TORONTO, June 15, 2020 – The performing arts sector may never return to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic, and its future may rely on human performance supported by immersive technology, says theatre in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, 91��ɫ.

“My work has never seemed more relevant, as we’re continuing to work using immersive technology that allows us to bridge distance and time,” says Garrett, who teaches Ecological Design for Performance. “Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) bring us closer together for shared experiences, despite the physical distancing due to the pandemic.”

VR immerses users into interactive digital environments (such as 3D graphics and 360-degree videos) when using special headsets or glasses; AR combines simulated content with real world environments, as experienced in the popular videogame Pokémon Go that overlays a user’s avatar on a real-world map.

Garrett’s research is on mixed reality (MR), a newer form of immersive technology that blends aspects of both VR and AR. He has been awarded an Early Researcher Award from the Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation for making MR performance possible in environmentally threatened landscapes.

With theatres and venues shuttered, Garrett says his work is no longer novel but has become essential to understand and redefine the sector. “First, we have to figure out what the future of arts events will look like. For example, travel restrictions and new regulations will continue to affect touring productions and festivals that depend on audience travel, long after the physical distancing is relaxed.”

He adds, “I imagine productions will be hybrids of live theatre with actors appearing via motion capture from the other side of the globe. And audience members can only get to the performance by watching it from a VR headset – even if it's using a google cardboard and their phone – from home.”

While acknowledging that watching art performances on screen doesn't replace the live experience, Garrett points out that there have been some great experiments with performance moving to communication platforms such as Zoom.

, is an example of optimizing immersive media in performing arts, as the performers apply the MR methods that are currently used in Canadian and American theatre.

The experimental work is a part of the two-year Mixed Reality Performance Atelier project, presented by the Canada Council for the Arts funded , which grew out of Garrett’s research.

Garrett and his collaborators from Dancing Earth Indigenous Creations, a dance company led by artistic director Rulan Tangen, have been under lockdown – via streaming tests.

Open to the public, the final presentation will be on June 18 at 9:30pm, ET. The performance will include artists from Brazil (currently located in Phoenix, AZ), Canada, New Zealand and the U.S, and incudes footage from NASA.

Garrett is available to discuss the upcoming performance, including the issues in real-time collaborations with global performers, time zones, technological capabilities, and audience interactions. He can also comment on the role of immersive technology in the performing arts currently and in the future, in post-pandemic times.

91��ɫ champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Gloria Suhasini, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 647-463-4354, suhasini@yorku.ca

The post Are hybrid productions the future of performing arts? 91��ɫ expert on immersive media available to discuss appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

Industry leaders to speak at 50^th anniversary event for 91��ɫ U’s School of the Arts

TORONTO, November 14, 2019 – The screen industry in Canada is undergoing rapid change in response to social media, streaming services and new media such as virtual and augmented reality.

In a time of ubiquitous mobile media and computing, predictions for the future of Canada’s screen industries will be discussed on a panel – Unfolding Screens: Envisioning the Future of Media Arts in Canada – as part of 91��ɫ’s School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design’s on Wednesday, November 20.

, Executive Director of Telefilm Canada, will be joined on the panel by , CEO of Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, and Ingrid Veninger, Canadian actress, writer, director, producer and assistant professor in 91��ɫ’s Department of Cinema & Media Arts. All three are alumni of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD).

The moderator is , Dean of AMPD and a respected scholar on the intersections of theatre and digital media. Building on the school’s historic strengths in experimentation across the arts, AMPD is expanding its research and teaching in emerging industry developments, such as digital media and computational arts. Formerly known as the Faculty of Fine Arts, the School of AMPD created Canada’s first undergraduate film program in 1969, first university theatre course in 1971, first Master’s program in dance in 1976, first graduate program in film in 1979, and the first university courses in gospel music in 2005. With a name change to AMPD in 2015, the School continues to offer the only BFA degree in screenwriting in Canada.

The 50^th anniversary event also includes a choice of three student performances. The first two productions, Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) and Dance Innovations are both at capacity on event day, but tickets are available throughout the week. Seating is available for the third performance, 91��ɫ Jazz Festival: Small Ensembles.

WHAT: Film and theatre industry leaders to discuss media history and the future of screen arts and culture in Canada on a panel

WHEN: Wednesday, November 20, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.

WHERE: Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre inside 110 Accolade East Building at 91��ɫ’s Keele Campus, 83 91��ɫ Boulevard (see #92 on this ).

