“Worlds of Exile,” Theatre @ York’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 acclaimed director, dramaturg and playwright Peter Hinton.
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.
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.
Performance Schedule: March 18 to 23 at 7:30pm
Box Office Information: Tickets are available online or over the phone 416-736-5888
Previews: $7.00 March 18 & 19
Relaxed Performance: $5.00
Thursday March 22 7:30pm
All Other Performances:
Tickets: $20.00
Student/Senior $12.00
(Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, please phone or visit the box office)
Theatre @ York presents a studio production of Noise by Maria Milisavljevic under the direction of Lindsey Bell and Margaret Legere, featuring the third year acting students.
Milisavljevic is an award-winning playwright, theatre creator and director who lives and works in Germany. Noise is an innovative play that speaks to war, fear, forgiveness and compassion in our modern world of human failings. The positive ending stands against the odds of contemporary stories in its conviction that future generations have the power to change the world for the better.
Performance Schedule:
Thu. Oct. 25, 7pm
Fri.Oct. 26, 2pm and 7pm
Sat.Oct. 27, 7pm
Admission is free, but seating is limited. Those wishing to attend are invited to sign up in advance for the performance of their choice. A sign-up sheet will be posted outside the door of CFT 139 in the Centre for Film and Theatre.
Have a chat over delicious brunch-style foods with the Dean of the School of the Arts, Media, Performance and Design, Norma Sue Fisher-Stitt. Brunch will be served from 12:00pm-2:00pm in the Junior Common Room (012) of Winters College on Thursday, November 15th 2018.
50 years since its founding, Theatre @ York opens the 2018-2019 season with the premiere of rochdale, a new play by David Yee under the direction of Nina Lee Aquino, featuring the fourth-year acting ensemble.
Opened in 1968, Rochdale College was an experiment in student-run alternative education and co-operative living. The project ultimately failed when it could not cover its financing and neighbours complained that it had become a haven for drugs and crime.
“We are delighted to open our season with a new Canadian play that embraces the same spirit of experimentation and social advocacy that guided the founding of the Department of Theatre at York 50 years ago,” commented department chair Marlis Schweitzer. David Yee and Nina Lee Aquino have collaborated on a play that not only gives voice to the youth, energy, and passion of the 1960s but also resonates with students today. We are incredibly fortunate to have such Canadian innovators kick off this season, as we reflect on the past 50 years and look ahead to the future.”
David Yee is a Canadian actor, playwright and the artistic director of fu-Gen Theatre Company. His play carried away on the crest of a wave won the 2015 Governor General Award.
Nina Lee Aquino is an award-winning director and dramaturge, and the Artistic Director of Factory Theatre. She is committed to the development of new works, and to the manifestation of interculturalism in theatre.
Performance Schedule:
7:30 p.m. on November 17, 19-23
1:00 p.m. on November 21 & 23
2 p.m. on November 24
Tickets $7- 20
Online Box Office or call 416-736-5888
Don’t be a Grinch, get crafty at this festive event taking place next Tuesday! We’re offering supplies for gift wrapping, card making, candy grams and ornaments. Or, simply stop on by for some holiday cheer!
We are excited to bring you a new tradition to celebrate the end of a semester, and another year. The first ever “Winters Frolic” at Winters College, with a theme of “Havana Nights”! A formal dinner party event where Cuban-inspired dinner and drinks will be served along with exciting performances by both musicians and dancers. We will be raffling away fantastic prizes, with all proceeds going towards our Winters College student scholarships and funds. Follow us on Instagram: @WintersCollege for a sneak peek of the big day and the prizes we will be raffling off!
Theatre @ York presents Middletown by Will Eno, featuring the acting students in the MFA program and directed by the esteemed Jackie Maxwell.
Lives of the inhabitants of Middletown transect in an emotional journey that takes them from the local library to outer space and beyond. The moving and funny play emerges as a meditation on loneliness, birth, death, and the anxieties of our contemporary lives.
Performance Schedule:
Thursday, January 24 7:30pm Opening
Friday, January 25 2pm & 7:30pm
Saturday, January 26, 2pm
Theatre @ York presents a studio production of Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman under the direction of Birgit Schreyer Duarte, featuring the third year acting students.
With the themes of loss, transformation, rebellion and the ever-present power of imagination Metamorphoses vividly juxtaposes the ancient and the contemporary in language and image to reflect the variety and persistence of story in the face of inevitable change.
