Ovation Volume 22, Number 4 (January/February/March 2015)

vol 22 窶｢ no 4 jan/feb/mar 2015

by

CHRISTOPHER DURANG

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE

by NOﾃ記 COWARD TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE SEASON SPONSOR

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Proudly continuing our family legacy of supporting the arts community that engages audiences today and inspires the artists of tomorrow.

Message from the Artistic Director

Sometimes theatre is like Cabaret, a spectacle that reminds us of our public responsibilities by making the entire world seem to be one big stage. Other times, theatre is an elevated form of eavesdropping, a door left slightly ajar on a private world of subtle savagery and unbridled humour.

Such wry domestic comedies are the specialty of playwrights like Anton Chekhov, Noël Coward and Christopher Durang.

In fact, Durang pays hilarious homage to Chekhov with Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike: everyone seems to have Russian names, the family estate is Steven Schipper

imperiled, and there’s even an aging star à la The Seagull to make everyone else feel slightly like serfs.

We in the audience have the guilty pleasure of overhearing every word: the secret regrets, the barbed accusations and the hidden desires, all of them as serious as they are silly. The characters’ reactions to an offstage costume party become the lemon icing on Durang’s cake, the perfect mix of sour and sweet.

At the Tom Hendry Warehouse, any citrus fruit will take the form of a lime in someone’s drink, for it’s a play by Noël Coward, the chronicler of the canapé-and-cocktail class. Private Lives takes us deep into the heart of three marriages, two of them honeymoon-new and the third long-buried but not quite dead, as it turns out. As love flirts with fury, we are tempted to turn away, except that it’s too much fun to watch, listen and recognize ourselves in these crazy couplings and uncouplings.

These glimpses into other homes and other hearts can be oddly reassuring. “Well, at least we’re not that bad,” we laugh as we drive home from the theatre. “And, even if we were, things worked out for them. Sort of.” These master playwrights help us put our own private lives back into perspective. They remind us that, despite the occasional frustrations of family life, we need the love, intimacy and freedom from fear that we find in our homes (and on our stages) to help us navigate the larger world.

Yours always,

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

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Theatre Abbreviation Legend Arts Club Arts Club Theatre Company • Vancouver, BC ATF Atlantic Theatre Festival • Wolfville, NS ATP Alberta Theatre Projects • Calgary, AB BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music • NYC Bard on the Beach Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival • Vancouver, BC Belfry The Belfry Theatre • Victoria, BC Blyth Blyth Theatre Festival • Blyth, ON Broadway Theatre district • New York, NY CBC Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Centaur Centaur Theatre Company • Montreal, QC Citadel The Citadel Theatre • Edmonton, AB COC Canadian Opera Company • Toronto, ON CS Canadian Stage • Toronto, ON Dora Dora Mavor Moore Award • Toronto, ON Drayton Drayton Entertainment • Ontario Dry Cold Dry Cold Productions • Winnipeg, MB Factory Factory Theatre • Toronto, ON GCTC The Great Canadian Theatre Company • Ottawa, ON Grand The Grand Theatre • London, ON Mirvish Mirvish Productions • Toronto, ON Moving Target Moving Target Theatre Company • Winnipeg, MB MTYP Manitoba Theatre for Young People • Winnipeg, MB NAC National Arts Centre • Ottawa, ON Necessary Angel Necessary Angel Theatre Company • Toronto, ON Neptune Neptune Theatre • Halifax, NS NFB National Film Board of Canada NTS National Theatre School of Canada • Montreal, QC Persephone Persephone Theatre • Saskatoon, SK PTAM Popular Theatre Alliance of Manitoba • Winnipeg, MB

PTE Prairie Theatre Exchange • Winnipeg, MB Rainbow Rainbow Stage • Winnipeg, MB RNT Royal National Theatre • London, England Royal Alex The Royal Alexandra Theatre • Toronto, ON RSC Royal Shakespeare Company • Stratford-upon-Avon, England RWB Royal Winnipeg Ballet • Winnipeg, MB Sarasvàti Sarasvàti Productions • Winnipeg, MB Segal The Segal Centre for Performing Arts • Montreal, QC Shaw Shaw Festival • Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON SIR Shakespeare in the Ruins • Winnipeg, MB Soulpepper Soulpepper Theatre Company • Toronto, ON Stratford Stratford Festival • Stratford, ON SummerWorks SummerWorks Theatre Festival • Toronto, ON TA Theatre Aquarius • Hamilton, ON Tarragon Tarragon Theatre • Toronto, ON TBTR Theatre by the River • Winnipeg, MB TC Theatre Calgary • Calgary, AB TNB Theatre New Brunswick • Fredericton, NB Toronto Free Toronto Free Theatre • Toronto, ON TPM Theatre Projects Manitoba • Winnipeg, MB TSO Toronto Symphony Orchestra U of M University of Manitoba U of T University of Toronto U of W University of Winnipeg VP Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company • Vancouver, BC West End Theatre district • London, England WJT Winnipeg Jewish Theatre WSO Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra YPT Young People’s Theatre • Toronto, ON zone41 zone41 theatre • Winnipeg, MB

OVATION

VOLUME 22, NUMBER 4 JANUARY/FEBRUARY/MARCH 2015

Ovation is published six times per theatre season and has an approximate yearly circulation of 100,000. printing: Premier Printing Ltd. ADVERTISING INQUIRIES Thomas Urish telephone: 204 954 6413 email: turish@royalmtc.ca

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre 174 Market Avenue Winnipeg, MB r3b 0p8 Canada RoyalMTC.ca box office: 204 942 6537 administration: 204 956 1340 fax: 204 947 3741

Ushers • Royal MTC’s loyal volunteer ushers are avail-

able at every performance to assist patrons.

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tion of the House Manager.

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coughing are distracting to fellow patrons and actors.

We ask each patron to please keep noise to a minimum during a performance. Thank you for your cooperation.

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patrons have expressed concerns regarding medical reactions caused by scented products, so much so that they can’t enjoy the show. Please consider others before using items such as colognes, perfumes and hairspray.

Your thoughtfulness is appreciated.

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Royal MTC is a member of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and engages, under the terms of the Canadian Theatre Agreement, professional artists who are members of the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association.

Scenery, Carpentry and Show Running Crew at the John Hirsch Mainstage and the Tom Hendry Warehouse are members of IATSE Local 63.

Hearing enhancement • Sennheiser Infrared Listening

Devices are available free of charge in the lobby at the John Hirsch Mainstage and Tom Hendry Warehouse, supplied by the Royal MTC Volunteer Corps of Ushers Capital Campaign donation. Please see the House Manager for details.

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To be contacted in an emergency, leave your name and seat number with the House Manager.

Warnings • On occasion, Royal MTC’s productions may

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Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

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Setting the Stage

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Cast of Chekhovian Characters Playwright Christopher Durang once described Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as “not a Chekhov parody … I take Chekhov scenes and characters and put them into a blender.”

In the opening scene, Sonia laments that she’s in mourning for her life – which is only the first of numerous Anton Chekhov references that are scattered throughout the production. From the siblings’ names and their relationships to the blue heron that visits the pond near their property’s cherry orchard, Durang offers a contemporary mashup of Chekhov’s most famous works and characters.

Vanya

In Durang’s production, Vanya is left with his adopted sister Sonia to manage the family home after the death of their academic parents – an obvious nod to Chekhov’s 1899 play Uncle Vanya, where the majority of the drama is centred around the proposed sale of the family’s rural estate. The two Vanya share a similar sense of disappointment over the direction their lives have taken, later developing into simmering anger that threatens to erupt as both productions near their end.

Sonia

Like Masha in The Seagull and Sonya in Uncle Vanya, Sonia is plain, mournful and bitter at never having found romantic fulfillment in her life or the opportunity to explore the world outside her countryside upbringing. While Durang’s Sonia isn’t embroiled in unrequited love triangles, she constantly finds herself in the shadow of someone more attractive and glamorous – like her sister Masha.

Masha

In Chekhov’s Three Sisters, Masha is a young woman who begins a clandestine affair with an idealistic soldier after her marriage becomes a disappointment. In The Seagull, she’s the brooding daughter of an estate caretaker who pines after a man in love with another woman. In Durang’s play, the egocentric sister bears little resemblance to the women in Anton 6

Chekhov’s work, but rather takes after Irina Arkadina from The Seagull, another aging actress who returns home after a long absence. Like Irina, Masha attempts to hide her failing career and expresses jealousy over her partner’s apparent interest in other, younger women – like Nina.

Nina

Like her namesake in the first act of The Seagull, Nina is a wide-eyed, innocent “girl next door” who finds herself star-struck when a popular actress comes back to town. In Chekhov’s work, Nina’s beauty and zest for life captures the attention of Irina Arkadina’s lover Boris Trigorin, just like Durang’s character can’t help but catch the eye of Masha’s boy toy Spike.

Cassandra

The cleaning lady who spends her days prophesying and spouting off nonsensical warnings isn’t actually a Chekhovian character, though Durang has compared her to the nanny in Uncle Vanya. In Greek mythology, Cassandra was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and was given the power of prophecy by the god Apollo in his attempts to seduce her. When Cassandra rebuffs his advances, Apollo curses her gift of foresight so no one would believe her words or predictions.

Ovation

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Curtain Calls

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

PLAYWRIGHT CHRISTOPHER DURANG ON Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike INTERVIEW BY DANIELLE MAGES AMATO Where did the idea behind this play come from? Why Chekhov?

I lived in New York for 22 years, and in 1996, with my partner John Augustine, I moved to Bucks County, Pennsylvania. We live on a little hill, overlooking a pond, and a blue heron does come there. My house, it’s a farmhouse, pretty and a little quaint, and it made me think of the Chekhov plays, like The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, where the people who live in the country are rather unhappy. They feel that their lives are boring; there’s no stimulation for them.

Then there are characters like the glamorous actress Madame Arkadina in The Seagull, who are wandering about living in cities and being in plays and having affairs. I suddenly realized that I was now the age of the older characters in Chekhov. I’d mostly 8

seen and read the plays in my 20s and 30s, and I certainly had empathy for the older characters, but they felt very distant from my experience. And now I thought, “Oh my gosh, I’m the same age as Uncle Vanya.”

(Actually, I went back and looked up how old Vanya is in the play, and he’s 47! I’m a lot older than that. But aging was different back then, and most of the great actors who’ve played that role are older.)

Even though I was now the age of Chekhov’s older characters, and I lived in a place in the country, I realized that I didn’t feel bitter in the way that the Chekhov characters did – I’d been in the city, and I actually wanted to get out of the city.

