Books of Note

New Book,

THE DRAMATIC LEGACY OF DOROTHY DAVIS AND VIOLET WALTERS

The Montreal Children's Theatre, 1933-2009

By Muriel Gold, C.M., Ph.D.

"It was 1933 in the midst of the Great Depression. Montrealers, like their counterparts in other countries, were inundated with financial burdens. Uppermost in most parents’ minds was the task of supporting their families. Dance lessons, music lessons, drama lessons were considered in many quarters as “frills.” This pervasive mood did not daunt two young women, Dorothy Davis and Violet Walters, from initiating their mission. Instead, it spurred them on. Difficult times , they believed, were all the more reason to inspire children through the love of the arts, in this case drama and theatre Muriel Gold tells the story of these two dynamic women through innumerable anecdotes, often hilarious, sometimes moving, but always a compelling and fascinating read."

Quote from i Universe
more information


Perhaps this sets an example in terms of our challenging economic times and the vital importance today of fostering creativity and supporting the arts and arts education. cm

Performance and the Global City

ATHE Conference, New York, 2009 Call for Papers
“Performance and the Global City”

We invite proposals for papers investigating the intersections of urban issues and performances of all kinds in cities beyond the Anglophone West. “Performance and the Global City” at the ATHE 2009 Conference in New York City will comprise a series of paper panels hosted across several working groups; papers will not be clustered according to geographic region, but will rather be grouped around the urban policy and culture issues that each addresses. We are especially interested in the relationship among theatre events, both formal and informal, and any number of urban culture issues, including: urban policy (its making and its implementation); civic architecture (both utopic and resistive); discourses of municipal and state power; underground city-building movements; homelessness and other forms of dispossession; racial tensions; other embodied tensions. The panels will ask the broad but focusing questions:

• How does performance intervene in the making of the contemporary non-Western city?
• How is that city “global,” and in what ways do theatre and performance help to shape the understanding of that term, and mitigate its defining tensions, outside of the Anglophone West?
  
  Specific topics to be addressed may include (but not be limited to):
  
  • performance, the urban, and mobility studies
  • border studies
  • east asian urban development
  • utopian architectures in “third world” global cities
  • performance and the Mediterranean city, past and present
  • traditional performances in contemporary urban contexts
  • indigenous peoples and the urban (in both Western and non-Western city spaces)
  • architecture and design for refugee communities
  • the civic impact of civil and global war
  
  Please send 250-word abstracts, a 50-word bio, and your contact information to: dhopkins@mail.sdsu.edu; morr@mail.sdsu.edu; and ksolga@uwo.ca NO LATER THAN 24 OCTOBER 2008. Successful participants will be notified by 31 October 2008.

Convened by D.J. Hopkins, Shelley Orr, Kim Solga

More info about ATHE
http://www.athe.org/about/faq

New York University Drama Project Recruiting for Participants

A notice today from Joe Salvatore, New York University:

Recruiting Participants for New Drama Project About Class and Socioeconomic Status

I am writing to ask for your assistance in recruiting potential participants for a research project that I am conducting on class and socioeconomic status.

I am inviting NYC-based participants to take part in an interview theater project to learn more about how people living and/or working in New York City feel about class and socioeconomic status. I am the principal investigator, and I'm working with a team of nine student researcher/actors to create the work. Following the interview process, we will create a performance script from the interview transcripts, and "The Class Project" will be presented as a theatre piece in the fall mainstage slot for the Program in Educational Theatre at the Steinhardt School.

The performance dates will be October 24-November 2, 2008.

Contact: Joe Salvatore, Teacher, Program in Educational Theatre

New York University at 212.998.5266

email: _js1655@nyu.edu_

One Woman Show "Crazy" True Stories Based on Experiences With Anxiety and Depression

March 25, 2008
There were a few days between entries, almost two weeks in fact, having just returned from a "singing" vacation in Maui, Hawaii. It seems I am still not quite landed as I find myself still standing in my dreams at the summit of the volcano Haleakala.




Back in the real world there are other views and vistas to inspire as I am filled with optimism reading about the many new projects currently underway in arts and health.