Originally from Germany, Schreyer Duarte is a director, translator and dramaturg who enjoys introducing international work to Canadian audiences and tackling challenging scripts with actors. Most recently, she translated Deportation Cast for Theatre @ York, directed Noise at Randolph College for the Performing Arts and Hamlet at Shakespeare in High Park. She is also the dramaturg & artistic associate at Canadian Stage.
Performance Schedule:
Thu. Feb 7, 7:30pm
Fri. Feb 8, 2pm and 7:30pm
Sat. Feb 9, 2pm
Admission is free, but seating is limited. Those wishing to attend are invited to sign up in advance for the performance of their choice. A sign-up sheet will be posted outside the door of CFT 139 in the Centre for Film and Theatre.
Theatre @ York presents Orlando by Sarah Ruhl, directed by MFA candidate Lindsay Bell and The Balcony by Jean Genet, directed by MFA candidate Margaret Legere. The two shows will be performed in repertory and feature the MFA and fourth-year actors.
Orlando is a dramatic adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s feminist classic by contemporary playwright Sarah Ruhl. It investigates the adventures of a poet who changes sex from man to woman and lives for centuries, meeting the key figures of English literary history.
The Balcony uses the setting of an unnamed city and a distant background of a revolution and counterrevolution to explore strains of power in a society. The play compelling examines the delicate equilibrium of reality and illusion.
Performance Schedule:
Orlando
Sunday, March 24 at 7:30pm (Preview)
Tuesday, March 26 at 7:30pm (Opening)
Wednesday, March 27 at 1:00pm
Friday, March 29 at 7:30pm
Saturday, March 30 at 1:00pm
The Balcony
Monday, March 25 at 7:30pm (Preview)
Wednesday, March 27 at 7:30pm (Opening)
Thursday, March 28 at 7:30pm
Friday, March 29 at 1:00pm
Saturday, March 30 at 7:30pm
Tickets $7- 20
Buy online or call 416-736-5888
“Dispatches from Inside the Newsroom Revolutions in Journalism and Our Changing World”
Anna Maria Tremonti is the host of CBC Radio One’s flagship network morning news program, The Current, where she has devoted hours of coverage and questions to issues that range from world politics, to social and demographic shifts to economics. For this memorial lecture, she will draw on her extensive experience as a reporter, a correspondent, and a host to examine the dynamic changes and challenges facing the field of journalism.
Admission is free; all welcome.
The Wendy Michener Lecture, named in commemoration of the Canadian arts critic and journalist, was established at York University in 1986 to provide a forum for discussion of vital issues and developments in culture and the arts.
Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) is a beloved feminist revisioning of two of Shakespeare’s most well-known plays, Othello and Romeo & Juliet. Written by Canadian playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald, the play explores the hypothetical question: what if Shakespeare’s tragedies were actually intended to be comedies? To learn the answer to this question, please join us November 16-23 in the Joseph G. Green Theatre to find out.
Performance Schedule:
Sat, Nov. 16 (preview 1) @ 7:30 pm
Sun. Nov. 17 (preview 2) @ 7:30 pm
Tues. Nov. 19 (Opening) @ 7:30 pm
Wed. Nov. 20 @ 1:00 pm
Wed. Nov. 20 (Relaxed Performance) @ 7:30 pm –Plan your visit
Thurs. Nov. 21@ 7:30 pm
Fri. Nov. 22 @ 1:00 pm
Fri. Nov. 22 @ 7:30pm
Sat. Nov. 23 @ 2:00 pm
Tickets $7- 20
Online Box Office or call 416-736-5888
The Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture presents Wafaa Bilal (Performing Change)
Wafaa Bilal will discuss specific bodies of work including Domestic Tension (aka Shoot an Iraqi), The Things I Could Tell…, and his most recent project 168:01, elaborating on the evolution of his work and reflecting on his personal experiences living in both the conflict zone of Iraq and the comfort zone of the United States. Bilal’s work explores both the trauma of conflicts and post-conflict relationships through social engagement.
His dynamic, participatory work blends technology and performance to engage viewers in dialogue and places him in the role of the artist as platform initiator, helping to shift and change the distribution channels in the media. The controversial aspects of his work spark deeper conversation and provoke passive viewers to take an active stance with regard to social justice and their own personal/political realities
Location: Tribute Communities Recital Hall
Time: 12:00-2:00pm
Admission is free; all welcome.
The Wendy Michener Lecture, named in commemoration of the Canadian arts critic and journalist, was established at York University in 1986 to provide a forum for discussion of vital issues and developments in culture and the arts.
