Steve Lucas is a designer based in Creemore Ontario. Steve and I have known each other for years as the familiarity will show in this 2 hour interview. Steve and I talk about his early career at Alberta Theatre Projects and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre as well as his development of the "symphony of lights" with Hillar Liitoja at DNA Theatre. We also cover his work on the hit play 2 Pianos, 4 Hands and the work on his newest incarnation of Breath[e] a play made of design. Steve's Studio Just a co...
Feb 15, 2016•2 hr 12 min
The Bellows founders Kevin Hutson and Sarah "Pip" Bradford This week a special episode recorded on November 16th, 2015 at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto. The Bellows is a monthly panel discussion on the art and business of theatre production which promises to create "a place for artists in performance to get together, share information, and get to know more about the production side of the business." Created by Sarah "Pip" Bradford , Kevin Hutson and Christopher Ross , the discussion is curat...
Jan 16, 2016•1 hr 14 min
In 1996 I started my career as an assistant to lighting designer Bonnie Beecher working on Frida K, a vibrant and challenging play staring Allegra Fulton and directed by Peter Hinton. I was struck by Bonnie's use of colour and the way that she embraced expressionism. Since then, Bonnie has become a top tier designer in Canada and started in the past several years working in France and Germany on ballet and opera. With over 250 productions under her belt she has a very interesting story to tell a...
Jan 15, 2016•1 hr 19 min
Michael Gianfrancesco, Photo by David Cooper In this long belated episode I speak to designer Michael Gianfrancesco. Michael and I worked on his second production after he was out of Concordia University in 1998 and since then he has become one of the top designers in the country, working on new works, opera, ballet and now appears yearly at the Stratford and Shaw Festivals. Michael and I spoke in the design office at Shaw in May 2015 about his show there this summer. Links Concordia University ...
Dec 24, 2015•58 min
Fina Macdonnel. Photo by Michael Kruse Fina MacDonell is a founder of and partner in Toronto props house Rabbit's Choice, but her early career included collaborating with Paul Thompson with the seminal Farm Show in Clinton ON. In this this interview we talk about her early life in Manitoba and southwestern Ontario and the building of one of the most important props houses in Canada. Fina was also honored this summer with the Dora Mavor Moore Silver Ticket award. Links/Keywords Manitoba Theatre C...
Oct 18, 2015•1 hr 20 min
William Schmuck, photo by David Cooper William Schmuck is the head of design at the Shaw Festival. We spoke in May of 2015 before the first opening of the season about his life and the Moss Hart play Light Up The Sky which William designed this year. We dig into what you need to know before you apply to apprentice at a festival like the Shaw and what it was like to transition between artistic directors in his 20 years as head of design. Links The Shaw Festival University of Waterloo 1980 Quebec ...
Sep 03, 2015•1 hr 8 min
Sound Designer Michael laird I had the pleasure of interviewing our first sound designer. Michael Laird is a sound systems designer rather than a composition designer and we discuss the difference between these two disciplines in the context of live theatre. Michael is an established designer and operator but he is early in his career so we focus less on his resume and more on developing a base for future discussions with senior designers about sound. Michael also focuses on live musical theatre...
Aug 05, 2015•1 hr 58 min
Sue LePage, Photo by David Cooper Episode notes Sue LePage is a set and costume designer based out of Toronto. She joined me at the Shaw Festival to talk about her early career and Top Girls, her design at the Shaw in 2015. This was a short interview, only 45 mins, so we could not talk much about many of the milestones in her career, but it is an interesting talk none-the-less! Links University of Guelph Theatre Dept. Neptune Theatre NDWT (Ne'er Do Well Thespians) Keith Turnbull Jerry Franken Th...
Jul 04, 2015•46 min
This week I spoke to set and costume designer Christina Poddubiuk at the Shaw Festival on a whirlwind trip down there. We speak about her early training and career, as normal here, but we also go in depth about her designs for Pygmalion, directed by Peter Hinton and opening on June 5th 2015. As well, be sure to check out Christina's portfolio at punchandjudy.ca . There are a few links below that I could find no information about - if you have any information about the people below, please email ...
Jun 04, 2015•1 hr 1 min
Provenance: Design: Ronnie Burkett, Lighting: Bill Willams, Photo by Trudie Lee Martin Stevens said "Style is not something you set out to get it is something you get when you set out". These are the words that inspired Ronnie Burkett as a teenager to continue his pursuit of a unique voice with which to tell stories through puppetry. He has spent the last few decades realizing this voice and I had the pleasure to speak with him last February about it. In this 2 hour interview we discuss his earl...
