14 minute read
CAST & CREATIVE TEAM
JAKE BUNYAN CHARLIE LUTHER MASON
theatre calgary debut. Jake is a Calgary-based stage, screen, and voice actor who is excited to be making his professional theatre debut at Theatre Calgary. theatre credits (selected): Session, Wayward, Home to McMillen, Peter Pan, The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (CYPT); Shakespeare’s Dog, Spoon River Anthology (Central Memorial PVA). He has trained extensively at 6 Degrees Studios, along with Company of Rogues, and is currently a student in the PVA program at Central Memorial High School. Jake would like to thank Jamie Dunsdon for all of the learning, support and friendship, and his parents for putting up with him as well as offering their amazing support. Enjoy the show!
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ANNA CUMMER GINNIE PETERS
for theatre calgary: A Christmas Carol (2018-19), Noises Off, Twelfth Night, The Shoplifters, Pride & Prejudice. selected credits include: The 39 Steps, Wait Until Dark, The Mousetrap, The Game’s Afoot, Vintage Hitchcock, and Gaslight (Vertigo); Slipper: A Distinctly Calgarian Cinderella Story (ATP); Macbeth (The Shakespeare Company); Book Club and Book Club 2 (Lunchbox); Sextet, Lungs, and The Wolves (Verb Theatre); Tomorrow’s Child (Ghost River); and In The Wake (Downstage/ Calgary Children’s Festival). Thank you to Craig, Olive, and Aubrey for all their love and support and to Jamie for the invitation to go on this wild ride.
RACHEL JONES SHERRI ROSEN MASON
theatre calgary debut. Originally from Prince Edward Island, Rachel has performed across Canada with companies including Soulpepper (La Bete), Canadian Stage (Hamlet, All’s Well That Ends Well), the Blyth Festival Theatre (In the Wake of Wettlaufer, Cakewalk), Theatre New Brunswick (The 39 Steps), The Grand Theatre in London (A Christmas Carol, A Christmas Story, The Black Bonspiel of Wullie McCrimmon, A Streetcar Named Desire, 10 seasons of the Playwrights Cabaret), the Saint Lawrence Shakespeare Festival (Antony and Cleopatra, The Three Musketeers) and the Globe Theatre (Cinderella). Love and thanks to Bruce and Aidan, who are everything.
CURT MCKINSTRY BILL MASON
for theatre calgary: Beyond Eden, Crimes of the Heart, Macbeth, Saint Joan, A Christmas Carol (1998-2000, 2011), Sherlock Holmes. Curt is excited to be back at TC, collaborating on this beautiful production with such a talented team. selected credits include: Hamlet (The Shakespeare Company); Blackbird, Sextet (Verb Theatre); Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse, The Thin Man, Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem, The Lonely Diner, The Big Sleep, Calamity Town (Vertigo); The Wedding Party, Rabbit Hole (ATP); Book Club 2, The Exquisite Hour, Let the Light of Day Through (Lunchbox); Mesa, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (Globe). film/tv credits include: Wynonna Earp, Heartland, Radiant City, The Suburbanators. Curt is a two time Betty Mitchell Award recipient for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Drama.
VALERIE ANN PEARSON ROBERTA
for theatre calgary: To Kill A Mockingbird, An Ideal Husband, Counsellor at Law, The Sisters Rosensweig, The Fantasticks, Waiting for the Parade, Country Hearts, A Streetcar Named Desire. Val is enjoying a return to the stage this season, in The Tempest for the Shakespeare Company and now Admissions. Her most recent work was directing Crossing Swords for Forte Musical Theatre and Storybook, Newfoundland Mary for Lunchbox, and Us, Ring of Fire, The Buddy Holly Story, and Becky’s New Car for The Globe Theatre. Val lives in Calgary with her husband of 52 years, Pat.