New Drama by Gail Schwartz About Realities of Anxiety and Depression

We recently received a note from dramatist Gail Schwartz of Vermont:

"I'm really looking forward to spending time at the site (blog "Arts and Health Crossing Borders) I've already enjoyed my visits there and am amazed and encouraged by how much work is happening in this field. I am currently touring my solo show, "Crazy," based on my experiences as a person diagnosed with anxiety and depression. I'm currently collaborating with VSA Arts of Vermont who received a grant to tour my piece with a community panel discussion and creative arts workshop as part of an anti-stigma campaign. We are completely immersed in the work and it's been incredible."

Gail Schwartz Creator of the One Woman Show"Crazy"

I asked Gail about her process developing the one woman show "Crazy" and she told me she began work in 2001 as part of her graduate studies.

"The preliminary creating was done without any final project in mind; I was dealing with my own crises through my artwork, a process that was brand new to me at the time (a suggestion from an advisor). Only later, once out of the crisis, did I begin to envision putting some of the pieces and stories together to create the show that is now "Crazy."

"I decided that I would commit to seeing this project through to its maturity, as long as it took to ripen and blossom. It is now 2008 and it is in its 30th draft. I feel the script is finished and I am starting to tour the piece on a larger scale. Through working on the stories, transforming my own struggles into art, as well as through sharing them as an activist and learning more about alternative ways of relating to my pain, I've found new ways of being that promote a positive sense of myself and encourage staying connected, both to myself and to the larger society and world. My current tour, a statewide tour of Vermont communities, produced by VSA Arts of Vermont and funded by the Vermont Community Foundation, is a manifestation of my transformation. "

"I am no longer out in the world doing my work alone; rather, I'm working in community, in collaboration with a team. What an amazingly wonderful change!"

Find out more about Gail Schwartz and her work in drama and health at: Third Story Window

Visit us again for more news updates at "Arts and Health Crossing Borders" with more posts to come about the arts in health, training and education.

Cheryl McLean

Graduate Studies, Drama, University of Toronto Applications

Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, MA & PhD Programs 2008/09‏

The Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto, is currently accepting applications for both the M.A. and Ph.D for 2008/2009.

Deadline for applications is February 1, 2008

The programs comprise of courses given within the Centre and drama courses offered by other graduate units. Their intent is to further the academic study of drama and theatre at an advanced level in the fields of theatre history and historiography, dramatic theory, and dramaturgy.

Within these parameters, the Centre supports research in such areas as performance theory and analysis; feminist theatre; and Canadian, American and post-colonial drama and theatre.

Theatre practice is an integral part of graduate work in the Centre and takes place, for the most part, in the context of workshops and productions at the Robert Gill and Studio Theatres.

For more information on the programs visit the website at:
http://gradrama.sa.utoronto.ca

While on the subject of theatre, drama and research I would like to inform blog visitors the deadline for proposals for papers or panels to be presented at the 2008 conference of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research (CATR), taking place at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, May 31-June 3, has been extended to December 15.

Send proposals to Jerry Wasserman, Conference Chair, at catrubc@gmail.com.

Papers may be on any subject involving theatre or performance but Canadian topics will be given some priority. Graduate students are encouraged to submit proposals.

Note that all presenters must be members of CATR (Canadian Association for Theatre Research)

Graduate Centre for Study in Drama, University of Toronto, Festival of Original Theatre

Call for Papers, Performances, and Workshops FOOT (Festival of Original Theatre)

(En)gendering Performance: Feminism(s) in Representation

February 28-March 1, 2008

The Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto

The Graduate Centre for Study of Drama at the University of Toronto is pleased to announce our annual student-run conference and festival, the Festival of Original Theatre (FOOT), running from February 28 to March 1, 2008 at the Drama Centre. Scholars and artists are invited to submit proposals for papers, performances and workshops for this year's theme,
(En)gendering Performance: Feminism(s) in Representation.

Possible topics might include: feminist performance theory. feminist performance/artistic strategies, representations of gender in theatre, film, art, or dance, feminist approaches to historiographic representation, feminist dramatic/art/dance criticism..

Please submit a 300 word proposal to foot.graddrama@utoronto.ca by Sunday, November 25 , 2008.

