UNews - actor

Guist earns his directing chops with Madonna Painter

trevor.kenney — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:23:26 +0000

Sean Guist, MFA Candidate at the U of L, tells us about his experience as both an undergraduate and graduate student. He is directing the mainstage play The Madonna Painter or the Birth of a Painting by Michel Marc Bouchard, which ran from Mar. 20 - 24, 2012.

"The play takes place in 1918 in rural Quebec, and I did a lot of historical research, which included a trip to Quebec, to understand the period and its religious influences," Guist says. "The play is loosely based on events that happened in Bouchard's home town when he was young, and he wrote the play many years later while living in Florence, Italy. When he returned to Canada, after the play received critical acclaim abroad, he rewrote and translated the play a couple of times. The translation by Linda Gaboriau is the version we are using."

The story begins as World War I is ending and the Spanish flu is taking hold. A young priest, having recently arrived in the small parish, commissions a wandering Italian painter to create a fresco dedicated to the Virgin Mary to ward off the oncoming plague. As he chooses his model between four local virgins – all named Mary – the Madonna painter changes the fate of the entire community.

"Our cast is small, only seven characters," Guist explains. "Every character in the play has their own journey and their own beauty to discover. In turn, each actor has to go on that journey too; to discover their own beauty."

"The audience will experience great contemporary Canadian theatre that comes to life on a stunning set designed by faculty member and alumnus Roger Schultz (BFA '89), with costumes designed by Leslie Robison-Greene. Bouchard said he wanted the audience to leave with one element from the play: an image, a character, a line or a moment. I know this play both provokes and entertains – it's very beautiful, like a great work of art," says Guist.

The Madonna Painter a challenge for small cast

trevor.kenney — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 21:58:50 +0000

Religion, sexuality, death and secrets all collide in the small parish of Lac St-Jean, Quebec when The Madonna Painter or the Birth of a Painting by Governor General Award winning playwright Michel Marc Bouchard unravels its tantalizing tale. Playing Mar. 20-24 at 8 p.m. nightly in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre, The Madonna Painter beautifully caps off a captivating Mainstage season.

"It is a collision of ecstasies, a bouquet of lies disguised as a fable," wrote Bouchard. "The Madonna Painter or The Birth of a Painting is writ in scarlet pigments, in holy wine and haemoglobin, all the shades of red that flow though us, from our sex to our souls."

Conveying the poetic essence of the script and capturing its poignant imagery is the challenge confronting MFA candidate and director, Sean Guist.

The Madonna Painter plays nightly at 8 p.m. in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre.

Tickets for The Madonna Painter are available at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office, Monday through Friday, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. or by calling 403-329-2616. Tickets are $15 regular, $10 for seniors and students.

This story first appeared in the March 2012 issue of the Legend. For a look at the full issue in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Passion for film drives Poliquin

trevor.kenney — Thu, 19 May 2011 17:25:15 +0000

Do you remember when the family video camera was a rare and valuable piece of bulky equipment brought out of its protective case to record little more than holidays and birthdays? Fast-forward a decade or more and video cameras, found in everything from cell phones to laptops, are a common and well-used technology that we can no longer imagine living without.

Like most of his generation, 24-year-old John Poliquin (JP) (BFA '08) grew up using digital media to capture the everyday moments of his life. Unlike his peers, however, this up and coming music video director took it to another level, building a creative and promising career using the common technology.

"In high school I was into skateboarding and my friends and I were always making videos for that. I also took graphic design and was into flash animation and Photoshop. I designed a lot of posters for plays and parties, but it was just for fun. I really wasn't thinking about new media as a career," recalls Poliquin. "Then my mom read about the New Media program at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in Macleans magazine."

Alumnus JP Poliquin at work in the studio.

After recommending the program to a friend, Poliquin visited her on campus, saw the facilities and enrolled himself.

Although Poliquin's initial intent was to focus on graphic design, he fell in love with film production during his second semester at the U of L. As a child, he'd acted in several commercials and spent time on set with a childhood actor friend. Taking Terry Gallie's film production course reminded Poliquin of how much he loved the energy and activity on a film set.

