Scenofest Performances

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Astrolabe – Whakaterenga seeks to reimagine our perception of body, space and time with the support of digital technologies. Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts present an expanded cinema journey augmented by live dance and taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instruments) in a one-of-a-kind live stream from Aotearoa New Zealand. Audiences will experience realms inspired by ancient star maps and navigation charts, with live performances from Nancy Wijohn (tāngata whenua), Christina Guieb, Alistair Fraser and Daniel Belton.

Featured digital-film performers also include Janessa Dufty (Australia/NZ), Xiao Ke and ZiHan (China), Christina Guieb (Philippines/NZ) and Jill Goh (Singapore/NZ). The Soundscore includes the late Dr Richard Nunns (taonga pūoro), Soundislands duo Joyce Beetuan Koh with PerMagnus Lindborg, and Jac Grenfell with Belton.

GCA’s livestream team is supported by Stuart Foster and Massey University College of Creative Arts.

https://www.goodcompanyarts.com/

COMPANY:

Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Daniel Belton
• Alistair Fraser
• Christina Guieb

CREW:

• Stuart Foster
• Donnine Belton

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Breaking the Lens is a design-driven performance that visually explores the experience of female characters in the horror film genre. Through design, we symbolize and deconstruct horror tropes of victimhood, villainization of female bodies, exploitation, and female agency. Audiences are taken on a campy ghost tour through four distinct scenic environments inspired by iconic horror films. Our performance responds to the treatment of women in film through interactive set design, wearable art, immersive music, and projected short films. Using exaggerated imagery, stylized gore, and fantastical visuals, we satirize the male gaze and re-contextualize horror films through a feminist lens.

COMPANY:

Women in Horror Collaborative

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Eleanor Nielsen
• Agustine Scarpa
• Reagan Benett

CREW:

• Taylor MacGillivray
• Chloe Nguyen-Drury

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

“Bury The Wren” is a cutting-edge exploration of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and ‘Carbon Reality’ (live performance). Co-created by a theatre designer and a creative technologist, it is a multi-sensory experience, investigating themes of female erasure and the retelling of Canadian stories, “Bury The Wren” focuses on the true-life tale of the massacre of the Donnelly family in rural Ontario in 1880. Annie Donnelly and her husband Robert survived, and lived among the murderers who were never brought to justice. Through the untold female perspective of this historical event, “Bury The Wren” exhumes the voice of Annie Donnelly from the grave of history.

COMPANY:

Playground Studios / Razorback Media

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Beth Kates
• Neil Christensent
• Valerie Planche
• Kristen Padayas
• Maggie Kwong
• Doriane Irakoze
• Robert Laflamme – Head of Wardrobe

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

A curated choice of 14 short plays about climate change will be performed in the quad. The stories range from the hilarious to the terrifying. These plays are chosen from the 2021 Climate Change Theatre Action (CCTA) collection of 5-minute plays about Climate Change.

About CCTA: Every other year, 50 professional playwrights, representing all inhabited continents as well as several cultures and Indigenous nations, are commissioned to write five-minute plays about an aspect of the climate crisis.
http://www.climatechangetheatreaction.com/about/

For more CCTA connections see the exhibition at the cSPACE hallway gallery:
https://app.propared.com/p/reports/54897/OPebhVpCE2VnsTTbVGSiFF5eQQfpxecx1DbiQi8GM

COMPANY:

CCTA in partnership with UCalgary Office of Sustainability and Downstage Theatre

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Clare Preuss – Director
• Naomi Essau – Stage Manager
• Katriona Dunn – Designer
• Precious Akpoguma – Actor
• Stephanie Bessala – Actor
• Maggie Kwong – Actor
• Mike Tan – Actor

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

The concept of our performance is the everyday dressing up as a routine. After sleeping, it’s time to get up and get dressed. In our show, putting on socks, putting on trousers and hats becomes a game. Which hole the right leg goes in, and which one the other leg goes in? One shoe, another shoe – I pulled it the wrong way, I’ll start again. The Dress-up Adventure, well-known for every child, is presented using the language of dance and movement art, as well as creative costumes spiced up with a lot of humour.

COMPANY:

Góbi Dance Company / Fruzsina Nagy

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Fruzsina Nagy
• Rita Góbi

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Formations by Canadian playwright Meg Braem details the stories of four under-recognized female scientists and their discoveries, how the role of gender influenced their practice, and how history recorded – or forgot them. Come explore the lives of Marie Tharpe (1920-2006/ ocean cartographer), Eunice Foote (1819-1898/ atmospheric warming), Dollie Radler Hall (1897-1995/ discovery of oil using seismic energy), and Florence Bascom (1862-1945/ Geoscience educator).

