Today was the beginning for the Development Studies Club to embark its new journey with the Evolving Play Project. We met with various artists and members who are part of the major forces of this play.
Meet some of the amazing members who are involved in the direction, coordination, and the artistic endeavours of this project!
Aviva Zimmerman
Raised in Calgary, Aviva trained as an actor in Toronto where she began to explore the intersection of arts and social justice while creating and performing guerrilla theatre and teaching drama at homeless shelters for youth. Since returning to Calgary, Aviva has facilitated a number of community development projects using the arts, founded the Provincial Boom Comission Art Collective, and has staged a number of guerrilla art interventions around the city (including introducing the mascots of ‘Peetry the Poverty Panda’ and ‘Dobo the Disparity Dragon’ at the Calgary Stampede). Since 2008, Aviva has been facilitating various theatre projects with the Mustard Seed Drama Club, including the upcoming Evolving Oedipus Project in May 2010.
She went to acting school at Ryerson University and also at the University of Toronto. Aviva, as well as the members involved in this project believed that art should be accessible and available to all individuals in society; pushing the need for social change through artistic means.
Hannah Poon
She is the Arts & Culture Facilitator at the Mustard Seed and a "collector of jobs."
Hannah was always interested in the "street-life" as well as reaching the people in society who are misunderstood. She always dreamt of working with the youth and this invoked her to receive her Bachelor of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Hannah found herself divided between her passion with Social Justice and Arts, until she found an opportunity at the arts program at the Mustard Seed- which sprung into what is currently, The Evolving Play Project (EPP). For the EPP, she's working on set design and is too, running the arts workshops.
Jessica
She is the Stage Manager for the Evolving Play Project. Jessica did her studies at Mount Royal University, which is a very intense Theatre Arts program. She specializes in painting, lighting, and many other behind-the-scene tasks in the theatre. She is very passionate about integrating theatre and social justice as well. Jessica is engaged in many other community theatre programs and is with the Provincial Boom Commission. We will definitely be seeing a lot more from Jessica!
Cole
He works with Verb Theatre, tells stories from specific communities and is also involved in theatre writing. Just like Aviva, he was part of the This-is-My-City team of artists. He has focused on the visual arts aspect of theatre but now has the chance to incorporate certain passions within the realms of theatre arts. This included his involvement with the Why Calgary? Mapping project. This consisted of a map of Calgary displayed on the streets of Stephen Avenue, where people were randomly asked to walk and see what the day in the life of a homeless person would be. Cole is active in the Provincial Boom Commission and is involved in Comedy Projects with the Calgary youth.
Matt
Another valuable member to the Evolving Play Project, Matt is a sound designer and new media artist working in theatre, dance and installation. He is a graduate from the Electroacoustic Composition and Sound Technology program at Concordia University and is an active member of the Montreal improvised music community. Matt usually spends half of his time in Montrealand is super excited to have the opportunity to work with the Mustard Seed Drama Club. We will be seeing many great things from him!
No comments:
Post a Comment