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eNews | Behind the Scenes | Upcoming | Phoenix Phacts | Perks | Kudos
eNews: Summer on campus
Summertime, and the livn' is easy. Well... maybe not for your average student who will be out there performing all kinds of summer jobs and probably, at the same time, working in theatre and fringe festivals around the country. See our Phacts of Phoenixers and some of their summer gigs.
At UVic, it will be plenty busy this summer as we welcome over 8000 academics and researchers from around the world to the Congress 2013 conference. See below for a list of the many public lectures, events and free outdoor concerts. Here at the Phoenix, almost 200 theatre researchers are gathering to talk about all things theatre. Join us for our free public lectures and performance. There's lots to do this summer before we return in the fall to our own Phoenix season! Read on...
Behind the Scenes: And the award goes to ... our 2013/14 season!
Many of you have heard about -- and already subscribed for! -- the Phoenix Theatre's 2013/14 season.
We're proud to be featuring four award-winning plays next season including a Victoria Critics' Choice Spotlight Award, a Canadian Governor General's Literary Award for Drama, and two American Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. These play choices represent some of the best theatre has to offer.
"This season we offer our students the opportunity to
delve into two American classics and a relatively new, but already beloved Canadian drama," says Department Chair Warwick Dobson."With some fantastic, substantial roles for our actors and very interesting challenges for
our designers, we think this will be an outstanding year for our audiences too."
The season begins October 17-26, 2013 with last year's Best New Play, as determined by the Victoria's local critics as part of their annual Critics' Choice Spotlight Award, Kitt & Jane: An Interactive Survival Guide to
the Near Post-Apocalyptic Future.Created by alumnae Ingrid Hansen (BFA '09) and Kathleen Greenfield (BFA
'05) with Rod Peter Jr. and produced by SNAFU Dance Theatre, Kitt & Jane is the department's selection for
the annual Spotlight on Alumni. This initiative welcomes graduates of the UVic Theatre program to present
their own work during the Phoenix season.
In the play we meet Kitt, (who audiences will remember from the
also-award-winning play Little Orange Man but who is now 14 years old), and her friend Jane. Together
they hijack their school presentation to impart essential information: how to survive the impending apocalypse! As poignant as it is whimsical and funny, these youth share their concerns for the world's current
environmental predicament -- using lots of imaginative puppetry and live ukelele music! (Click here and scroll down to watch a video of one of the songs.)
In November, faculty member Linda Hardy will direct Thornton Wilder's The Skin of Our Teeth. As absurdly revolutionary today as when it won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943, this hilarious and raucous romp deals with still-relevant issues as it tours us through an ice age, storms, floods, depressions and wars following the lives of George and Maggie Antrobus, their two children and pet dinosaur. (Spoiler alert! The dinosaur doesn't fair as well as the Antrobus family during the ice age!) Written by the multiple-Pulitzer Prize winning author and playwright who brought us the American classic Our Town, The Skin of Our Teeth is a profound statement on the failings of the human race.
February brings a glimpse back to the balmy last days of summer as instructor Peter McGuire directs William Inge's 1953 
Pulitzer Prize-winner Picnic. Recently remounted on Broadway, the play introduces us to the Owens sisters, two very different young women living in an out-of-the-way Kansas town and captures the angst of this post-war/pre-feminist era. The arrival of a charismatic young drifter sends the sisters, and the whole town, reeling. Full of unfulfilled dreams and repressed desires, it speaks to the changing values from one generation to another and the yearning to leave everything behind for new adventures.
The season closes in March with Unity (1918), a new Canadian classic directed by playwright Kevin Kerr, who was appointed last year as an Associate Professor in UVic's Writing Department. In 2002, Unity (1918)
won the Governor General's Award and since has become a favourite, being performed by many professional theatres and frequently studied in university classes across Canada. 
This will be Kerr's first time directing this
play. An intensely human and darkly comic play, it chronicles a forgotten period of Canadian history through its portrayal of a small Saskatchewan town during the last days of WWI, when soldiers retuned from overseas
bringing with them a global flu pandemic.
Subscriptions for the 2013/14 season are now available for as little as $36 for 3 mainstage shows or $48 for 4 shows. Look for your brochure in the mail or find the details about the season as well as subscription information at www.phoenixtheatres.ca. Order through the Phoenix Box Office by calling 250-721-8000 or fill out this easy subscription form and mail or fax it to us.
Upcoming Events: Summer
June 1-8, 2013
Congress 2103 at UVic
Between June 1 - 8, 2013 Victoria will explode with new ideas, new energy and scholastic rigour as approximately 70 associations, representing over 8,500 delegates, bring leading academics, internationally recognized researchers, policy makers and practitioners to UVic. Congress represents a unique showcase of scholarly excellence, creativity and leadership that will help shape the Canada of tomorrow. Join us over the course of the eight days of Congress for numerous speakers, panels, entertainment and social programming that will be open to the public at no charge. Please come and take part!