JOSHUA HARMON PLAYWRIGHT
for theatre calgary: Bad Jews. Joshua Harmon’s plays include Bad Jews (Roundabout Underground; Roundabout/Laura Pels; West End), Significant Other (Roundabout; Broadway/Booth Theatre), Admissions (Lincoln Center Theater; West End), and Skintight (Roundabout). His plays have been produced across the United States at Studio Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, Speakeasy, Actor’s Express, The Magic, and Theater Wit, among others, and internationally in Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Israel, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, and throughout the U.K. He is a two-time MacDowell fellow, under commission at Manhattan Theatre Club, and an Associate Artist at Roundabout.
JAMIE DUNSDON DIRECTOR
theatre calgary debut. Jamie is a Calgary-based director, playwright, and creator as well as the Artistic Director of Verb Theatre and the Artistic Producer of Calgary Young People’s Theatre. selected directing credits include: Deathtrap (Vertigo); The Tempest (The Shakespeare Company); The Wolves (Verb Theatre/CYPT); Blackbird, Sextet, Lungs, The Dandelion Project, NOISE, Marg Szkaluba: Pissy’s Wife, Jim Forgetting, (Verb Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (The Grand Theatre); The Nutcracker, Unity 1918, Macbeth, Village of Idiots, Richard III, The Lost Prince, A Little Princess (CYPT); Bridge to Terabithia (Storybook). Upcoming: Blink and Grounded at Verb Theatre in April-May, 2020.
ANDY MORO SET DESIGN
for theatre calgary: Honour Beat. Moro is a mixed Euro/Omushkegowuk (Cree) artist and co-founding Artistic Director of ARTICLE 11 with Tara Beagan. ARTICLE 11’s newest work, Deer Woman, met critical acclaim internationally. ARTICLE 11 presented Room, a performative installation in the Engineered Air Theatre and at the historic “Aud” Hotel in Nanton for the Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society. Moro most recently designed Beagan’s The Ministry of Grace for the Belfry Theatre, Marie Clement’s Unnatural and Accidental Women for the NAC, Missing for Pacific Opera Victoria, and Savage Society’s Skyborn at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. Upcoming is SkyDancers for Montreal’s A’no:wara Dance Theatre, honouring 33 Mohawk steelworkers from Kahnawake lost in the Quebec bridge disaster.
VICTORIA KRAWCHUK COSTUME DESIGN
theatre calgary debut. Victoria received a BFA in Theatre Design at University of Alberta in 2013. recent credits include: costume design for The Grandstand Show 2015-2020 (The Calgary Stampede); costume design for The Tempest, Julius Caesar, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet (The Shakespeare Company); costume design for Snow White, Peter Pan and set design for Wayward, Grounded (Calgary Young People’s Theatre); costume design for Miracle on 34th Street, Our Town (Rosebud Theatre); costume design and mentorship for Central Memorial’s Performing Arts Program since 2015.
SCOTT REID LIGHTING DESIGN
for theatre calgary (selected): A Christmas Carol (1999, 2019), Billy Elliot the Musical, Mom’s The Word: For Crying Out Loud, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, A Raisin in the Sun, Sherlock Holmes, Crimes of the Heart, Romeo and Juliet, Gaslight. selected design credits: Disgraced, The New Canadian Curling Club, The Virgin Trial, The Last Wife, 1979 (ATP); Strangers on a Train, Dracula: The Bloody Truth, The Thin Man, The Lonely Diner, Nine Dragons, The Drowning Girls (Vertigo); Eugene Onegin, South Pacific, Die Tote Stadt (Calgary Opera); Our Canada, Class Acts (Alberta Ballet); Better Get Hit in Your Soul, Modern Vaudevillians, Juliet and Romeo (DJD). Scott has also designed for such companies as Quest Theatre, Lunchbox, and The Shakespeare Company.