This production is a collaboration between the University of Calgary’s Department of Drama & Geoscience.

Funding for this production has been provided by Tamaratt Teaching Professorship, Office of Vice-President Research (VPR) and the Faculty of Arts.

COMPANY:

University of Calgary

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Christine Brubaker (Director/ Producer)
• Eden Middleton (Dramaturge/ Stage Manager)
• April Viczko (Production Designer)
• Camryn Hathaway (Assistant Director)
• Bonnie Garland (Costume Design Associate)
• Katriona Dunn (Production Design Assistant)
• Kat Armstrong (Marie/ Ensemble)
• Stephanie Bessala (Dollie/ Ensemble)
• Doriane Irakoze (Florence/ Ensemble)
• Alexa McGinn (Eunice/ Ensemble)

CREW:

• Jason Schwarz
• Patrick Marchand
• Scarlett Hutchison
• Sabrena Shah Baigzada
• Bonnie Garland
• Maya Rothstein
• Alyssa Niedzielski
• Tia Choy

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

“Hunden Bakom Mannen” is a new performance by Losti Collective about the 97 Greenlandic sled dogs who were the first dogs to set their paws on the South Pole.

In 1909 two men had the same idea: to be the first humans to walk on the South Pole. One of the men was a British naval officer, named Robert Falcon Scott, and the other man was the Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen. The two men and their respective teams began to compete for time and raced in the direction of the South Pole as the media back home watched.

Scott, the British man, tried reaching his goal by using horses and primitive snowmobiles and subsequently died trying. Amundsen, the Norwegian, got the help of Greenlandic sled dogs to transport him towards the South Pole, a goal that he reached on the 15th of December in 1911. However, this is not the story of these men.

This is the story of the 97 dogs upon whom Amundsen based his victory.

COMPANY:

Losti Collective

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Authors and performers: Selma Reynisdóttir & Hallveig Kristín Eiríksdóttir
• Costumes: Ella Snellman
• Lighting Design: Pyry Pakkala Petterberg
• Composer: Eygló Höskuldsdóttir Viborg
• Dramaturge: Gígja Sara Björnsson
• Scenography: Oscar Dempsey
• Guidance and lecture on the Greenlandic Sled Dog: Pipaluk Lykke
• Photography: Gunnlöð Jóna Rúnarsdóttir & Helen Korpak

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

“Iniskim: Return of the Buffalo” is an intercultural, immersive, outdoor performance employing lantern-design, puppetry, drumming, and traditional Blackfoot stories and songs. It chronicles the plight of the Buffalo in North America, the Indigenous people who depended on them, and our collective celebration of the return of bison into the natural environment. A gathering of First Nation and non-First Nation artists, “Iniskim” sparks discussion about what it means to be a community, and creates a space for healing and light. Here the Buffalo is our teacher and guides us to know ourselves through the land – it is a story of hope.

Accessibility:
The performance experience of Iniskim includes a walk down a forest path and over some uneven terrain, in the dark with only dim light. While this path has been vetted and deemed safe it should be noted that people with mobility issues may choose not to participate in this part of the experience – in this case these audience members will be taken directly to a viewing area for the second part of the performance. If you require mobility assistance for this event please indicate your needs upon arrival at the venue and please contact our Accessibility Coordinator, Cassie Holmes (Cassiopeia.holmes@ucalgary.ca).

COMPANY:

Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Amethyst First Rider
• Leroy Little Bear
• Olivia Tail Feathers
• Troy Emery Twigg

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Eight artists immerse themselves in the stories of the land we live on to create this beautiful and powerful collage of short films directed by Michelle Thrush and Sandi Somers.

Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society brought 8 artists together to immerse themselves in theatre creation techniques inspired by the land we call Calgary. They wrote, listened, danced, and played together under the guidance of a cadre of veteran artists and Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers to create this collage of short films. Under the direction of Sandi Somers and Michelle Thrush, these artists speak from the heart to the land we live on.

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Join Michelle Thrush, Neil Fleming, and other Making Treaty 7 Artists and Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers for a talkback following the screening of Istotsi: The Land We Live On.

Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society:
Vision – Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society is dedicated to Indigenous artistic expression.
Mission – Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society exists to transfer Indigenous knowledge through story.
Mandate – The mandate of MT7 Cultural Society is to bring to life the promise of Treaty 7 – using contemporary arts and performance to tell inspiring stories that educate, entertain, and forge relationships across cultures and generations.