Advances in Qualitative Methods Conference Banff Centre

"The eighth annual international, interdisciplinary Advances in Qualitative Methods conference will be held at the Banff Centre, Banff, Alberta, Canada from September 21-24, 2007. Previous AQM conferences have attracted visitors from all continents, representing more than 30 countries overall, in academic disciplines including business, dentistry, education, geography, nursing, medicine, anthropology, information science, sociology and history.
We welcome you to participate in this conference, whether you come to present a paper or poster, attend a workshop, or come to hear the presenters and meet with like-minded researchers. AQM 2007 will prove to be a valuable learning and networking experience for all involved."

Excerpt and info from: http://www.uofaweb.ualberta.ca/iiqm/aqm2007.cfm

I note that one of the preconference events will feature Arthur W. Frank, University of Calgary, presenting "Letting Stories Breathe: A Workshop on Narrative Analysis."
According to information at the conference site the talk will focus on several questions;

What is a story, as opposed to non-story modes of representation and expression? What are stories uniquely equipped to do in the lives of persons, groups, and nations? Why do people need stories? What do stories do to people? What does narrative analysis study, and in particular, how do we practice a symmetrical analysis, that understands stories as actors acting upon other actors?

A good opportunity to visit Banff while exploring developments and advances in qualitative methods.

And, while on the topic of Banff Centre events, there will be a Playback Theatre presentation at the Banff Summer Arts Festival on August 19.

"The Dance of Life – Keeping Pace"

Sunday, August 19, 7:30 p.m. , Laszlo Funtek Room 224

A Playback Theatre / Banff Leadership Arts Ensemble presentation that looks through the lens of dance to explore the principles and practices of how to slow down, reflect, and gain better focus in a world of rapid acceleration.

See Banff Summer Arts Festival events http://www.banffcentre.ca/bsaf/2007/

I may meet you at the mountains!

Cheryl.

Collaborative Research: Drama Helps Explore Difficult Situations

An interesting report (excerpt) from the Vancouver Island Health Authority site
at http://www.aginghealthresearch.ca/VIHARegionalPage.html demonstrates how drama
can be applied to help foster teamwork in collaborative research projects.

Collaborative Research Teams: Using Drama to Explore Difficult Situations

On November 3rd, the third workshop in our Collaborative Research Workshop series was held in the Medical Sciences Building at UVic. This series is a collaborative effort between the University of Victoria's Centre on Aging and VIHA’s Research and Academic Development department, with the goal of increasing our combined capacity to conduct high-quality health-related research. Support for this workshop was received from UVic Office of Research Services; Victoria Palliative Research Network New Emerging Team; BC Network for Aging Research, Rural and Remote Health Research Network, and the Disability Health Research Network and involved participation from the Centre on Aging, School of Nursing, Applied Theatre Department, as well as VIHA’s Research and Academic Development Department and RP1.

Using a technique called “Forum Theatre”, events based on real-life scenarios were adapted for the stage. Audience members were given an opportunity to reflect upon the incidents/events and to become involved in the process of changing how the scenario unfolded, and then review the event from a new perspective.

The audience included researchers and students from the University of Victoria as well as health providers from VIHA who were interested in increasing their knowledge and skills in the collaborative research process as well as networking with others interested in partnering to conduct research. "


Another winning example of the creative arts practically applied in research, action and practice.
Cheryl.

Creative Approaches in Social Work Training

I had an opportunity to work and

study as an actor with Muriel Gold Ph.D.

in projects for two years (Stanislavski,

naturalistic approaches). Formerly the

Artistic Director of the Saidye Bronfman

Centre Theatre in Montreal, Muriel has

used drama approaches with adolescent

female survivors of sexual

abuse as well as conducting workshops with

acting teachers and social workers and family therapy

trainees. "Therapy through Drama: The Fictional Family" is a helpful

resource for those with an interest in applying progressive drama

methods in Social Work training. The step-by-step techniques take

readers through the process of developing and investigating

historical background,scene sequences, self exploratory

exercises, fictional character objectives, obstacles and dramatic

conflict scenes. This can be illuminating preparatory work for those

who want to gain an embodied understanding of both self and

client while learning new skills helpful in therapy and group work.

http:www.amazon.com/Fictional-Fam