On September 3, 202, we held a panel entitled Sustainability in Design. The UN has named this the Decade of Action, our last chance to create the transformation to a livable future. What does it mean to align our practices with a 1.5 degree Celsius global temperature rise? This event focuses on the aesthetics of climate-friendly sustainable design in theatre, as a core design practice and as part of a larger equitable green recovery. Panel members include Logan Raju Cracknell, Kendra Fanconi, Pa...
Sep 07, 2020•1 hr 54 min
On August 6th, 2020, we presented what proved to be another important discussion about todays theatre in Canada or Turtle Island: Grounding Indigenous Art & Design On Mixed-Raced Teams: A conversation reflecting on creating spaces and processes for Indigenous Theatre with anti-appropriative practices and inter-Nation collaborations. Our panel included performer Yolanda Bonnell, sound designer/composer Mishelle Cuttler, costume designer Samantha McCue, and projection, set and lighting designe...
Aug 17, 2020•2 hr 10 min
This time the final conversation from my trip in Vancouver at the end of 2018. Michael Whitfield was the head of lighting design at the Stratford Festival for over 25 years from the mid 1970’s through to the early 2000’s., so he is perfectly placed to round out our discussion about the history of the design of the festival stage. He is also has designed opera across North America and we talk about his take on the important communication strategies when building your show in a team.
Jul 23, 2020•2 hr 10 min•Ep. 63
This week a special presentation of The Title Block Live, presented in partnership with The Associated Designers of Canada on Supporting a BIPOC cast with your design. A panel of fantastic Canadian theatre designers and artists discuss several questions around how our designs and collaborations can support or hinder the flourishing of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour in live performance. This weeks panal consists of Carmen Alatorre, C.J. Astronomo, Sammy Chien, Deanna H. Choi, Rachel Forb...
Jul 20, 2020•2 hr 5 min
Conor Moore in the pentultimate interview from my trip to Vancouver and Victoria in December of 2018. We talk about his early schooling at Queen’s University and UBC and his breakout as a projection, lighting and set designer at Bard At the Beach and other great Vancouver based companies. Conor was persuing his Masters of Socialwork in Labour studies at Simon Fraser University and is very active in the labour movement of the Canadian theatre scene, so we talk about this shift in his focus and hi...
Jun 08, 2020•1 min•Ep. 62
After a two week hiatus we are back with the Title Block Live for June 6 2020. This week a multi-disciplinary panel discusses collaboration in theatre design. The panel is also composed entirely of women, so that lens is applied to think about design in Canada. Our panel consist of: Kate De Lorme, Rachel Forbes, Pam Johnson, Beth Kates, Megan Koshka, Michelle Ramsey, and Amelia Scott. The panel was co-hosted by Vancouver based sound designer and composer Mishelle Cuttler. Bios Mishelle Cuttler i...
Jun 05, 2020•1 hr 30 min
This is the second to last interview from my BC interview trip at the end of 2018. Mishelle Cuttler invited me to her home in Vancouver BC and we speak about her career as a composer and sound designer. We speak of her early career at UBC and discovering her talents as a composer as well as an actor/musician up to her experience at NYC’s Tisch School of the Arts studying composition and all points in between. You can find more information about her work at www.mishellecuttler.com...
May 18, 2020•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 61
On this next episode of The Title Block Live we discuss video and projection design with a panal of fantastic Canadian designers. Our panel is led by Conor Moore and includes Hugh Conacher, Cameron Fraser, T. Erin Grube, Jamie Nesbitt, Sean Nieuwenhuis, and Emily Soussana.
May 15, 2020•1 hr 41 min
The next episode of The Title Block Live for May 7 2020 features an all-star panel of costume designers.
May 13, 2020•1 hr 39 min
This week on The Title Block Live on our You Tube channel, a panel of top Canadian theatrical set designers take questions about their craft and approach to design. On this episode, Pat Flood, Susan LePage, Shawn Kerwin, Camellia Koo, Ken MacDonald, Ken Mackenzie, and Lorenzo Savoini join co-host Conor Moore to take your questions.
Apr 29, 2020•1 hr 29 min
I met with Robert Gardiner at the University of British Columbia’s Fredrick Wood Theatre in the design department at the beginning of 2019. We speak about his early work in the US and is eventual move to the UBC drama department, and his thoughts on theatre training and the changes in producing theatre in Canada over the last 40 years.
