UNews - Jay Whitehead

Department of Drama presenting 4.48 Psychosis to remote audiences

trevor.kenney — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 15:55:30 +0000

For many, the past year has been a contemplative time to reflect on our place in the world. In that respect, there is no better opportunity to present a theatrical production that offers a deeply personal journey through the mind.

A collaborative, open and organic work, 4.48 Psychosis by Sarah Kane is presented online to remote audiences, March 17–20 at 7:30 p.m. nightly, via Zoom.

Co-directors and drama department faculty, Mia van Leeuwen and Jay Whitehead, have worked collaboratively with their students to devise a piece that is deeply creative and introspective but also responsible and adhering to all guidelines and protocols to keep cast and crew safe during the pandemic.

“The work is very abstract in form and style,” says van Leeuwen. “We were able to keep the cast separated physically, ensuring we were following all restrictions and protocols, but not sacrificing the artistic or creative process.”

Relevant and timely, 4.48 Psychosis weaves a narrative running through the main character’s head at 4:48 in the morning.

“The play was written over 20 years ago, but the themes are very applicable to what we’ve experienced throughout the pandemic,” says Whitehead. “It is a very dark piece; a reflection of mental health and self-harm, but it is not without hope.”

“Morning does come,” says van Leeuwen. “This play has been described as a work that roars at life as it gazes with death, and in that sense, both the story and the themes are very alive!”

Producing a play during a global pandemic poses ongoing challenges, but van Leeuwen and Whitehead are thrilled to present this production, albeit to remote audiences via Zoom. With set, costumes and sound designed by David Smith, and lighting by Lee Burckes, 4.48 Psychosis proves to be a visual spectacle not to be missed.

Tickets are $10 per pass and available through ulethbridge.ca/tickets. Inquiries can be emailed to boxoffice@uleth.ca, Monday–Friday, 12:30–3:30 p.m.

Mainstage season opens with virtual performance of Identuality

trevor.kenney — Fri, 06 Nov 2020 21:22:28 +0000

The stage may have changed, but the talents remain the same! The Department of Drama is rising to the challenge of presenting its first Mainstage production of the 2020-2021 season online, for a live performance that is not to be missed.

Identuality, a devised work, directed by Jay Whitehead, is an honest, truthful and passionate theatre experience presented November 17 – 21, at 7:30 p.m. nightly.

“The process has been emotional, and the students have been incredibly courageous,” says Whitehead. “The topics we present, surrounding identity and sexuality, are topics that I am passionate about and are very relevant to the students in the cast.”

The Identuality cast is ready for a brand new theatrical experience.

The work, which includes dance, monologues and movement pieces, is visceral and vulnerable, where the cast, in their own spaces off-campus, present creative work surrounding topics that are personally meaningful and impactful.

“They are figuring out who they are,” says Whitehead. “They are removing their masks and revealing who they truly are as individuals.”

Presenting through an online platform is not without its challenges.

“The relationships between performers and audience is certainly lost,” Whitehead says. “We ask if this presentation is actually theatre since this feels so very isolating and we can’t receive the reactions and responses from a live audience as we do in person.”

Despite the challenges, the experience of creatively presenting work such as this has its advantages, such as extending a reach to an even wider audience and developing work for a new platform.

“We are excited to present this work and to embrace this new stage,” says Whitehead.

Tickets for Identuality are currently on sale online only at ulethbridge.ca/tickets. Tickets are $10 per pass with VISA or Mastercard. Patrons are encouraged to watch the production on a desktop or laptop – viewing experiences for Identuality are not recommended on tablets or smartphones.

Questions regarding ticket purchases or passes may be sent to boxoffice@uleth.ca Monday – Friday, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.

Pianos as you've never heard, or seen, before

trevor.kenney — Tue, 17 Sep 2013 17:03:42 +0000

Hear two pianists, with very different backgrounds and styles, coming together on two grand pianos integrated with electronics and computers - a chance to see each pianist shine and to see the synergy of live collaboration.

Aaron Collier will perform a set of piano improvisations utilizing live sampling, looping and layering techniques with a computer. Jesse Plessis will play a handful of modern works, some with computer, by electronic-music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen, one of Canada's greatest composers, Ann Southam, the young American, Nico Muhly, and one robot-inspired work by Radiohead. The duo appear in Two Pianos + Computers, Saturday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Hall Atrium.

Two Pianos + Computers promises to be one of the more unique musical offerings to hit the stage this year.

The duo will wrap up this unique evening with what they describe as a “turbo-rad collaborative piece”.

Aaron Collier

Aaron Collier may be known as one of Atlantic Canada’s most consistently innovative keyboardists, but the Prince Edward Island native is most recently calling Lethbridge home. Collier studied the piano privately in Prince Edward Island until his graduating year of high school before embarking on 14 years of national and international touring and recording with various rock, pop and jazz artists.

