World premiere of climate disaster play at Phoenix Theatre

by | Sep 9, 2024 | Alumni, climate, donor, Faculty, Research, Theatre, Writing

People across Canada came together to help one another during recent climate disasters, and now Neworld Theatre and the Climate Disaster Project are bringing those true-life stories to the stage. Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Survivor Stories is the first full-length documentary theatre production based upon on-the-ground climate disaster reporting and will have its world premiere at the Phoenix Theatre from September 16-21.

Working with interview transcripts from hundreds of British Columbians on the frontlines of climate change, Vancouver’s internationally renowned Neworld Theatre has painted a portrait of 30 ordinary people living in extraordinary times — and a province under pressure from the impacts of climate change.

 “British Columbians have experienced so much loss because of the heat, fire, smoke and floods that have afflicted us,” says Alen Dominguez, Neworld managing director. “But what stood out to our playwrights was how people supported one another through those disasters—and the need for more support from people in power.”

 

 “Climate change is happening in the here and now,” says Climate Disaster Project founder Sean Holman, also the Wayne Crookes Professor in Environmental & Climate Journalism with the Department of Writing. “People know that, regardless of what they think is the cause — and they want to talk about the impacts it’s having on their day-to-day lives, and what can be done about them. This is an opportunity to bring those conversations into the community.”

Lytton residents Patsy Gessey & Owen survey the townsite, which was devastated during the 2021 Lytton Creek Fire. Gessey’s testimony, co-created by Climate Disaster Project co-founder Francesca Fionda, is one of more than 30 featured in Eyes of the Beast. (CDP Photo/Jen Osborne)

Every performance of Eyes of the Beast will include a survey and talkback session giving audiences the opportunity to reflect on the stories they’ve just heard and share their own experiences of climate disasters. The show’s creative team also features the talents of UVic Theatre alumni, including director Chelsea Haberlin and co-writer Sebastien Archibald, as well as the journalistic contributions of over a dozen Writing students.

A fishing guide who took his boat into flooded farmland to rescue an alligator. An actor rushed to the hospital for heat stroke after performing in front of the legislature. A mother figuring out how to prepare her child for the future after fire flattened their town.

Climate disaster is not far away, not happening to someone else. It is here now, happening to us. Eyes of the Beast shows how we still have each other during those disasters, creating community amidst catastrophe.

Founded in 2021, the Climate Disaster Project has trained hundreds of students at 13 post-secondary institutions to work on the frontlines of this ongoing humanitarian crisis by creating an extensive archive of eyewitness accounts. Nearly 300 testimonies have been collected from disaster survivors and shared in local, national and international publications, as well as national radio and television broadcasts.

Tickets range from $18-$34 and are available now via the Phoenix Theatre box office at 250-721-8000 for 7:30pm Monday-Saturday performances running September 16-21, plus a 2pm matinee on Saturday, September 21.  

 

Professional fishing guide Jordi Williams shows one of the photos he took while rescuing animals trapped on the Sumas Prairie during the 2021 Southern British Columbia floods. Williams’s testimony, co-created by UVic writing student Paul Voll, was included in Eyes of the Beast by Neworld Theatre’s playwrights. (CDP Photo/Phil McLachlan)

The cast of Eyes of the Beast: (from left) Jessica Wong, Danica Charlie, Sarah Conway, Vuk Prodanovic

World premiere climate play coming in September

by | Aug 14, 2024 | Alumni, climate, donor, Theatre, Writing

A Neworld Theatre production presented by the Climate Disaster Project in association with the University of Victoria’s Department of Theatre, Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Stories is about ordinary people surviving these extraordinary times.

Adapted from the award-winning journalism of the Climate Disaster Project, an international newsroom based out of UVic’s Writing department, this documentary theatre production pulls from hundreds of testimonies of people across Canada who have lived through climate change together.

A fishing guide who took his boat into flooded farmland to rescue an alligator. An actor rushed to the hospital for heat stroke after performing in front of the legislature. A mother figuring out how to prepare her child for the future after fire flattened their town.

Climate disaster is not far away, not happening to someone else. It is here now, happening to us. Eyes of the Beast shows how we still have each other during those disasters, creating community amidst catastrophe.

Directed by Theatre alumni Chelsea Haberlin and co-written by Haberlin and Sebastien Archibald (of Vancouver’s acclaimed ITSAZOO theatre company), Eyes of the Beast will also feature climate-survivor testimonies taken by our Writing students.

