In My Day brings verbatim HIV/AIDS experiences to the stage

by | Mar 9, 2026 | Faculty, Theatre, Undergraduate

The cast of Phoenix Theatre’s In My Day (Photo: Dean Kalyan)

On March 12, the Phoenix Theatre opened their final mainstage production of the semester, In My Day, written by Rick Waines. Waines is a Victoria playwright whose work uses autofiction and verbatim material to discuss his experiences living with HIV and the historical impacts HIV has on communities. This play is no different, using themes of joy, care and connection to tell the story of life in the queer community during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The performance is supported by the SSRHC project “HIV In My Day” which is a collection of interviews with long-term HIV survivors and their caregivers. The interviews focus on their experience with the epidemic, and Waines used these interviews to structure his play, incorporating nearly one hundred survivor’s voices.

Waines himself was diagnosed with HIV when he was 21, which became a driving factor for writing the play. “I wrote this for those of us who survived,” he says, and considers it important for us to look back and remember historically important stories like these.

Playwright Rick Waines

Director Roy Surette

A new script

As a play, In My Day was first workshopped in 2021 in the Belfry Theatre’s SPARK festival, then later performed in 2023 by Vancouver’s ZeeZee Theatre at the Cultch. Since then, it has been reworked to suit a Victoria audience, becoming the play that will be performed on the Phoenix stage with guest director Roy Surrette.

When reworking the play, Waines decided to change the structure by adding himself as a character. He describes this character as “a guy named Rick, who’s transcribing these interviews poorly and slowly.” Including Rick opened the opportunity to introduce additional characters from Waines’ personal life — Laurie Rose and Pei Lim. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to have conversations with the dead,” he says about writing characters based on his friends. “Because I miss them and they meant a lot to me.”

From “HIV In My Day” to In My Day

The SSRHC project that the play is based began with Nathan Lachowski, who’s in the School of Public Health and Social Policy. It began as a community-lead project where collaborators and researchers interviewed survivors of HIV/AIDS and their caregivers between 2017-2020 across Vancouver. The interviews focused on their experiences living through the epidemic, and created the collection of oral history in the form of video, audio, and transcripts that is now held in UVic’s Special Collections.

Sasha Kovacs, an associate professor in UVic’s theatre department, is the partnership liaison for the SSRHC project where she ensures that everyone involved in this project is supported. “I like to think of myself as the connector between and individual involved in this project, and all the other parts that are a part of it,” she says.

Her role also entails encouraging artists and researchers to think about what it means to stage oral histories. “What does performance do to both archival and to oral history in terms of activating that material?” she asks, emphasizing the importance of understanding the backstory of the play’s content.

Cast member Zaafir Devji (above) & with  Emma Moon, Nyx Martel & Patrick Jaworek (Photo: Dean Kalyan)

Working with students to understand the history

In all iterations of the play so far, Waines has worked with a young cast who don’t have firsthand experience of living through the HIV/AIDS epidemic like he does, so educating them is a priority. By the end of the process, Waines notices how deeply the cast knows the story they’re telling. “Not just the dates, names, and drugs, but the feeling in their bodies,” he says. “They’re digging into it … it’s clear to me that there’s a lot of feelings going on.”

Of course, a theatre production always comes with struggle, especially a huge show with blocking, choreography, and dancing like this one. Even so, Waines is impressed with the student cast and how quickly they were off book during rehearsals. “Amazing,” he calls them, “I’ve been thrilled with their energy and their commitment.”

Fulfilling theatre’s mandate

Last year, the Theatre department generated new department values, so it’s important that In My Day’s production fits within those. Kovacs describes the three values as using a good heart and mind to commit to nurturing an environment of passionate creativity, to think about health and wellness as one of the foundations of their work, and to create an inclusive community of belonging.

There’s a level of risk when taking on In My Day since it’s a new Canadian play, but Kovacs views it as “creative risk taking”. In the process of working on this production, they’re seeing places that the play needs additional work, and with their new value about uplifting passionate creativity, the theatre department is happy to take on that risk to uplift and continue working on this story.

Because In My Day is such an emotionally heavy piece, it’s necessary to consider the cast and crews health and wellness. “I think it’s something we need to talk about more,” comments Kovacs. “We’ve done some good work on preparing the company for that,” she continues, saying it’s important to question how they’re keeping their creative team healthy and safe.

