staff, faculty and students alike benefit daily from Gerald’s hard work, dedication, talents and extreme generosity. We heartily join in congratulating him for this richly deserved recognition.
Aside from his multitude of achievements as Administrator & Business Manager for the Department of Theatre & Film, Gerald has directed over 40 theatrical productions in Vancouver and specializes in works by Samuel Beckett. Recent credits include Errol Durbach’s new adaptation of The Master Builder, Bella Luna’s acclaimed productions of FUTURISTI! and The Return of FUTURISTI! (co-directed with Susan Bertoia) and Beckett Cent, a centenary celebration of the work of Samuel Beckett. Gerald’s publications include Framing Beckett: The success and failure of Beckett on Film (2005) and the play Chaplin Cargo Freight (1994).
About the President's Service Award for Excellence:
This is the top award presented to staff in recognition of excellence in personal achievements and contributions to UBC and to the vision and goals of the University. The President’s Service Award for Excellence (PSAE) has been awarded on campus since 1991 and since then, 92 employees have received the award.
The award is given to an individual who has accomplished some or all of the following:
- Excelled in their area of work and in personal achievements
- Excelled in their work over and above their job description
- Improved the value, efficiency and sustainability of the services they provide
- Maintained a consistently high quality of service to their clients (students, faculty, etc)
- Displayed commitment to community enhancement in either the UBC community or service to another community
- Exemplified good citizenship through personal volunteerism or by helping to position UBC as a good citizen in the wider world
- Made outstanding contributions to UBC
Stanley WeeseIt is with deep sadness we announce the loss of a long-time favourite faculty member and friend in the Theatre program, Master Teacher Award-winner Stanley Weese.
Stanley taught acting and directing in the department from 1966 until his retirement in 1988. He had a particular affinity for classics of the modern theatre, directing memorable Freddy Wood productions of O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night and A Moon for the Misbegotten, Beckett’s Waiting for Godot and Endgame, Miller’s The Crucible and All My Sons, Ibsen’s The Wild Duck, Strindberg’s The Father, and Synge’s Playboy of the Western World. Stanley was also a very fine actor appearing in a number of productions around Vancouver and on the Frederic Wood Stage.
The Department wishes to honour Stanley’s request not to have a memorial service, however contributions to the charity “A Loving Spoonful” (www.alovingspoonful.org) in Stanley’s name would be appreciated.
Conor Moore earns 2010 Larisa Fayad Memorial Award
The Larisa Fayad Memorial Award is a biennial award is presented by the Vancouver International Dance Festival to a student pursuing lighting design or to an emerging lighting designer. Congratulations to this year's recipient, UBC BFA Design Candidate Conor Moore!
Congratulations to Theatre at UBC Professor Robert Gardiner, this year's recipient of the Dorothy Somerset Award for Performance and Development in the Visual and Performing Arts.
>>More about Robert
Robert will be honoured in March at the Celebrate Research Awards gala.
As an award-winning professional scenographer, designing lighting and sets for theatre companies across Canada, Professor Gardiner has sustained a national reputation for over two decades. At the same time he has carried out cutting-edge technological research in scenographic projection that has garnered international attention, helping make UBC’s Theatre program one of North America’s leading sites of research in theatrical design. More about the award at http://bit.ly/bdNQQS
Congratulations to Theatre at UBC Associate Professor Tom Scholte! Tom has sold his self-produced (and -directed and -starred) first film, Crime, to Superchannel.
>>More about Tom
Crime will begin screening in rotation on a TV near you at the end of March.
Tom Scholte is, perhaps, best known for his starring roles in the films of Bruce Sweeney: LIVE BAIT, DIRTY and LAST WEDDING for which he received a Genie (Canadian Oscar) nomination for Best Supporting Actor. As a writer, he co-authored the story for Sweeney’s DIRTY. As a feature-film producer, he was part of the team behind Larry Kent’s THE HAMSTER CAGE (in which he also starred) which had its premiere at the 2005 Montreal World Film Festival before appearing at international festivals around the world in. On television, Tom has been seen in many internationally broadcast television series and movies including THE X-FILES, THE DEAD ZONE, GOLDRUSH (THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY), and a Gemini winning performance on the acclaimed crime drama DA VINCI’S INQUEST.