Belly Dance as Mindful Movement for Stress Reduction
This movement-based workshop utilizes belly dance vocabulary designed for self-soothing. Learn movements that support the reduction of stress and anxiety symptoms. Participants will leave with applications on how stress responses can be experiences on a spectrum from hyper-arousal (feelings of overstimulation) to hypo-arousal (feelings associated with low-energy or burnout). Belly dance used as mindfulness offers gentle wavey movement designed to down-regulate physical stress responses. This workshop also combines more energizing vocabulary through shimmying and shaking as well as core engagement to support up-regulation of the nervous system, based on internal rhythm and percussion.
About the Facilitator :
Shaila is completing her Masters in Dance at York University. She concurrently training as a Dance Movement Therapist through the National Centre for Dance Therapy in Montreal. Her work focuses on belly dance practices that use sensuality as a healing tool within dance interventions. Her movement offerings look at building resiliency, decoupling stress responses and promoting body positivity. Shaila provides a unique framework that maps belly dance vocabulary for nervous-system regulation. Shaila has been an active member of the Toronto belly dancing community for over a decade, both as a performer and instructor. She currently works as a Health Educator and Training Specialist and enjoys offering students training on mental health and well-being.
Hollywood Old and New: ReDesigns for Student Engagement in eLearning with Gillian Helfield & Dan Becker
Thursday, March 12
12:00 – 1:30 PM
AMPD Faculty Lounge (GCFA 214)
Free
RSVP
Join us for this lunchtime talk about the evolution of “Hollywood Old and New”, a fully online class that offers students an understanding of Hollywood film genres from a historical and social perspective. In this talk, the presenters will discuss their pedagogical strategies for the new course redesign to facilitate student engagement in a large format class. This course is offered by the Department Cinema and Media Arts in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design.
Gillian Helfield lectures at York University, in Cinema and Media Studies in AMPD, Humanities in LAPS, and Canadian Studies at Glendon College. Though she has specialized in Canadian and Quebec Cinemas, other areas of academic interest include Genre Studies, Cultural Studies, Women’s Cinema, National Cinemas, Diasporic and Exilic Cinemas, Middle Eastern Cinemas, and Rural Cinemas. In 2006, her book Representing the Rural: Space Place and Identity, in Films About the Land, was published by Wayne State University Press.
In collaboration with AMPD, Gillian has developed and redesigned two large-enrolment online film courses, which have earned recognition from international eLearning associations (IELA) and the Teaching Commons at York University (York’s nomination for the STLHE Brightspace /D2L Innovation Award). In 2017, she received the AMPD eLearning Teaching Award.
Dan Becker is the Educational Designer and Developer for the Faculty of Education. He works extensively with instructors to operationalize educational theory and current research within courses that utilize technology. Dan develops learning experiences that engage students, build communities of inquiry and employ meaningful assessment strategies, while avoiding excessive effort on the part of the instructor. His approach of simplicity and depth has produced a variety of courses that are enjoyed by instructors and students alike.
Theatre @ York presents Elizabeth Rex by Timothy Findley directed by ted witzel
Timothy Findley’s Elizabeth Rex shares Good Night Desdemona’s interest in the Shakespearean canon.
Here, Findley imagines an intimate meeting between a group of players and Queen Elizabeth I, who has ordered a command performance of Much Ado About Nothing as she awaits the execution of a former lover, the Earl of Essex. With wit and poetry, Findley explores the entanglement of love, desire, and gender identity.
Performance Schedule:
Tuesday March 17th at 7:30 p.m. (Preview)
Wednesday March 18th at 1:00 p.m. (Preview)
Wednesday March 18th at 7:30 p.m. (Opening)
Thursday March 19 at 7:30 p.m. (Relaxed Performance)
Friday March 20th at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday March 21st at 2:00 p.m.
Saturday March 21st @ 7:30 p.m. (Closing)
Box Office Information
Previews: $7.00
All Other Performances:
Tickets: $20.00
Student: $12.00
Senior: $12.00
Groups of 10 or more: $10.00
(Group price applies when all group tickets are purchased at once for a single performance. Not available online, please phone or visit the box office)
Buy online or call 416-736-5888
Relaxed Performance: Thursday, March 19th at 7:30pm
A Relaxed performance is intended specifically to be sensitive to and accepting of audience members who may benefit from a more relaxed environment. The performance is designed to reduce anxiety and provide a safe, enjoyable experience, taking into account variable sensory, communication or learning needs and abilities. This means that there is a more casual-than-usual approach to front-of-house etiquette and we ask audience members to be aware of people’s needs to move or make involuntary noise.
