Coming up!
Lynn Slotkin will outline her journey from the 12 year old kid taken to the theatre for the very first time to becoming a theatre critic, and on the way she will talk about the difference between a critic and a reviewer, tell us why critics are important, and try to answer that perennial question “Did we see the same show?” (Hint: even though we might have been sitting side by side, no, we did not see the same show - and Lynn Slotkin will tell us why not.)
Lynn Slotkin publishes an on-line newsletter The Slotkin Letter which chronicles her theatre going in Toronto and internationally. The Slotkin Letter is used as a resource for actors, directors, artistic directors, and ‘civilians’ who are keenly interested in theatre.
Lynn Slotkin earned an Honours BA in Fine Arts from York University, specializing in Drama Studies, History, Theory and Criticism. Her reviews and articles have been published in The Globe and Mail, The Toronto Star, Performance Magazine, American Theatre Magazine, Eye Weekly, How Theatre Educates, Orbit, Mystery Scene Magazine, The Canadian Jewish News, the London Free Press and The Hollywood Reporter. She has done theatre commentary for Studio Two on TV Ontario and CBC TV-Newsworld. She has been profiled in The National Post, The Globe and Mail, and on Bravo TV for the Arts and Minds Program.
As a renowned Canadian Deaf leader, author, advocate, mediator and education advisor, Joanne Cripps is uniquely situated to bridge the gap between the Deaf community, educators, researchers and artists. In collaboration with the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf she produced "The Black Drum", a signed musical theatre performance supported by Soulpepper Theatre Company. This deaf-led performance has received rave reviews, both in Toronto, and in Reims, France.
Joanne Cripps, is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE under the Canadian Cultural Society of the Deaf (CCSD), responsible for the operations of the Centre and promoting Deaf arts, heritage and literature. She organizes, promotes and features Canadian Deaf performing artists in their production such as the Opening Ceremonies of the 14th World Congress of the World Federation of the Deaf, Montreal, Quebec, 2003 the closing production for the Deaf History International Conference 2012, Toronto and the Opening Gala for the DEAF CULTURE CENTRE, 2006.
Rob Gorbet writes: “I've been involved in tech art collaborations in the Waterloo Region and beyond for over 15 years as an engineer, artist, and educator. In this talk I will review some of our past work and introduce two calls to action/ thought/ discussion. First, there's a piece I really want to make for which I need a collaborator(s): a storyteller and a photographer. I hope to describe this nascent work in order to get reaction and ideas for both the content and possible collaborators. Second, I'll talk about my several-year history co-teaching the Technology Art Studio course at the University of Waterloo. This course sees significant demand from Engineering students and I'd love for this talk to seed a conversation about how we might expand the capacity of the course to meet demand.”
Sadie Berlin will discuss her transitioning to performance art and the political and artistic pressures that compelled her to do so. As a Black woman artist, Sadie is at the centre of a cultural war between openness and the spectre of oppression; censorship and safety; political binaries and uneasy compromises. Sadie never asked to “live in interesting times” and yet this is a moment in history where radicalized action through art has become an imperative for her. As a fan of heightened aesthetics, Sadie will tackle how she anchors her practices in formalistic ramifications and how she creates political art while avoiding pedagogy and the didactic.
Anne-Marie Donovan writes: “As artists, we all strive for transformative experience and we hope that our work will have a transformative effect on the audience as well. How do we do that? And how do we do it ethically, without manipulation or injury? What is the nature of our communication with an audience? What if we look at it as a partnership? These questions implicate the director/choreographer/conductor as well. What are we asking of the performers and how are we asking? Is there space for them to have that transformative experience? I would suggest that ethics and transformation in performance are intrinsically linked. I’d like to talk about how that chemistry can be learned and achieved as part of basic performance technique.”
Anne-Marie Donovan is a theatre and opera performer, director and creator. She has created a number of works for the stage: Maanomaa, Frankenstein's Ghosts, The Last 15 Seconds, Sounding Rituals. She is now working on the creation of “Echos de Phèdre, Les fondements de la rage” at Inter Arts Matrix and “très loin” with BoucharDanse in Toronto.
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