History – Treaty 7 is one of a family of numbered treaties signed between Canada’s First Nations and Queen Victoria between 1871 and 1921. Treaty 7 paved the way for the peaceful settlement of the Province of Alberta.
https://www.makingtreaty7.com/

PRESENTERS:

• Michelle Thrush
• Neil Fleming
• Making Treaty 7 Artists
• Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Maamawi – Together Through the Fire is an original work by Anishinaabe choreographer Olivia C. Davies and digital artist, Athomas Goldberg, for indigenous and non-indigenous dancers with visual design by Joshua Mangeshig Pawis-Steckley, music by Michael Red, and costumes by Raven John. It is based on the stories of the “8th Fire Prophecy” as shared by Anishinaabe elder, Gloria May Eshkibok. This innovative new performance combines traditional first nations teachings with advanced media technologies, including motion-capture, digital projection and virtual reality, bridging the past, present and future, in an examination of our complex shared history and collective hopes for a better tomorrow.

COMPANY:

Peppers’ Ghost New Media Collective / O.Dela Arts

PRESENTERS:

• Athomas Goldberg (Co-Creator, VR Experience)
• Olivia C. Davies (Co-Creator, Choreographer/Performer)
• Sophie Dow (Dance Artist)
• Daisy Thompson (Dance Artist)
• Jonathan Kim (Lighting Designer / Technical Director)

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Every light has a story of its own.

There´s not a single world for us all to experience. Mareld travels through the layers of the sea, it begins from familiar humanity to end with otherness of an single-celled organism. What does unicellularity feel like? The dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii displays a phenomenon of bioluminescence. 77 million years old “ancient pixel” is not visible to the naked eye yet its light can be seen.

Mareld is a torrent of kinaesthesia, light art, darkness and subaquatic time warp and it combines dance, algae and circus elements. It is designed with an ecological mindset.

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Mareld: Science and Art as a Starting Point

The discussion includes how Fern Orchestra makes research visible using art as a medium. Scientific knowledge can sometimes be challenging to convey to a non-expert. One of the goals is to bring novel scientific understanding closer to the general public.

Mareld was made using principles of sustainability, and wants to state that man is not in the centre of everything.

Most often, there is a human and humanity at the centre of theatre performances, but Mareld is a piece of darkness art that hot spots the invisible superheroes of the sea: photosynthetic algae and organisms.

COMPANY:

Fern Orchestra

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Ilona Salonen
• Timo Tamminen

CREW:

• Vespa Laine
• Markus Heino
• Samuel Salminen
• Conny Sjöqvist

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Odditorio is an interactive art installation inspired by the story Sweeney Todd. It brings together Troy’s interests in immersion, spectatorship, wonder, and the merging of historical and contemporary technologies. Combining installation art, puppetry, media, and performance, Odditorio re-envisions several outcast characters as members of a freakshow in an amusement park. He merges the carnivalesque with steam punk to expose the mechanics of movement in the environment. Four-characters become oddity dolls, built from found objects/toys and inhabit their own cabinet of wonder. Collectively, these cabinets pivot, open, break apart and store objects that he uses to build an evocative installation landscape. Troy, as the creator/artist, will animate objects and space, like a puppeteer, with support of his collaborators, during in two performative events for audiences. The artists explore the use of live feed layered with pre-recorded video from rehearsal to skew perception of reality, time and space. This performance is two fold, a thirty minute immersive performance and then a twenty minute audience interaction piece where the spectators manipulated and discovered moments in the artwork, which triggered my collaborators to play music, project video and/or interact with them to encourage active participation.

INSTALLATION DESCRIPTION:

Odditorio is an interactive art installation inspired by the story Sweeney Todd. It brings together Troy’s interests in immersion, spectatorship, wonder, and the merging of historical and contemporary technologies. Combining installation art, puppetry, media, and performance, Odditorio re-envisions several outcast characters as members of a freakshow in an amusement park. He merges the carnivalesque with steam punk to expose the mechanics of movement in the environment. Four-characters become oddity dolls, built from found objects/toys and inhabit their own cabinet of wonder. Collectively, these cabinets pivot, open, break apart and store objects that he uses to build an evocative installation landscape.

Viewers are encouraged to investigate the installation fully and discover all the details which provide a further glimpse into each of the characters. They will be immersed in a video and soundscape which will highlight various parts of the devised narrative inherent in the artwork. One of the collaborators will always be in the space to discuss the work with attendees.

COMPANY:

Troy Hourie | Scenographer | Installation Artist

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Troy Hourie | Installation Artist | Creator | Puppeteer
• Andrew Gaboury | Movement Specialist | Clown
• enVide neFelibata | Oddity Doll and Cabinet Art Specialist
• Ryan Ahlers | Composer | Sound Artist
• Costa Soutos | Associate Media Artist
• Ben Rosenberg | Associate Sound Artist
• Yvan Castonguay | Associate Costume Artist

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Persephone is an interdisciplinary project where theatre, visual arts, and stop-motion cinema meet. This performance takes shape through human-sized puppets and the use of masks, objects manipulation and video projections.

