Vol. 28 No. 1
September 2012
Editor: Rick Mawson Layout: Sandy Tait
2012-2013 Theatre Season UFV Theatre’s 33rd season promises another year of exciting, engaging, and always entertaining theatre. Please join us in our beautiful theatre on the Yale Road campus in Chilliwack to celebrate our students’ achievements in live performance with three delightful, thought-provoking plays, plus a year-end festival of student-directed shows. 33 years and going strong, UFV Theatre continues our proud tradition of offering the Fraser Valley the very best in post-secondary theatre. Bruce Kirkley, Department Head
Scholarship and Award Winners: Chilliwack Players Guild Scholarship Natasha Ray Jody Cameron Production Award Caitlin Archer Myrtle Hawes Memorial Award Gabriel Kirkley Norma Kenny Memorial Tuition Scholarship Rae MacEachern-Eastwood
Bottom row left to right: Madison McArthur, Ali Shewan, Josh Wilson Top row: Becky Mackenzie, Dylan Schroeder
This Year’s Theatre Graduates:
Paul Wright Hord Scholarship Melissa Harris Robert (Bob) Forsythe Memorial Scholarship Eli Funk
Bachelor of Arts Degree Graduates Madison McArthur, Dylan Schroeder, Ali Shewan, Joshua Wilson.
Rod Cooper Theatre Award Ali Shewan
Bachelor of General Studies Degree Graduates Alexandra Ehrhardt, Samantha Gunson (with an Associate of Arts degree in Theatre)
Rotary Club of Chilliwack Theatre Scholarshi Megan Davies
TSA Donates to Department The outgoing executive of last year’s UFV Theatre Students Association had a surplus of $850 in their bank account and promptly donated the total to the theatre department. Their generous philanthropy is much appreciated!
Skye Macdonald Memorial Scholarship Liam Archer Theatre Students Association Scholarship Rebecca Mackenzie
Jay Havens with First Salmon Celebration Mural
First Nations Alumnus Jay Havens Returns to Design Set for Ernestine It was great to welcome back UFV Theatre Department Alumnus Jay Havens into the fold this August. Jay has been hired to design the set for our January 2013 production of Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout, by First Nations playwright Tomson Highway. Jay, an accomplished artist and designer with First Nations heritage from the Mohawk Nation, also designed the superb set and costumes for last season’s hit production of The Arabian Nights. Since graduating Jay has worked professionally in the Vancouver theatre community, designing sets and costumes for several companies and was recently hired to design the set for the upcoming Douglas College theatre department production of Tompson Highway’s The Rez Sisters, having also designed the set for the UBC production of the same play. However, Jay’s talents are not limited to theatre design work: he was also commissioned to create six murals within the Abbotsford community and a fifty five foot by twenty foot example of his work can be seen on the walls of The Abbotsford Aboriginal Centre on Gladwin Rd., where Jay was Artist in Residence. Jay has also created murals for School District 34 in Abbotsford and was Artist in residence at The Abbotsford School of Integrated Arts. The mural in the picture is one of Jay’s larger pieces and adorns the walls of the Alexander Elementary School in Abbotsford. The evocative piece, entitled First Salmon Celebration, includes an elder cooking salmon, two dancing children and a drummer. Jay always tries to include an elder and children in his work to symbolize knowledge passing from one generation to the next. Jay hopes that his work will enable both First Nations as well as non-aboriginal Canadians to appreciate their own cultures. Stefanie in Titanic. Stefanie Swinnard (Miss Hardcastle: She Stoops to Conquer, November 2005) performed in this year’s Theatre Under The Stars production of Titanic: The Musical. This will be Stephanie’s second gig with TUTS. She also appeared in last years hit production of Anything Goes. Break a leg Stephanie!