June 1-4, 2013
CATR/ACRT Conference at the Phoenix Building
As part of Congress 2013 at UVic, the Department of Theatre is honoured to host the annual conference of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research/Association Canadienne de la Recherché Théâtrale. Several CATR conference events and lectures are open to the public at no charge. Please come and join us!
June 1 @ 9am
A Creator's Guide to The Unknown, Lecture with Marie Clements
Award-winning performer, playwright, director, screenwriter and producer whose many plays have been presented on some of the most prestigious Canadian and international stages and include: Copper Thunderbird, The Edward Curtis Project and The Unnatural and Accidental Women. (Image right: Marie Clements with image from Norval Morrisseau)- June 1 @ 5:45pm
The Poet's Dream, Performance created by Conrad Alexandrowicz
A performance, based on the poetry of Lorna Crozier, with music by Alexandra Pohran Dawkins, exploring poetry through physical theatre that evokes wonder in the face of life's creations and grief at their passing. - June 2 @ 4pm
Embodying This Place, Workshop with
Bronwyn Preece
Through drama, poetry and storytelling, this workshop attempts to embody and express UVic’s Finnerty Gardens by exploring the garden’s ‘land/buildingscape’ through touch, sound and smell and to consider new ways of interacting with the space. (Image right by Beth Doman) - June 3 @ 9am
Step by Step: Walking, Reconciliation & Indigenous Performances of Sovereignty, Lecture with Helen Gilbert
This acclaimed Australian theatre academic is known internationally for her cross-cultural theatre research in theatre and performance as well as in postcolonial studies. She is currently leading "Indigeneity in the Contemporary World," a interdisciplinary and multinational project. - June 4 @ 9am
Plus ça Change, Lecture with Juliana Saxton
An international master teacher, keynote speaker and co-author of a number of texts, UVic Professor Emeritus Juliana Saxton will speak on a lifetime in theatre as a context for an idiosyncratic overview of "What's up now?"
June 10-14, 2013
Spring Convocation
Streaming LIVE!
Welcome back 2013 grads for the Faculty of Fine Arts convocation on Thursday June 13 at 10:00am. Friends and family, click here to watch UVic's live webcast of the convocation ceremonies online.
July 12-18, 2013
UVic Summer Drama Institute
The annual UVic Summer Drama Institute hosts education researchers and practitioners for a concentrated period of study of theatre use in education and other applied theatre approaches to learning. This summer "The World in the Story and the Story in the World" with guest instructor, 
UK drama educator and author Maggie Hulson. This course will focus on the relationship between drama methods, the choosing of story, and the strategic placing of key elements.It will demonstrate that such drama can be a powerful medium through which the learner can reach both for deep contextual understandings, and skilful expression and demonstration of that understanding. The course (double listed in the UVic calendar as EDCI 487/THEA 394) runs daily 9am-4pm, except Monday) and is open to Applied Theatre and Education students, grad students and practitioners. Contact Assistant Professor, Dr. Monica Prendergast for details.
August 2013 - Building Closure
A heads up that the Phoenix Building will be closed during the month of August. During this time, please send any subscriptions via the mail and your request will be processed in date order when we return. For students returning for the fall, the building reopens again after Labour Day on September 3.
Phoenix Phacts: Stories of Phoenix students and alumni out there working hard this summer.
Our students and alumni are out there doing lots of jobs this summer and many are making their own jobs by creating and producing their own work. Here's a list of some things their up to.
Alumni on their own, at Intrepid Theatre's UNO Fest
Alumnus Andrew Barrett (BFA'12), artistic director of Impulse Theatre,has written and is performing in Shattered as part of UNO Fest's New Works in Development on May 31 and June 1. Shattered is a journey through the remains of a shattered mind as told through text, dance, and theatre. Jeff Leard (BFA'10) also has a show in development at UNO that explores the crazy and true stories submitted by performers of a children's theatre company. It's no secret that his dad, Jim Leard (BFA'70) has been running Story Theatre for over 30 years! Jeff's play, The Show Must Go On ran for only one night on May 23, but hopefully we'll all get a chance to see this new play from the creator of the fringe hit Gametes and Gonads at a future Fringe Fest.