JANE MACFARLANE VOICE & DIALECT COACH
for theatre calgary: More than 60 productions since 2000 including The Louder We Get, Noises Off, Iceland, Billy Elliot The Musical, The Scarlet Letter, Mary and Max – A New Musical, Honour Beat, The Secret Garden, Twelfth Night, The Audience, Skylight, Bad Jews, The Crucible, 8 seasons of Shakespeare by the Bow, and 16 years of A Christmas Carol. Jane has also worked with ATP, is the Voice & Dialect Consultant for Vertigo Theatre and the Voice & Text Coach for The Shakespeare Company. She has taught at such institutions as York University, Harvard University, Southern Methodist Universvity, MRU, UofA, and is currently teaching in the Drama Division in the School of Creative & Performing Arts at UCalgary.
KERRY JOHNSON STAGE MANAGER
for theatre calgary: ASM – A Christmas Carol (2019), Liberation Days, Mary Poppins (Citadel co-pro). select sm and asm credits include: The Wedding Party, Zorro: Family Code, The Virgin Trial, Charlotte’s Web, The Last Wife (ATP); The Party, Peter and the Starcatcher, A Christmas Carol (Citadel Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, Hamlet, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Love’s Labour’s Lost (Freewill Shakespeare Festival); Ursa Major (Catch the Keys/Workshop West); and Christina/Phillipe (Northern Light Theatre). Kerry is a graduate of the BFA Stage Management program at the University of Alberta and the Theatre Arts Program at MacEwan University. Big love to Barry!
OLIVER ARMSTRONG ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGER
theatre calgary debut. Oliver has been a stage and production manager for 20 years and is elated to join the Theatre Calgary family. Most recently he production managed One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo. Oliver stage managed The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Dracula, Love Lies Bleeding, Caelestis, Fumbling Towards Ecstasy, In the Upper Room, Vigil of Angels, Sleeping Beauty, and Up Close for Alberta Ballet, and he has managed a variety of venues and productions at the Calgary Stampede since 2005. He has also worked with ATP and Calgary Opera. Oliver has taught Stage Management at the University of Alberta and Ryerson University. He’d like to thank his partner Daniel and his friends and family for their ongoing love and support.
DAVID SKLAR TC MENTEE - DIRECTING
for theatre calgary: Actor – Bad Jews. David is an actor/playwright who divides his time between Montreal and Calgary. He is a graduate of theatre from Dawson College and the Bristol Old Vic and holds a BFA in playwriting from Concordia University. Crazy Love, his first play, was published in an anthology entitled Out on a Limb. David was artist-in-residence at the Jerusalem Theatre Company, Shakespeare-in-the-Rough, and he assistant directed the Canadian Badland’s Passion Play. He has acted at the Montreal Shakespeare Theatre Company, Humber River Shakespeare, ATP, Lunchbox, Theatre BSMT, and Theatre NorthWest. David recently ended five years of touring the Dora Award nominated and META Award winner, Jabber, by Marcus Youssef. Many thanks to Jamie, the cast, crew and creative team at TC.
“the rbc mentorship program provided me an invaluable opportunity to not only be in the same room as professional artists but also the chance to let me speak up and share my perspective. the program provides a unique, behind-the-scenes experience that is a springboard to the next stage
in my theatre practice.” - david sklar
proudly supported by the rbc foundation, tc mentors gives artists on-the-job training and acts as a link between independent theatre practices and the established theatre world. mentees may be emerging artists or more experienced artists who desire the knowledge of working in an a professional theatre.
for ‘admissions’, we are pleased to welcome david sklar as our directing mentee.
jake bunyan talks about his debut role with theatre calgary, and how admissions has made him question privilege and power.
Jake Bunyan has taken on a trifecta that most 17 year olds would find daunting; he’s making his debut performance on the Theatre Calgary stage, taken on his first lead role with a professional theatre company, while also balancing the demands of his senior year at Central Memorial High School. But he’s embracing the challenge by focusing on the opportunity and what lies ahead in his budding career.