But I thought to myself: what if I had only gone away from home briefly, and I hadn’t pursued the things that interested me?

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jan/feb/mar 2015

PHOTO © 2010 BY SUSAN JOHANN

Christopher Durang

Curtain Calls

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

What if my fictional sister and I had ended up taking care of our parents through a very prolonged illness, and so on. I realized it was a “what if” play.

What if you, yourself, had been a character in a Chekhov play?

Yes – what if my real life had been like one of those Chekhov characters. Chekhov was a definite jumping-off point for the play, but it’s very much not a parody of Chekhov. I’ve done parodies in the past, and this is much more its own thing. And I did my very best to write it so that you don’t have to know Chekhov to respond to it. I thought I was going to have much more about unrequited love, which is a theme that comes up in Chekhov so much. But it became much more about disappointment with how your life has gone. That’s a theme that isn’t unique to Chekhov. And it doesn’t sound like a comedy at all. But it is a comedy!

Could you tell us a bit about the parodies you’ve written?

Well, I wrote For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls, which is a parody of The Glass Menagerie. It follows the original play very closely, except that Laura has become Laurence, who is a hypochondriac, which drives his mother crazy, and instead of having a glass menagerie, he has a collection of glass cocktail stirrers, and he gives them all different names. There’s another one, less well known, called Desire, Desire, Desire, which was mostly about Stanley and Blanche from A Streetcar Named Desire.

In that one, Stella has gone out to get a Lemon Coke and she hasn’t been back for eight years. I did a parody of A Lie of the Mind by Sam Shepard, and a very littleknown parody of Aunt Dan and Lemon, but the longest of my parodies is maybe 30 minutes. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen a parody that sustains for a full-length play. jan/feb/mar 2015

With Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, I was afraid that, because of the title, people might assume it’s a parody. But the parodies I’ve written are correctly called parodies. This is inspired by Chekhov, but it’s its own thing.

Are you a person who sees the work you’ve done over the course of your career as one long trajectory, or do you see it in phases?

How does Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike relate to your other plays?

I see it in phases, but that’s hindsight, because I can look back on it. In high school I wrote conventional musical comedies, and our school performed them, and it was a fun learning experience. Shortly before I applied to college, I got more serious about reading plays and seeing foreign movies, and I was very inspired by the phrase: “Theatre of the Absurd.” So until maybe the middle of my years at Yale Drama School, I wrote absurdist plays, very non-realistic comedies.

I think Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You was my first play that included anything unabashedly serious. There’s a section where Diane (the one who tries to kill Sister) talks about the death of her mother. It was actually based on the death of my mother, which had happened maybe a year before. And I remember when I was writing it, thinking, “Oh dear, will the audience want to hear this?” When I was writing all those absurdist things, I didn’t realize I was writing about my family. But when I looked back, I saw the connections.

The Marriage of Bette and Boo (1985) was based on my parents’ marriage, and the character of Matt is pretty much me.

I fictionalized some of the relatives, but some of them are not entirely fictionalized! Having written that play, I felt like I’d finished with that. It wasn’t a conscious thought – but I was able to move on.

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Curtain Calls

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

When I got to Betty’s Summer Vacation, which was 1999, some kind of shift happened for me as a writer, and I think of Betty’s Summer Vacation, Miss Witherspoon, Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them and Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike as connected.

I think most writers don’t ever get away from writing about families, but none of those plays were really triggered by specifics of my family – at that point I’d gotten old enough that I’d had my own experiences – and instead, they all seemed to focus around a central theme. In Betty’s Summer Vacation, the theme became this weird American interest in watching distressing things on television: Anita Hill and Clarence Thomas, the Menendez Brothers’ trial – anything on Court TV. Why Torture is Wrong was a reaction to the Bush years and the redefinition of torture that happened during that time. That might sound pretty serious, but to the audience, the plays come off as funny.

From your perspective, as someone who writes almost exclusively comedies, do you think that comedy is something that we need? As human beings? As a society?

Oh yes, absolutely. Comedies give you pleasure. And over the course of my life, when I’ve gotten down, I’ve often put on a comedy to help me get through.

There’s also something about laughter that comes from things that you recognize. For instance, the bickering of the siblings in my play is funny. You could write it so it would be hellish, and that might be good, too – it would be intense, more like Edward Albee or Eugene O’Neill. But I think we need both. For two years in college, I was in a deep, deep depression – I couldn’t function well as a student or as a person. During that time, I hardly ever watched comedies.

I found that I had a hard time responding 10

to things if they weren’t tragic, and I liked seeing very depressing movies because they made me feel less alone. But that was a short period in my life.

What are the things that make you laugh?

Oh, Monty Python. Old screwball comedies. I like that show Little Britain with David Walliams and Matt Lucas.

Do you have advice for the young writers you mentor at Juilliard about how to make a life in the theatre today?

Don’t try to write a great play, just try to write a good one. If someone else decides it’s great later, that’s fine, but don’t try to write a great one. Write about something you feel really strongly about, even if it’s a comedy. Don’t write from a mild impulse. And tenacity: just keep going, keep writing.

Interview reprinted with permission from The Old Globe (San Diego, CA).

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Steven Schipper, Artistic Director • Camilla Holland, General Manager PRESENTS A CO-PRODUCTION WITH MIRVISH

PRODUCTIONS

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike by Christopher Durang

February 12 – March 7, 2015 preview February 11

Director..................................................................................... Dean Paul Gibson Set & Costume Designer.................................................................Sue LePage Lighting Designer.................................................................... Scott Henderson Sound Designer.............................................................................Peter McBoyle Assistant Director................................................................. CindyMarie Small* Stage Manager.............................................................................Erin Fitzgerald Assistant Stage Manager................................................. Melissa Novecosky Apprentice Stage Manager.................................................Matthew Lagacé THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Masha................................................................................................. Jennifer Dale Nina........................................................................................................ Ellen Denny Cassandra....................................................................................... Audrey Dwyer Spike............................................................................................... Luke Humphrey Sonia......................................................................................................... Fiona Reid Vanya.............................................................................................. Steven Sutcliffe SETTING

The present, a farmhouse in Bucks County.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is performed with one intermission.

Originally produced on Broadway by: Joey Parnes, Larry Hirschhorn, Joan Raffe/Jhett Tolentino, Martin Platt & David Elliot, Pat Flicker Addiss, Catherine Adler, John O’Boyle, Joshua Goodman, Jamie deRoy/Richard Winkler, Cricket Hooper, Jiranek/Michael Palitz, Mark S. Golub & David S. Golub, Radio Mouse Entertainment, Shadowcatcher Entertainment, Mary Cossette/Barbara Manocherian, Megan Savage/Meredith Lynsey Schade, Hugh Hysell/Richard Jordan, Cheryl Wiesenfeld/Ron Simons, S.D. Wagner, John Johnson in association with McCarter Theatre Center and Lincoln Center Theater.

Originally commissioned and produced by McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, N.J. Emily Mann, Artistic Director; Timothy J. Shields, Managing Director; Mara Isaacs, Producing Director; and produced by Lincoln Center Theater, New York City under the direction of Andre Bishop and Bernard Gersten in 2012.

“Here Comes The Sun” Written By George Harrison Published By Harrisongs, Ltd. (ASCAP) Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved.

Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike is presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc, New York. *Financial assistance for CindyMarie Small’s work provided by the Manitoba Arts Council and by the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

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Artists

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Jennifer Dale

Audrey Dwyer

Masha

Cassandra

ROYAL MTC Good People, Medea (with

ROYAL MTC First appearance.

OTHER THEATRE Credits include Duse

(Tarragon); Aladdin (Ross Petty Productions); The Woman I Am (Art of Time Ensemble).

FILM/TV Numerous leading roles for 30 years in film and television. Recent roles include the feature films The Big Fat Stone and The Dark Stranger. Recent television credits include Lost Girl, Suits, 30th Birthday and So You Said Yes. ET CETERA Jennifer is a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Canadian Film and Television and an Outstanding Achievement Award from Women In Film and Television.

Ellen Denny

Mirvish), The Crucible.

OTHER THEATRE thirsty (NAC); Clybourne Park (Studio 180/Mirvish); The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre); The Tempest (CS); The Tempest (Persephone); Tideline (Factory); Patty’s Cake (Carousel Players); Danny, King of the Basement (Roseneath Theatre/MTYP).

FILM/TV ‘Da Kink in My Hair, The 12 Dates of Christmas, Really Me, The Ron James Show, The State Within, Where the Truth Lies, A Marriage of Convenience, Man of the Year.

TRAINING Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

ET CETERA Audrey has been nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction of Darrah Teitel’s The Apology.

Nina

Luke Humphrey Spike

ROYAL MTC First appearance.

OTHER THEATRE A Christmas Carol

(TNB); two seasons as Anne Shirley in Anne & Gilbert: The Musical (The Guild, Charlottetown); A Christmas Carol, Sweeney Todd (Neptune); The Penelopiad (Citadel); Funny Money, Peter Pan, Three Munschketeers (Festival Antigonish).

TRAINING Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program 2013; BA combined honours in Music and Theatre, Dalhousie University.

ET CETERA Thanks to my parents, who first taught me to love Chekhov, and to everyone at TH for their support.

ROYAL MTC First appearance.

OTHER THEATRE The Graduate (Segal);

The Last of Romeo and Juliet (Talk is Free Theatre); The Three Musketeers, Taking Shakespeare, Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Tempest (Stratford).

FILM Cruel But Necessary (Anchor Bay Entertainment), Ronny & I (a Guy Shalem film).

TRAINING Birmingham Conservatory of Classical Theatre, Stella Adler Studio, NYU Tisch School of the Arts.

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

jan/feb/mar 2015

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Artists

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE OTHER THEATRE Has performed in theatres

Fiona Reid Sonia

ROYAL MTC Calendar Girls (with Mirvish), The

Steven Sutcliffe Vanya

Christopher Durang Playwright

Christopher Durang is an award-winning playwright whose works include A History of the American Film, The Actor’s Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, Beyond Therapy (on Broadway in 1982, with Dianne Wiest and John Lithgow), Baby with the Bathwater, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Laughing Wild, Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams parody For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theater production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver) and Betty’s Summer Vacation.

Also a performer, Durang acted in the New York and Los Angeles premieres of Laughing Wild. He shared in an acting ensemble Obie for The Marriage of Bette and Boo; and with John Augustine and Sherry Anderson has performed his crackpot cabaret Chris Durang and Dawne.

He has a BA from Harvard College and an MFA in Playwriting from the Yale School of Drama.