Revisiting the Greek myth, the protagonist Persephone has a double identity. She first bears the name Kore meaning “the maiden”. She lives with her mother, the goddess Demeter. The performance relates Kore’s departure to the world of Hades, the god of the Underworld. Far from each other, mother and daughter face metamorphoses. Their bodies change like the cycle of the seasons. Intended for a teenager as well as an adult audience, Persephone’s visual dramaturgy questions the transmission from mother to daughter.

COMPANY:

Emilie Racine | Territoire 80

PRESENTER/ CAST::

Emilie Racine

CREW:

• Kristelle Delorme
• Matthieu Bonnier

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Recess Time: Calgary

Recess Time: Calgary “By gaining a new perspective on discarded produce, we can all play a part in reducing food waste!” — Vanessa, Reviewer (Goodyfeed)

Hear good stories, eat good stories! Recess Time: Calgary is a travelling “ugly produce” communal dining experience that combines cooking, conversation and storytelling for a meal unlike any other!

Centring “food waste management” as a means for cross-cultural exchange, this unforgettable experience invites participants to reflect on their culinary traditions over a two-course meal.

Each course consists of a family recipe from a migrant homecook living in Calgary and a matching Singaporean dish – adapted to feature native ingredients and salvaged produce. Mealtime conversations are facilitated and documented by roaming interviewers, known as “kaypoh (busybody) kings/queens”.

COMPANY:

Practice Tuckshop (The Theatre Practice, Singapore)

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Gloria Ang Xiao Ting
• Sim Xin Yi
• Joey Cheng
• Kuo Jian Hong
• Rena Lew

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

RINGS | PROFIT | FALLING | CHARCOAL

scene r-eco-ver is a multimedia love letter to California — a devised dance performance for three dancers in an evolving landscape of paper — a ‘choreographic anthropocene’ interpreting the climate catastrophes of Northern California resulting from linear, human processes that override cyclical, natural processes.

How do we juggle the eco-scenographic paradox of existing in an age of deforestation, combustion, and erosion that longs for renewal and relief?

https://www.instagram.com/scene_recover

https://www.scene-recover.com

COMPANY:

scene r-eco-ver dance

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş — Choreographer
• Hamilton Guillén — Art Director
• Sunhi Willa Keller — Dancer
• Lauryn Pinard — Dancer
• Giada Palmisano — Dancer
• Aimee Gwynne — Videographer
• Camilla Dely — Costume Designer
• Michael Wall — Composer
• Fabiano do Nascimento — Musician
• Jade Lien — Animation Designer

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Sound Kitchen is an opportunity for selected sound designers and composers who work in live theatre to publicly present or perform their work in a listening-friendly space. Sound Kitchen builds an inclusive international community amongst sound designers and is an opportunity for designers to learn about current trends and methods being used by other designers around the world. It is also a fun and enjoyable event for WSD attendees and is an opportunity for non-sound people to learn about sound design. This event is free and open to all.

Sound kitchen performances and discussions will occur between 2pm and 5pm each day on the hour and half hour. For updated performance descriptions and times, please visit https://tinyurl.com/SoundKitchen2022 which will have the most up-to-date information.

COMPANY:

OISTAT Sound Design Sub-commission

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

This summer, Wagonstage, Calgary’s favourite children’s and family theatre company, is bringing you a new play about pollinators – those tiny but important creatures who are critical to the health of our entire ecosystem. Bee-trayal by Clem Martini features bees, wasps and hummingbirds in a hilarious and interactive performance where our creatures vie for the top spot as Pollinator Extraordinaire (hint: moral of the story, they’re all really good at what they do – we need everyone to create a healthy and sustainable world). Each show will conclude with a call to action for our audience members to bee-come a citizen scientist and contribute your findings to the Calgary Pollinator Count. https://ucalgary.ca/sustainability/our-sustainable-campus/bee-campus/bee-citizen-scientist

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

What Happened to You? Is a family production, featuring award-winning puppets. Designer Nikki Charlesworth challenges the fundamental laws of traditional puppetry creating puppets that move as she moves.

Follow Little Red, Noodles and Bo, three raggedy puppets, trying to get through the day. Ahead of them lies a mountain of challenges. They persevere, finding creative ways to overcome their impassable surroundings, confronting the prejudices disabled children face. This show highlights the importance of access and inclusion and promotes the endless opportunities once barriers are removed.

What Happened to You? Features creative use of Audio Description, embedded into an original score and has been re-rehearsed especially for WSD to include International Sign Language.