NOTE: Members of the public are required to RSVP for the panel discussion by emailing infusini@yorku.ca. Members of the media should RSVP to the contact below.

91��ɫ champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni.

91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact: Vanessa Thompson, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 647-654-9452, vthomps@yorku.ca

The post What is cinema in an era of mobile screens? appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

The 2017-18 season of Theatre @ 91��ɫ is dedicated to “Worlds of Exile”

TORONTO, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 – “Worlds of Exile,” Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s 2017-18 season, culminates in Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, an epic story in an intimate and innovative new production directed by Peter Hinton. Blending classical text with a compelling contemporary approach, Dido, Queen of Carthage previews from March 18, opens March 20 and continues to March 24 in the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre on 91��ɫ’s Keele Campus.

Shadowed by war, Dido, Queen of Carthage is the original tragic love story with its hero Aeneas, the exiled prince of Troy, compelled by Fate to leave his beloved Dido, Queen of Carthage to fulfil a political destiny. Aeneas, the son of Venus, is one of the Trojans who escapes from the city after it is destroyed. In his exile he seeks refuge in Carthage. Learning of Aeneas’ experience and loss, Dido falls in love with him, only to be forsaken shortly after. Torn between her personal abandonment and national sacrifice, Dido performs an ultimate act of resistance.

Director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton

Dido, Queen of Carthage is Marlowe’s first play, written when he was just 19 and still a student at Cambridge.  Inspired by the fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid, the story of Dido and Aeneas has stimulated artists for two millennia; from Ovid to Henry Purcell to modern-day science-fiction like Battlestar Galactica, with its exiled travellers seeking a prophesied new home. It isn’t hard to see the story’s appeal.

“Marlowe is considered the ‘bad boy’ of Elizabethan drama,” said Hinton, a director, dramaturg and playwright. “Always controversial, he was a homosexual, a convert to Roman Catholicism and some say even a secret agent and spy.  We are setting this production in 1593 in the Deptford [London, UK] tavern in which Marlowe was murdered that year. In a case of great synchronicity, the tavern was an infamous halfway house for political refugees. We’re using this as an imaginative point of departure for the play, adding some historical info around Marlowe and his death, poetry and music.”

Hinton has worked across Canada and directed over 80 productions. He has been the Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Passe Muraille and Canadian Stage in Toronto, Artistic Director of the Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver, the Dramaturg in Residence at Playwrights' Workshop Montréal, and Artistic Associate of the Stratford Festival. From 2005 to 2012, he was Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English theatre, where he created a resident English theatre company, with actors from across the country and programmed the NAC's first season of Canadian plays. Hinton has taught at the National Theatre School of Canada, Ryerson University and, since 2012, he has been the professional mentor for the 91��ɫ/Canadian Stage MFA program in directing. In 2009, Hinton was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Dido, Queen of Carthage features the 12 actors from the graduating class of the Acting Conservatory program. All elements of set, costume, lighting and sound are designed and executed by undergraduate theatre production students.

Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s season ”Worlds of Exile” explores longing, belonging, and displacement. Exile, refugee, asylum-seeker, nomad, migrant, immigrant, these terms share a sense of displacement and a feeling of otherness. While some of these terms can be defined in legal and political terms, others speak to a rift that generates a social and psychological condition. With “Worlds of Exile,” 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre reflects on aspects of the varied experience of persons who, either by choice or as a result of imposition are living outside their home of origin, are othered by virtue of colonial exile practices, who have returned home only to find it unrecognizable, or who, as the children or grandchildren of exiles are living in two worlds.

Each Theatre @ 91��ɫ production this season will include an ASL interpreted performance, as well as a Relaxed performance designed to reduce anxiety and provide a safe, enjoyable experience, taking into account variable sensory, communication or learning needs and abilities.

Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage directed by Peter Hinton

When: March 18 to 24

Schedule: March 18 to 23 7:30pm, March 24 2pm

Where: Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, Accolade East Building, 91��ɫ, 4700 Keele St., Toronto  

BOX OFFICE INFOMATION: Tickets are available  or by phone at 416-736-5888.