ROYAL MTC Much Ado About Nothing, Hay

Fever (with Citadel), You Never Can Tell (Shaw tour), Angels in America: Millennium Approaches.

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

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Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

CHRISTOPHER DURANG PHOTO © 2010 BY SUSAN JOHANN

Constant Wife (with Citadel), Arcadia (with CS), Six Degrees of Separation (with CS), Hay Fever (with Citadel), Death and the Maiden (with CS), A Bee in Her Bonnet, She Stoops to Conquer, The Cherry Orchard, The Boy Friend.

OTHER THEATRE Fiona has appeared in theatres across Canada, the US and UK. In 2014 she appeared in London Road (Canadian Stage), in The Norman Conquests (Soulpepper) and at the Shaw Festival.

Favourite roles include: Violet Weston in August: Osage County – Sterling Award (Citadel); Judith Bliss in Hay Fever (Shaw, CS/Grand); Flora Humble in Humble Boy – Jessie Award (VP); Julia in Fallen Angels – Dora Award (CS); Ouisa in Six Degrees of Separation – Dora Award (MTC/CS); Claire in A Delicate Balance (Stratford, CS/Citadel); Martha in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

(Neptune); Mme. Arkadina in The Seagull, title role in Hedda Gabler (Shaw).

FILM/TV The Time Traveler’s Wife, My Big Fat Greek Wedding; television roles include King of Kensington and several voices for animated series.

ET CETERA Fiona is President of the Actors’ Fund of Canada, a Member of the Order of Canada and has an honorary doctorate from Bishop’s University.

across Canada, including seasons at Soulpepper, Shaw and Stratford; regionally, in the US and on Broadway. Most recent: Mary Poppins (TA); Glenn (Soulpepper); Company (Theatre 20); The Merry Wives of Windsor, Elizabeth Rex (Chicago Shakespeare).

ET CETERA As always, much gratitude to Royal MTC’s Mr. Schipper, who, years ago, gave Steven his first job out of theatre school and his Canadian Actors’ Equity card.

Artists

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Dean Paul Gibson Director

ROYAL MTC Actor: The Drowsy Chaperone

(with TC), The Overcoat (VP tour).

OTHER THEATRE DPG’s selected directing credits include: One Man, Two Guvnors, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (TC); Monty Python’s Spamalot, She Stoops to Conquer, Xanadu, The 39 Steps, Black Comedy, The History Boys, It’s a Wonderful Life, The School for Scandal, A Flea in Her Ear (Arts Club); King John, Much Ado About Nothing, Othello, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Hamlet and many more (Bard on the Beach); Toronto, Mississippi, True West, No Great Mischief, Noises Off (VP); The Boyfriend (Studio 58); Lend Me a Tenor, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Powerlines (Gateway Theatre). As an actor, Dean has been seen

onstage most recently in Saint Joan (Arts Club), Major Barbara (ACT/TC), Jitters (Belfry) and Tosca Cafe (TC/VP).

FILM/TV As an actor, Dean can be seen in various film and TV roles.

TRAINING Graduate of Studio 58.

ET CETERA Dean has been honoured with Jessie Richardson Awards for his acting and directing.

Sue LePage Set & Costume Designer

ROYAL MTC Private Lives, The Seagull, The

Seafarer, Death and the Maiden (with CS), Billy Bishop Goes to War (with Grand/NAC/ Christopher Wootten).

OTHER THEATRE Recent: Arcadia (Mirvish); The Philanderer, When We Are Married – costumes, Arcadia, Guys and

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Artists

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

Dolls – costumes, Ragtime, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Born Yesterday, Saint Joan and many others (Shaw); It is Solved by Walking (HomeFirst); Red (Neptune); The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (NAC/Neptune); Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County (Citadel); Lillian Alling (Vancouver Opera/Banff Centre).

ET CETERA Sue has more than 150 theatre credits to her name, including productions with Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Blyth, Ballet Jörgen Canada, Tarragon, Canadian Stage, the Stratford Festival, the NAC, the Banff Centre, the Grand Theatre, YPT and the Charlottetown Festival. She has won two Doras and calls Toronto home.

Scott Henderson Lighting Designer

ROYAL MTC Fifty productions since 1995,

including Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily, Good People, A Christmas Story, Next to Normal, The 39 Steps, Doubt, A Parable (with TC), Shakespeare’s Dog (with NAC), White Christmas (Mainstage); The Seagull, Red (with Belfry), Top Girls, The Shape of Things, Closer (Warehouse).

OTHER THEATRE Most recent: Vigil, Munsch Upon a Time (PTE). Scott has designed for opera, dance and theatre companies in Winnipeg and across Canada, including the Stratford and Shaw festivals.

TRAINING Scott is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School and a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.

ET CETERA Special thanks to Karen, Sean and Alex for love and support.

Peter McBoyle Sound Designer

ROYAL MTC Medea and Orpheus Descending

(both with Mirvish).

OTHER THEATRE Come Fly Away (Broadway/ national tour); Sinatra Dance with Me (Las Vegas); Barrymore (Stratford, Broadway & Toronto); Sister Act, West Side Story, Catch Me if You Can, Legally Blonde (national tours); Arrabal (BASE/Mirvish); Crazy for You, Man of La Mancha, Antony and Cleopatra, Fiddler on the Roof, 42nd Street, A Word or Two, Camelot, Shakespeare’s Will, Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, The Tempest, West Side Story, Krapp’s Last Tape (Stratford); Gypsy, High Society (Shaw); Fire, The House of Martin Guerre (CS); The Sound of Music, Oliver!, The Wrong Son, Mary’s Wedding (NAC); Mary Poppins, The Rocky Horror Show, Sweeney Todd, Beauty and the Beast, Cabaret (Citadel); Stagger Lee (Dallas Theatre Centre).

TV Dracula: A Chamber Musical.

TRAINING Bachelor of Music and a Masters in Sound Recording from McGill.

ET CETERA Member of the Associated Designers of Canada (ADC).

CindyMarie Small Assistant Director

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE Tosca Cafe (TC/VP);

Cry After Midnight (Sarasvàti – FemFest); The Gravel Sifter (One Trunk Collective – StrindbergFest); Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Apprentice Director, Rainbow).

Selected productions with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet over a 16-year career: Cinderella in A Cinderella Story, Pamina in

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

16

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

2014/15 SEASON

Swan Lake

MAR 04-08 / 2015 Centennial Concert Hall

Choreography Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov With the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra Sophia Lee PHOTO: Réjean Brandt Photography

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Artists

VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE

The Magic Flute, Mina Murray in Dracula, Arabian in The Nutcracker.

FILM/TV Film (selected): Dracula: Pages from a Virgin’s Diary (Guy Maddin), Passionflower (Shelagh Carter). TV (selected): The Tale of the Magic Flute (Barbara Willis Sweete), The Pinkertons (Gary Yates), The Gabby Douglas Story (Gregg Champion).

TEACHING Guest Ballet Master (RWB); Guest Ballet Master (Les Ballets Grandiva).

ET CETERA Thank you to Dean for bringing me aboard! I am thrilled to be working with and learning from the incredible cast and creative team! I would also like to acknowledge and thank the Manitoba Arts Council and the Winnipeg Arts Council for the support they have given me for this adventure.

Studies, The Swearing Jar (PTE); Lawrence and Holloman (PTE/Persephone); The Producers, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Rainbow); Bloodless: The Trial of Burke and Hare (White Rabbit Productions). Assistant Stage Manager: The Little Mermaid, Mary Poppins, Footloose, Annie (Rainbow); White Biting Dog, The Price (Soulpepper); Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (National Ballet of Canada); Burnin’ Love (PTE).

TRAINING The National Theatre School of Canada. Apprentice Stage Manager at the Shaw Festival.

Matthew Lagacé Apprentice Stage Manager

Erin Fitzgerald Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC The Winslow Boy (with TA).

OTHER THEATRE The Wizard of Oz, The

Secret Garden, The Harder They Come, Dirty Dancing (Mirvish); Arrabal (BASE Entertainment/Marquis Entertainment); The Little Mermaid, Peter Pan pantomime, Twist and Shout (Drayton).

Melissa Novecosky Assistant Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Stage Manager: Good People,

The Secret Annex. Assistant Stage Manager: Gone With the Wind, White Christmas, Next to Normal, It’s a Wonderful Life: A Radio Play.

Apprentice Stage Manager: Jitters, Our Town, The Real Thing, The Tempest.

OTHER THEATRE Stage Manager: Munsch Upon a Time, Vigil, The Best Brothers, Social

ROYAL MTC Apprentice Stage Manager: The Heart of Robin Hood, The Glass Menagerie, Gone With the Wind, Romeo and Juliet, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (with TC), The History of Manitoba from the Beginning of Time to the Present in 45 Minutes. Apprentice Director: Harvey.

OTHER THEATRE Aida, The Daughter of the Regiment (Manitoba Opera); Altar Boyz (PTE/ Winnipeg Studio Theatre); Little Women, Sweeney Todd (DryCold); A Stripped-Down Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merry Wives of Windsor (SIR); Maple Route (Theatre Incarnate).

TRAINING Matthew is a graduate of the U of M Theatre Program/Black Hole Theatre Company.

ET CETERA Matthew is also two-time recipient of the Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Theatre Scholarship. “I would like to thank my friends and family for their love and support. Flameo Hotman!”

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

18

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

Helping to

SIMPLIFY your office printing.

carlylepss.com 204.480.4876

Royal MTC’s Scholarship and Apprenticeship program is funded through audience donations. During the intermission of our next production, The Woman in Black, ushers will collect your donations to ensure this program’s continued success. We thank you for your support of emerging Manitoban theatre artists.

2014/15 Scholarship Recipients Anthony Ferens, University of Winnipeg Becky Frohlinger, Elon University Kristen Garvie, University of Winnipeg Kelsey Lacombe, Sheridan College Sofia Lukie, University of Winnipeg Suzie Martin, University of Alberta Emily Meadows, Grant MacEwan University

Erica Mitchell, University of Winnipeg Brigitte Plouffe, University of Winnipeg Alix Sobler, Columbia University Markian Tarasiuk, Studio 58 Haley Vincent, University of Winnipeg Maria Zarrillo, Studio 58

2014/15 Apprenticeship Recipients Darryl Audette, Design Apprentice, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily Rodrigo Beilfuss, Directing Apprentice, Private Lives Ksenia Broda-Milian, Design Apprentice, Cabaret Tatiana Carnevale, Directing Apprentice, Armstrong’s War Teri-Lynn Friesen, Directing Apprentice, Late Company Kendra Jones, Directing Apprentice, Clever Little Lies Rachel Smith, Directing Apprentice, Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily

NEXT AT

THE woman IN BLACK MARCH 18 – APRIL 11

One of British theatre’s biggest – and scariest – hits – THE GUARDIAN

Despite persistent rumours that our theatre is haunted, ghost stories onstage have been a rarity at Royal MTC. We’re thrilled about the prospect of frightening audiences with this chilling tale, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary on London’s West End. The Woman in Black’s reign of terror makes it the second-longest non-musical play to run on the West End, after The Mousetrap.