Regarding an inclusive community, Kovacs explains that this goes beyond the theatre department to respond to the needs of the broader UVic community. In My Day reflects this value especially well since without Lachowski and the School of Public Health and Social Policy, the Phoenix wouldn’t have had the chance to put on this play. “It provides an opportunity for the students to understand that their work serves larger goals and priorities,” Kovacs says.

The future of In My Day

Going forward, the department hopes to highlight more historically important stories like they are with this production. There’s a history of research-informed creation existing in the theatre department, but they aren’t being produced. “This is an opportunity to think about now producing this [kind of] work,” says Kovacs.

Additionally, with his role as librettist, Waines is using the source archive for a new ambient, electronic verbatim opera titled “i am beauty” with Pacific Opera Victoria.

Get tickets for In My Day, which runs March 12-21 at UVic, including a pre-show lecture at 7pm Friday, March 13 and a special March 14 of community health day that includes admission to the show.

—Claudia Phillips, with files from John Threlfall 

Orion Guest: poet Kaie Kellough  

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Events, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

All are welcome to hear visiting Orion Series poet, sound artist and writer Kaie Kellough when he speaks on “Self Inside Sound”: 7pm, Wednesday March 4, in the New Student Lounge, main floor of The Mearns Centre – McPherson Library. Free & open to all. 

Kaie Kellough is a poet, sound performer and fiction writer whose work crosses genres and disciplines. He is concerned with language, migration, inequality and the intersections of social engagement and form. Kaie’s long poem, Magnetic Equator (McClelland & Stewart, 2019) was awarded the 2020 Griffin Poetry prize. His collection of short stories, Dominoes at the Crossroads (Véhicule, 2020), was nominated for multiple national awards, and won the AM Klein prize for fiction. His latest long poem, Interposition, will be published in 2026 with McClelland & Stewart.

Since 2011, Kaie has collaborated on audio compositions with saxophonist and synthesist Jason Sharp. Their performances have been broadcast by jazz festivals across Europe and Canada. Their first group album, FYEAR, featured a 9-piece ensemble and was released in 2024 on Constellation Records. Kaie is currently pursuing graduate work at Queen’s University. He studies post-colonial literatures, with a focus on Caribbean and Black British writing. Kaie continues to craft new passages.

Presented by the Department of Writing, the University of Victoria Libraries & Art Collections and the Orion Series in Fine Arts.

Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Faculty, indigenous, Theatre, Visual Arts

AHVS professor Mique’l Dangeli with a piece of new regalia (photo: Claudia Phillips)

Have you ever seen Indigenous regalia danced into life? On March 5, the Indigenous dance group Git Hayetsk (People of the Copper Shield) will be performing in the Indigenous Law wing of the Fraser Building, where they’re debuting new choreography and handmade regalia. The group is led by Ts’msyen artist Dr. Mique’l Dangeli, Indigenous Arts professor with Art History & Visual Studies, and her husband, Nisga’a artist  Mike Dangeli.

All are welcome to this free “Bringing Regalia to Life Community Feast“, running 6 – 8pm Thursday, March 5, in UVic’s Fraser Building Community gathering space (B121) in the  Indigenous Law wing. 

For the past 20 years, Mique’l and Mike have shared the leadership of this intergenerational multi-Nation dance group, whose members’ home communities are in Southeast Alaska and Northern BC. Git Hayetsk has performed nationally and internationally at private and invited ceremonies, and at public arts events. Most of their dancers have grown up in the city, and their participation in the Git Hayetsk is the primary way they have connected with and practiced their culture.

Since moving to Victoria in 2024, Mike and Mique’l have welcomed Nisga’a and Ts’msyen families into the Git Hayetsk by holding weekly dance practices in UVic’s Fine Arts building and Metchosin’s Pearson College. The majority of their new members are UVic students or alumni, and this is the first time they have ever danced their people’s songs and dances in their lives.

With her work at UVic, Dangeli emphasizes the connection between performing and visual arts: for her, there’s no disconnect between the two. “This is a part of not only my research, but my research creation,” she explains, saying art and dance has been a part of her life since her early school age. This connection between performance and visuals is also reflected in Git Hayetsk through the dancing, drumming, and wearing of original regalia.

To make it all happen, they’ve been using two new campus resources: the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab and the Indigenous Law wing in the Fraser building.

Why perform in the Law building?

On the surface, it seems unconventional to perform in the Indigenous Law wing, but Dangeli says it’s actually the perfect place for Git Hayetsk. “It’s a beautiful space that we’ve really found a home within,” she says. Prior to the building’s completion in Fall 2025, there was no dedicated on-campus space for dance groups like hers to practice; until recently, Git Hayetsk practiced either in the lobby of the Fine Arts building or the theatre at Pearson College in Metchosin.