• Previews: $7, March 18 to 19
• Relaxed Performance: $5, Thursday, March 22 7:30pm
• All Other Performances:  General $20  Student/Senior $12
• Groups of 10 or more:$10 Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, phone or visit the 

PHOTO: Director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton:

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 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents Dido, Queen of Carthage appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

The 2017-18 season of Theatre @ 91��ɫ is dedicated to “Worlds of Exile”

TORONTO, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2018 – “Worlds of Exile,” Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s 2017-18 season, culminates in Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage, an epic story in an intimate and innovative new production directed by Peter Hinton. Blending classical text with a compelling contemporary approach, Dido, Queen of Carthage previews from March 18, opens March 20 and continues to March 24 in the Sandra Faire & Ivan Fecan Theatre on 91��ɫ’s Keele Campus.

Shadowed by war, Dido, Queen of Carthage is the original tragic love story with its hero Aeneas, the exiled prince of Troy, compelled by Fate to leave his beloved Dido, Queen of Carthage to fulfil a political destiny. Aeneas, the son of Venus, is one of the Trojans who escapes from the city after it is destroyed. In his exile he seeks refuge in Carthage. Learning of Aeneas’ experience and loss, Dido falls in love with him, only to be forsaken shortly after. Torn between her personal abandonment and national sacrifice, Dido performs an ultimate act of resistance.

Director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton

Dido, Queen of Carthage is Marlowe’s first play, written when he was just 19 and still a student at Cambridge.  Inspired by the fourth book of Virgil’s Aeneid, the story of Dido and Aeneas has stimulated artists for two millennia; from Ovid to Henry Purcell to modern-day science-fiction like Battlestar Galactica, with its exiled travellers seeking a prophesied new home. It isn’t hard to see the story’s appeal.

“Marlowe is considered the ‘bad boy’ of Elizabethan drama,” said Hinton, a director, dramaturg and playwright. “Always controversial, he was a homosexual, a convert to Roman Catholicism and some say even a secret agent and spy.  We are setting this production in 1593 in the Deptford [London, UK] tavern in which Marlowe was murdered that year. In a case of great synchronicity, the tavern was an infamous halfway house for political refugees. We’re using this as an imaginative point of departure for the play, adding some historical info around Marlowe and his death, poetry and music.”

Hinton has worked across Canada and directed over 80 productions. He has been the Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Passe Muraille and Canadian Stage in Toronto, Artistic Director of the Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver, the Dramaturg in Residence at Playwrights' Workshop Montréal, and Artistic Associate of the Stratford Festival. From 2005 to 2012, he was Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre English theatre, where he created a resident English theatre company, with actors from across the country and programmed the NAC's first season of Canadian plays. Hinton has taught at the National Theatre School of Canada, Ryerson University and, since 2012, he has been the professional mentor for the 91��ɫ/Canadian Stage MFA program in directing. In 2009, Hinton was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Dido, Queen of Carthage features the 12 actors from the graduating class of the Acting Conservatory program. All elements of set, costume, lighting and sound are designed and executed by undergraduate theatre production students.

Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s season ”Worlds of Exile” explores longing, belonging, and displacement. Exile, refugee, asylum-seeker, nomad, migrant, immigrant, these terms share a sense of displacement and a feeling of otherness. While some of these terms can be defined in legal and political terms, others speak to a rift that generates a social and psychological condition. With “Worlds of Exile,” 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre reflects on aspects of the varied experience of persons who, either by choice or as a result of imposition are living outside their home of origin, are othered by virtue of colonial exile practices, who have returned home only to find it unrecognizable, or who, as the children or grandchildren of exiles are living in two worlds.

Each Theatre @ 91��ɫ production this season will include an ASL interpreted performance, as well as a Relaxed performance designed to reduce anxiety and provide a safe, enjoyable experience, taking into account variable sensory, communication or learning needs and abilities.

Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents Christopher Marlowe’s Dido, Queen of Carthage directed by Peter Hinton

When: March 18 to 24

Schedule: March 18 to 23 7:30pm, March 24 2pm

Where: Sandra Faire and Ivan Fecan Theatre, Accolade East Building, 91��ɫ, 4700 Keele St., Toronto  

BOX OFFICE INFOMATION: Tickets are available  or by phone at 416-736-5888.

• Previews: $7, March 18 to 19
• Relaxed Performance: $5, Thursday, March 22 7:30pm
• All Other Performances:  General $20  Student/Senior $12
• Groups of 10 or more:$10 Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, phone or visit the 

PHOTO: Director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton:

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 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents Dido, Queen of Carthage appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

The 2017-18 season is dedicated to “Worlds of Exile”.