More than seven million people have lived to tell the tale of a young lawyer in Edwardian England who travels from London to arrange the sale of a remote estate, only to discover the house is haunted by a malevolent spirit seeking revenge. Decades later, he hires an actor to recount the tale in an effort to exorcise past demons. Spine-chilling and heart-pumping, The Woman in Black has been lauded as one of the scariest stories to ever hit the stage.

For those of you who think a play can’t be that scary, hear this: in 2012, 10 horror bloggers were invited to watch the play and the movie while wearing heart monitors. The biggest fright? The play. Don’t believe us? Then experience The Woman in Black for yourself. We dare you.

TICKETS START AT $25

BUY NOW!

204 942 6537 ROYALMTC.CA

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Before & After

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Setting the Stage

PRIVATE LIVES

Director’s Notes BY KRISTA JACKSON It’s mid-winter in Winnipeg.

Don’t we deserve a little escape?

Noël Coward wrote Private Lives for his life-long friend Gertrude Lawrence in roughly four days while suffering from a bout of influenza in Shanghai. Its success contributed to making him the highest-paid author of his time.

“I first met Gertie in a play – needless to say – or at least when we were both on the train to Liverpool, on our way to appear in one. I was 13, she was 14, and her sophistication absolutely floored me. She gave me an orange and told me some mildly dirty stories. I loved her from then onwards.”

Noël and Gertie played Elyot and Amanda – characters based on members of London society that inhabited The Ivy, The Savoy and The Ritz during Britain’s inter-war years – while in their early 30s at the premiere in 1930. These bright young things lived for the next party, adopting a philosophy of pleasure and flippancy to cope with the massive loss of the First World War, while immune to the politicking that suggested a second one was on the way.

Coward blows raspberries at strict moral and gender codes, and it’s here that Private Lives was ahead of its time and still seems frightfully modern. That, 85 years later, audiences the world over continue to be delighted as these newlyweds unleash their beastliness on each other, says volumes about Coward’s talent for character and our own deeply-rooted need for non-convention. Elyot and Amanda fight to escape themselves and the moralists that surround 24

them by pushing the boundaries of what is acceptable. They challenge our assumptions of duty, fidelity and propriety, all the while wrapped in the deliciousness of Coward’s art of conversation.

For me the beauty in Coward – and particularly Private Lives – is that, sure, his characters are slightly mad and, yes, they live in a rarefied world, but their humanity always shines through in that they try and try again. They are always hopeful, and their charm pushes the boundaries of manners without overstepping them. They are allowed to escape the responsibility of their actions over and over again and I think that speaks to something fundamental in all of us. I invite you to escape with them.

Royal MTC extends its sincere thanks to the Noël Coward Foundation for its support of CowardFest, including their sponsorship of complimentary tickets to more than 200 high school and university students to attend Private Lives.

noelcoward.org

We are proud to support the

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and bring you the 2014/15 season at the Tom Hendry Warehouse Theatre.

Registered trade-marks of Bank of Montreal.

速

presented by

the company that gave Winnipeg Urinetown, The Light in the Piazza, Sweeney Todd, Follies and A Man of No Importance

May 20 - 23, 2015 Tom Hendry Warehouse Theatre Tickets on sale now.

Adults - $35 Students - $25 drycoldproductions.ca (204) 942 6537 Book by MARSHALL BRICKMAN and RICK ELICE Music and Lyrics by ANDREW LIPPA Based on Characters Created by Charles Addams

Steven Schipper, Artistic Director • Camilla Holland, General Manager PRESENTS

Private Lives

by Noël Coward January 29 – February 14, 2015 preview January 28

Director............................................................................................ Krista Jackson Set & Costume Designer.................................................................Sue LePage Lighting Designer.............................................................................. Bill Williams Sound Designer........................................................................... Michael Wright Fight Director.......................................................................Jacqueline Loewen Dialect & Text Coach.............................................................Shannon Vickers Apprentice Director................................................................ Rodrigo Beilfuss* Stage Manager................................................................................... Lisa Nelson Apprentice Stage Manager...................................................... Alison Fulmyk THE CAST (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)

Victor Prynne...........................................................................Graham Ashmore Elyot Chase............................................................................................... Eric Blais Amanda Prynne............................................................................. Laura Olafson Sibyl Chase........................................................................................ Tracy Penner Louise...................................................................................................... Jane Testar SETTING

Act I: The terrace of a hotel in France. A summer evening.

Act II: Amanda’s flat in Paris. A few days later. Evening.

Act III: The same. Next morning.

Private Lives is performed with one intermission.

Special thanks: Bob Beard, Paul De Gurse, Kim Horsman, Seana McKenna PART OF

*Financial assistance for Rodrigo Beilfuss’ work provided by Royal MTC’s Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Theatre Apprenticeship Program, by the Manitoba Arts Council and by the City of Winnipeg through the Winnipeg Arts Council.

26

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

Artists

PRIVATE LIVES TRAINING/TEACHING BA Honours, U of W;

Graham Ashmore

MFA, York University. Taught acting at MTYP and York University.

Victor Prynne

Laura Olafson Amanda Prynne ROYAL MTC Bleeding Hearts, Glengarry Glen

Ross, The Tempest, A Christmas Carol.

OTHER THEATRE Swan Song (Adhere and Deny, ChekhovFest); Duet for a Schizophrenic (Gray Goose/Adhere and Deny); Village Wooing (zone41, ShawFest); Way to Heaven (WJT); Talk (WJT/NAC); Grand Inquisitor (Adhere and Deny); North Main Gothic, The Elmwood Visitation (TPM); Company (Dry Cold); As You Like It (SIR); The Wedding (The Winnipegger Ensemble, BrechtFest).

FILM/TV The Forbidden Room, The Pinkertons, Aloft, Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story II. ET CETERA Graham splits his time between Winnipeg and Oaxaca, Mexico, where he lives with his wife Lupita and two boys, Angel and Alejandro. Hi to Minnie.

Eric Blais Elyot Chase

ROYAL MTC Good People, Brief Encounter

(with VP), Looking Back – West.

OTHER THEATRE Angels in America: Perestroika (WJT); King’s Park (Moving Target); The Vertical Hour, Munsch Ado About Nothing (PTE); Proud, North Main Gothic, Age of Arousal, Stretching Hide (TPM); The Taming of the Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, The Odyssey (SIR); Kindness, Romeo and Juliet (MTYP); The Winter’s Tale, Troilus and Cressida (Tom-Tom Theatre).

FILM/TV The Pinkertons, Cashing In, Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story, Men with Brooms, Zooey & Adam, Falcon Beach, Northern Town, 2030 CE, Wishmaster 4.

ROYAL MTC Ruth Kelly, RN in Harvey; The

Boys in the Photograph (with Mirvish).

OTHER THEATRE Sunday in the Park with George (Grant MacEwan University); Oliver!

(Citadel); 9 to 5: The Musical, Nashville Outlaws, Queens of Country, Footloose (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); Mary Poppins, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Footloose (Rainbow); A Man of No Importance, Urinetown (Dry Cold); Death of a Salesman, Funny Girl (WJT); The Savannah Disputation (PTE); The Skriker (Echo (Beach) Theatre); Into the Woods (District Theatre Collective); The Comedy of Errors (SIR).

FILM/TV My Awkward Sexual Adventure, House Party.

TRAINING Laura holds a diploma in Theatre Arts from Grant MacEwan University in Edmonton, AB. ET CETERA Laura is filled with love and gratitude for Mr. Coward, the staff at Royal MTC and the most extraordinary cast, crew and creative team. This is for Fiona, with love.

Tracy Penner Sibyl Chase

ROYAL MTC The Seagull, Ed’s Garage, Top Girls, Camelot (with TC/Citadel).

OTHER THEATRE Locally, Tracy has worked with companies including Theatre Projects Manitoba, WJT, SIR, zone41 theatre, Sarasvàti Productions and Root Sky Productions.

In Edmonton, companies include Catalyst

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

27

Artists Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Concrete Theatre and Vault: Theatre of Invention.

TRAINING Tracy is a graduate of the University of Alberta.

PRIVATE LIVES

actor in such films as Around the World in 80 Days, Our Man in Havana and The Italian Job. In 1970, Coward finally received a long-deserved knighthood. He died peacefully in Jamaica in 1973.

Jane Testar

Krista Jackson

Louise

Director

ROYAL MTC First appearance.

ROYAL MTC Director: The Seagull, The

OTHER THEATRE Sunday in the Park with

George (SondheimFest); De Bouche à Oreille (Théâtre du Grand Cercle); Little Munsch on the Prairie (PTE); member of Winnipeg improv troupe Outside Joke and member of Canadian Comedy Award-nominated sketch troupe Hot Thespian Action.

TV Less Than Kind.

TRAINING Graduate of the Department of Theatre and Film at the University of Winnipeg (Honours).

ET CETERA Love to my comedy families HTA and OJ, and to my parents Brian and Nancy, for putting up with me and for putting me in the French immersion program.

Noël Coward Playwright

Noël Coward began his theatre career as a child actor at the age of 11. His breakthrough as a playwright came in 1924 with The Vortex.

Three major hits soon followed – Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and Easy Virtue – and his successes continued well into the 1930s with Bitter Sweet, Private Lives, Cavalcade, Design for Living and one of his most ambitious ventures: Tonight at 8:30. After his intelligence work for the British Foreign Office during the Second World War (technically, he was a spy), Coward continued to produce plays and musicals, and performed as a cameo

Seafarer. Actor: The Threepenny Opera (with SIR), Quills, The Good Sisters (Les BellesSoeurs), The Sisters Rosensweig, Brighton Beach Memoirs.

OTHER THEATRE Director: Dying to be Thin (MTYP); The Miser of Middlegate (zone41/ TPM); Village Wooing (zone41). Assistant Director: Mother Courage and Her Children (Stratford); Hedda Gabler, His Girl Friday, Misalliance (Shaw).