Although the acoustics of the Fine Arts lobby were great, the dancers found the tile and concrete flooring hard on their joints and became uncomfortable when dancing for longer periods of time. The new wing, Dangeli says, is a much better fit. “They have a beautiful gathering space that’s a community hall … it’s essentially a long house inside of the law building.” Additionally, Dangeli explains that the wooden architecture is a better fit for their cultural practices. “It’s actually the most appropriate place for us to practice on campus and to hold this event.”

Making regalia in the Taqsiqtuut lab

Not only is the new Indigenous Law wing an amazing on campus resource, but so is the Taqsiqtuut lab. Every weekend for the past four months, Mike and Mique’l have hosted regalia-making workshops for Git Hayetsk members to work on their handmade regalia, with the support of First People’s Cultural Council. “We’re grateful for the Taqsiqtuut Indigenous Research-Creation Lab’s support of this work, because we wouldn’t have a place to gather and create without them,” says Dangeli.

Their regalia features dance aprons, tunics and collars, all made from leather with a fringe that enhances the movement of both the dancer and the regalia. “Each design is unique to the person wearing it and is a reflection of their family and their rights,” Dangeli explains. “We are matrilineal and our identities are defined by who our mothers and who our grandmothers are. This is an expression and an assertion of their matrilineal line and their identities.”

Maintaining cultural connections through art

An essential part of Git Hayetsk is the community and cultural connection it fosters. Many members were unable to engage with their traditional dances due to the 20th century Potlatch bans criminalizing Indigenous song and dance. “It’s not just taking the songs that survived the Potlatch ban — which are very few,” Dangeli points out, “but it’s also about ensuring that we’re creating people who have independence within our culture.”

This independence involves owning their own regalia, reclaiming their languages and experiencing the songs and dances that are their hereditary rights. Git Hayetsk members spend  four to six hours together every weekend, making regalia and dancing. Dangeli says these activities have “created stronger bonds between my dancers” and built additional trust as they assist each other when making regalia. “It’s been really beautiful to see the artistic gifts that emerge in each one of our dancers.”

Working in the Taqsituut lab

A never-before-seen performance

This particular event stands out in several ways for Git Hayetsk. showing and dancing their regalia for the first time is culturally important to the group. “For our people,” says Dangeli, “it’s the beginning of the life of that ceremonial belonging. So, we’re literally bringing these items to life in front of everybody.”

Some dancers are also trying out a new task in this performance, shifting roles within the group:  a handful of dancers are also drumming, another first for this performance.

At the Community Feast on March 5, they will also have Nisga’a/ Ts’msyen filmmaker Nick Dangeli showing an excerpt of his film — made with the support of the Taqsiqtuut Lab — which documents the dancers coming together as a community to make regalia. This event is also supported by UVic’s Indigenous Storyteller-in-Residence series.

Additionally, they’re doing new choreography that highlights new skills and emphasizes the importance of the space the group is performing in. Dangeli explains that the dancers who’ve been with them for a while are comfortable with the basics, so she crafted new choreography that is specific to the Indigenous Law wing. Moreover, she’s gotten to create choreography that will highlight with their youngest dancers. “Which is so fun for the little hyper things,” she laughs.

—Claudia Phillips

Visiting professor Mike Ananny reckons with Generative AI

by | Feb 25, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Events, Orion Series in Fine Arts, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

Faster than many predicted (or wanted), Generative Artificial Intelligence is upon us. It brings a mix of emotions, a shared sense of uncertainty and a persistent question of what we can and should do — individually and collectively — about technological change that feels powerful, inevitable and beyond our control. Visiting guest professor Mike Ananny will offer ways to define and reckon with Generative AI that might help navigate controversies, intervene with integrity at different scales, and debate the perils and promises of “good enough” technologies.
Presented by the Orion Series in Fine Arts, during his six weeks on campus Ananny will speak to students in various classes as well as host a pair of small, focused workshops on March 11 & 25 and a March 19 public talk, the latter of which is being presented in partnership with UVic’s Kula: Library Futures Academy. 
 
 
 
 
 

About Mike Ananny

Mike Ananny is an Associate Professor of Communication and Journalism (and, by courtesy, Cinematic Arts) at the University of Southern California (USC). He studies how people build digital infrastructures, algorithmic systems and artificial intelligence that create public life — and he tries to intervene to make cultures of production, regulatory initiatives and system designs better serve public interests.