In 2001, Collier became the keyboardist for international touring and recording artists The Jimmy Swift Band. In the following decade the group released four studio albums and two live recordings. In 2006, Collier along with JSB frontman Craig Mercer created the “looping madness duo” Scientists of Sound, a theatrical and high-energy electro project which continues to create intense live shows for eager audiences worldwide.

In 2008, Collier released his first full-length album of electronic music, Love, and in September 2010 he released the improvised piano+computer recording Neo.

Collier is an award-winning sound designer in theatre and recent credits include the world-premiere of Daniel MacIvor’s I Animal at the Supernova and Summerworks festivals in Halifax and Toronto, as well as Jay Whitehead and Daniel Judes’ UNSEX’d in Lethbridge, Dublin, and Halifax. He is presently creating a new show called The Myth of Canada under his alter-ego Chandelier, and is workshopping the work as one of CASA’s inaugural resident artists in November.

www.aaroncollier.ca

Jesse Plessis

Pianist and composer Jesse Plessis recently obtained a Master of Music degree (Performance and Literature) from Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ where he studied piano with Megumi Masaki and composition with Patrick Carrabre. His Bachelor of Music degree is from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge where he studied piano with Deanna Oye and composition with Dr. Arlan Schultz and Dr. Rolf Boon.

Plessis has been awarded prizes both in piano and composition. His own works have been broadcast on CBC, and he has performed as a guest artist with several ensembles including the Musaeus String Quartet, the Land’s End Chamber Ensemble, and the International Piano Ensemble. He was recently one of 12 pianists admitted to the London Masterclasses, a program held each July at the Royal College of Music.

He has had the opportunity to give the Canadian premieres of works by Marcel Bergmann, Kaija Saariaho, John Corigliano, Nico Muhly, and Kjartan Olafsson. Recent performances include those with New West Theatre, at the Casalmaggiore Festival in Italy, the Dark Music Days Festival in Iceland and at the Banff Centre.

Plessis is also one half of the Hansen-Plessis Piano Duo (alongside Bente Hansen, ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge) which explores the possibilities of popular music in the concert hall alongside the classical repertoire.

A sometime conductor, Plessis has directed performances with the Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ New Music Ensemble (BUNME), the Brandon ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Orchestra and several musical theatre productions.

Tickets to Two Pianos + Computers are available by calling the Box Office at 403-329-2616 or online at www.uleth.ca/tickets.

Spring Awakening shocks, resonates

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Nov 2010 18:08:38 +0000

By AMANDA BERG

A revelation of teenage truths, sexual stirrings and adolescent angst experienced throughout history to present day, Frank Wedekind's wonderfully twisted tale, Spring Awakening, has it all.

Set in Victorian era Germany, this so-called "children's tragedy" follows the escapades of Melchior, Moritz, Wendla and their young friends. The group is experiencing their sexual awakening and becoming curious about their bodies, masturbation and each other. Their teachers and parents, respectable adults all, fight to keep these young people on the straight and narrow, with often hilarious and disastrous results. While the characters struggle toward an uncertain future, several wither and fail to survive the awakening of spring.

Students prepare the backdrop for the twisted tale, Spring Awakening.

"At the time Spring Awakening was written, in 1891, it was so outside the norm in both content and form that Wedekind faced heavy scrutiny," says director Jay Whitehead. "With its candid inclusion of sex, masturbation, suicide, homosexuality and even sado-masochism, the play was considered far too shocking for any government to allow it to be performed. Even 15 years later, when it was finally staged, it was never done so uncensored. However, our production has censored none of Wedekind's original vision."

Whitehead adds that the shock value of the play does not hinder its message.

"The play is poignantly relevant to our time," he says. "When sexual confusion and misguided notions of morality are leading youth to put a gun in their mouth or jump off the George Washington Bridge, this play is as important as it ever was. I chose the translation by award winning author, Jonathan Franzen, because of his approach to the original text. Certainly this is a play with a strong social conscience and the message resonated all the more packaged in the extremely dark comic sensibility of Franzen's translation. "

With sets and costumes designed by MFA drama student, David Barrus, Spring Awakening promises to be a mesmerizing night of theatre.

"The set is unlike anything I've seen or worked with before, and the costumes, featuring a chorus of grotesquely masked adult characters, fits beautifully with the weirdness of the overall production," says Whitehead.

Dark yet funny, stunning yet inspirational, Spring Awakening is an absorbing and memorable play. It shows at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre stage, Nov. 23-27 at 8 p.m. nightly.

For tickets, visit the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office, Monday through Friday, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m., or call 403-329-2616. Tickets are priced at $15 regular admission, $10 student/senior.