ET CETERA Artistic Director of zone41 theatre; Artistic Associate 2014/15 at the Grand Theatre. Upcoming: Much Ado About Nothing (Director, Grand); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Assistant Director, Stratford). Krista is the proud winner of the 2013 Gina Wilkinson Prize for female directors. I hope you’ll join me for Robert Cushman’s Mad Dogs and Englishmen on February 7 at 12pm, with Stratford Festival’s Ben Carlson playing Coward on the set of Private Lives. www.zone41.ca

Sue LePage Set & Costume Designer

ROYAL MTC Vanya and Sonia and Masha

and Spike (with Mirvish), The Seagull, The Seafarer, Death and the Maiden, Billy Bishop Goes to War (with Grand/NAC/ Christopher Wootten).

OTHER THEATRE Recent: Arcadia (Mirvish); The Philanderer, When We Are Married –

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

28

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

Artists

PRIVATE LIVES

costumes, Arcadia, Guys and Dolls – costumes, Ragtime, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Born Yesterday, Saint Joan and many others (Shaw); It is Solved by Walking (HomeFirst); Red (Neptune); The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (NAC/Neptune); Death of a Salesman, August: Osage County (Citadel); Lillian Alling (Vancouver Opera/Banff Centre).

ET CETERA Sue has more than 150 theatre credits to her name, including productions with Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Blyth, Ballet Jörgen Canada, Tarragon, Canadian Stage, the Stratford Festival, the NAC, the Banff Centre, the Grand Theatre, YPT and the Charlottetown Festival. She has won two Doras and calls Toronto home.

Something Drastic, Puppet Munsch (PTE); Macbeth (SIR); Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival); Hedwig and the Angry Inch Atrocity Tour 2004 (Rose Tinted Productions, UK).

FILM The Last Harvest, Métis, Métis Not, Dead Mothers Kitchen Floors, Dust.

ET CETERA Michael is active in the music world with over two dozen album credits and is a member of IATSE 63.

Bill Williams

ROYAL MTC Fight Director: Sherlock Holmes

Lighting Designer ROYAL MTC Bill is delighted to have designed

the lighting for more than 70 Royal MTC productions (both Mainstage and Warehouse) since 1971.

OTHER THEATRE Bill has designed more than 500 productions for theatre, opera and dance companies across Canada, Europe, Asia, South America, the UK and the US. ET CETERA Bill is also actively involved as a theatre consultant, architectural lighting designer, teacher, author and photographer.

Michael Wright

Jacqueline Loewen Fight Director

and the Case of the Jersey Lily, A Christmas Story, Gone With the Wind, August: Osage County, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer.

Actor: Top Girls. Assistant Director: Other People’s Money.

OTHER THEATRE Selected fight directing: Tosca, Carmen (Manitoba Opera); Macbeth, The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Taming of the Shrew (SIR); All Restaurant Fires Are Arson (PTE).

TEACHING Jacqueline has taught stage combat at MTYP and PTE, and assistant taught at the U of W. ET CETERA Jacqueline is very pleased to be working with both Royal MTC and such fine performers.

Sound Designer

Shannon Vickers Dialect & Text Coach

ROYAL MTC Armstrong’s War, The Secret

Annex, The Seagull, Venus in Fur, The Penelopiad, August: Osage County, The Fighting Days, Romeo and Juliet, The Seafarer, Looking Back – West, Top Girls, Rope’s End, Fully Committed, The Last Five Years, Cherry Docs.

OTHER THEATRE North Main Gothic, The Monster Trilogy, The Elmwood Visitation, Age of Arousal (TPM); Everything is Coming Up Roses (Gearshifting Performance Works);

ROYAL MTC Sherlock Holmes and the Case

of the Jersey Lily, Good People, The Secret Annex, Venus in Fur, Gone With the Wind, August: Osage County, Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Top Girls, Steel Magnolias.

For a complete list of theatre abbreviations, please refer to legend on page 4

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

29

Artists OTHER THEATRE Voice/Text/Dialect

Coaching: DAI (Enough) (WJT); Village Wooing (zone41); Bingo! (PTE); The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (TPM); The Merry Wives of Windsor (SIR); Fen (Sarasvàti); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (CS).

TRAINING/TEACHING Shannon earned an MFA in Theatre Voice Pedagogy at the University of Alberta. She is an Associate Professor at the University of Winnipeg and is a certified Associate Teacher of KnightThompson Speechwork.

Rodrigo Beilfuss Apprentice Director

ROYAL MTC First engagement.

OTHER THEATRE As director (selected):

Generous, Lungs, Cock and Bull (TBTR); Venus in Fur (Tristan Bates, UK); The Duck Variations, Pariah (Master Playwright Festival). Selected acting credits include The Comedy of Errors, Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice (SIR); La Belle Laide (Winnipeg Fringe 2014); About Love & Champagne (ChekhovFest); Measure for Measure (LAMDA).

TRAINING MA in Classical Acting from England’s London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art; BA (Hons.) from the University of Winnipeg.

ET CETERA Rod is a four-time winner of the Royal MTC Jean Murray – Moray Sinclair Scholarship (thank you for the support!).

Additional thanks to the Winnipeg and Manitoba Arts Councils for funding this

21day

the

challenge

21CLASSES IN 21 DAYS 204.947.9642 www www..yogapublic.com .com 204

PRIVATE LIVES

apprenticeship. Next up: Hamlet with Bravura Theatre/Snakeskin Jacket! More info at rodrigobeilfuss.com.

Lisa Nelson Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Hirsch. Apprentice Stage

Manager: The Fighting Days.

OTHER THEATRE Stage Manager: The Miser of Middlegate, Encore (TPM); Angels in America: Perestroika (WJT); Magical Mystery Munsch (PTE); Tough Case (MTYP); Henry V, Julius Caesar (SIR); Talk (Prairie Scene Festival & Stage One English Festival/WJT). Apprentice Stage Manager: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, Way to Heaven, Sunday Father (WJT); The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz (TPM); Hybrid Human (Wanda Koop: On the Edge of Experience/ Winnipeg Art Gallery).

FILM/TV Production Manager: The Measure of a Place (NFB). Production Assistant: The Faith Project (NFB). Costume Buyer: Sunnyside (CityTV).

Alison Fulmyk Apprentice Stage Manager

ROYAL MTC Jane Eyre, Other People’s Money.

OTHER THEATRE Apprentice Stage Manager:

Fidelio, La Bohème, Don Pasquale (Manitoba Opera); The Miser of Middlegate (zone41/ TPM); The Little Mermaid, The Producers, Mary Poppins (Rainbow); A Man of No Importance (Dry Cold). Assistant Stage Manager: Ordinary Days (Winnipeg Studio Theatre/Angelwalk Theatre).

TRAINING University of Winnipeg Department of Theatre and Film, with a Theatre honours degree in Stage Management and Production (focus on Properties).

ET CETERA “Livin’ The Dream!”

You can play a leading role!

DONATE TODAY

donate online at royalmtc.ca or call 204 954 6412 today

NEXT AT

late company MARCH 4–21

If it takes a village to raise a child, then who’s to blame when one falls by the wayside? That’s the question lurking at the heart of Jordan Tannahill’s searing, unforgettable drama. – Torontoist

Filled with heartbreak and humour and loosely based on real events, Late Company takes us to the suburbs where two families sit down for dinner one year after a tragedy. In an effort to pick up the pieces of their fractured lives, they meet to find common ground and a sense of closure. But the situation is so fraught with complicated emotion – grief, anger, guilt – that the knives come out despite their best intentions. Will they ever be able to find their way to forgiveness?

TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE SEASON SPONSOR

TICKETS START AT $21

ON SALE NOW

204 942 6537 ROYALMTC.CA

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PHOTO BY LACEY CREIGHTON

The final play of the Warehouse season comes courtesy of stage wunderkind Jordan Tannahill (right). Described by the Toronto Star as “one of Canada’s most exciting independent theatre artists,” the 20-something Tannahill has already been awarded the Governor General’s Award for Drama and the John Hirsch Director’s Award.

Supporters Many thanks to our donors who gave a gift between November 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014 DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE HERO • $6,000+ Gail Asper, OC, OM, LLD* & Michael Paterson The Albert D. Cohen Family Ted & Ruth Northam

BENEFACTOR • $2,000–5,999 Leah Bjarnarson & Robert Malech Morley* & Marjorie Blankstein, CM, OM, LLD J.W. Burns, OC Kerry Dangerfield* John F. (Jack) Fraser* James R. Gibbs Sylvia Guertin-Riley Rita Gunn* & Greg Mason Camilla Holland† & Colin Viebrock Investors Group Matching Gift Program Ms. Maureen E. Jay Andrew & Wendy Jensen Derek & Mary Johannson John Kearsey* Terry Klassen Dr. P. Kmet & Mr. B. Roslycky Dr. Douglas MacEwan In memory of Liam Murphy – Leigh Murphy The Michael Nozick Family Foundation Cam & Carole Osler Donna & Bill Parrish Hartley & Heather Richardson Sanford & Deborah Riley Triple A Fund – The Winnipeg Foundation Anonymous

LEADER • $1,500–1,999 Gus* & Diane Campbell David Christianson & Vera Steinberger Dave* & Barb Christie Neil & Carol Duboff Cheryl Dyck & Carl Duerksen Tony* & Jennifer Fletcher Susan Glass & Arni Thorsteinson Gary Hannaford* & Cathy Rushton Margaret Houston Robert B. & the late S. June Jackson David & Diane Johnston Kevin & Els Kavanagh Laurie Lam† & Larry Desrochers Bill & Shirley Loewen

Elizabeth Marr & Nick Slonosky Jim* & Penny McLandress Mr. & Mrs. Lawrie & Fran Pollard Derek Riley Steven Schipper, CM† & Terri Cherniack Maitland & Pat Sundmark Sonya & Scott Wright Richard L. Yaffe* & John A. Statham Darcy & Brenda Zaporzan*