Apr 27, 2020•1 hr 47 min•Ep. 60
On this inaugural Title Block Live event, join Conor Moore as he attempts to wrangle a rambunctious panel consisting of Bonnie Beecher, Kevin Fraser, Louise Guinand, Kevin Lamotte, Kimberly Purtell, and Michael Walton to answer your questions about lighting design.
Apr 21, 2020•1 hr 27 min
Hey there, Michael Kruse here again - I have to recall that last announcement! We are also in a period of flux, I jumped the gun a bit, and the First Title Block Live episode will now be on Thursday April 16th at 8 pm EST. Join me, and designer Conor Moore, as well as an all-star panel every Thursday at 8 pm EST, starting April 16th on the Title Block Podcasts channel on youtube live. Find us at The Title Block Podcast on YouTube and plug into a great conservation about theatre design. The show ...
Apr 14, 2020
I joined Rob at his home in Port Moody BC, just outside Vancouver in December of 2018. We speak about his start in lighting at the Banff Centre and move into live events at Christie Lites Vancouver. Waxing on about early movers we flesh out his work in large scale live events for television, including the opening and closing ceremonies for the Paralympics in Vancouver in 2010 and the Grey Cup half time show. You can find his portfolio at www.robert-sondergaard.com ....
Apr 13, 2020•1 hr 41 min•Ep. 59
During these, um, what's the euphimism markerters are using? "Uncertain Times" we are all stuck at home waiting to make our art again; waiting for the world to change and settle and pushed apart from each other. In an effort to build comm unity and to take one small advantage of this, tumolt, The Title Block is debuting a new weekly live event to deepen the conversation about design in Canadian theatre. b Join me, and designer Conor Moore, as well as an all-star panel every Tuesday at 8 pm EST, ...
Apr 13, 2020
Mary and I met at her home in Victoria BC in December of 2018. We speak of her early days growing up in Winnipeg dancing in her mother’s dance studio and her transition to majorette, sculpture and finally nationally renowned set and costume designer. We speak for considerable length about her collaboration with the late Stephen Katz and her work on the spectacular opening ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games in 1994. Mary’s work was featured in the seminal book Scenography in Canada by Natalie ...
Apr 02, 2020•2 hr 32 min•Ep. 58
I had a great opportunity while I was in Calgary in the winter of 2019 to speak with designer April Viczso. She is an associate professor and the chair of the department of design in the school of creative and performing arts at the University of Calgary. She is also the past president of the Associated Designers of Canada and a founding member of the controversial Designers Working Group. We speak about her early experiences at Scenotecnica Piu in Italy at the beginning of her career and her jo...
Dec 04, 2019•2 hr 38 min
On September 23, 2019, Sholem Dolgoy, the head of theatre production training at Ryerson University’s School of Performance retired. He taught at the school since the early 1980’s while building a towering career in lighting design in Canadian theatre and dance. I recorded the presentation that night and present here to you the juiciest bits of that evening, including an addendum to our talk from Episode #13 of the The Title Clock. We recap Sholem’s career, how he got into teaching and his effor...
Nov 04, 2019•1 hr 10 min
Designer Susan Benson Susan Benson was born in Kent, England, trained as a fine artist but as a member of a theatre family moved quickly in to theatre design. I met with Susan in Victoria in December of 2018 and she recounted her early life and training in England and her development of a robust training environment at the Stratford Festival, where she was the head of design for many years. Susan defends the idea of a theatre designer as an artist and the need of support of traditional theatre s...
Sep 16, 2019•2 hr 19 min•Ep. 56
My interview with costume designer Mara Gottler is a continuation of my profiles of Vancouver theatre designers from December 2018. Mara and I speak about her early life at the Stratford festival as a tailor and sewer and her move to the National Theatre School, and eventually Vancouver where she is a founding member and resident designer of the west coast Shakespearian powerhouse Bard on the Beach . We speak about her career and her approach to the conceptualization and communication of design....
Jun 05, 2019•1 hr 36 min•Ep. 55
Scott Miller is a partner in DWD Theatre Design and Consulting based in Vancouver BC. He and I speak about our beginnings in Toronto theatre as classmates at Ryerson Theatre School and proceed to a fascinating conversation about designing your theatre. While this is a program about theatre design, we rarely speak about the actual design of our spaces and all the work that goes into them. Scott spoke to me at his office in Vancouver, BC in December 2018, and this is the first of the series of int...