COMPANY:

Nikki Charlesworth Productions

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Nikki Charlesworth – Puppeteer/Performer
• Robyn Olivia – Puppeteer/Performer
• Mia Ward – Performer and British/International Sign Language translator
• Bryony McCombie Smith – Puppeteer/Performer

CREW:

Patricia Davenport – Company Stage Manager/Sound Technician

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Collider is an ongoing research and development process investigating the storytelling and movement potential of live, immersive theatre in virtual reality, using the SocialVR platform AltspaceVR. The project builds on an emerging trend toward live theatre in VR begun by Tender Claw’s The Under Presents: Tempest and Double Eye Studio’s Loveseat and Finding Pandora X. Collider’s first explorations began in April 2021, when an ensemble of six actors from Ontario and British Columbia gathered remotely using Oculus Quest headsets, in Single Thread’s virtual rehearsal hall. Now in its second research phase, Single Thread Theatre Company is thrilled to present its latest findings through Collider at the 2022 Summerworks Lab and World Stage Design Scenofest. Join the Collider team in an abandoned seven-level hadron collider, sealed off from all human contact for decades, and encounter the mysterious entities who dwell within – all in virtual reality.

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Single Thread Theatre Company is pleased to share its ongoing research in XR theatre with fellow creators. Join the Collider team in AltspaceVR for a talkback and peek behind the scenes, discussing how the team built and navigated this expansive virtual world, and brought decades of theatre experience to a new medium.

COMPANY:

Single Thread Theatre Co.

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Nita Bowerman
• Howard Dai
• Sydney Doberstein
• Charles Douglas
• Nicole Eun-Ju Bell
• Stephanie Fung
• Alex Dault
• Chloe Payne
• Jake Runeckles
• Liam Karry

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Henry G20 is a mobile app for Android and iOS that combines audio drama and augmented reality for an individualized, asynchronous performance that can be experienced online or in-person throughout the University of Calgary campus. It is a digital theatre project about protest, civil liberties, and conflict on the streets of Toronto during the G20 protests of 2010.

Conceived and directed by Christine Brubaker and co-written by Brubaker and Constantine X. Anastasakis, Henry G20 freely adapts Shakespeare’s Henry V in a contemporary retelling of the conflict between police and protestors during the G20 Summit protests in Toronto in June 2010. Melding new text with verse and form from Henry V, this work addresses unanswered questions from that fateful weekend where hundreds of people, protesters, and innocent bystanders were kettled, arrested, and detained. Bear witness to the events surrounding the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Investigate the meaning of leadership as ideas and ideologies clash in the streets.

The Henry G20 app builds upon the cohort.rocks framework and puts the control of the performance into the user’s hands. The format emerged from the COVID pandemic, as an answer to the need for nimble theatre that offers customizable access options for differing levels of public health restrictions. Audience members experience the work on their own time from their personal devices, by engaging with a series of posters that activate scenes transporting the viewer to Toronto 2010. For World Stage Design, the poster series is embedded throughout the University of Calgary campus. Download the app onto your device.

HOW TO EXPERIENCE HENRY G20:

• Recommended Devices List
• Download the app onto your mobile device by searching “Henry G20” in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and plug in/pair your headphones. Make sure your phone is charged and connected to WiFi.
• For the in-person experience, locate the AR Tutorial Poster in the University Theatre Lobby. Follow the Henry G20 Poster Route via the map provided. There are 6 stops in total and 6 AR Experiences. Estimated time to complete the route is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• For the digital experience, locate all Henry G20 Posters at www.henryg20.com/posters. Begin with AR Tutorial. Estimated time to complete the app is 1 hour and 45 minutes.

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Audio Drama and Augmented Reality – Blending New and Old Theatrical Forms

Creative Director Christine Brubaker and Producer Laura Philipps discuss the emergent form of Henry G20 as a mobile app. Together they will chart the artistic and technological transformation from a large-scale site-specific play, to a mobile app with an unprecedented multimedia format for theatre-goers. The Henry G20 mobile app illuminates the challenges and opportunities of digital storytelling in the post-COVID world. Christine and Laura have applied their learnings from the 2021 premiere of Henry G20 to continue innovating mobile digital theatre with their new project Rella’s Cambrian Dream.

COMPANY:

Produced by Henry G20 Group.

Co-commissioned by Luminato Festival Toronto and The Bentway Conservancy.