At USC he co-directs the interdisciplinary collective Media as SocioTechnical Systems (MASTS) and the AI for Media & Storytelling (AIMS) initiative of the Center on Generative AI and Society, and is an Affiliated Faculty of Science, Technology, and Public Life.

 
 
 
 
 

He is the author of Networked Press Freedom (MIT Press), co-editor (with Laura Forlano and Molly Wright Steenson) of Bauhaus Futures (MIT Press), and publishes in various interdisciplinary academic communities including Journalism Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Critical Internet Studies. He was a postdoctoral scholar at Microsoft Research, holds a PhD from Stanford University (Communication) and a Masters from the MIT Media Laboratory (Media Arts & Sciences), and has been a Visiting Professor at the University of Helsinki, a Berggruen Foundation Fellow at Stanford’s Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, and an expert advisor to the Minister of Canadian Heritage on the future of CBC/Radio-Canada. He has written for popular press outlets including The Atlantic, WIRED, Harvard’s Nieman Lab, the Columbia Journalism Review, and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

 
Read Mike’s recent Globe and Mail story about the Stephen Colbert censoring by the US government, and how that impacts Canadian viewing — and values — as well.
 

About the workshops

Workshop 1: “Journalism & Generative AI: Exploring histories, power & synthetic futures of news language”
2:30-4:30pm Wed, March 11 • Fine Arts room 108 • Free
 
 
In this small workshop, students will explore a domain (journalism) and see how GenAI works (or doesn’t work) for that domain. Open to all, but may be of most interest to people studying and practising journalism or writing longform nonfiction.
 
 
Workshop 2: “Crafting your Own Perspective on Generative AI: Drafting first-person statements of synthetic media principles & practices”
2:30-4:30pm Wed, March 25 • Fine Arts room 108 • Free
 
 
In this small workshop, students will learn how to create first-person statements of practice by understanding, using/refusing Generative AI in your practice, and how to describe yourself and your work in relation to synthetic media. Open to all, but it may be of most interest to creative practitioners and artists of all backgrounds, methods and media (not only writers).
 

About the public talk

“Reckoning with Generative Artificial Intelligence”

5 – 6pm Thursday, March 19 in the Phillip T. Young Recital Hall, School of Music (MacLaurin A-wing) 

Free & open to all • Find out more here

Mixing myth & reality on the Phoenix stage

by | Feb 6, 2026 | Graduate, Theatre

One mother’s determination. One child’s future. One extraordinary world. What can you expect from a mythic tale where sheep’s wool becomes rain clouds? Though it may sound whimsical, A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain is a bold and haunting fable that confronts the systems shaping our lives today. Running February 12–21, Phoenix Theatre presents Sami Ibrahim’s contemporary play  as directed by current graduate student Sophia Treanor.

Coming from New York City, Treanor will bring a sense of magical realism to A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain. Given the current events in the US regarding immigration, this mainstage production intertwines that reality with myth to create a haunting tale, that also serves as Treanor’s MFA thesis project. The author of the play, British Palestinian playwright Sami Ibrahim, often writes about ordinary people finding their place in a complex society, and wrote this play after being inspired by his father’s journey to citizenship. The play follows Elif, an undocumented immigrant, who begins her journey to citizenship after becoming a mother. Ibrahim writes a powerful story that follows this determined mother who hopes to reshape her child’s future.

 

A politically important story

When Treanor first read Burst of Rain in 2023 (following its world premiere at 2022’s at Edinburgh Festival Fringe), she considered it beautiful and playful. “I found it really captivating and, politically, a very important story to bring forward,” she says in relation to the US issue of their ongoing Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Treanor will be placing the audience on three sides of the action in UVic’s Chief Dan George Theatre to intentionally draw people into Elif’s world and experience, rather than observe, from a distance.

Treanor describes the play as “a searing look into what the experience of an undocumented person is like,” and is hoping to give the audience the opportunity to live inside these troubles with it being considered news. “ICE is horrifying theatrics of terror,” she says. “We’re at this point where there’s so much devastation, it’s hard to wrap our minds around it.” On stage, Elif’s journey will use imagery and storytelling to deepen the emotional impact and invite the audience to connect with the character in a deeply personal way. With this production, Treanor says she feels “excited to be working on something that I hope helps give people an opportunity to live inside this trouble.”