Apr 12, 2019•2 hr 22 min•Ep. 54
This episode a great conversation with legendary Canadian theatre designer Astrid Janson. I joined Astrid in at her home in November of 2018 to discuss her early days at Toronto Workshop Productions and Toronto Dance Theatre and her set, costume, and yes lighting design work in opera and new theatrical works. Please find her complete portfolio at THIS link. and follow along with this key Canadian designer. We also briefly remember costume designer Susanne Mess who we lost in Janary 2019, and Mal...
Feb 25, 2019•1 hr 56 min
Lighting Designer Kevin Fraser, photo by David Cooper. Kevin Fraser has been at the Stratford festival for 30 years and designed the lighting for over 500 productions since graduating from Ryerson Theatre School in the late 1970’s. He invited me to his home in Stratford Ontario in August of 2018 and we spoke about his early career and beginnings in Toronto at the Adelaide Court and the Tarragon Theatre and his move into the large festivals including Stratford and Drayton. Find examples of his wo...
Jan 14, 2019•1 hr 56 min•Ep. 52
Designer Glenn Davidson Glenn Davidson sat down with the Title Block in August of 2018 to talk old times and design. Among our topics were included the start of the Toronto Fringe Festival and the Poor Alex Theatre Group as well as his early work as an actor and his most recent design work with the Tarragon, Tafalmusik and beyond. Also, if you don’t know what a “golden donut” is, you will have to listen right to the end. In the production shots below, I have attempted to include all of the credi...
Jan 04, 2019•2 hr 10 min
Designer Dana Osborne, photo by David Cooper Dana Osborne is a set and costume designer based out of Stratford Ontario. She started out working in some of the top wardrobe shops in the country, including the Canadian Opera Company, the Shaw Festival, and the Mirvish shops when they still owned them. We talk about her transition to design and her work over the last 20 years in Canadian theatre. Find samples of her work at www.danaosborne.ca To support the show, go to patreon.com/thetitleblockpodc...
Dec 17, 2018•1 hr 32 min
This time on The Bellows we feature a conversation about the genesis and production of Pearle Harbour: Chautauqua , from the spark of an idea to the gathering of the creative team and the final realization in the marvelous 40-seat revival tent installed at Theatre Passe Muraille in October in 2018. A subset of the creative team, creator of the Pearle Harbour persona, Justin Miller, musical director and composer Steven Conway and stage manager Guiseppe Condello discuss the development of a fabulo...
Dec 10, 2018•58 min
Jamie Nesbitt is a Vancouver based projection designer and we caught up in June of 2018 at the Shaw Festival where he was designing The Hound of the Baskervilles. Jamie and I talk about the start of his career at the end of the slide projector era and the transition to the full integration of video projection into modern Canadian theatre. Find his portfolio at www.jamienesbitt.com Please support us on patreon.com Links Studio 58 The Electric Company Tim Matheson Pi Theatre Studies in Motion by K...
Oct 29, 2018•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 49
Its time for another presentation of The Bellows! This time a discussion with stage manager Megan Speakman, stagehand Sally Roberts, and designer Simon Rossiter about unions and associations and how they work to protect the rights of the theatre workers they represent. the conversation took place at Theatre Passe Muraille on September 21st, 2018. The Bellows Toronto is a collective committed to fostering discussion about all issues concerning theatre production and has existed since 2015. The Be...
Oct 02, 2018•1 hr 43 min
Siobhán Sleath is a Toronto-based lighting designer with a history at our two big festivals, Shaw and Stratford. Siobhán and I chatted in June of 2017 about her early career at Stratford, her work in dance and musical theatre, and her adventure touring to India with Anandam Dance. We lost some names in the audio so follow along with the notes below to make sure you get all of the connections. Please support us at Patreon Links York University theatre program Gillian Gallow Scott Penner Jason Han...
Sep 10, 2018•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 48
William Lyon Mackenzie (Matthew Gin), with help from his assistants Marcia Johnson (left) and Parmida Vand uses his magical deck of cards to explain the relationships in the Family Compact, in 1837: The Farmers’ Revolt at the Blyth Festival. Directed by Gil Garratt. Creative team: Beth Kates, set, projection and lighting designer; Gemma James Smith, costume designer; and Deanna H. Choi, sound designer and music composer. Production stage management: Heather Thompson and Katerina Sokyrko.. Photo ...
Aug 20, 2018•1 hr 35 min