Jake began acting in junior high drama, and was hooked from that point forward. A student of the Central Memorial Performing & Visual Arts program and a member of Calgary Young People’s Theatre, Jake has now performed in more than 12 productions. These experiences have culminated to a milestone in his career in theatre so far, and a chance to take on a challenging role.
Jake is the same age and the same stage of life as his character, so he’s able to identify with Charlie, drawing on his own experiences as a student and a young person working towards the next chapter of his life.
“We (Charlie and I) are both passionate, have loving families, we’ve been provided a good education, and we’ve both been given opportunities to pursue our interests,” shared Jake. “I’ve been able to take a good look at myself and how I address certain situations and bring that to my role as Charlie.”
Beyond the experience of working with the Theatre Calgary creative team on this award-winning play, he also reflects that the play itself has shifted his perspective, making him more aware of his own privilege and position, and how the themes and situations presented in this play are a reality in today’s society.
“Admissions has really opened my eyes. This isn’t an issue that presents itself in my day-to-day life, because I am a white man. But as we’ve worked through this show and really figured our characters out, it’s become apparent that the idea of white privilege really does affect us all whether we know it or not. This show has made me question that privilege and has also made me take a step back and look at how all these situations present themselves in our society.”
JAKE BUNYAN DURING REHEARSALS FOR ADMISSIONS
With raising the curtain on this provocative and dark comedy, Jake looks forward to the reaction from Calgarians, and the conversations that will ensue.
“For me, this show is really unique. Part of why I love it is the fact that it targets its intended audience. Everyone is going to be able to find something they connect with, and everyone is also going to find something they disagree with. Maybe why it does such a good job is that it makes its audience a little uncomfortable. I hope everyone who sees this show is as affected as I am, and I hope it starts a lot of
conversations. Conversations that I think wouldn’t take place without that level of discomfort.”
After taking a year off between high school and post-secondary, Jake hopes to further pursue his career in the arts, exploring different facets of theatre like production and design, as well as continue gaining experience in T.V. and film.
by heather oliver
admissions director jamie dunsdon tells us why this play is important now more than ever.
Local Admissions director, Jamie Dunsdon, has been in the professional theatre scene for most of her life. Jamie has been making waves in the local arts community since 2009, both as the Founding Artistic Director of Verb Theatre and as the Artistic Producer at Calgary Young People’s Theatre. Admissions marks her directorial debut on the Theatre Calgary stage, which she feels is a new “high point” in her career this far.
Jamie received the Admissions script in the fall of 2018, and that is where her process as director began, which encompasses reading the script repeatedly to immerse herself in the story and characters, and to identify the areas where she needs to do more research. “In the early days, I’m looking at the experience I want to offer the audience. What story am I telling? Whose story is it? How does the play function? I get to know the script very well, so when I start working with the creative and production teams, I’m well-equipped.”
oscar wilde
And as far as the story goes, audiences can expect to be confronted and uncomfortable. Jamie says rather than leaving audiences with a moral of the story, the play provokes the audience to question themselves, their thoughts on privilege and power, and what our responsibilities are to continue to foster diversity in our society.
JAMIE DUNSDON (DIRECTOR) AND JAKE BUNYAN DURING REHEARSALS FOR ADMISSIONS
While Jamie doesn’t want to tell people how they will think or feel when they see the play, she believes the first half of the play will confront people with some things they may have felt, possibly dark things they may have secretly felt. Or depending on the person, things they still feel, depending on their political standing. She expects that audience members may change their minds multiple times throughout the show about who they sympathize or empathize with. But at its core, the play is a satire, and regardless of your beliefs or political views, she expects people will laugh and be delighted by this smart, witty and complex story.
“This play has a little bit of laughter and love, and people understand those things regardless of where they see themselves on the political spectrum. “I hope they can laugh and love together in the same space, and that it brings them a little closer together in these deeply divided times.”
by heather oliver