With CBC as the official media sponsor for this production, every performance will be followed by a facilitated talkback giving audiences an opportunity to reflect on the stories they’ve just heard and share their own experiences of climate disasters. Each show will also feature invited policy listeners from across BC’s political spectrum.

Eyes of the Beast: Climate Disaster Survivor Stories runs Sept 16-21 at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre

Learn more about the Climate Disaster Project

“This funding is an absolute lifesaver“

by | Aug 6, 2024 | Award, donor, Theatre, Undergraduate

100 Years of Broadway (Jaeden Walton photo)

Carson Schmidt

Road vs Wade (Megan Farrell photo)

While Theatre student Carson Schmidt never knew the late Fine Arts donor Jack Henshaw, his success as an undergraduate is exactly what Jack had in mind with his JTS Scholarship, which annually funds three Fine Arts areas.  

Created through a bequest in his will, the JTS Scholarship provides financial assistance for students — like Schmidt — who are determined to succeed in the arts. Faced with a number of post-secondary choices, the Calgary-raised Schmidt chose UVic’s Theatre department based not only on its reputation but also on recommendations from colleagues and friends. “UVic was compared to the prestigious National Theatre School . . . after hearing first-hand accounts, I was sold,” he says.

Once enrolled, Schmidt excelled in his studies, working towards a planned future as a lighting designer: it’s actually his work with the Phoenix Theatre’s mainstage production 100 Years of Broadway that’s seen on the cover of the 23/24 Fine Arts Annual Review. In addition to his course work, this year Schmidt also led the long-running Student Alternative Theatre Company (SATCo), which offers students the opportunity to create their own productions . . . many of which help launch future careers through the likes of the Fringe Festival or the local SKAMpede festival.  

Another remarkable opportunity for Schmidt was attending the 2023 Prague Quadrennial; thanks again to donor funding, students were able to submit their own scenographic proposal and attend PQ in person. “This was genuinely a life-changing project to work on, as we got the opportunity to travel to Prague for the exhibition and workshops,” he says. 

Schmidt is already building his future by working as a technician for the Belfry Theatre and a number of Vancouver Island festivals and events. But even as he looks ahead, he is appreciative of the support he has received. 

“Going to school on the Island is a once-in-a-lifetime experience I’ll cherish forever,” he concludes. “The honour of receiving such an award as this will not be forgotten. During tough economic times especially, this funding is an absolute lifesaver for myself and other students.”

Student award honours northern roots

by | Aug 1, 2024 | Alumni, Award, donor, indigenous, Writing

Sarah de Leeuw

Writing with a sense of place is a core teaching in our Department of Writing: our connection with the land can not only inspire us but also be a source of creativity in our life and works. The connection between health and the arts is also essential, either as part of a holistic sense of wellness or as a way of helping us emotionally navigate difficult times. 

Celebrated alumna Dr. Sarah de Leeuw clearly had all that in mind when she created the Skeena Award in Creative Writing, which specifically supports Indigenous or women undergraduate students who have either grown up or spent the majority of their lives in rural and northern communities in BC (or Canada), and have a focus on poetry or creative nonfiction.

Now a professor with UNBC’s Northern Medical Program and UBC’s Faculty of Medicine, as well as a Canada Research Chair in Humanities and Health Inequities, Sarah de Leeuw created the Skeena Award in honour of her parents — both UVic alumni themselves — who raised her in northern BC near the Skeena River. A member of the Royal Society of Canada and the director of UNBC’s Health Arts Research Centre, de Leeuw teaches in the areas of anti-colonialism and health humanities. She is also an award-
winning writer, having won a BC & Yukon Book Prize for her poetry, the CBC Literary Award for her creative nonfiction (twice), and a Western Magazine Gold Award for her essay about murdered and missing Indigenous women in northern BC. 

Given all that, it’s hard to image anyone more suitable for the Skeena Award than current recipient Jaime Rogers — a mature Indigenous woman who, after many years working, came to UVic to pursue poetry and creative writing. “To study art has long been an aspiration of mine — though one that seemed out of reach, having grown up in a small, northern community with limited access,” says Rogers. “To pursue the arts at UVic was a brave choice, made easier by this generosity.” 

It’s connections like these that continue to inspire our donors, and help create a community of support for our students. 

Snapshot of a year

by | Jul 19, 2024 | Alumni, Art History & Visual Studies, climate, donor, Faculty, Graduate, indigenous, News, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Visual Arts, Writing

We’re excited to share with you the latest edition of the Faculty of Fine Arts Annual Review. While it’s always difficult to encapsulate an entire year’s worth of activity into a single 36-page magazine, we do enjoy the creative challenge of sharing our top stories with you!