TORONTO, Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018 – Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s 2017-18 season, dedicated to “Worlds of Exile,” features a subversive take on German playwright Björn ����������’s Deportation Cast, translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte and directed by Keira Loughran. This compelling exploration of uncommon elements of the refugee system opens Jan. 25 and continues to Jan. 27 in the Foster Studio on 91��ɫ’s Keele campus.

“Deportation Cast reveals the fragility and privilege of the political systems we in the first world take for granted. It demands a more complex and personal response to issues that are otherwise easy to keep in the realm of global issues,” said Loughran. “It challenges us as artists to engage with open hearts in the tragic circumstances this family is caught in, and to share the cost of and culpability for those circumstances in our own lives.”

It is a story of refugees: what happens to the families that are denied refugee status and are sent back to the countries they fled? What are the strategies they have developed to cope with the weight of being part of the machinery – a machinery that is meant to regulate one country’s well-being but causes distress and fear for those it rejects?

Sixteen-year-old Elvira has lived most of her life in Germany, is well integrated, has friends and has just fallen in love with a German classmate. But her family is Roma and fled the war in Kosovo when she was six. Their refugee status was never confirmed. Now, their hometown has been declared “safe” and the family is deported with little warning or time to prepare. Roma are not only stigmatized in Germany, but face prejudice and discrimination with little hope for employment and integration in Kosovo.

Elvira's boyfriend, Bruno, breaks off all contact with his pilot father when he finds out he flew the plane that deported Elvira’s family. But we also meet the doctor, immigration office administrator, an over zealous social worker, and the pilot’s new girlfriend. All have their strategies perfected that allow them to play their role in the officially accepted system; they all face their breaking points when the professional crosses into the personal realm.

Germany is the new country of immigration, and more than any other European country it has developed opportunities to confront and express this new reality with projects involving refugees in its rich theatre landscape. Canada is, by comparison, an old country of immigration, but it too is facing the challenges of a great new wave of Syrian immigrants

Loughran has been pushing the boundaries of Canadian theatre for more than 20 years as a director, producer, actor, dramaturg and playwright with companies across the country. Her company K'Now Theatre, has produced two shows, garnering seven Dora nominations and winning three. Loughran currently serves as associate producer for the Forum and Laboratory at the Stratford Festival. Directing credits, include The Aeneid and The Komagata Maru Incident for Stratford, and Pu-Erh for which she received a Dora nomination for Outstanding Direction. Upcoming, she will direct The Comedy of Errors at Stratford.

Bicker lives in Germany and works as an author, director, curator, cultural project leader and dramaturg. He has written 15 plays, four radio plays and three works of prose. His projects focus on social awareness and community engagement, and he has facilitated countless initiatives that integrate immigrants (legal and illegal) in the artistic process and enable interaction about living in exile with the local population. Deportation Cast has had over a dozen productions in theatres across Germany.

The Goethe Institute commissioned Schreyer Duarte’s translation of Deportation Cast. Originally from Germany, Schreyer Duarte works as a translator, director (Hamlet/Shakespeare in High Park) and dramaturg (Canadian Stage). She has translated over a dozen plays from German into English, which have been staged in Toronto, Stratford and London, United Kingdom.

Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s season “Worlds of Exile” explores longing, belonging, and displacement. Exile, refugee, asylum-seeker, nomad, migrant, immigrant, these terms share a sense of displacement and a feeling of otherness. While some of these terms can be defined in legal and political terms, others speak to a rift that generates a social and psychological condition. With “Worlds of Exile,” 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre reflects on aspects of the varied experience of persons who, either by choice or as a result of imposition are living outside their home of origin, are othered by virtue of colonial exile practices, who have returned home only to find it unrecognizable, or who, as the children or grandchildren of exiles are living in two worlds.

___________________________________________________________________________

Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents Björn ����������’s Deportation Cast, translated by Birgit Schreyer Duarte and directed by Keira Loughran
When: Jan. 25 to 27
Schedule: Jan. 25 & 26 7:30pm, Jan. 26 & 27 2pm
Where: Foster Studio, Accolade East 207, 91��ɫ, 4700 Keele St., Toronto
Admission: Free. Sign up link:

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 champions new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-disciplinary programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 25 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 300,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Theatre @ 91��ɫ features English language premiere of Björn ����������’s Deportation Cast appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, Wednesday, Nov.8, 2017��– Theatre @ 91��ɫ launches its 2017-18 season with , a new work devised by students under the mentorship of an international collaboration between UK-based artist Deborah Pearson and Volcano, Toronto’s world renown boundary pushing theatre company. An innovative exploration of Canadian identity and citizenship in an increasingly populist world, Post National previews Nov. 19 and 20, opens Nov. 21, and continues to Nov. 25 in the Joseph G. Green Theatre on 91��ɫ’s Keele campus.