On stage, he has performed with a number of Canada’s top theatre companies in both Vancouver and Toronto. He was also one of the founding members of Vancouver’s Neworld Theatre and directed the company’s first two productions: EVENING IN A STRANGE LAND by Bahram Beyzai and HONEYMOON by Gholamhoseyn Sa’edi. He also founded Vancouver’s Theatreshop where he produced and directed I AM YOURS and THE CRACKWALKER both by celebrated Canadian playwright Judith Thompson. CRIME is his feature-film directing debut. http://www.crimethemovie.com
Is Avatar's social impact virtual, too?
By Patrick Pennefather (Theatre at UBC Adjunct Professor) Special To The Sun
>>Read article
Vancouver Sun
February 6, 2010
Nancy Gallini, Dean of Arts, UBC
Box-office champ and nine-time Academy Award nominee Avatar has hit a nerve with the public, triggering an outpouring of responses online. A virtual tsunami of reviews, blogs and commentaries on the movie reveal insights into our ideas about storytelling and technology, and the relationship between them in our lives.
Witnessing the triumph of the eight-foot-tall blue Na'vi is far more satisfying to us than contemplating the real-life fate of first cultures, few of which have not been dominated and subdued by governments seeking natural resource treasures. However, Avatar isn't just a movie made to assuage culturally inherited guilt. It also gives us an opportunity to examine the film's significance as a high-tech storytelling vehicle.
Online, a common theme emerges in most opinions of the movie: The story is predictable, but the visuals are amazing. So is it a question of technology versus story, or can technology be used to serve the story?
Google "Avatar" and "story" and you find a mashed-up hero story re-purposed from centuries of hijacked myths, but despite that, Avatar succeeds in mesmerizing even the harshest cynic with its mind-blowing visuals.
Avatar makes geeks of us all, who wish we could transplant our minds and souls into dragon-flying Na'vi in tune with nature. The story is unsurprising, but who cares? Personally, I was too busy watching translucent jellyfish float around my face.
There's no question that innovative new technology supports the director's story by allowing him to put actors into real-time interaction with fantastical settings and characters. And as technology continues to advance, reincarnations of Avatar will surface to provide us with an even better tech fix -- hopefully with more comfy glasses.
What remains to be seen is whether the impact viewers feel will translate into change in the way we live. But that's not the filmmaker's responsibility; it's ours. Avatar does not propose new ways to stop our momentum toward destroying ourselves and our planet. Some argue that the film only provides temporary solace. It gives the moviegoer a resolution more enduring than what can be found in the real world.
Yet, Avatar also reveals that the journey of the individual is the first step toward lasting change. This is nothing new, but it's a theme that needs persistent repetition.
Composer Patrick Pennefather is an adjunct professor at UBC's film and theatre department, where he teaches sound design.
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Associate Professor Stephen Malloy directs sold-out David Mamet hit American Buffalo, starring Theatre at UBC Alumnus Ryan Beil, Josh Drebit and Daryl King
>>Read reviews
AMERICAN BUFFALO
By David Mamet
Main Street Theatre Company
Little Mountain Studios
195 E. 26th Avenue (26th and Main)
Jan. 14-26, 8 PM (Now Held Over to Jan. 26)
Pay-what-you-can (suggested $12)
604-992-2313
Malloy really proves his worth, directing his cast to not only spit dialogue but do so with a sharp sense of Mamet's gift for uncovering the reality in his rhythms...This production offers the clearest interpretation I've ever seen of American Buffalo..."