All about the classics with Blue Bridge Theatre
Blue Bridge Theatre, founded by professor Brian Richmond, opens their summer trio of shows next week and their line up is chock-a-block with Phoenix alumni, old and new. Their production of the classic play by Chekhov, Uncle Vanya includes Trevor Hinton (BFA'07) and previous student and playwright Jacob Richmond with set and costume design by Nathan Brown (BFA'09) and lighting by professor emeritus, Giles Hoyga. In July their production of Neil Simon's Brighton Beach Memoirs stars Amitai Marmorstein (BFA'07) (seen right) with Kate Richard (BFA'06) and Sebastien Archibald (BFA'07). Costumes for Brighton Beach Memoirs are designed by Patricia Reilly (BFA'10) with lighting by Rebekah Johnson (BFA'83). Their summer closes in August with My Fair Lady starring Brian Richmond and including Matt Coulson (BFA'10), Kholby Wardell (BFA'08), with set and costume designs by Patrick Du Wors (BFA '02) and lighting again by Rebekha Johnson (BFA'83). Behind the scenes, recent grad Caitlin O'Leary (BFA'13) will be the Assistant Stage Manager for all three shows and soon to be grad April Parchoma is the Director of Marketing and Communications.
Taking a ride with Theatre SKAM's Bike Ride
In may be Bike to Work Week right now, but you'll want to grab your bicycle in July for the most fun theatre festival this summer. Over two weekends, July 6,7 & 13,14, the alumni-founded Theatre SKAM presents a smorgasbord of theatre performances along a series of popular cycling paths in Victoria. From SKAM's administration, including Artisic Producer Matthew Payne (BFA'93) (seen on left) and current students Max Johnson and Kate Loomer, to the many collaborating artists, Bike Ride offers a great opportunity to see our Phoenixers and their emerging theatre projects. Kathleen Greenfield (BFA'05) a part of the much acclaimed SNAFU Dance Theatre with Ingrid Hansen (BFA'09) will be presenting a new work call MyceliUmbrella. Randi Edmundson (BFA'12) 
is collaborating with current students Kaeden Derksen and Julie Forrest on a perfromance called Epic Adventure Trail. Andrew Barrett's (BFA'12) Impulse Theatre is performing The Clan Resilience: Water Under the Bridge.Pamela Bethel (BFA'99) and her company Hush Money Productions is presenting Mom and Hobo Meet Up. And last but not least, playwright and Artistic Director of Intrepid Theatre, Janet Munsil (BFA'89) (seen right) is performing a work based on a puppet design by her late friend and colleague, Meg Newton (BFA'05).
More theatre here, there and around...
Randi Edmunson (BFA'12) looks great in sunflowers (far right in photo by David Lowes), which is a good thing as this recent grad plays one of the lovely ladies of the Women's Institute in Langham Court's production of Calendar Girls, June 13 - 29, 2013. Mika Laulainen (BFA'12) is co-directing Louis E Catron's Where have all the lightning bugs gone? as part of the SHIFT 1-Act Festival at The Cultch (June 13-15). Also part of the SHIFT 1-Act Festival, is recent grad Zelda Coertze (BFA'13) who is directing Madeline Nude in the Rain, Perhaps by Don Nigro and working with another cast to devise a play called Boxed Hero. The production of Michel Marc Bouchard's Down Dangerous Passes Road at Intrepid Theatre Club on June 22 and 23 features a trio of Phoenixers including current student Jenson Kerr, and recent grads Robin Gadsby (BFA'12) and Derek Wallis (BFA'13).
Back to summer school
School's definitely not out for summer for two Phoenix students. Third year student Allanna Bloch was one of 16 international students accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) eight week Acting Shakespeare summer course in London (the one in England!). One of the youngest attending, she is also one of only two Canadians in the program. Third year student Lindsay Curl is heading to New York City to the Neighbourhood Playhouse for their Six Week Summer Acting Intensive. Have a great summer you two!
Watch for our August BackstagePASS for a full listing of Phoenix alumni and students participating in the Victoria Fringe Festival coming up, August 22 – September 1, 2013. If you're a student or alumni Fringing in Victoria this summer, please email your show information by August 12!
Check out Phoenix Phacts in past BackstagePASS issues on our website.
Email Perks & Interesting Links:
Win tickets to any evening* of Blue Bridge Theatre's production of Uncle Vanya, at the McPherson Playhouse, June 4-16, 2013.
In which country does Uncle Vanya take place? (Hint - check out their website!)
Email your answer before June 4 with "Phoenix BackstagePASS" in the subject line for your chance to win.
*Tickets are for any performance, except Opening Night, June 6.
Sponsor Kudos:
The Phoenix Theatre thanks our individual donors and corporate sponsors for their support of our programs and talented students! Thank you!
Find out how your company can reach our 10,000 audience members and UVic community of over 25,000. Contact us to discuss a customized sponsorship package to meet your goals.
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