MEMBER • $1,000–1,499 Dr. Jerry Baluta & Olga Kandia Jim Blanchard Sheldon & Penny Bowles Doneta* & Harry Brotchie Brenlee Carrington Trepel & Brent Trepel Tom & Louise Carson Dr. Bonnie Cham & Dr. Lorne Bellan Drs. Ernest & Anastasia Cholakis Heather Clarke* Gerry* & Chris Couture Robert* & Florence Eastwood Paulo Fernandes* Donald Fraser & Judy Little Sandy Gousseau* Mintie Grienke John* & Nicola Guttormson Dr. Linda Hamilton & Cst. Grange Morrow Shayla Harapiak-Green & Patrick Green* Kevin Hines & Shelly Smith-Hines† Shawn Hughes* & Bruno Koehn Katie Inverarity† Eric & Jenn Johannson April & Diamond Kassum Laurence Katz & Zoe Kogan Gordon Keatch* Ian Kirk† Brenda* & Trevor Kriss Evan* & Susan Kuz Jeff* & Jillian Lamothe Shannon Lawton & Michael Long Rick Lee & Laurie Shapiro Peter & Karen Leipsic Reginald & Judy Low Mark & Gloria Mancini Virginia & the late Robert Martin Bob McNamara & Dorothy Hooper Jeffrey* & Mary Morton Drs. Ken & Sharon Mould James Nielsen Dr. & Mrs. Kieran O’Keeffe M. Plett-Lyle Dr. Bill Pope & Dr. Elizabeth Tippett-Pope K. Heather Power & Harold Klause Lawrence Prout* & Lisa Gardewine Margaret Redmond* & Greg Gillis

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

Mrs. Shirley Richardson Andrea* & Michael Robertson Bill & Laurie Speers* Shelley† & Mark Stroski Glen Douglas Summerton Melinda Tallin† & Glen Mitchell Leslie John Taylor Fund – The Winnipeg Foundation Jim & Jan Tennant Marcel Van Woensel Mr. & Mrs. Rick & Claire Workman Joan Wright Anonymous

FRIENDS OF ROYAL MTC ENTHUSIAST • $500–999 Robert & Joy Antenbring Archie & Jo-Anne Arnott Margaret & Jim Astwood Mrs. Phyllis Barich & Mr. Helmut Epp Bruce & Shelley Bertrand-Meadows Ron Blicq Helga & Gerhard Bock Todd Bourcier Cathie & Brian Bowerman James A. Bracken In memory of Pak-Wai Chan – Calvin Kim Saul Cherniack & Myra Wolch Haderra & Mark Chisick Don & Elfie Elias Lawrence & Brenda Ellerby Shannon Ernst Gregg & Mary Hanson Dr. Ted & Gail Hechter Guenter & Crystal Jochum Hon. Justice William Johnston Fern Karlicki Pat & Jim Ludwig Peter & Maureen Macdonald Mr. G. Markham N. Marr Mr. Gerry Matte & Mrs. Lydia Surasky-Matte Irene & the late Claire Miller Vivienne Nickerson Richard & Bonnie Olfert Linda & Wayne Paquin Donna Plant Iris Reimer Charles & Naida Rubin Melanie Sexton† & Ian Walsh Al* & Virginia Snyder Debbie Spracklin James Joseph Tepper Linda Thomas Eric Turner Carol & Hugo Unruh †Current Royal MTC staff

33

Supporters Margaret Wikjord Winfield Developments Canada Dorothy Y. Young 3 Anonymous

SUPPORTER • $150–499 France Adams & Stephen Brodovsky Pat & Bob Adamson Anthony & Marilyn Alexander Dawn Andersen Judy & Jay Anderson Ian Backus Ken Ball & Karen Turner Dianne J. Beaven Larry Beeston & Anna Sikora Joan Bender Mr. & Mrs. Ernest Bergbusch Mark Bernstein Tyler Birch Tanys & Don Bjornson Denise Bonner Dr. Elizabeth Boustcha Morva Bowman & Alan Pollard Don & Cheryl Breakey Billy Brodovsky & Libby Yager Sheila & David Brodovsky Miriam Bronstein Valerie Buchanan Donna Byrne Carol Campbell & Andy Krentz Don & Carolyne Campbell Lawrence Campbell & Family Ken & Elizabeth Carroll Lawrie & Bea Cherniack Agnes & John Collins Pamela & Andrew Cooke Joyce Cooper Martin & Gail Corne Ted & Margaret Cuddy Ellen Curtis J. Dale Dr. & Mrs. James Dalton Donna Daman Ms. Linda Daniels J. Dawson John & Heather Diamond Faye Dixon Pam Dixon Dr. Sheila Domke & Stephen Ross Adam Dooley & Lynn Billard Thomas Dooley Sally R. Dowler David Driedger John & Ada Ducas Helene Dyck Al Dyregrov Mr. & Mrs. William Easton Dr. Micheal Eleff & Chana Thau Mr. & Mrs. John & Martha Enns Selma Enns Robert Filuk

Douglas Finkbeiner Mr. & Mrs. D.C. Finnbogason Gayle Fischer Marcia Fleisher Chris Freeman Arnold Frieman Menno H. & Jolanda Friesen Colleen & Dan Furlan Dr. Jonathan Gabor & Tia Metaxas Mr. & Mrs. R. Gallant William S. Gardner Lynne & Lindsay Gauld E. George Dr. & Mrs. Ron & Denise George Rick & Patti Gilhuly Ms. Heather Gillander Dr. & Mrs. Andrew Gomori Jeremy & Maureen Gordon Dr. & Mrs. W. Gordon Shawn & Bill Gould Donald Graham Kari Hagness† Heather & David Hallatt Kathy Hallick Gregory & Heather Hammond Sylvia & Doug Hannah Bruce & Judy Harris Sandra & Hans Hasenack Andrea Hector & Kirk Dellebuur Ray Henjum Cathy Hobday Mr. Dennis Hodgkinson Jennie Hogan Gary Hook & Charmine Lyons Frank & Donna Hruska Dan Ilchyna Rudy & Gail Isaak Marlis & David Jacobson Rhea & Dave Jenkinson Lynne Jentsch Claire & Gerald Jewers Lisa Johnston Katherine Jordan & James Tam Claudette Journe Dr. Leonard Kahane Dr. & Mrs. A. Kati Dr. & Mrs. Philip Katz Donald & Sheila Keatch Judith Kendle M.J. King Paula Klan Myron & Marion Klysh Paul Kochan Madeline Kohut E. Koop Gloria Koop David & Denise Koss Holly Kotowich Bill & Evelyn Krahn Lorraine Kraichy Katarina Kupca

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members

34

Ovation

Teena Laird Deanne Lander Dr. Patricia Landolfo Robert E. Leask Ellen & Stewart Leibl Kathy & Saul Leibl Tim & Kate Letkemann Carol & Clifford Levi Wendell & Eleanor Lind Wayne Loeppky Israel & Maylene Ludwig Dr. Sora Ludwig & Dr. Brent Schacter Sofia Lukie Dr. & Mrs. Ted Lyons Burton & Mary Lysecki Mr. & Mrs. E.R. MacDonald John MacDonald Sharon M. Macdonald Dennis MacKay, QC & Annette Stapenhorst Cam Mackie & Doris Mae Oulton Wally Mah Phil & Miriam Maltz Family Fund Elaine & Neil Margolis Agatha Massey Nicola Matthews Marjorie & Robert McCamis Patrick & Daniella McDonald Julia & Don McInnes Mr. & Mrs. Campbell McIntyre John & Carolynne McLure Fund – The Winnipeg Foundation Michael & Debra McMullen Barb Melnychuk Albert Metcalfe Mel & Pippie Michener Jim & Karren Middagh Grant Mitchell & Catherine Lambeth Dr. Catherine Moltzan & Paul Brault Marc Monnin & Donna Miller Ray Montague Bill Muir Ken & Suzanne Munroe Marika Nerbas Edwin & Pat Nicholls Robert Nickel Deborah & George Nytepchuk Joanne Olchowecki Murray Palay & Ivy Kopstein Heather & Harry Panaschuk Terry Panych Dr. Philip Pass Beverly Pavlek Louise Pelletier Ms. Jo-Anne Pelzer Ron & Anita Perron B. Peterson & S. Slonosky Wayne Piett Donna Platt Maureen Prendiville & Paul Jensen Bob & Linda Preston †Current Royal MTC staff

jan/feb/mar 2015

Supporters Ms. Judith Putter Vivian Rachlis Rudy & Audrey Ramchandar Angeline Ramkissoon Vance Rehill Pat & Bill Reid Mr. & Mrs. William Reynolds Joyce Rich Dr. & Mrs. J. Richtik Ricou-Manfreda Tony Robbins Jane Robinson Mrs. Linda Robinson Mr. Robert Rogers Sheryl Rosenberg Craig Russell & Janet Shaw-Russell Elizabeth Russin Michael T. Ruta Cheryl Samson-Siemens & Gordon Siemens Shona Scappaticci Barbara Scheuneman Hans & Gabriele Schneider Dr. Meir Serfaty & Bonnie Talbot In memory of Sybil Shack for the benefit of Royal MTC – Jewish Foundation of Manitoba Dr. & Mrs. A.M. Shojania Margaret & Paul Shuckett Shayna & Merrill Shulman Meera Sinha Jeff Sisler & Cathy Rippin-Sisler Jennifer Skelly† & Family Chad Smith Mrs. Lorraine Smith Deanne Spiegel Frits & Joan Stevens Jacqueline St. Hill Yvonne Stier Naomi Stobbe & Paul Reimer Heidi Struck† Richard Swain Mr. & Mrs. Paul Swart Shayne & Kathryn Taback Ross & B.J. Taylor Karen Tereck Marilyn Thompson Bruce & Anne Thomson Ian R. Thomson & Leah R. Janzen Phyllis A.C. Thomson Mary E. Tibbs Mitchell D. Timmerman Malcolm & Shirley Tinsley Norma Toews W. Tretiak & B. Baydock Dr. Stephen Tritt & Dr. Sharon Goszer-Tritt Terry Tully Susan Turley Grant Tweed Robert Tyler

Suzanne Ullyot Patricia Van Doninck Fran & Bob Vannevel L. Joy Viberg Irv & Toby Vinsky Dr. & Mrs. M.B. Vodrey V. Stirling Walkes Sherry & Bob Ward Vanessa Warne Peter & Joan Washchyshyn Deanna M. Waters Al & Pat Wherrett Florence & Donald Whitmore Murray & Nancy Wiegand Trevor Wiens Arthur Williams Dennis & Gustine Wilton Paul & Jackie Winestock Mr. C. Winstone Dr. David Wiseman & Merilyn Kraut Harry & Evelyn Wray 20 Anonymous

CORPORATE DIRECTOR’S CIRCLE GUARANTOR • $5,000+ Johnston Group Inc. Qualico

BENEFACTOR • $3,000–4,999 Cambrian Credit Union Gendis Inc. & Associated Corporations Maple Leaf Construction Ltd., Blake Fitzpatrick Terracon Development Ltd.

