Brock University Dramatic Arts

The Scenography Studio has been a busy hub of creative activity as our colleagues prepare for the launch of the Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald (MAMM) Symposium, one day only on Saturday, June 20th at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

In the photos are Sloane, Riley, Emily, and Paige from the Departments of English, Geography, and Digital Humanities.

The MAMM Symposium includes posters, online exhibits, objects and ephemera of interest, as well as live-showcase sessions run by the MAMM team, and a scavenger hunt.

In the theatre, faculty and student members of the MAMM team will lead a MAMM presentation and Q+A, followed by a performance by Ann-Marie MacDonald of an excerpt from Best Soldier.

This will be followed by a Q+A with Ann-Marie and Alisa Palmer, and Rebecca Harper, facilitated by Dr. Jennifer Roberts-Smith, Chair, Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University.

More information available on our Dramatic Arts website page about the Current Season.
https://brocku.ca/miwsfpa/dramatic-arts/current-season/

All of the events are free. Get your tickets for the theatre events at the link:

https://brocku.universitytickets.com/w/event.aspx?id=2800

We are so excited to welcome Ann-Marie and Alisa back to the School!

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Fourth-year Dramatic Arts students are inviting audiences on a harrowing journey to a sinister hotel haunted by a controlling spirit — a hotel so grand guests might not want to leave.

Enjoy Your Stay, a production by Kaleidoscope Collective, opens at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre on Friday, April 10.

The play follows the journey of staff members trapped in a seemingly lavish hotel where the spirit of a man lives inside the walls. The spirit controls the building and all within, including a woman who has been trapped for decades.

When two new faces enter the story, Edith and Lilian, the world of the hotel begins to shift. While clumsy and shy Edith falls prey to the horrors within, Lilian uses her spiritual gift to uncover the mystery of the building and the truths hidden in the walls.

A key theme explored is humanity’s tendency toward obsessiveness and control and how it can lead to a path of destruction.

READ MORE .ca/dramatic-arts

Enjoy your Stay runs Friday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

Tickets can be purchased through:

https://brocku.universitytickets.com/?cid=185

Fourth-year Dramatic Arts students are inviting audiences on a harrowing journey to a sinister hotel haunted by a controlling spirit — a hotel so grand guests might not want to leave.

Enjoy Your Stay, a production by Kaleidoscope Collective, opens at the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre on Friday, April 10.

The play follows the journey of staff members trapped in a seemingly lavish hotel where the spirit of a man lives inside the walls. The spirit controls the building and all within, including a woman who has been trapped for decades.

When two new faces enter the story, Edith and Lilian, the world of the hotel begins to shift. While clumsy and shy Edith falls prey to the horrors within, Lilian uses her spiritual gift to uncover the mystery of the building and the truths hidden in the walls.

A key theme explored is humanity’s tendency toward obsessiveness and control and how it can lead to a path of destruction.

READ MORE .ca/miwsfpa/dramatic-arts

Enjoy your Stay runs Friday, April 10 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, April 11 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, April 12 at 2 p.m. at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

Tickets can be purchased through:

https://brocku.universitytickets.com/?cid=185

Join us for OPEN HOUSE @ MAIN CAMPUS for presentations and an information fair.

Join us for OPEN HOUSE for tours and one-on-one meetings with faculty and students.

A shuttle bus will depart the main campus at 1:00 pm and return at 2:45pm – but you can drive yourself too! Parking is free.

And welcome to everybody coming for the DART Invitational on Saturday March 28. We can’t wait to meet you!

MINUTES WITH DART Faculty and Staff! Today we introduce our Head of Wardrobe, Bobbi Pidduck!
We asked our staff to answer a few questions about their impressions of DART. To get us ready for Open House here’s our fifth friendly faculty and staff profile. Bobbi Pidduck started as a professional costume maker at The Shaw Festival Theatre twenty-six years ago. Throughout her career, she’s had the pleasure of working as a seamstress, pattern drafter, first hand, milliner assistant and dresser in a variety of theatre companies across the country.
In 2022, Bobbi joined the Department of Dramatic Arts as the Head of Wardrobe. She is thrilled to share the knowledge she’s gained from so many of her generous mentors.

