The $15,000 prize, given annually to a professional Canadian costume designer in mid-career working in Ontario, allows recipients to further enrich their careers through research and travel. Osborne received her award June 18 at a ceremony at the council’s Toronto office.

One of Dana Osborne’s renderings for Hosanna, Stratford Festival, 2011

“I was thrilled,” said Osborne. “I plan use the award to travel to London, England and New 91��ɫ City, plus purchase some drafting and rendering programs for my computer and some new art reference books.  This comes at the perfect time with everything that’s going on in my career and my life. I’ve been very busy lately and was desperate to take some time to recharge.”

Osborne was selected as the winner from an outstanding group of nominees. Citing her strong, creative interpretations, the jury of theatre professionals said: “[Osbourne] is a modern designer for today’s theatre. She uses her strong sense of today’s fashions, cleverly blended with historical looks, to give her shows unique designs. She also makes excellent use of found objects and has strong technical skills.”

Osborne has been working as a theatre designer across Canada for 15 years. In this, her 12th season at the Stratford Festival, she is the creative force behind the costumes for the mainstage production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and the world premiere of Morris Panych’s musical Wanderlust. Her other Stratford credits include costumes for Hosanna, As You Like It, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Moby Dick, The Comedy of Errors, The Lark, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Timon of Athens, Agamemnon and set and costumes for King Henry IV, Part One.

Dana Osborne (centre) with the Ontario Arts Foundation Vice-Chair John McKellar, and friend of Virginia Cooper (left) and  Alan Walker (right), executive director of the Ontario Arts Foundation (right)

Her work can also be seen this season in Soulpepper Theatre Company’s Speed-the-Plow, currently playing at the Young Centre in Toronto’s Distillery District, and Pacific Opera Victoria’s upcoming production of �Ѳ�������ٳ�.��Osbourne's designs have graced the stages of Regina’s Globe Theatre, the Grand Theatre in London/Ontario, and Canadian Stage, Young People’s Theatre, Pleiades Theatre and Factory Theatre in Toronto.

Blossom Lady from As You Like It, Stratford, 2010

After earning her BFA at 91��ɫ, Osborne began her career in costume management, working with the Canadian Opera Company, Shaw Festival and Mirvish Productions, before choosing to specialize in design. She was named one of the Young Designers to Watch in Entertainment Design in 2004 and received the 2010 Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Costume Design for Theatrefront’s production of The Mill.

“Studying theatre at 91��ɫ gave me a great foundation to build upon,” said Osborne. “It taught me how to navigate the politics of the theatre, how to survive working long hours under stress, and to be flexible and creative. Theatre design is a collaborative art. A lot of people are involved in getting it from the page to the stage and they will all leave their mark on your design, so it’s important to embrace that.”

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Theatre artists Ted Witzel and Ker Wells are going about it somewhat differently. They’re the inaugural participants in the 91��ɫ MFA in Theatre – Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage, a landmark initiative that’s breaking new ground in Canadian theatre training.

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Launched last fall as a partnership between one of Canada’s preeminent theatre schools and one of the country’s leading not-for-profit contemporary theatre companies, this innovative graduate program offers highly specialized, advanced training in large-scale theatre directing.  Its mission is to support the development of directorial talent for the national and international stage.

“When directors make their mainstage debut, they often feel they’re getting one kick at the can, and if they fail they’ll never get to do a large production again,” said Professor Eric Armstrong, director of 91��ɫ’s MFA theatre programs. “Here, you get to work with large casts on big shows in a mentored setting – something that just doesn't happen in the professional world.”

The collaborative MFA program allows students to develop their creative and technical skills to the highest level, integrating their academic and studio work in 91��ɫ’s Department of Theatre with involvement in artistic projects at . The opportunity to direct a Canadian Stage production and an internship with a major national or international theatre are key elements of the two-year program.

Canadian Stage Artistic and General Director Matthew Jocelyn and Resident Artist Kim Collier serve as personal mentors for the MFA candidates.  Collier, co-founder and artistic director of Vancouver’s Electric Company Theatre and winner of the 2010 Siminovitch Prize for directing, works closely with the students to support their professional development.