PATRON • $1,200–2,999 Accutech Engineering Inc. Assiniboine Credit Union Bison Transport, Don Strueber Blüfish Japanese Restaurant Bockstael Construction (1979) Ltd. Canada Safeway Limited Deloitte & Touche Foundation Canada George Wakefield Foods Inc., Judy Wakefield* Maxim Truck & Trailer Ruth & Ted Northam Number TEN Architectural Group, Robert Eastwood* PRA Inc. Ranger Insurance Brokers Ltd. Royal Canadian Properties Limited, Sofa Logic, Suzi Bonk* Winmar Property Restoration

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

SPONSORS The Asper Foundation BMO Financial Group Martha Burns Calm Air Canon Cardinal Capital Management Inc. Carlyle Printers Service & Supplies Ltd. The Chipman Family Foundation CIBC CN De Luca Fine Wines Dycom Direct Mail Services Esdale Printing Co. Ltd. The Fort Garry Hotel, Spa & Conference Centre Freeman Audio Visual Canada Deborah Gray The Great-West Life Assurance Company Investors Group Lawton Partners MacDon Industries Ltd. Manitoba Liquor & Lotteries National Leasing Planned Perfectly PwC RBC Royal Bank Relish Round Table Steakhouse & Pub Stantec Consulting Ltd. Subway Franchise World Headquarters Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP Wawanesa Insurance Winnipeg Free Press

CORPORATE FRIENDS OF ROYAL MTC CONTRIBUTOR • $900–1,199 The Manitoba Teachers’ Society Mitchell Fabrics Ltd.

SUPPORTER • $600–899 Crosier Kilgour & Partners Ltd. Fillmore Riley LLP Intergroup Consultants Ltd. Manitoba’s Credit Unions NAV CANADA The North West Company Pollard Banknote Ltd. Fay & Max Reich

†Current Royal MTC staff

35

Supporters ASSOCIATE • $300–599 Cowin Steel McKenzie Convenience Store, Hyun Soo Noh Mid-West Quilting Mid West Packaging Limited Party Stuff/U-Rent-It Premier Printing Ltd.

DONOR • $150–299 DGH Engineering Ltd. Edward Carriere Leon A. Brown Ltd. MCW/AGE Consulting Professional Engineers Noble Locksmith Ltd. Patill/St. James Insurance Reitmans (Canada) Limited

TRIBUTE GIFTS Gifts received between December 1, 2014 and January 14, 2015.

In memory of Jack & Dorothy Bidewell In memory of Dr. Robert Martin – Marina Plett-Lyle; Unitarian Church Theatre Group In honour of Steven Schipper’s 25th anniversary as Artistic Director – Sandy & Deborah Riley In memory of Annice Stephens – Kerry Dangerfield; the Board of the Winnipeg Philharmonic Choir

FOUNDERS’ CIRCLE John Hirsch and Tom Hendry shared a dream of creating great professional theatre with mass appeal. With the visionary support of Founders’ Circle members – those who have made a planned gift to Royal MTC – their dream will live on for generations to come. Thank you to our Founders’ Circle members.‡ Gail Asper, OC, OM, LLD* Marjorie & Morley Blankstein* Duane & Pauline Braun Terri Cherniack & Steven Schipper, CM† Kerry Dangerfield* Edward Fisher & Lyse Rémillard James Gibbs Gary Hannaford & Cathy Rushton Maureen E. Jay Andrew & Wendy Jensen Dr. Leonard & Hope Kahane Gordon C. Keatch* Laurie Lam† & Larry Desrochers Leona J. MacDonald Barb Melnychuk Jeffrey Morton* Heather Power & Harold Klause

ENDOWMENT FUND In Honour of Artistic Director Steven Schipper

Many thanks to the generosity of our Endowment Fund donors who gave a gift or fulfilled a pledge payment between November 1, 2013 and December 31, 2014.

Amounts are cumulative. $5,000,000+ Government of Canada/ Gouvernement du Canada Canadian Heritage/ Patrimoine canadien

$250,000–499,999 Gail Asper, OC, OM, LLD* & Michael Paterson

$100,000–249,999 Morley* & Marjorie Blankstein, CM, OM, LLD Dick Bonnycastle

$50,000–99,999 Sandy & Deborah Riley Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre Volunteer Corps of Ushers

$25,000–49,999 James R. Gibbs J.K. May Investments Ltd. Donald K. Johnson, CM Johnston Group Inc. The Michael Nozick Family Foundation In memory of Doug Shewfelt Arni Thorsteinson & Susan Glass Anonymous

$10,000–24,999 The Bowles Family Gus* & Diane Campbell John F. (Jack) Fraser* Bryan Klein & Susan Halprin* The Honourable Guy J. Kroft & Hester Kroft* Cam & Carole Osler Norma Anne Padilla Lawrie & Fran Pollard Dr. Bill Pope & Dr. Elizabeth Tippett-Pope Steven Schipper, CM† & Terri Cherniack George Sigurdson Terracon Development Ltd. Darcy & Brenda Zaporzan*

$5,000–9,999 Mr. & Mrs. Kristjan & Shirley Benidickson Margaret Caie Merv & Jan Cavers Donald Fraser & Judy Little Susan & Keith Knox Rick Lee & Laurie Shapiro Garry Markham Jim* & Penny McLandress L. Blair Philpott & Tom Kynman Heather Pullan & Tom Frohlinger Wearing Williams Limited – Don & Sheila Katz In memory of Campbell Wright – Lynne Arnason Joan Wright

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members †Current Royal MTC staff ‡If you have remembered Royal MTC in your will, please let us know

36

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

Supporters $2,500–4999

$500–999

Lee & Wayne Anderson Mary Campbell Esther & Hy Dashevsky* Helene Dyck Gregg & Mary Hanson Dr. Ted & Gail Hechter Margaret & Fred Mooibroek Cheryl Ogaranko Dorothy Y. Young Anonymous

$1,000–2,499 Robert & Ina Abra Family Fund – The Winnipeg Foundation Jack Armstrong & Doris Quinn Philip Ashdown George Baldwin Doris & Burton Bass Arthur & Ken Blankstein-Ure Sheila & David Brodovsky Paul & Doreen Bromley Carol Campbell & Andy Krentz David* & Lianne Carefoot Dave & Barb Christie Pamela & Andrew Cooke Kerry Dangerfield* Bob & Alison Darling Dick & Joan Dawson Roberta Dyck Ernest Epp Michael & Lynn Evans Jean & Dennis Giguere* David & Ewhenia Gnutel John & Margaret Graham Rita Gunn* & Greg Mason Marilyn & Helios Hernandez Gary & Maureen Hunter In memory of Irene Karasick-McMurrich John Kearsey* Dr. G.H. Lawler Barbara Main Mark & Gloria Mancini Terri & Jim McKerchar Irene & the late Claire Miller In memory of Liam Murphy – Leigh Murphy Lillian Neaman* Jean & Lisa Neron Myron Pawlowsky & Susan Boulter Marina Plett-Lyle Claude & Pat Precourt Ruth Simkin Bill & Laurie Speers* Frits & Joan Stevens Melinda Tallin† & Glen Mitchell Suzanne Ullyot Faye Warren Barbara & Ken Webb Richard L. Yaffe* & John A. Statham Dr. James & Mrs. Kim Zacharias

Joan & Ed Alexander Peggy Bainard Acheson Bruce & Joyce Berry Donald & Edith Besant The Bohm Family Suzi Bonk* Ron & Joan Boyd Ruth & Kris Breckman Margaret E. Clarke Katherine Cobor & Gordon Steindel John K. & Agnes Collins Robert* & Florence Eastwood Marcia Fleisher & Kelly MacDonald Chris Freeman Brent & Debbie Gilbert Teresa A. Hay Evelyn & Larry Hecht In memory of David Landy – Edith Landy Don Lawrence Dr. Stan & Susan Lipnowski Gerry & Corinne McCallum Dr. & Mrs. Donald McInnes Vera Moroz Paul & Elaine Neelon E.M.L. Poulter Bill & Norma Rennie Amy Richmond Patricia & James Richtik Marc & Sherri Rittinger Michael T. Ruta Faye Scott Jim & Susan Shaw Howie & Sue Simpson Elaine Toms 5 Anonymous

UP TO $499 Jacqueline Anderson Margaret & Charles Avent Armand & Judy Baccus Peggy Barker Ms. Jean Bissett Dr. John Bond H.F. Bowen Brenlee Carrington Trepel & Brent Trepel Jeanetta Casselman Arthur & Donna Chow Christine H. Coltart Maxine Cristall Sharon Eadie Paulo Fernandes* Nelma Fetterman Dr. & Mrs. D.D. & B.M. Fillis Lee Finch Elizabeth Foster Carole Giesbrecht Sandy Gousseau* Karen Herd

*Current Royal MTC Board of Trustees/Advisory Board members

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

Mrs. Audrey Hilderman Dorothy Hodgson Camilla Holland† & Colin Viebrock Shawn Hughes* & Bruno Koehn Elizabeth E. Jackson Jordan Janisse & Teresa Cooper L. Kampeas Sheila & Ken Katz Mr. & Mrs. Fred Kisil Brenda* & Trevor Kriss Barbara Latocki Ms. Nancy Latocki Vi Leaney Frances Lemieux Marilyn Lindquist Sylvia L. Main Nick Martin & Dr. Evelyn Ferguson Patrick & Clarice Matthews* Keith Mayoh Anthony & Joyce McWha Marcel & Louise Mollot Marlene A. Mortimer Pat & Sherry O’Connor Theresa Oye Robb† & Heather Paterson Carolyn Porhownik Myrna Protosavage Henry & Sheila Riendeau Andrea* & Michael Robertson Evan & Audra Roitenberg Joan Sheps Vern & Ann Simonsen Eleanor Suderman Brenda Taylor Peter & Sharon Taylor Marilyn Thompson Mary & Gordon Toombs W. Tretiak & B. Baydock Tim Valgardson* Judy* & Michael Wakefield Walter & Shirley Watts Donna Webb 5 Anonymous

†Current Royal MTC staff

37

Supporting Partners CORE FUNDERS

SEASON PARTNERS

TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE SEASON SPONSOR

PRODUCTION SUPPORTER

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE PRODUCTION SPONSOR

TOM HENDRY WAREHOUSE PRODUCTION SPONSOR Chipman Family Foundation

JOHN HIRSCH MAINSTAGE PERFORMANCE SPONSORS

BACKSTAGE PASS

WORDPLAY

BENEFACTORS

Deborah Gray Martha Burns

THEATRE FOR YOUNG AUDIENCES

CORPORATE MATCHING GIFT

S T R O N G E R C O M M U N I T I E S T O G E T H E R TM

REGIONAL TOUR

CalmAir

38

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

Supporting Partners BLACK & WHITE BALL EXCLUSIVE EVENT SPONSOR

PLATINUM SPONSOR

SILVER SPONSOR

BRONZE SPONSORS Insurance Brokers and Consultants

LAWYERS PLAY

DESIGN SPONSOR

CAPITAL ASSISTANCE

2014 WINNIPEG FRINGE THEATRE FESTIVAL

S T R O N G E R C O M M U N I T I E S T O G E T H E R TM

COWARDFEST 2015

MEDIA SPONSORS

jan/feb/mar 2015

Ovation

39

Behind the Scenes Board of Trustees Honorary Members

His Honour, Lt. Governor Philip S. Lee The Honourable Greg Selinger, Premier of Manitoba His Worship, Mayor Brian Bowman Executive Officers

