��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumni at heart of 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season lineup

trevor.kenney — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 17:02:54 +0000

With stories ranging from adaptations of classic tales to intense encounters, social satire and a cabaret, the 2024/25 Department of Drama alumni season promises an exciting lineup of mainstage theatre with extensive involvement from many ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumni. The alumni season is organized around a celebration of Faculty of Fine Arts alumni, bringing playwrights, designers, directors, performers and more back to the ULethbridge campus.

Kicking off the 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season in October 2024 will be alterNatives, a hilarious and provocative social satire penned by Indigenous playwright and author Drew Hayden Taylor. Stepping back into the director’s role is Na'tayao'tako (Holy Walking Around the Encampment), Marshall Vielle (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’17), who co-wrote and co-directed the historic production of Yisstsiiyi as part of last year’s mainstage season.

Marshall Vielle (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’17) will return to direct alterNatives.

“It's a gift to be included as a director in the alumni season,” says Vielle. “If I've learned anything about directing, it's that being the primary interpreter of the text at hand is equally terrifying, as it is thrilling. Moreover, I'm really excited to see more Indigenous stories being shared at ULethbridge and I hope these kinds of plays continue to be invested in.”

alterNatives centres around three couples gathered for a dinner party at a contemporary upscale apartment in Toronto, where cultural differences are explored over a menu of moose roast and vegetarian lasagna. Drama instructor Dave Smith is slated to design the set and lights, while Jolane Houle (BFA - Dramatic Arts '12) is returning to design costumes, after designing for the 2023 production of Yisstsiiyi.

The second show in the Alumni Season will be In Tongues, written by James Odin Wade (BFA - Multidisciplinary ’11). Originally slated to be performed in March 2020, the play is brought back to ULethbridge following its cancellation due to the pandemic. Directed by Anastasia Siceac (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’20) and featuring alumni designing costumes (Amanda Epp, BFA - Multidisciplinary ’20) and sound (Kelly Roberts, BFA - Drama Performance '91), In Tongues is set in a remote cabin in British Columbia and showcases an intense encounter with the mind of a serial killer.

James Odin Wade (BFA - Multidisciplinary ’11) wrote the production of In Tongues.

“I'm delighted to have In Tongues as part of the 2024/25 season,” says Odin Wade of the play that will run in November 2024. “ULethbridge is where I first encountered some of my favourite plays, discovered a love of playwriting and even workshopped the initial drafts of this play with the students of the New Play Workshop in 2018. Bringing this play to this stage is a remarkable full-circle moment for me.”

In the new year, the Department of Drama will present Paradise Lost by Erin Shields, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award. A contemporary feminist adaptation of the classic English poem by John Milton from 1667, the show will be directed by Jamie Dunsdon (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’06) and will feature costumes by Emmy-nominated designer Rebecca Toon (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’06). This production, premiering in February 2025, will feature a large cast of actors, with lighting and set design guided by MFA student Lucy Du and drama faculty member Julia Wasilewski (BA '05, BFA - Multidisciplinary '07).

Jamie Dunsdon (BFA - Dramatic Arts ’06) will return to campus to direct Paradise Lost.

“I'm so excited to be returning to my old stomping grounds to direct Paradise Lost this coming season alongside fellow alumna Rebecca Toon (who will be designing the costumes for this gorgeous piece),” says Dunsdon. “ULethbridge is where I found my passion and where I began to build my skills as a director, so it will be a genuine delight to return a couple decades later to bring this piece to life with the next generation of artists. I owe so much to the professors and staff at ULethbridge, and I hope I can pay it forward to the students who will build Paradise Lost with me."

The alumni season will conclude in March 2025 with a cabaret curated by faculty member Mia van Leeuwen. This production, taking place in the David Spinks Theatre, will feature a variety of performances by current students, guest appearances by drama alumni and design support from student designers and drama instructors Dave Smith and Lee Burckes.

Chair of the drama department, Deric Olsen (BFA - Multimedia ’03), says this unique slate of productions will showcase the diverse talents of drama graduates and highlight the variety of skills and talents that can be gained from the dramatic arts degree program.