"After my first assignment in film production, I was so excited with it that I realized I really liked the aesthetic of film and working in that medium. I also really liked learning about effects and about how I could bring my design
experience into that," says Poliquin. "The New Media program at the U of L is really good. I know a lot of other directors that went to film school but I am really glad that I have a full university degree. It is so much broader in terms of the media we learned. The fact that I have different skill sets that a lot of people in my field don't, that I have experience with sound design and editing and graphic design and web editing, it just makes it a lot easier for me to market myself and not be pigeonholed into one thing."

Following his first year at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ, Poliquin spoke to Gallie and got some advice about how to work in the film industry. He returned home to Vancouver and began working with a production assistant on the sets of The Fog and RV. He continued to spend subsequent summers immersed in the Vancouver film industry, sampling everything from camera assistant and assistant director to working in wardrobe.

Poliquin also brought his passion for film back to campus. He and his friends founded the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's Student Film Festival in 2007, premiering the film, Inside Charlie, which they had written and produced. He pulled all-nighters in the new media lab and even had to hide from a security guard once in order to keep working after hours – although he would not recommend doing that today!
Since his graduation in 2008, Poliquin has amassed quite a body of work directing music videos, and is beginning to break into commercial directing and fashion photography.

"I love being a director, writing the ideas and following it through to the editing. It is nice to be able to look back at your portfolio and see these different creations," says Poliquin. "My next goal is to move to New York City; I want to try it out while I am still in my twenties. My goal is to eventually direct high concept commercials, music videos, maybe a feature film or TV episode once a year, and then do fashion photography and editing on the side."

GET THE FACTS

· Poliquin has directed more than 30 music videos.

· He was nominated for music video directing awards for: ill Scarlett featuring Kardinal Offishall (Much Music Video awards); Paper Lions, Tim Chaisson, Morning Fold (East Coast Music Association Awards and Music PEI Awards); Hey Ocean (Leo Awards).

· His film, Inside Charlie, was nominated for Best Short Film at the Calgary International Film Festival.

· To check out some of his work go to: www.johnpoliquin.com.

This story first appeared in the Legend. To view the Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

Positive Space showing at David Spinks Theatre

trevor.kenney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:24:22 +0000

TheatreXtra puts a positive spin on the theatre with the Nov. 5 to 7 showing of Positive Space.

"I've always been an actor, but this is my first time directing," says dramatic arts major Ian McFarlane about his directorial debut. "Positive Space presents creative ways for audiences to perceive and think about theatre."

Showing 8 p.m. nightly in the David Spinks Theatre, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 7, Positive Space invites audiences to experience theatre rather than just be spectators – to change their perceptions of what theatre is and how intriguing theatre can be.

"This project has taken about a year and a half to complete," McFarlane says. "Space was the original concept – that the theatre itself is a character."

Positive Space is an organic and somewhat spontaneous creation on stage – a collective creation between actor, theatre and audience.

"It's been a challenge throughout the process to encourage the actors to push themselves further, to explore theatre in a new way," he adds. "The audience is also an active participant. I feel I'm more of a facilitator, rather than an actor or director in a classical sense."

Entertaining and engaging, Positive Space takes theatre out of the box. The mandate of TheatreXtra is to challenge students and push the boundaries of classical theatre. Positive Space plans to accomplish that and redirect audience perceptions towards other theatrical possibilities.

Tickets are available at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office, 403-329-2616.

Positive Space a debut effort for director

trevor.kenney — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:22:31 +0000

TheatreXtra puts a positive spin on the theatre with the Nov. 5 to 7 showing of Positive Space.

"I've always been an actor, but this is my first time directing," says dramatic arts major Ian McFarlane about his directorial debut. "Positive Space presents creative ways for audiences to perceive and think about theatre."

Showing 8 p.m. nightly, with a 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 7, Positive Space invites audiences to experience theatre rather than just be spectators – to change their perceptions of what theatre is and how intriguing theatre can be.

"This project has taken about a year and a half to complete," McFarlane says. "Space was the original concept – that the theatre itself is a character."

Positive Space is an organic and somewhat spontaneous creation on stage – a collective creation between actor, theatre and audience.