Peter Birnie, Vancouver Sun"Malloy’s direction is as unadorned as the set...It’s a pleasure watching these guys work at such close quarters, watching them making Mamet’s warped world feel so real...American Buffalo is a great theatrical pleasure. "
Jerry Wasserman, vancouverplays.com"Great news, David Mamet fans. Main Street Theatre Equity Co-op (producers of the critically acclaimed Glengarry Glen Ross in 2008) is back with a scorching production of American Buffalo....Under Stephen Malloy's direction, this trio absolutely nails Mamet's distinctive style..."
Jo Ledingham, Vancouver Courier
Please note: The regular run of American Buffalo is now SOLD OUT. However, Main Street Theatre has just added 3 extra shows – Sunday (24th), Monday (25th) & Tuesday (26th). All proceeds from the Tuesday show will go towards relief in Haiti. Tickets: 604-992-2313.
From the theatre company that brought you last year’s sold-out hit GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS, Main Street Theatre Equity Coop proudly presents David Mamet’s AMERICAN BUFFALO.
Little Mountain Studio, 26th and Main, Vancouver. Run: January 14-26, 8PM. Preview on Wednesday, January 13th.
Directed and designed by Theatre at UBC faculty Stephen Malloy, AMERICAN BUFFALO stars Theatre at UBC Alumnus Ryan Beil, Josh Drebit and Daryl King.
- Click here to read Peter Birnie's (Vancouver Sun Theatre Critic)
- Click here to read Jerry Wasserman's (vancouverplays.com Editor & Theatre Critic); and
- Click here Jo Ledingham's (Vancouver Courier Theatre Critic) rave reviews of Stephen Malloy's production of American Buffalo...
Faculty News!
A warm welcome to our new Assistant Professor Rachel Talaly, in the Film Production program. Rachel is one of three directors on the highly touted new series Bloodletting and Other Cures. >>More Faculty News
Rachel has begun her UBC career with a successful grant application. She and Ernest Mathijs are co-applicants on one of three AURA grants (Arts Undergraduate Research Awards) received by Department of Theatre and Film faculty for the coming term. Welcome, Rachel. May the force be with you!
Welcome back also to Kirsty Johnston, who returns from her one-term Sabbatical and congratulations for also being successful in receiving an AURA grant.
And congrats to Chris Gallagher, whose recently completed film, Time Being, has been invited to a number of festivals and which now has received an AURA grant.
These grants will enable faculty to hire undergraduate research assistants to help them with their projects.
Theatre at UBC Welcomes our Newest Faculty for 2009/2010!
Bill Dow
Bill Dow is an award winning actor and director (and occasional writer) in theatre, film, and television, with scores of credits over a long and varied career.
>>More about Bill
In the theatre, Bill Dow has directed several award winning productions for the Vancouver Playhouse (where he was Artistic Associate for many years) including an innovative and moving production of Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men, and where later this season he will direct J. B. Priestly’s Dangerous Corner.
Dow has performed many lead roles, including David Mamet’s Oleanna, a Jessie award winning performance as Martin Dysart in Peter Shaffer’s Equus, a (2008) Jessie award nominated performance as Vindice in Revenge and recently Shelly Levene in Glenn Garry Glen Ross.
He served as Associate Artistic Director at the Blyth Festival and the Belfry Theatre, and resident dramaturg at the Banff Playwrights Colony. His short film, The Alley, was nominated for several awards and invited to the international short film festival in Siena, Italy.
Having performed recurring roles in several popular television series, Bill Dow is a versatile and sought after performer: as Dr. Lee on STARGATE –SG1and Atlantis he is the passionate, though sometimes slightly befuddled man of science who does his best to assist the warriors of Stargate Command; while on Da Vinci’s Inquest, the award winning Canadian Drama,he plays Russ Hathaway, the mayor of Vancouver. These are just the latest in a long line of characters created for television series that range from sci-fi (Charles (Chuck) Burks, Agent Mulder’s old college chum who dabbles in science and the occult on the X-Files), to prime time drama (Mr. Parkman, the teacher on Pasadena), to comedy (Bob Fraser, the owner and bartender of ‘The Fraser Arms’ on Nothing Too Good for a Cowboy). Bill Dow has played many other guest star and recurring roles in a variety of television series, MOW’s, and feature films, notably: Legends of the Fall, Mr. Magoo, Andre, and the lead role of Dr. Veet on the recently-wrapped Absolute Zero.