PRESENTERS:

• Director Christine Brubaker
• Written by Christine Brubaker and Constantine X. Anastasakis
• Producer Laura Philipps
• Developers Jacob Niedzwiecki, Luke Garwood, Nicole Goertzen, Lalaine Ulit-Destajo
• Visual Lead Debbie Deer
• Sound Designer and Mixer Miquelon Rodriguez
• 3D Models by Ruslan Makarov and Paulo Uemura

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Astrolabe – Whakaterenga seeks to reimagine our perception of body, space and time with the support of digital technologies. With this work from Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts bespoke expanded cinema is augmented by live kaitiaki activation performances in a one-of-a-kind live stream from Aotearoa New Zealand. WSD audiences will experience realms inspired by ancient star charts and maps, with live dance by Nancy Wijohn (tāngata whenua) and Christina Guieb, and taonga pūoro (traditional Māori instrument playing by Alistair Fraser)

This multimedia project enters into a dialogue with methodologies developed by early Asian and Pacific Island astronomers, and suggests a philosophical ideology of the movement of celestial bodies – acknowledging the oneness of all life. The digital arts and dance of Astrolabe – Whakaterenga transports audiences in an immersive space voyage of movement, sound and light.

“A spectacular showcase. Astrolabe – Whakaterenga will allure you to a dream-like, yet futuristic performance” Timeout Singapore

https://www.goodcompanyarts.com/

COMPANY:

Daniel Belton and Good Company Arts

PRESENTERS:

• Daniel Belton
• Stuart Foster
• Alistair Fraser
• Christina Guieb

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

“Body, Full of Time” is a solo choreographic work performed and created by movement and media artist Scotty Hardwig, in collaboration with visual artist Zach Duer. Using motion capture, projections, and interactive avatar designs, the work presents a chimeric vision of the human body fragmented in the cyber age, examining the relationship between the physical and digital versions of (one)self. The dance emerges in the space between what’s human and what’s virtual, with the body being both an active sensor and a passive recipient of technological currents.

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Please join the artistic and creative team of Body, Full of Time for a talkback of their process.

COMPANY:

Scotty Hardwig & Zach Duer

PRESENTERS/ CAST::

• Scotty Hardwig (Artistic Direction & Performance)
• Zach Duer (Visual Director)
• Estefania Perez-Vera (Stage Design/Scenography)
• Caleb Flood (Music)
• Nate King (Animations)

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Combining classic philosophy and contemporary viewpoints, Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company and Musica Lequio Pequeno co-produced Hideout. This richly-produced dance number peels away the layers of complexities of everyday life and casts light on its darkest depths, portraying the ever-changing fate. It in turns raises questions about the world and puts under spotlight what the different classes in the society truly feel.

Wen-jinn Luo, artistic director and choreographer of Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company, extracted the essence of classic literature and incorporated it into the choreography and performance, injecting the production with humanity. The dance and the music come together to create something bigger than the sum of its parts. That synergy along with the multi-layered production design connect text from the 18th century novel “Notes from Underground” written by Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky and 19th century short story “The Burrow” written by Franz Kafka to what’s happening today, thus guiding the audience into the unique world of Hideout – a colony where labourers roam about like ants, an isolated home away from the community, and a world where one wanders restlessly against the currents; every set calls back to the social conditions people have lived through and contended with. With its expertly crafted visual and auditory experience, Hideout prompts the audience to look deep into themselves and strikes a chord in their souls.

COMPANY:

Scarecrow Contemporary Dance Company

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Producer＆Company Director: Wen-chun KULO
• Artistic Director＆Choreographer: Wen-jinn LUO
• Dancers: Wen-jinn LUO, Pei-shan LI , Chia-yu HO, Li-fen NI and Kai-lun MENG
• Musicians: Musica Lequio Pequeno – Ching-wei LIN (recorder), Meng-han WU (baroque violin), Hsuan HSIEH (vocal), Hsin-I GUO (harpsichord＆piano)
• Lighting Designer: Yun-hsiang KUAN
• Lighting Technical Director: Nan-zhi HUANG
• Stage Manager: Hsin-ying TSAI
• Administrative Assistant: Chen KAO

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

RINGS | PROFIT | FALLING | CHARCOAL

scene r-eco-ver is a multimedia love letter to California — a devised dance performance for three dancers in an evolving landscape of paper — a ‘choreographic anthropocene’ interpreting the climate catastrophes of Northern California resulting from linear, human processes that override cyclical, natural processes.

How do we juggle the eco-scenographic paradox of existing in an age of deforestation, combustion, and erosion that longs for renewal and relief?

https://www.instagram.com/scene_recover

https://www.scene-recover.com

COMPANY:

scene r-eco-ver dance

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Maxine Flasher-Düzgüneş — Choreographer
• Hamilton Guillén — Art Director
• Sunhi Willa Keller — Dancer
• Lauryn Pinard — Dancer
• Giada Palmisano — Dancer
• Aimee Gwynne — Videographer
• Camilla Dely — Costume Designer
• Michael Wall — Composer
• Fabiano do Nascimento — Musician
• Jade Lien — Animation Designer

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Ta-lad Pla is an experimental collaborative process between performing arts and technology, crossing the boundaries of visual arts and virtual reality. As we believe that virtual technology makes what was once impossible possible, not just enhancing the audiences’ experience, but to fulfill a more stable and reliable environment to harness the Thai performing arts ecosystem.