The program is customized for each student based on their background, artistic orientation and goals, so Wells and Witzel’s experience over the past year and their plans for the next are highly individual.

Wells assisted Collier in her direction of the Canadian Stage production of Red last fall, and served as assistant director to Richard Rose for , Canadian Stage’s 30th anniversary Shakespeare in the Park presentation, running in Toronto’s High Park until September 2.  This coming season, Witzel will assist Kim Collier on a production for Vancouver's .

On the international front, Wells heads to the Netherlands this fall for an internship with acclaimed director Ivo van Hove at , working on a play by Ingmar Bergman. Witzel has an internship lined up with the renowned Canadian-born, Europe-based opera director Robert Carsen (LLD Hons. '05) for a production of Mozart’s The Magic Flute at the in Baden-Baden, Germany in March 2013.

Both MFA candidates bring a wealth of experience to their work at 91��ɫ, at Canadian Stage and abroad.

Active in Toronto’s independent theatre scene for the past five years, Witzel is artistic director of , a company he co-founded in 2006. His directing credits include a number of bold, site-specific adaptations of classics in non-traditional venues such the Gladstone Hotel, Drake Underground, Whippersnapper Gallery and Trinity Bellwoods Park. His most recent productions for Red Light District have been La Ronde, an adaptation of the Arthur Schnitzler play, at the downtown club Wicked, and Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly, Last Summer with the Tennessee Project at the Gibson House Museum in North 91��ɫ. Witzel divides his time between Toronto and Germany, where he has worked as assistant to leading directors such as Johanna Schall and Sebastian Baumgarten.

Wells is an actor, director and teacher who has toured across Canada and in the US, England, Denmark, France, Italy and Serbia. He was a founding member of Primus Theatre in Winnipeg, where he worked for nearly a decade before moving to Toronto and co-founding Number Eleven Theatre in 1998. His productions with Number Eleven include Icaria, The Prague Visitor and The Curious History of Peter Schlemihl. Other credits include The Confessions of Punch and Judy for New 91��ɫ State-based NACL Theatre and solo shows Living Tall for Public Energy, Peterborough and Swimmer (68) for Toronto’s Hopscotch Collective.

91��ɫ’s Graduate Program in Theatre is now accepting applications for the next cycle of the MFA program in Theatre - Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage. Two new students will be admitted into the program in September 2013. The  application deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 15, 2012. Directors with extremely strong individual and interpretive voices and substantial professional experience are invited to apply. Candidates should be committed to developing their artistic and technical skills and have a clear interest in working on a large scale.

For more information, visit the Theatre - Stage Direction in Collaboration with Canadian Stage website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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That was the consensus of leading thinkers, academics, engineers and students who gathered at 91��ɫ's Keele campus on April 21 for "Envisioning the Renaissance Engineer", a day-long workshop to outline the academic promise for the University's expanded School of Engineering.

“This shall be a school of unique and new design,” said Janusz Kozinski, dean of 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Science & Engineering and host of the workshop. "Once completed," he said, "the School of Engineering will have an enormous impact on the field of engineering in Canada and beyond.

Janusz Kozinski

“How do we see engineering in the future?” said 91��ɫ’s President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, in his welcoming remarks. “Our vision is the creation of problem solvers who are broadly educated and socially responsible. We want to build a faculty that is inclusive in every respect.”

Underpinning this vision for the School of Engineering will be academic partnerships with Osgoode Hall Law School and the Schulich School of Business and 91��ɫ's other faculties.

For philanthropist Pierre Lassonde, chair of the Franco Nevada Corporation, whose generous donation of $25 million to 91��ɫ has made possible the expansion of the engineering school, attending the event one day after celebrating his birthday, along with the anticipated discussion of the concept of the renaissance engineer, were gifts worthy of 65 candles.

In his welcome to the workshop participants, Lassonde described his vision for the engineer of the future. The renaissance engineer, he said, must be like Michelangelo, the Italian Renaissance sculptor, painter, architect, poet and engineer. Renaissance engineers would be able to create their own masterpieces, dream and design innovative technical solutions to problems, be entrepreneurial in business and understand the romance of lifelong learning.