17th Annual Directors’ Festival a Record Breaker! This year’s Directors’ Theatre Festival, April 25 to 29, turned out to be a record breaker, with attendance figures of 4,042, tickets sold for 63 performances of the 23 shows. The main theatre was full for the opening ceremony to witness the now traditional sixty seconds of fame competition where representatives from each participating show pitched their product to an audience prone to breaking into “The Wave” — a phenomenon normally reserved for sports stadium crowds. Those present included UFV Dean of College of Arts Jacqueline Nolte and former Mayor of Chilliwack Clint Hames, along with representatives from the UFV Student Union Society, who helped sponsor the event. It has also become a tradition for Clint to judge this event and the trophy this year for best promo presentation went to Thompson Rivers University production of All in Little Pieces. Both theatres in the Chilliwack theatre complex were well attended, with many sold out performances. The event was attended by a blogger from the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance and the review was terrific (see link below) http://news.gvpta.ca/2012/04/30/ufvs17th-annual-directors-festival/ The Festival continues to be one of the most well attended events presented within our institution, bringing in participants from many other post-secondary theatre departments. This year’s visitors included Capilano University, Thompson Rivers University, Vancouver Island University and UBC Okanagan. The Directors’ Festival is unique in concept and presentation and has grown enormously during its seventeen-year existence, giving young performers, directors, and technicians the priceless opportunity to “do their own thing” and do it exceedingly well. Cheap, delicious food was provided in the concessions area by The Friends of The Theatre support group, who also assisted with other front of house duties. We could not put on the Festival without them. Special thanks also go out to UFV School of Criminology & Centre for Criminal Justice Research for their sponsorship and the many other individuals and organizations, whose time and financial contributions make this event possible. Long live the Festival! Two Directors’ Festival Shows at Harrison Festival Unprotected Sex and Hidden in This Picture, two productions from this year’s Directors’ Theatre Festival, were chosen to perform at the Harrison Festival of the Arts on Tuesday, July 12, in The Harrison Memorial Theatre. Theatre student Tim Howe was also employed by the Festival this year.
Theatre Department Mentioned in Maclean’s Magazine Survey The UFV Theatre department was recently featured in a Maclean’s Magazine survey of Canadian Universities as one of the three stand out programs within our institution, along with The School of Criminology and Centre for Criminal Justice Research and The Kinesiology and Physical Education department. Such recognition is most gratifying and a pat on the back to all three programs is in order. Theatre 401 Class Presentations Fascinating! Congratulations to the students in this winter’s Theories of Theatre class (THEA 401) taught by Dr. Heather Davis-Fisch, who presented scholarly papers at the class colloquium on April 16. Research topics included religion, gender, and madness in early modern England, feminism and performance, post-colonial drama in South Africa, musical theatre, contemporary British tragedy, and questions of genre in Shaw’s work. The projects were well-researched, professionally delivered, and fascinating! Droning of Bombers Aids Student Scholarships Our summer theatre presentation of Droning of Bombers, the one-woman show written and performed by Hennie Drenten-Regoczi and directed by Jim Servizi, was well attended and many audience members stayed behind for the discussion sessions after the show. This production, which presented the German occupation of Holland during WWII as seen through the eyes of a five year old child, touched the hearts and minds of many of those who were fortunate enough to see it. Hennie generously donated the profit from the production (close to $2,500) towards scholarships for UFV Theatre students. Bravo! Thank you, Hennie! A film of the play is currently being developed by director James Servizi and UFV Theatre student Gabriel Kirkley. We look forward with great anticipation to seeing it. Astrid Makes Dutch Connection. UFV Theatre technical manager Astrid Beugeling, who is of Dutch heritage, paid a visit to the family of Hennie Regoczi during her trip to Holland this summer. Hennie, who wrote and performed Droning of Bombers, our summer theatre presentation this year, was happy to arrange for Astrid to visit her relatives on the very farm portrayed in the play. Astrid enjoyed meeting them and exploring Coevoerden, one of the lesser known parts of the Netherlands, for the first time. Samantha Gets the Job Samantha Gunson (Hero: Much Ado About Nothing, March 2005) recently took on the position of Media Communications Specialist at the Center for Arts and Technology in Kelowna. Samantha was kind enough to credit a positive reference from Theatre Faculty member Ian Fenwick for being instrumental in her obtaining the position. Congratulations Samantha!
Preparations for Ashland 2013 Tour Underway The department will be offering another External Study Tour to the world famous Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon from Monday, June 17, to Monday June 24, 2013. The plays for this tour are: TheTaming of the Shrew, King Lear, Cymbeline, Midsummer Night’s Dream, My Fair Lady, A Streetcar Named Desire, Two Trains Running and The Heart of Robin Hood. The tour includes travel in a deluxe air conditioned coach, bed and breakfast accommodation in Southern Oregon University residences, all theatre tickets, back stage visits, lectures and workshops as well as several evening meals. Contact tour coordinator Ian Fenwick at 604 -795-2838 or Ian.Fenwick@ufv.ca. For more information on our Season of Theatre, call: 604-795-2814 or email: theatre@ufv.ca. Melanie Manages PAL Melanie Wickes (Casey Quinn, Halo, January 2006) has been appointed the new Theatre Manager at PAL Studio Theatre. Located on the 8th floor of the Performing Arts Lodge (PAL) Vancouver. The PAL Studio Theatre Society operates a 150 seat studio theatre as a rental facility for theatre and performing arts producing companies, arts community organizations, and other renters. PAL Vancouver also provides safe, affordable housing for those who work or have worked in the performing arts industry. Congratulations Melanie! Bryan and Jennifer on the Road with JOBFEST Bryan Cutler (Hamlet: Hamlet, March 2009) UFV Theatre graduate and our newly appointed Head Carpenter and set builder and his fiancé Jennifer Maxwell (Sherry: A Little Unfinished Family Business, May 2011) were both employed this summer by JOBFEST 2012, a program initiated by the provincial government to promote employment opportunities for young people in the interior, coast, and north of BC. Bryan and Jennifer toured with Rock group Acres of Lions under the slogan of Rock Your Future, engaging young people at performances, and handing out information about available employment for youth. It sounds like a worthy program to be involved with and we are sure they did a great job. Ron and Catrina Tie the Knot This summer Catrina Lewis (Ariel: The Tempest, March 2011)and Ron Jackson (Stephano: The Tempest, March 2011) were added to the list of theatre students who have tied the knot while studying with us. Congratulations to them both and may they have a long and happy life together! Ella Bell Passed Away We were saddened to learn lately that Ella Bell had passed away after a long battle with cancer. Ella was a regular patron of our season of theatre and she also attended our Ashland study tour. We will miss her and her lilting Irish accent. R.I.P. Ella.