“Ta-lad Pla” (The Fish Market) is a multidisciplinary performance including live performance & technology. As we hope to traverse the boundaries between visual arts and performing arts and expand the audience’s experience by blurring the boundaries between virtual and live aspect using AR-Skin technology, puppetry, and installation.

This story is inspired by our society that has been suffocated by the same people, same situation, same issues, and same environment for several years, but we are indifferent. “Ta-lad Pla” takes place in a market that has been flooded for a hundred years. People in the market have been living underwater. They have been evolving to fish.

COMPANY:

PRG_Or

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Director, Artistic director: Surachai Petsangrot
• Choreographer: Kwin Bhichitkul
• Performers: Chettapat Kueankaeo, Kwin Bhichitkul, Natharot Suebyam, Kris Sanguanpiyapand, Punika Rangchaya
• Sound designer: Jirayu Pranee
• Lighting Designer: Chettapat Kueankaeo
• Producer/ Costume Designer: Nattaporn Thapparat

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Please join the artistic and creative team of Body, Full of Time for a talkback of their process.

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

“Body, Full of Time” is a solo choreographic work performed and created by movement and media artist Scotty Hardwig, in collaboration with visual artist Zach Duer. Using motion capture, projections, and interactive avatar designs, the work presents a chimeric vision of the human body fragmented in the cyber age, examining the relationship between the physical and digital versions of (one)self. The dance emerges in the space between what’s human and what’s virtual, with the body being both an active sensor and a passive recipient of technological currents.

COMPANY:

Scotty Hardwig & Zach Duer

PRESENTERS/ CAST::

• Scotty Hardwig (Artistic Direction & Performance)
• Zach Duer (Visual Director)
• Estefania Perez-Vera (Stage Design/Scenography)
• Caleb Flood (Music)
• Nate King (Animations)

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Single Thread Theatre Company is pleased to share its ongoing research in XR theatre with fellow creators. Join the Collider team in AltspaceVR for a talkback and peek behind the scenes, discussing how the team built and navigated this expansive virtual world, and brought decades of theatre experience to a new medium.

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Collider is an ongoing research and development process investigating the storytelling and movement potential of live, immersive theatre in virtual reality, using the SocialVR platform AltspaceVR. The project builds on an emerging trend toward live theatre in VR begun by Tender Claw’s The Under Presents: Tempest and Double Eye Studio’s Loveseat and Finding Pandora X. Collider’s first explorations began in April 2021, when an ensemble of six actors from Ontario and British Columbia gathered remotely using Oculus Quest headsets, in Single Thread’s virtual rehearsal hall. Now in its second research phase, Single Thread Theatre Company is thrilled to present its latest findings through Collider at the 2022 Summerworks Lab and World Stage Design Scenofest. Join the Collider team in an abandoned seven-level hadron collider, sealed off from all human contact for decades, and encounter the mysterious entities who dwell within – all in virtual reality.

COMPANY:

Single Thread Theatre Co.

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Nita Bowerman
• Howard Dai
• Sydney Doberstein
• Charles Douglas
• Nicole Eun-Ju Bell
• Stephanie Fung
• Alex Dault
• Chloe Payne
• Jake Runeckles
• Liam Karry

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Audio Drama and Augmented Reality – Blending New and Old Theatrical Forms

Creative Director Christine Brubaker and Producer Laura Philipps discuss the emergent form of Henry G20 as a mobile app. Together they will chart the artistic and technological transformation from a large-scale site-specific play, to a mobile app with an unprecedented multimedia format for theatre-goers. The Henry G20 mobile app illuminates the challenges and opportunities of digital storytelling in the post-COVID world. Christine and Laura have applied their learnings from the 2021 premiere of Henry G20 to continue innovating mobile digital theatre with their new project Rella’s Cambrian Dream.

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Henry G20 is a mobile app for Android and iOS that combines audio drama and augmented reality for an individualized, asynchronous performance that can be experienced online or in-person throughout the University of Calgary campus. It is a digital theatre project about protest, civil liberties, and conflict on the streets of Toronto during the G20 protests of 2010.

Conceived and directed by Christine Brubaker and co-written by Brubaker and Constantine X. Anastasakis, Henry G20 freely adapts Shakespeare’s Henry V in a contemporary retelling of the conflict between police and protestors during the G20 Summit protests in Toronto in June 2010. Melding new text with verse and form from Henry V, this work addresses unanswered questions from that fateful weekend where hundreds of people, protesters, and innocent bystanders were kettled, arrested, and detained. Bear witness to the events surrounding the largest mass arrest in Canadian history. Investigate the meaning of leadership as ideas and ideologies clash in the streets.