Jim McLandress, Chair Kerry Dangerfield, Past Chair David Carefoot, Treasurer Brenda Zaporzan, Secretary Suzi Bonk, Chair, Community Relations David Christie, Chair, Governance & Strategic Planning Patrick Green, Chair, Organizational Performance Anthony C. Fletcher, Chair, Resource Development Trustees

Heather Clarke Robert Eastwood Paulo Fernandes Sandy Gousseau Rita Gunn John Guttormson Advisory Council

Gary Hannaford, FCA, Chair Gail Asper Morley Blankstein Doneta Brotchie Angus Campbell Gerry Couture Hy Dashevsky Glen Dyrda, FCA John F. Fraser Jean Giguere

Jamie Chapman, Kim Cossette, Hunter Davis, Rylen de Vries, Caroline Graham, Jonny Hall, Elfie Harvey, Talia Kowalchuk, Tia Levine, Jessica Olson, Kayla Parke-Wilson, Amariah Peterson, Angela Rajfur, Jennifer Schmidt, April Smith, Rita Vande Vyvere, Kira Watson, Chelsea Zacharias, Derek Zorniak Maintenance

Andrew Drinnan, Building Superintendent Chris Fletcher, Assistant Building Superintendent Marketing & Communications

Hayley Brigg, Publicity & Communications Coordinator Sue Caughlin, Marketing & Communications Manager Katie Inverarity, Director of Marketing & Communications Mark Saunders, Marketing & Communications Coordinator Thomas Urish, Sales Manager Paint

Shawn Hughes John Kearsey Brenda Kriss Evan Kuz Jeff Lamothe Andrea Robertson

Laurie A. Speers Tim J. Valgardson Judy Wakefield Richard L. Yaffe

Charron Hamilton Yude Henteleff Ken Houssin Gordon Keatch Colin R. MacArthur, QC Patrick J. Matthews Jeffrey Morton, FCA Hon. Jack Murta Lillian Neaman

Shelley Nimchonok James Pappas John Petersmeyer Lawrence Prout Jeff Quinton Patricia Rabson Margaret Redmond Susan Skinner Al Snyder Maureen Watchorn

Staff Accounting/Finance

Susan Groff, Head Scenic Artist Lawrence Van Went, Scenic Artist Production

Laura Enns, Touring & Production Coordinator Ian Kirk, Assistant Technical Director Paige Lewis, Assistant Production Manager Rick MacPherson, Technical Director, Tom Hendry Warehouse Russell Martin, Director of Production Jacqueline Robertson, Interim Assistant Technical Director Ben Ross, Technical Director, John Hirsch Mainstage Properties

Larry Demedash, Senior Properties Builder Kari Hagness, Head of Properties James Sutherland, Properties Builder Stage Crew

John Bent Jr., Head of Sound Joan Lees-Miller, Head of Wardrobe Claude Robert, Head Electrician Chris Thomson, Head Carpenter John Tomiuk, House Stage Hand

Sharon Burden, Payroll Administrator Yvonne O’Connor, Accounts Payable Administrator Shelley Stroski, Controller Administration

Brian Adolph, IT Manager Jennifer Cheslock, Outreach Manager Devan Graham, Director of Human Resources Camilla Holland, General Manager Daphne MacMillan, Administrative Assistant Jennifer Skelly, IT Administrator Artistic

Jeff Kennedy, Literary Coordinator Laurie Lam, Producer Robb Paterson, Associate Artistic Director Steven Schipper, CM, Artistic Director Casey Shapira, Archives Coordinator Melinda Tallin, Artistic Coordinator Box Office

Sheena Baird, Ticketing Services Manager Laurie Fletcher, Box Office Manager Melanie Sexton, Director of Box Office Services Box Office Representatives: Katie Adamson, Laura Bergen, Gwendolyn Collins, Robyn Pooley, Tori Popp, Jessica Ross, Katie Schmidt, Caitlin Turner, Elizabeth Whitbread Carpentry

Louis Gagné, Layout Carpenter Brent Letain, Master Carpenter Chris Seida, Scenic Carpenter Development

Michael Joyal, Development Assistant Stephanie Lambert, Special & Donor Events Coordinator Shelly Smith-Hines, Director of Development Heidi Struck, Individual Giving Manager John Hirsch Mainstage Front-of-House

Deborah Gay-de Vries, Front-of-House Manager Assisted by: Sheena Baird

40

proudly sponsoring proudly sponsoring

proudly sponsoring MTC MTCMTC 204-783-9463

proudly sponsoring proudly sponso MTC MTC

204-783-9463 942 Portage Ave. • R3G 0R1 204-783-9463 942 Portage www.delucafinewines.com 942 Portage Ave. • R3GAve. 0R1 • R3G 0R1 www.delucafinewines.com www.delucafinewines.com

204-783-9463 204-783-9463 942 Portage Ave. • R3G942 0R1Portage Ave. • R3G

Behind the Scenes Tom Hendry Warehouse

Private Lives

Randy Zyla Harder, Head Electrician Rick MacPherson, Technical Director Alison Nutt, Head Carpenter Lawrence Van Went, Head Scenic Artist Michael Wright, Head of Sound Tom Hendry Warehouse Front-of-House

Kim Cossette, Front-of-House Manager Jamie Chapman, Rachael Neal, April Smith, Chelsea Zacharias Wardrobe

Thora Lamont, Acting Head of Wardrobe Lorraine O’Leary, Head of Wardrobe Lois Powne, First Hand Jackie Van Winkle, Head Buyer & Accessories Coordinator Wigs

Beverly Covert, Wigs & Makeup Supervisor Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival & Master Playwright Festival

Jennifer Cheslock, Festival Manager Chuck McEwen, Executive Producer Tori Popp, Festival Assistant Honorary Staff

Zaz Bajon, General Manager Emeritus

Additional Production Staff Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike

Heather Lee Brereton, Assistant Properties Maker Jane Buttner, Assistant Scenic Painter Chris Hadley, Carpenter Kim Hamin, Assistant Scenic Artist Norma Lachance, Sewer Sofia Lukie, Painter Barb Mackenzie, Sewer Sharon Ryman, Wig Construction Joy Willis, Sewer

Heather Lee Brereton, Assistant Properties Maker Norma Lachance, Sewer Barb Mackenzie, Sewer Paul Moore, Stage Hand Sharon Ryman, Wig Construction Burkhard Weiss, Assistant Carpenter Joy Willis, Sewer Additional crew provided by IATSE Local 63

Mirvish Productions Production and Administrative Staff

David Mirvish, Producer Brian Sewell, Executive Producer Linda Intaschi, Associate Producer David Mucci, Managing Director Sarah Sisko, Assistant Producer Scot Whitham, Director of Production Charles Chu, Associate General Manager Hannah Mirvish, General Management Associate Camillo Casciato, Director of Finance Josie DiLuzio, IT Manager John Karastamatis, Director of Communications Mark Lavaway, Director of Labour Relations/Business Development Jim Valentine, Director of Sales Chris Dorscht, Senior Marketing Manager Sue Toth, Communications Manager J. Randy Alldread, Public Relations Manager Laurel Purvis, Assistant to David Mirvish

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and the Manitoba Bar Association present the 2015 Lawyers Play Proceeds from this fundraising play benefit Royal MTC.

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY WILLIAM FINN

MAY 5–9, 2015

BOOK BY RACHEL SHEINKIN

CONCEIVED BY REBECCA FELDMAN ADDITIONAL MATERIAL BY JAY REISS ORIGINALLY DIRECTED ON BROADWAY BY JAMES LAPINE ORIGINALLY PRODUCED ON BROADWAY BY DAVID STONE, JAMES L. NEDERLANDER, BARBARA WHITMAN, PATRICK CATULLO, BARRINGTON STAGE COMPANY, SECOND STAGE THEATRE

RIOTOUSLY FUNNY – THE NEW YORK TIMES

T H E 2 5 t h A N N UA L P U T N A M CO U N T Y

PRESENTING SPONSOR

SILVER SPONSOR

WINE SPONSOR

DESIGN SPONSOR

RECEPTION SPONSORS

TICKETS $100 (includes wine, post-show reception & a $70 tax receipt) ON SALE NOW CALL 204 942 6537 ROYALMTC.CA/LAWYERSPLAY

Master Playwright Festival

JA N UA RY 2 8 – F E B RUA RY 1 5 CELEBRATING THE LIFE AND WORK OF NOËL COWARD

“My body has certainly wandered a good deal, but I have an uneasy suspicion that my mind has not wandered enough.”

“Star quality: I don’t know what it is, but I’ve got it.”

THE BEST WAY TO EXPLORE NOËL COWARD’S BODY OF WORK IS TO BUY A FESTIVAL PASS FOR $85. SINGLE TICKETS START AT ONLY $10. FOR PLAYWRIGHT BIO, TICKET INFORMATION AND SHOW SCHEDULES, PLEASE VISIT ROYALMTC.CA/MPF.

presented by

42

Ovation

jan/feb/mar 2015

PHOTOS OF NOËL COWARD COURTESY OF THE NOËL COWARD FOUNDATION

The 15th annual Master Playwright Festival shines the spotlight on the genius of Noël Coward. Known as a playwright, composer, director, actor and singer, Coward was multi-talented and the festival celebrates this diversity. Festival-goers will get the chance to enjoy some of his most famous stage plays, such as Blithe Spirit, Hay Fever, Fallen Angels and Royal MTC’s production of Private Lives. Other highlights include film screenings, readings, a music revue and the ever-popular lecture series.

CAR O LY N PASSION FOR PHOTOGRAPHY // GRADE 9

LOVE TO

CREATE? D O I T. AT T H E C O L L E G I AT E

HIG H SCH OOL AT UN IVE RSI TY

COLLEGIATE.uwInnIpEG.CA

Let Bygones Be Bygones

204-975-0505 Mobile on-site shredding.

速

www.jwm.mb.ca