Pierre Lassonde

“It is a momentous time. I find myself looking forward and backward,” he said. “Our engineers, our graduates must be fully equipped, fully ready for any situation they encounter. Builders, creative people, developers of solutions – they must not be harnessed by the stiffness of earlier generations. In the future, new approaches, new fixes, flexible men and women are what will be required.”

The workshop began with a keynote address by Diane Freeman, an engineering consultant, Waterloo city councillor and the past president of the Professional Engineers of Ontario. The day continued with morning and afternoon discussions. Technical presentations on entrepreneurship and project-based learning rounded out the day.

Diane Freeman

“The word ‘renaissance’ speaks of revival and of rebirth,” Freeman said. “Aptly, it refers to seasons of transition and to change makers. This is what engineers are, not just automobile designers.”

She spoke about the need for creative solutions by engineers to solve deeply rooted problems. Freeman called for engineers to become involved in public policy and stressed the need for collaboration between engineers, citizens and public policy makers.

Highlights of the day's panel discussions

The Future Engineers Session that followed featured Marisa Sterling of the Professional Engineers of Ontario; Tom Lee, chief education officer, Quanser Inc.; and Sal Alajeck, global engineering team lead, Engineers Without Borders.

Sterling said three characteristics should be encouraged in the engineers of the future – flexibility, strategic thinking and entrepreneurial spirit. “Engineers would need to continually evolve, adopt a strategic mindset and look for future gaps, opportunities and cycles.”

In addition to current trends in engineering, Freeman highlighted that there would be a need for new kinds of engineers in areas such as seismic engineering and entrepreneurial engineering.

Lee said that future engineers should be equipped to handle global challenges and issues such as climate change and renewable energy. He noted that elementary students are making robots and engineering fundamentals are now being taught in some Ontario high schools, something he said was not being recognized by universities.

Alajeck suggested engineering programs consider the big picture, including teaching engineers to be better communicators and offering interdisciplinary studies in creative problem solving and system thinking. "Can they be a loving engineer with the ability to transcend relationships and build communities? Can they change the givens? Would the approach to the renaissance engineer be additive or holistic?" asked Alajeck. "Can 91��ɫ's School of Engineering challenge the existing framework of engineering education or go against the will of industry?"

From left, Sal Alajeck, Tom Lee and Marisa Sterling

The afternoon Renaissance Engineer Session featured 91��ɫ natural science Professors Richard Jarrell and Edward Jones-Imhotep speaking about trends that they think would affect the renaissance engineer. 

Jarrell said he was worried about the text and e-mail heavy world of non-present communications, which he called socially bleak.

"We need to be citizens first. Citizens have adaptability and are present in the world. They are taught to move about and seek a broader education," he said."Flexibility, adaptability and broad-based education are important. There is a need to be nimble and move into a variety of careers because the broader the education, the more useful the engineer, and the better the citizen, the better the communicator and the more visionary the human being."

"Renaissance has an element of rebirth, but also of recovering what has been lost," said Jones-Imhotep. He cited Galileo Galilei and other renaissance scientists of the 1600s. Many, he noted, were in essence "renaissance engineers". They were also musicians and they actively explored and embraced other domains, including art, music and languages.

Following the discussion, engineering Professor John Orr of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, in Worcester, Mass., explored project-based learning.

Orr's presentation was followed by a panel discussion featuring Troy d'Ambrosio, director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah, and Gabriel Chan of the peer-to-peer learning platform NoteWagon.

Troy d'Ambrosio

They discussed how entrepreneurial engineers develop solutions to everyday problems. Both d'Ambrosio and Chan highlighted the importance of universities in encouraging and incubating business and engineering start ups. They highlighted that business planning is a fundamental and integral skill for renaissance engineers. d'Ambrosio described the experience of the University of Utah and its engineering school's effort to marry business with engineering, which resulted in creation of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Center at the University of Utah.

The day ended with a thoughtful observation from Lassonde. "Aspire to inspire, before you expire."

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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