The Henry G20 app builds upon the cohort.rocks framework and puts the control of the performance into the user’s hands. The format emerged from the COVID pandemic, as an answer to the need for nimble theatre that offers customizable access options for differing levels of public health restrictions. Audience members experience the work on their own time from their personal devices, by engaging with a series of posters that activate scenes transporting the viewer to Toronto 2010. For World Stage Design, the poster series is embedded throughout the University of Calgary campus. Download the app onto your device.

HOW TO EXPERIENCE HENRY G20:

• Recommended Devices List
• Download the app onto your mobile device by searching “Henry G20” in the Apple App Store or Google Play Store, and plug in/pair your headphones. Make sure your phone is charged and connected to WiFi.
• For the in-person experience, locate the AR Tutorial Poster in the University Theatre Lobby. Follow the Henry G20 Poster Route via the map provided. There are 6 stops in total and 6 AR Experiences. Estimated time to complete the route is 1 hour and 45 minutes.
• For the digital experience, locate all Henry G20 Posters at www.henryg20.com/posters. Begin with AR Tutorial. Estimated time to complete the app is 1 hour and 45 minutes.

COMPANY:

Produced by Henry G20 Group.

Co-commissioned by Luminato Festival Toronto and The Bentway Conservancy.

PRESENTERS:

• Director Christine Brubaker
• Written by Christine Brubaker and Constantine X. Anastasakis
• Producer Laura Philipps
• Developers Jacob Niedzwiecki, Luke Garwood, Nicole Goertzen, Lalaine Ulit-Destajo
• Visual Lead Debbie Deer
• Sound Designer and Mixer Miquelon Rodriguez
• 3D Models by Ruslan Makarov and Paulo Uemura

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Join Michelle Thrush, Neil Fleming, and other Making Treaty 7 Artists and Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers for a talkback following the screening of Istotsi: The Land We Live On.

Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society:
Vision – Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society is dedicated to Indigenous artistic expression.
Mission – Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society exists to transfer Indigenous knowledge through story.
Mandate – The mandate of MT7 Cultural Society is to bring to life the promise of Treaty 7 – using contemporary arts and performance to tell inspiring stories that educate, entertain, and forge relationships across cultures and generations.

History – Treaty 7 is one of a family of numbered treaties signed between Canada’s First Nations and Queen Victoria between 1871 and 1921. Treaty 7 paved the way for the peaceful settlement of the Province of Alberta.
https://www.makingtreaty7.com/

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Eight artists immerse themselves in the stories of the land we live on to create this beautiful and powerful collage of short films directed by Michelle Thrush and Sandi Somers.

Making Treaty 7 Cultural Society brought 8 artists together to immerse themselves in theatre creation techniques inspired by the land we call Calgary. They wrote, listened, danced, and played together under the guidance of a cadre of veteran artists and Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers to create this collage of short films. Under the direction of Sandi Somers and Michelle Thrush, these artists speak from the heart to the land we live on.

PRESENTERS:

• Michelle Thrush
• Neil Fleming
• Making Treaty 7 Artists
• Treaty 7 Knowledge Keepers

Mareld – Science and Art as a Starting Point

TALKBACK DESCRIPTION:

Mareld: Science and Art as a Starting Point

The discussion includes how Fern Orchestra makes research visible using art as a medium. Scientific knowledge can sometimes be challenging to convey to a non-expert. One of the goals is to bring novel scientific understanding closer to the general public.

Mareld was made using principles of sustainability, and wants to state that man is not in the centre of everything.

Most often, there is a human and humanity at the centre of theatre performances, but Mareld is a piece of darkness art that hot spots the invisible superheroes of the sea: photosynthetic algae and organisms.

PERFORMANCE DESCRIPTION:

Every light has a story of its own.

There´s not a single world for us all to experience. Mareld travels through the layers of the sea, it begins from familiar humanity to end with otherness of an single-celled organism. What does unicellularity feel like? The dinoflagellate Alexandrium ostenfeldii displays a phenomenon of bioluminescence. 77 million years old “ancient pixel” is not visible to the naked eye yet its light can be seen.

Mareld is a torrent of kinaesthesia, light art, darkness and subaquatic time warp and it combines dance, algae and circus elements. It is designed with an ecological mindset.

COMPANY:

Fern Orchestra

PRESENTERS/ CAST:

• Ilona Salonen
• Timo Tamminen

CREW:

• Vespa Laine
• Markus Heino
• Samuel Salminen
• Conny Sjöqvist