Theatre Junkies Anonymous Newest Theatre Company Yet another new theatre company composed of UFV Theatre graduates and current students offered its inaugural production this summer. Theatre Junkies Anonymous, headed up by theatre Alumnus Megan Mackenzie, (Ophelia: Hamlet, March 2009) presented C.S. Lewis’ iconic children’s play The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe, from his book of the same name, in May in the Chilliwack campus theatre. The cast and crew of this well-received production included UFV students past and present and was directed by Megan herself. Theatre Junkies Anonymous recently announced their new season which includes: A Christmas Carol, scheduled to play in December in the CEP campus Studio Theatre and Treasure Island next May in the Chilliwack North campus theatre. The UFV Theatre department has become a launching pad for new theatre companies during its thirty-two year history, with former students brave enough to enter the competitive and demanding world of live theatre. Ken Hildebrandt (Macbeth: Macbeth, March 1997) founded and runs The Gallery 7 Theatre in Abbotsford. Ken, as artistic director, has created a very successful company that runs a full season of productions and events in the Abbotsford area. Another former student, Larry Hamm (Bram: Stone Angel, January 1995) was instrumental in forming the local children’s theatre school Creative Outlet, that regularly offers performances in our Chilliwack North campus Theatre. Andy Thompson (Hamlet: Hamlet, March 1990) formed his professional Theatre company, The Virtual Theatre, in Vancouver well over a decade ago and has since branched out into film production with some success. Last year a group of UFV students formed a company entitled Coup D’Etat and presented Dog Sees God: Confessions of a Teenage Blockhead in our Chilliwack campus Theatre and at the Theatre BC Festival. In July they presented Frank Wederkind’s Spring Awakening at the Studio Theatre in the Chilliwack Cultural Centre. Secondary Characters, another local company featuring past and present UFV students presented You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown last summer and The Sound of Music this July in the UFV Chilliwack North campus theatre. Former UCFV theatre student Andrew Smith is the current artistic Director of the Chilliwak School of Performing Arts which has employed several UFV alumni including: Nicola Bramble, Stefanie Swinnard, and Shelley Wojcik. We look forward to further developments and perhaps even more new companies.
Tanya and Bryan at the PNE Two former UFV Theatre students were active at this year’s PNE. Tanya Schwaertzle was coordinator for the 4H Farming contingent there and Bryan Cutler was announcer for the horse racing events. We are sure they both did a great job. Kurtis and Co Win National Comedy Award Kurtis Maguire (Richard III: Richard III, March 1999) was a cast member of the made-in-Vancouver Archie parody (Riverdale: The Archie Movie Trailer) that recently won the award for Best Web Clip at the 2012 Canadian Comedy Awards in Toronto. The video is based on the Archie comic book series and portrays a darker side of the fictional high school portrayed in the comic books. Kurtis played the role of Jughead in the clip. To view the video search for “ Riverdale Trailer “ on YouTube.com. Congratulations Kurtis and Co! Daune Creates Calamity on Gabriola Daune Campbell (Guildenstern: Hamlet, March 1990) was “thrilled to be strapping on the Buckskins and blasting out some wild tales about the legendary Calamity Jane” at this summer’s Gabriola Island Theatre Festival. Daune played the iconic western character in the one-woman show Sonofabitch Stew: The Drunken Life of Calamity Jane, presented by Shameless Hussey Productions, a Vancouver theatre company of which she is managing co–Artistic Director. She is also the tour coordinator for Axis Theatre Company. Keep up the good work Daune!