"It's been a challenge throughout the process to encourage the actors to push themselves further, to explore theatre in a new way," he adds. "The audience is also an active participant. I feel I'm more of a facilitator, rather than an actor or director in a classical sense."

Entertaining and engaging, Positive Space takes theatre out of the box. The mandate of TheatreXtra is to challenge students and push the boundaries of classical theatre. Positive Space plans to accomplish that and redirect audience perceptions towards other theatrical possibilities.

Tickets are available at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Box Office, 403-329-2616.

Campus Kudos

trevor.kenney — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 18:20:11 +0000

Dr. Noella Piquette-Tomei (Education) is one of 400 participants worldwide who will attend the Global Conference on Inclusive Education, Oct. 21-23 in Salamanca, Spain. She, along with her colleagues, will be writing the position paper for the United Nations over the three-day event. Piquette-Tomei is one of only three Canadians attending.

Ron Chambers' (Theatre & Dramatic Arts) play Marg Szkaluba (Pissy's Wife) is presented by New West Theatre until Oct. 10. Several fine arts alumni and staff are involved in the production, including actor Erica Hunt, BFA (Dramatic Arts); director Lindsey Zess-Funk, BFA (Dramatic Arts); set designer Ian McFarlane, BFA (Multidisciplinary); and sound designer Kelly Roberts (Theatre & Dramatic Arts staff).

Gerard Gibbs (Conservatory of Music) General/Executive Director of the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, received the Innovation Award at the 2009 Rozsa Arts Management Awards in conjunction with Alberta Arts Days.

Don Gill's (Art) exhibition The New Flâneurs: Contemporary Urban Practice and the Picturesque is at the Art Gallery of Alberta until Dec. 13. This exhibition in the RBC New Works Gallery is inspired by street cultures like parkour, graffiti and skateboarding, and relates them to contemporary art and historical work from the AGA's permanent collection.

Mary-Anne McTrowe (Art) has two exhibitions going on this fall, Crocheting the Database at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Oct. 9 through Nov. 22, and Decorate and Protect at the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, Nov. 28 through Jan. 17, 2010. While in Victoria for the opening of her exhibition, McTrowe is speaking at Camosun College as part of their visiting artist lecture series.

Dr. Arlan Schultz (Music) did a summer residency at the Center for Research in Computing and the Arts at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California. Schultz was engaged in research at CRCA's large-speaker array audio spatialization lab where he designed and tested computer algorithms that spatialize (in 6 to 9 channels) live or recorded audio and interact with live performers in real-time.

An eerie evening of theatre

trevor.kenney — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 15:10:05 +0000

Combine live music, the macabre and magic and you have quite an evening of theatre.

Tales of the Damned, presented by TheatreXtra, invades the David Spinks Theatre Oct. 30 through Nov. 1 with performances nightly at 8 p.m., as well as a 2 p.m. matinee on Nov. 1. The haunting double feature showcases work by student playwrights Ben McFee and Corey Joyce.

A Beautiful Hell, by Ben McFee, is a remount of his first play, which was originally mounted at the 2003 SHED the Mask conference in the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Theatre.

"This play is incredibly difficult to perform because the actor must portray not only two different characters, but also have them cut each other off and attack each other physically. All the while the actor must remain convincing and in no way comical," says McFee.

The idea for the play started with Ben's father, a well-respected nuclear physicist, explaining to Ben in layman's terms the importance of the passage of time to people's lives.

"I thought it would be interesting to see if a no-time environment could be put on the live stage," he says.

In Comes the Doctor, by Corey Joyce, who won the inaugural U of L Play Right Prize last year, is the second play of the evening.

This creepy, atmospheric show should have audiences feeling uneasy from the opening scene. Audiences get a full helping of everything the Halloween season has to offer — mystery, wonder, and above all … magic.

Tickets for Tales of the Damned are $11 regular and $7 student/senior at the U of L Box Office, 403-329-2616.

UNews - actor

Guist earns his directing chops with Madonna Painter

Related Topics

The Madonna Painter a challenge for small cast

Related Topics

Passion for film drives Poliquin

Related Topics

Positive Space showing at David Spinks Theatre

Related Topics

Positive Space a debut effort for director

Related Topics

Campus Kudos

Related Topics

An eerie evening of theatre

Related Topics