“There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada.  There are shared values — openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first post-national state.”     —Justin Trudeau 

Inspired by the prime minister’s comment that Canada is “the first post-national state,” Post National is a double bill. Continuing the tradition of shows that feature guest performers, pioneered by Rimini Protokoll’s 100% Project, Tim Crouch’s An Oak Tree, and Nassim Soleymanpour’s White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Volcano is creating an instruction-based piece from and about Canada.  The first part of the evening consists of 12 guest performers between the ages of 18 and 24 from the 91��ɫ community answering live questions on stage about their relationship to nationhood and protest. The second part of the evening features the fourth-year acting students from 91��ɫ, performing the piece they devised with Pearson and Volcano, exploring the same topics from a different perspective.

The cast of Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s Post National, created and performed by fourth-year students from 91��ɫ’s Acting Conservatory. Photo courtesy of the 91��ɫ U Department of Theatre

The combination is a much-needed snapshot of university-aged students and how they regard nationalism in 2017. Questions will be asked: Where were you born?  Do you think that is a good question to start with?  What question would you start with?  

Discussing the project, Post National director and Volcano Artistic Director Ross Manson, said “Was our stylish prime minister talking politics or truth? We are thrilled to be working with our Post National Jury of Twelve to determine where Canada stands on the idea of nation and citizenship.”

Commenting on the concept, Pearson added “Living in the UK and witnessing the rise of the far right and nationalism in that country in such a visceral and disturbing way, I was both deeply touched and somewhat challenged by Trudeau’s assertion about Canada, the country where I was born. I wanted to go back and put this assertion under the microscope with a group of young Canadians, to see how it writhed or bloomed. Are we really setting a good example for the rest of the world?”

Pearson is a live artist who tours her work all over the world and has most recently had her work staged at the Royal Court in London. She has a PhD in narrative in performance and has acted as dramaturg for more than 20 shows internationally, many of which have won multiple awards and accolades. She was also named one of the UK’s 100 most powerful people in theatre in 2016 and 2009 by Stage Magazine.  Pearson is an associate artist with Volcano and teams up with Manson and Volcano Associate Artist and Choreographer Kate Alton, both of whom are celebrated figures in the Canadian performance community and frequently tour their work internationally.

Post National kicks off “Worlds of Exile,” a season of plays exploring longing, belonging and displacement. Exile, refugee, asylum-seeker, nomad, migrant, immigrant, these are terms that share a sense of displacement and a feeling of Otherness. While some of these terms can be defined in legal and political terms, others speak to a rift that generates a social and psychological condition. With Worlds of Exile, 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre reflects on aspects of the varied experience of persons who, either by choice or as a result of imposition, are living outside their home of origin, are “othered” by virtue of colonial exile practices, who have returned home only to find it unrecognizable, or who, as the children or grandchildren of exiles, are living in two worlds.

WHEN: Nov. 19 to 25

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

•  7:30pm from Nov 19 to 24
• 1pm on Nov. 22 & 24
• 2pm on Nov. 25
• Wednesday, Nov. 22 7:30pm is an ASL interpreted and Deaf performance
• Thursday, Nov. 23 7:30pm is a Relaxed performance

WHERE: Joseph G. Green Theatre, Centre for Film and Theatre, 91��ɫ’s Keele campus. See number 38 on the (

BOX OFFICE INFOMATION: Tickets are available  or over the phone at 416-736-5888.

• Previews: $7, Nov. 19 & 20
• ASL Interpreted Performance: $5, Wednesday, Nov. 22 7:30pm
• Relaxed Performance: $5, Thursday, Nov. 23 7:30pm
• All Other Performances: Tickets: $20 Student/Senior $12
• Groups of 10 or more: $10 (Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, phone or visit the

**COMPLIMENTARY TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE FOR THE MEDIA.

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 is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91��ɫ students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world’s most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91��ɫ U is an internationally recognized research university – our 11 faculties and 26 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide. Located in Toronto, 91��ɫ is the third largest university in Canada, with a strong community of 53,000 students, 7,000 faculty and administrative staff, and more than 295,000 alumni. 91��ɫ U's fully bilingual Glendon campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education.