“The playwright is quite brilliant,” she continues. “He somehow takes us through this really devastating story with quite a playful sense of imagination. There’s a lot of playfulness and that’s sort of a hallmark of magical realism.” For Treanor, she says Burst of Rain helps locate the humanity of the person moving through this experience. “Being inside of a situation, day in and day out, having to make something of your own experience of your life, is quite a heroic act on its own.” She says this narrative of feeling shattered is challenged in this play, which “helps us sit inside of this woman’s life.”

Never-ending creative freedom

A director, performer, educator and biodynamic craniosacral therapist, Treanor has performed in a number of US-based private and public spaces, theaters and galleries including the Living Theater, the Gene Frankel Theater, the Stella Adler Center for the Arts and many others, as well as serving on the faculty of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting and the Harold Clurman Center for New Works in Movement and Dance Theater.

This will be Treanor’s first time directing a play for both UVic’s Phoenix Theatre and on a stage like this. With a bigger budget than her previous experiences, she’s looking forward to what direction the production will go in. “It’s like I got to experience my imagination expanding,” she says when it comes to her creativity. “We don’t need to cut much because of the limits of my abilities or imagination, and that’s been really fun.”

Ibrahim wrote the play to fit three actors, but Treanor wanted to get as many students involved in the production as possible, so she broadened the cast to include 12 student actors. “My favourite thing about the performing arts is something becoming much bigger than any one person, and I’m really experiencing that in this process.” Even the sound and lighting teams for this production are student designers [including Emma Brown (sets), Jolie Cree (costumes), Sasha Pisiak (lighting) and Gordon Geddes (sound)] and the director is enjoying working with this level of production value.

“I’ve never gotten to play with this kind of a design element before,” she says about toying with the storytelling element of the narrative. “I’m not hiding the theatrics — because it’s not realism — and that’s been really fun to give more space for the designers to play too.”

Director & MFA candidate Sophia Treanor

Chasing a dream

Originally from California but having spent the last 17 years in New York City, while Treanor calls the Big Apple “one of [her] soul’s home,” she admits to feeling “dried out” from the environment there. One night, she dreamt about a coastline that felt “like a distant call.” She says it was “the most beautiful narrative dream I’ve ever had in my life,” which spurred her desire to take action. When she saw photos of Vancouver Island, she knew this was where her dream was set.

When first visiting the Island, she says it felt like she was on a retreat, as she was able to reconnect with the planet. “Natural forces of the earth have always been a subject in my work and a big part of the way I relate to the creative process,” she says. Those feelings combined with having tutelage, a revisiting scholarship, and being free from time and money limitations solidified that Vancouver Island — and UVic’s Theatre program — was the place for her.

Looking ahead, she’s hoping to bridge the gap between her family locale and her creative life. Whether it’s applying for jobs, teaching or working on a project, she “would love to stay” on the Island when she’s completed her thesis on this project.

“My favorite thing about the performing arts is how something becomes much bigger than any one person, and I’m really experiencing that in this process,” she says.

—Claudia Phillips, with files from John Threlfall

A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain runs February 12-21, 2026, at UVic’s Phoenix Theatre. Tickets available via the box office at 250-721-8000

Small data Gen-AI workshop

by | Feb 6, 2026 | Art History & Visual Studies, Graduate, Research, School of Music, Theatre, Undergraduate, Visual Arts, Writing

Training the Muse: A workshop on small data Gen-AI for artistic practices

Generative AI tools have become increasingly visible in artistic practice, however, most artists encounter AI through large-scale corporate platforms trained on massive, opaque datasets. These systems often obscure authorship, flatten aesthetic diversity and embed cultural biases. This workshop offers an alternative approach: a small-data, artist-centred methodology that emphasizes control, transparency, and cultural specificity. Participants will work with their own datasets, gaining creative autonomy while learning ethical and technically accessible AI workflows grounded in personal and situated artistic practice.

Join us February 28-March 1 for a no-cost, two-day workshop on the Autolume software, a visual AI system from SFU’s Metacreation Lab. Led by lab director Philippe Pasquier, participants will craft personal datasets, sculpt custom GANs and explore real‑time generative play, gaining creative control impossible with corporate, large‑scale platforms. Past editions include Toronto, Montréal, Berlin, and online.

Register here to join this growing movement of artists redefining authorship, cultural specificity and artistic agency in AI. Bring your images, your vision and your curiosity! Maximum registration for this workshop is 32. Watch this November 2025 UVic talk with Philippe Pasquier.

This workshop is made possible through the generous support of UVic’s Office of the Vice President Research & Innovation, Kula: Library Futures Academy and the Canada Research Chair in Emergent Digital Art Practices with the Faculty of Fine Arts.