“This past year, colleagues continued to reconceptualize the contours of arts education, creative expression and scholarly knowledge,” writes Dr. Allana Lindgren in her introduction. “The arts continue to be essential for cultivating dexterity through creative thinking and fostering the empathy needed to navigate our increasingly complex world.”

Dean Lindgren also notes the ongoing inspiration Fine Arts students provide. “Their commitment to creativity continues to inspire me and gives me confidence that the next generation of arts leaders has the temerity to transform life’s challenges into opportunities for intellectual reflection and artistic innovation.”

Inside, you’ll find a variety of stories about the recent activity of our faculty, students, staff, donors and community partners.

Education equates with action here in Fine Arts: we are committed to helping our students cultivate the skills needed to become innovative artists and engaged leaders.

Our curriculum, artistic practices, research and creative activities are rooted in our belief in the power of creativity, experimentation and the efficacy of the arts to help us to understand and address today’s most urgent and vexing issues.

If you missed a previous Annual Review, issues dating back to 2017 are archived here.

Climate Disaster Project wins national award

by | Apr 29, 2024 | Alumni, Award, climate, donor, Writing

UVic’s Climate Disaster Project has been named the winner of a Special Recognition Citation at the National Newspaper Awards—Canada’s top journalism awards.

Announced at a gala event in Toronto on April 26, the award is designed to recognize exceptional journalism that doesn’t fit into existing categories and to open the door to experimentation in journalism. This is only the second time the National Newspaper Awards have bestowed the honour.

“We are entering a new era of disaster, where our seasons will become increasingly defined by the traumatic events they bring, and we need to learn how journalism can help us survive those traumas together,” says Sean Holman, UVic’s Wayne Crookes Professor of Environmental and Climate Journalism, who founded the project in 2021. “We are so honoured the National Newspaper Awards have recognized our efforts to empower disaster-affected communities inside and outside Canada.”

About the Climate Disaster Project

The Climate Disaster Project is an international teaching newsroom whichtrains students to work on the frontlines of humanitarian crises and create an extensive archive of eyewitness accounts. To date, 219 students in 13 post-secondary institutions have been trained in trauma-informed interviewing skills and co-created 288 disaster-survivor testimonies, many of which have appeared in local, national and international publications.

Their work has also been featured in national radio and television broadcasts, and at the Royal BC Museum. “Each semester, educators at post-secondary institutions across Canada and around the world spend hundreds of hours teaching students how to compassionately help survivors share their stories,” says Holman. “Our students then take that knowledge into the community to co-create a people’s history of climate change that honours the human dignity of their experiences.

Our partners 

Institutional partners for this award include Carleton University, the Campus Journalism Lab (Philippines), First Nations University of Canada, Humber College, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Langara College, MacEwan University, Mount Royal University, Simon Fraser University, Toronto Metropolitan University, and the University of British Columbia, the University of the Fraser Valley and the University of Stirling.

Media partners include the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network, Asparagus magazine, Canada’s National Observer, The Fraser Valley Current, Megaphone street news and The Tyee, plus Neworld Theatre, the Reach Gallery and Royal BC Museum.

The Climate Disaster Project aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals of good health and wellbeing, quality education, sustainable cities and communities, climate action and life on land, and demonstrates how UVic is powered by climate traction.

More for the CDP

The Climate Disaster Project, in partnership with The Tyee, is also currently nominated for awards with the Canadian Association of Journalists and the Canadian Journalism Foundation.

Brazil’s largest newspaper will soon publish testimonies co-created by students at the Federal University of São Paulo. A live theatre project from Neworld Theatre featuring verbatim testimonials will be making its debut at UVic in fall 2024, and an anthology of survivor testimonies from Purich Books is forthcoming in 2025.

Coming up next, the Climate Disaster Project will be hosting the two-day workshop Stories on Fire: Sharing Lived Experiences with Climate Change as part of the Legacy Gallery’s new exhibit, Fire Season.

In this two-day workshop (running 9am-5pm Sat-Sun May 11-12), CDP editors will teach you the trauma-informed process to create powerful first-person testimonies from fellow participants’ experiences of climate change. Past testimonies have been published by Reader’s Digest, the Royal BC Museum and The Tyee, and interviews from this workshop may be shared by similar publications and organizations. Register online for this free event.

Through learning how to compassionately listen to other people’s stories and telling them, you can help show the world that climate change isn’t something that’s far away. Instead, it’s something close at hand that’s affecting each of us in countless ways: from the smoke that keeps us indoors during the summer to the floods and droughts that affect so many communities in so many ways.