Media Contacts:

Amy Stewart, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, 416-736-2100 ext. 44044, amy.stewart@yorku.ca

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

The post Theatre @ 91��ɫ’s new play Post National kicks off a season dedicated to “Worlds of Exile” appeared first on News@91��ɫ.

TORONTO, January 16, 2017 – Theatre @ 91��ɫ launches its new Foster Studio Series with two plays that tap into the theme of Extraordinary Lives: Difference and Ability to explore longing, loss and self-identity.

The world premiere of a new adaptation of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s The Yellow Wallpaper, directed by Matthew Earnest, and Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters, translated and adapted by Susan Coyne and directed by Tanja Jacobs, will run in repertory January 25-28 at 91��ɫ’s Keele campus.

Matthew Earnest, director of 91��ɫ's Theatre @ 91��ɫ production of The Yellow Wallpaper

Adapted by Earnest from Gilman’s 1892 short story, The Yellow Wallpaper evokes the emotional, visceral and intellectual experience of a woman fighting to reclaim her identity and her life. Maybe Jane, thought to have hysteria after the birth of her child, is confined to bed rest by her physician husband in their isolated New England farmhouse. “Protected” from all forms of stimulation, forbidden to write or read, and denied any contact with her baby or the outside world, Maybe Jane begins to imagine a world in the room’s yellow wallpaper.

Earnest, an MFA candidate in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Theatre, is a veteran theatre-maker. His productions of contemporary and classical plays, music theatre works, and his own original plays and literary adaptations have been seen across the US and in Europe. His honours include a New 91��ɫ Times Critics Pick for the US premiere of Himmelweg (which had a nine-month Off-Broadway run), Audience Favourite at the Dublin Fringe, a BIFF Award, and the Dallas Theater Critics Forum Award.

Three Sisters is a moving, occasionally comic story of unfulfilled dreams and inevitable loss.  Three genteel, talented sisters long to return to cosmopolitan Moscow to lead the lives they feel they were destined for. As time passes, they find themselves increasingly disillusioned, bored and fading like the provincial town in which they live.

Tanja Jacobs, director of 91��ɫ's Theatre @ 91��ɫ production of Three Sisters

Jacobs’ production of Three Sisters unfolds as a play within a play, set in a tuberculosis sanatorium in Yalta where Anton Chekhov is a patient. A troupe of actors visiting from Moscow stage the play in the ward for the playwright, who is seeing it for the first time. American Sign Language is an intrinsic part of the production.

Jacobs has worked with many of Canada’s foremost theatre artists and companies, including Soulpepper, Crow’s Theatre, Porte Parole, Canadian Stage, Neptune Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Tarragon Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Mirvish Productions, the National Arts Centre, Caravan Farm Theatre, and the Stratford Festival. She has directed new plays for the Toronto Fringe and Summerworks, guest-directed at theatre schools in Toronto, Montreal and Halifax, and is the recipient of three Dora Awards and 11 nominations for her work as an actor. She is a currently an MFA candidate in 91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage.

The Yellow Wallpaper and Three Sisters are performed by members of 91��ɫ’s 4th Year and Graduate Acting Conservatories. Sets, costumes and lighting are designed and realized by undergraduate production students. Presented in the intimate setting of the Foster Studio, the shows offer audiences an up-close and personal theatrical experience.

With Extraordinary Lives: Difference and Ability, 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre is exploring questions around dis/ability and performance. The department is working with the wider arts community to challenge traditionally ableist modes of making theatre, guided by an of prominent Deaf, mad and “crip” artists who are serving as facilitators for the season.

ASL interpretation for Three Sisters is provided by Deaf artist and educator Sage Willow, a member of the advisory panel.

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Theatre @ 91��ɫ presents The Foster Studio Series: The Yellow Wallpaper and Three Sisters
When: Jan. 25-28, 2017
The Yellow Wallpaper: Wed. Jan. 25 & Fri. Jan. 27, 7:30pm. Sat. Jan. 28, 2pm.
Three Sisters: Thurs. Jan. 26 & Sat. Jan. 28, 7:30pm. Fri. Jan. 27, 2pm.
Where: Foster Studio, 207 Accolade East Building, 91��ɫ, 4700 Keele St. Toronto.
Admission: $20 | students & seniors $12 | $5 on Fri. Jan. 27, 2pm
Group rate: $10 (not available online – call the box office)
Box Office: or 416-736-5888

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Media contact:

Sandra McLean, 91��ɫ Media Relations, 416-736-2100 ext. 22097, sandramc@yorku.ca

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