What excites you most about teaching and working with the students in our department?
I’m most excited to see the beginnings of the next generation in our theatre community starting here at DART.

What do you think makes our theatre program special or unique?
This program encapsulates so many aspects of theatre making. Students graduate with a diverse set of skills.

Please share a moment when you were especially proud of or impressed by one of our students or graduates:
I feel most proud when I witness a student’s level of confidence grow. Something that can seem so daunting becomes a real boost in confidence when they’ve overcome a challenge.

What is one word or phrase you would use to describe the spirit of our department? Why?
Enthusiasm! The students joy for theatre making is infectious.

Read more from Bobbi @ APPLY on our webpage.

Join us for OPEN HOUSE @ MAIN CAMPUS for presentations and an information fair.
Join us for OPEN HOUSE for tours and one-on-one meetings with faculty and students.
A shuttle bus will depart the main campus at 1:00 pm and return at 2:45pm – but you can drive yourself too! Parking is free.
And welcome to everybody coming for the DART Invitational on Saturday March 28. We can’t wait to meet you!

MINUTES WITH DART Faculty and Staff! Today we introduce Dr. Priya Thomas!
We asked our faculty and staff to answer a few questions about their impressions of DART and their current projects. To get us ready for Open House here’s our fourth friendly faculty profile. Priya Thomas is a dance/theatre historian, musician, and dancer/choreographer, her work recognized through publications in leading journals, book chapters, international conferences, prestigious research awards, grants, and fellowships.

What excites you most about teaching and working with the students in our department?
Never a dull moment! Our students are gifted, imaginative, and deeply attuned to one another. They often create work that is both ambitious and collaborative. Being able to nurture a space where they can envision the impossible, stretch creatively, and take meaningful artistic risks is one of the real joys of teaching here!

What do you think makes our theatre program special or unique?
Our people! Our faculty, staff, and administrators are exceptionally well-trained, gifted at what they do, generous with their time, collegial with one another, and genuinely attentive to the needs of students.

Please share a moment when you were especially proud of or impressed by one of our students or graduates:
The final creative projects submitted in my first year of teaching in DART: One group produced a short film related to course content …Watching them collaborate so generously, and then seeing the brilliance of their carefully executed (and intellectually provocative) film was beyond moving…. how lucky I am to witness the vivid inner worlds of students dramatized.

Read more from Priya @ APPLY on our webpage

Join us for OPEN HOUSE @ MAIN CAMPUS for presentations and an information fair.

Join us for OPEN HOUSE for tours and one-on-one meetings with faculty and students.

A shuttle bus will depart the main campus at 1:00 pm and return at 2:45pm – but you can drive yourself too! Parking is free.

And welcome to everybody coming for the DART Invitational on Saturday March 28. We can’t wait to meet you!

MINUTES WITH DART Faculty and Staff! Today we introduce Dr. David Fancy!

We asked our faculty and staff to answer a few questions about their impressions of DART and their current projects. To get us ready for Open House here’s our third friendly faculty profile. David Fancy is an internationally renowned scholar, researcher and theatre-maker.

What excites you most about teaching and working with the students in our department?

Our students bring curiosity, courage, and a willingness to take creative risks. What excites me most is witnessing the moment when a student realizes that theatre isn’t only representation but transformation of self, community, and world.

What do you think makes our theatre program special or unique?

DART balances rigor with openness. Students are encouraged to bring intellect, emotion, politics, and imagination into their work. Actors, designers, playwrights, and scholars learn alongside one another in a collaborative artistic ecosystem.

Please share a moment when you were especially proud of or impressed by one of our students or graduates:

I’m continually moved by graduates who carry collaborative and socially engaged values into the world. One former student began a theatre project with newcomers and refugees in Niagara — a beautiful example of creative training becoming community transformation.

What is one word or phrase you would use to describe the spirit of our department? Why?

Resonant. Teaching, learning, and creating here generate conversations that vibrate outward, sustained by generosity and attentive listening.

Read more from David @ APPLY on our webpage.