Bill Dow recently completed his M.A. in Liberal Studies at Simon Fraser University through an examination of Greek tragedy and the writing of a ‘new’ tragedy – Cupid’s Arrow, that tells the beginnings of the story of Jason and Medea – the pre-quel to Euripides’ Medea. He is currently involved in research toward his PhD. (at SFU) and an instructor of Classical Mythology (SFU) and Theatre (UBC).
Linda Griffiths
“Griffiths is one of Canada’s originals, known not only for the quality of her work, but for the sheer range of her career..”.
>>More about Linda
As playwright and actor, she is the winner of five Dora Mavor Moore awards, a Gemini award, two Chalmer’s awards, the Quizanne International Festival Award for Jessica, a Betty Mitchell Award and Los Angeles’ A.G.A. Award for her performance in John Sayles’ film Liana. She has twice been nominated for the Governor General’s Award (The Darling Family, 1992 Alien Creature, 2000). Best known for writing (in collaboration with Paul Thompson) and performing a triple role in the play, Maggie & Pierre, in which she played Prime Miniser Pierre Trudeau, Margaret Trudeau and a journalist called Henry. Since then, she has continued to create unique, highly theatrical plays that are surreal, literate and popular. Her plays include, Alien Creature: a visitation from Gwendolyn MacEwen, The Darling Family, and The Duchess: a.k.a. Wallis Simpson, Age of Arousal. The Darling Family was made into a feature film, directed by Alan Zweig.
As co-author of The Book of Jessica (written with native author and activist Maria Campbell), Griffiths and Campbell created a new hybrid of theatre book, one which included the play Jessica, as well as the personal and political process of it’s creation. In 1997, she formed her own company Duchess Productions, which produced a tour of Alien Creature, as well as developing and associate-producing The Duchess, Alien Creature, Chronic (Factory Theatre 2003) andher latest full length play, Age of Arousal which will be produced at the Shaw Festival, 2010. New projects include a new solo show, The Last Dog of War and a full length drama, Games to be Played with Caution.
* Maclean’s Magazine, 1998.
Siyuan Liu
Ph.D. (U. of Pittsburgh), specializes in Asian theatre. Since 2006, he has published eight peer-reviewed research articles on twentieth-century Chinese and Japanese theatre in Theatre Journal, TDR, Asian Theatre Journal, and Text & Presentation. >>More about Siyuan
He also has two research articles included in anthologies that are currently in press. His book reviews have appeared in Theatre Journal, Theatre Survey, Asian Theatre Journal, Text & Presentation, and Modern Chinese Literature and Culture. He has contributed dozens of entries on twentieth-century Chinese theatre to The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre & Performance and The Encyclopaedia of Asian Theatre. He has regularly presented research papers in conferences in North America and is the Member Outreach Coordinator for Association for Asian Performance. Currently he is working on several research projects. Before coming to UBC, he taught at the University of Georgia.
Email: Liu44 [@] interchange.ubc.ca
Andrea Rabinovitch
Andrea Rabinovitch, an active member of the Edmonton arts scene before moving to Salt Spring Island in 2003 and then Vancouver in 2008, has made her living in theatre and dance as an educator, writer, choreographer, performer, publicist and administrator for thirty years. >>More about Andrea
Reid Gilbert
Reid Gilbert has joined the department after retirement from the English department at Capilano University where he taught English, with a special interest in Canadian drama, for 38 years.
>>More about Reid