Theatre season packs punch

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:26:09 +0000

Challenging, engrossing and engaging describe the 2010/2011 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Fine Arts theatre season.

From classical to controversial, the plays strike a balance between academic challenges and audience appeal.

The first show of the season, Uncommon Women and Others by Wendy Wasserstein, is directed by Dr. Shelley Scott and appears in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre Oct. 19 to 23. Set in 1978, five women reunite in a restaurant to evaluate where their lives have led them. The action flashes back six years to when they met as students at a prestigious, all-female college, formed friendships and made the choices that shaped their destinies.

Director Jay Whitehead then tackles the fascinating and emotionally challenging play, Spring Awakening by Frank Wedekind (translated by Jonathan Franzen), which runs Nov. 24 to 28. Teenagers Melchior, Moritz, Wendla and their young friends are experiencing sexual awakenings and are increasingly curious about their bodies, each other, masturbation and more. Their teachers and parents, respectable adults, fight to keep these young people on the straight and narrow, often with hilarious and sometimes disastrous results.

The Seagull by Anton Chekhov is directed by Richard Epp, and appears in the David Spinks Theatre from Feb. 15 to 19. Konstantin loves his mother, but he's jealous of her fame as an actress and depressed about his lack of success as a playwright. He also despises the celebrated young writer who is living with his mother and seems to have captured the attention of the girl he adores. On a Russian country estate, passions abound and idealism is challenged by triviality in this absorbing play from the master of comic realism.

The season ends with William Shakespeare's Richard III. Widely regarded as Shakespeare's most important play, this eternal classic is directed by Doug MacArthur and appears on stage Mar. 22 to 26. On a road paved with blood, treachery and seduction, Richard's tumultuous attempt to claim the throne of England for his own is fraught with lies, deception and murder.

To experience each of these unforgettable productions, season ticket purchases include all four productions for the price of three. Individual tickets are priced at $15 for regular admission and $10 for seniors/students. Season Tickets are $45 regular and $30 for seniors/students.

All tickets are available at the U of L Box office or by calling 403-329-2616. Closed for the summer, the U of L Box Office reopens on Sept. 13. Season tickets are on sale until opening night of the first production.

Theatre season packs punch

trevor.kenney — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:56:49 +0000

Challenging, engrossing and engaging describe the 2010/2011 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge Faculty of Fine Arts theatre season.

From classical to controversial, the plays strike a balance between academic challenges and audience appeal.

Festen offers dark perspective

trevor.kenney — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 23:29:32 +0000

Secrets, scandal and slander are the themes of David Eldridge's Festen, the next Theatre and Dramatic Arts production, playing Nov. 24 to 28, 8 p.m. nightly in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre.

This dark and intriguing work shakes the skeletons in the closet of a family's shameful past, rocking their foundation and threatening to destroy their middle-class respectability.

"This is one of those plays actors starve for," says Director Jay Whitehead. "The cast has truly embraced the challenges of this play – to go to the dark places the material takes them. We've spent a great deal of time preparing relationships, as there is a great deal of love among the hate within each of the characters."

The play begins at patriarch Helge's 60th birthday party as family members gather to celebrate and to smooth over the cracks left by daughter Linda's recent suicide. As Helge's eldest son, Christian raises the first toast, and guests are rocked by revelations he is determined to expose.

"The play is so confronting," says Whitehead. "We want the audience to be right in the middle of it."

Quite literally, the audience will feel like guests at the table as seating is set on stage – an intimate and eye-opening spectacle as the plot unravels. From the revealing lighting to the stark set, the elements of the production add to the emotional character of the play.

"The lighting, sound and set are innovative and interesting," says Whitehead. "The look and feel of the production very much aligns with the mood and tone of the play."

The set was designed by James McDowell, with Kelly Roberts as sound designer and Mike Takats as the lighting designer.

"This is an emotional night at the theatre," adds Whitehead. "The themes revolve around relationships that are universal. Festen exposes the big pink elephants in the room, which all families can identify with."

Audiences are warned that the subject matter is very mature, and may be unsuitable for audiences under 18 years of age. Seating is very limited, and tickets are on sale at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office.

Festen offers dark perspective

trevor.kenney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:39:34 +0000

This dark and intriguing work shakes the skeletons in the closet of a family's shameful past, rocking their foundation and threatening to destroy their middle-class respectability.

"The play is so confronting," says Whitehead. "We want the audience to be right in the middle of it."

"The lighting, sound and set are innovative and interesting," says Whitehead. "The look and feel of the production very much aligns with the mood and tone of the play."

The set was designed by James McDowell, with Kelly Roberts as sound designer and Mike Takats as the lighting designer.

UNews - Jay Whitehead

Department of Drama presenting 4.48 Psychosis to remote audiences

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Festen offers dark perspective

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