“This is an exciting opportunity for our students to connect with and learn from some of the incredible alumni from the Department of Drama,” says Olsen. “I see this season as a celebration of our alumni and as a valuable way for a new generation of students to work side-by-side with truly excellent theatre professionals and, through those experiences, be inspired and be better able to imagine those opportunities and career trajectories for themselves.”

In addition to featuring Faculty of Fine Arts alumni, the 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season will result in many experiential learning opportunities for current students, including roles for stage managers, sound designers and assistant designers, as drama graduates will share their experience and expertise through the creative process.

The Faculty of Fine Arts is pleased to announce Chancellor Terry Whitehead (BA ’94) as the Season Patron of the 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season and thanks him for his generous support of theatre at ULethbridge. Tickets for mainstage productions will go on sale in September 2024.

Writers rewarded with 2015 Plays and Prose prizes

trevor.kenney — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 21:19:56 +0000

Thanks to a generous ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumnus, undergraduate students have the opportunity to flex their creative-writing muscles, win cash, earn recognition, and have their work presented in a public reading on Thursday, Mar. 26 at 7 p.m. in the David Spinks Theatre.

The 2015 winners, including top row from left to right are Garrett Bishoff, Brayden Haidenger and AJ Baragar. Bottom row from left to right are Emma Dering, Blair Yoxall and Rodrigo Henriquez.

Alumnus Terry Whitehead (BA '94), whose aim is to encourage excellence and help develop student writing skills, generously donates $5,000 in prizes each year to the Striking Prose and Play Right Prize competitions. First place winners in both competitions receive a $1,500 prize, second prize is $750 and third is $250, making these some of the most lucrative awards in the country for undergraduate student writing competitions. The competitions are open to all U of L undergraduate students and this year winners came from four different areas – History, English, New Media and Dramatic Arts.

Play Right Prize Winners

History major, Garrett Bishoff earned first place in the Play Right Prize for his play Detritus.

“Of all entries to this competition, this script demonstrated the strongest potential for growth and development. The playwright has playfully interwoven two narratives into a single exploration of fraternal love and loss,” says juror Jamie Dunsdon, Co-Artistic Director of Calgary’s Verb Theatre on behalf of fellow jury members Grant Linneberg, a Calgary based actor, and Dr. Kiki Benzon, U of L English professor.

Lost Dog by Brayden Haidenger, a dramatic arts major, took second place.

“Lost Dog is an avalanche of suburban family drama neatly framed within the search for a lost pet,” says Benzon. “It probes the limits of love in a family struggling to reconcile shared values with individual desires. We were impressed by the juxtaposition of the sitcom comedy setting with the dark subject matter.”

Third place in the Play Right Prize went to Co-Workers by AJ Baragar, also a dramatic arts major. The jury was thrilled to see a comedy in this year's mix of plays. They congratulated the playwright for creating a zany comedy with a surprise ending that was worth the wait. This play has already made it to the stage. In March 2014 it took three awards at the Chinook Regional One Act Festival in Lethbridge (Best Play, Best Original Script, and Best Male Actor) and at the Alberta Provincial One Act Festival last May it won Best Original Script. Co-Workers appears at Club Didi (Lethbridge) March 18-21 and Birds and Stone (Calgary) May 27-30.

Striking Prose Winners

Striking Prose, the short story writing competition, was adjudicated by three faculty members from the U of L Department of English, Dr. Kiki Benzon, Dr. Jay Gamble, and Dr. Wendy Faith.

Fourth-year English major, Emma Dering took first place with An Amiable Correspondence, which the jurors called a ‘Single White Female,’ epistolary for a late-Victorian age.

“This story sets the spine a tingle with one lonely student’s brewing obsession with her governess,” says Gamble. "It ultimately reveals the psychological instability of the young protagonist.”

Second place went to Blair Yoxall, also an English major, for Raymond’s Comet, which offers a witty and funny merging of the superhero and the literary in a hyper-real local setting.

“Mayor Nenshi even makes a cameo appearance,” says Gamble.

Third prize for the Striking Prose competition was won by Topnew media major Rodrigo Henriquez for Icarus, a story of the earth’s impending destruction told from multiple perspectives in a sinister science fiction mode.

UNews - Jamie Dunsdon

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumni at heart of 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season lineup

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Writers rewarded with 2015 Plays and Prose prizes

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��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge alumni at heart of 2024/25 Mainstage Alumni Season lineup