Mar 14, 2015•1 hr 56 min
Edward Kotanen in his Studio in Hamilton Ontario This episode, I speak with set and costume designer Edward Kotanen. Ed was around at the start of the rebirth of Canadian theatre in the 1960's and managed to navigate a successful career until his retirement recently. Ed has a great perspective on the relationship between amateur and professional theatre and how groups like the Sunparlour Players and London Little Theatre helped to launch his career in the 1970's. We also talk about the meetings ...
Feb 07, 2015•1 hr 51 min
From Left to Right: Sheila Sky, Sue Edworthy, Derrick Chua This episode started with a random conversation on Facebook in December of 2014. Three weeks later, on January 11, 2015, a forum on the crisis of audience building was held at Theatre Passe Muraille in Toronto, Ontario. The organizers were Sheila Sky, a talent agent and the executive director of the Associated Designers of Canada, Derrick Chua a prolific theatre producer and Sue Edworthy a marketing and communications director. The audie...
Jan 15, 2015•2 hr 1 min
In this episode, I interview my old mentor Sholem Dolgoy about his history and career. We met at Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto, Ontario, where he is the head of the production program. Sholem, like many senior designers in Canada, entered the profession through the school of hard knocks and has risen to be a leading designer and educator in Canada. In this chat we talk about his successes and failures in the 1970's and 80's and his awakening in terms of the use of colour while learning from ...
Dec 19, 2014•1 hr 14 min
Show Notes This is the second half of my chat with Toronto-based production designer Jim Plaxton, and we cover his introduction of cardboard into theatre design in Toronto through Michael Hollingsworth's Strawberry Fields , his monumental work on Videocaberet's History of the Village of Small Huts and his retirement from theatre. One small correction, it appears as if there was a small confusion regarding the first time use of cardboard by Jim. It is not very clear in the interview, but Jim spea...
Oct 20, 2014•49 min
This episode features Toronto based designer Jim Plaxton. Jim's 30 year career oversaw the start of many important Toronto theatre companies, including Toronto Workshop Productions, Theatre Passe Muraille as well as the start of Toronto Dance Theatre. In this first half we speak about Jim's early career in architecture and his transition first to film and then to dance and live performance. We also speak about his influence on the renovations of Theatre Passe Muraille in 1982-3 and his stint the...
Sep 15, 2014•57 min
This episode picks up at the second half of the panel discussion about projection and the future of design at the Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology's annual conference, Rendez-Vous 2014. I am once again joined by Scott Spidell, Eric Mongerson, Beth Kates, and Ben Chaisson (bios can be found at episode #9 ). We started the talk about the unique funding challenges of buying or renting equipment that advances so quickly, move on to talk about the language of video in a production and end wit...
Sep 01, 2014•1 hr 5 min
This is a long one, but well worth it. On August 16th, 2014, I traveled to Ottawa, Ontario for the Canadian Institute for Theatre Technology' s annual trade show Rendez-Vous 2014. There, I led a panel discussion about the use of projections in theatre design with Scott Spidel, Eric Mongerson, Ben Chaisson and Beth Kates. Thankfully, CITT had booked our discussion for 3 hours and despite the fact that we thought we would be done early, we went right to the 3 hour mark. It was a very comprehensive...
Aug 23, 2014•1 hr 24 min
This is the second half of my conversation with production designer Allan Stichbury via Skype from his home in Victoria B.C.. Among other things we discuss how he builds a relationship with a director, his approach to education, and his experiences as a designer in Thailand. We also discuss his involvement with the Prague Quadrennial and the Associated Designers of Canada. The audio is a bit better on this one, but still low quality - it will be fixed for future episodes. University of Alberta T...
Aug 20, 2014•53 min
Allan Stichbury is a set/costume/lighting designer based in Victoria, British Columbia. An alumni of the conservatory program at the University of Alberta, Allan spoke to me about his early years in Victoria and Edmonton and the shows that made his career at a time in Canadian theatre that you could still become an overnight success. The sound is a bit lower quality than I would have liked, as this was my first recording of a Skype call. Please forgive the digital distortion at times, I have imp...
Jul 27, 2014•45 min
After a bit of a delay for school and life, here is episode #6, part 2 of my discussion with Shawn Kerwin. We pick up with Shawn's experience with Desmond Heeley at the Stratford Festival and move onto the Met and Shawn's design philosophy, discussing problems with the audience "humming the scenery" after the show. This episode is a great primer for how to approach a design, generate ideas, communicate with other artisans and build a show, as well as a frank discussion about starting a career in...
Jul 07, 2014•54 min
This week, I speak with set designer Shawn Kerwin about her training in the early days of modern Canadian theatre in Toronto. From the beginnings in an unheated warehouse at the Factory Theatre to training with the stars of British design, Shawn's life as been extraordinary. Here are some links to stuff we talked about: The Blyth Festival Theatre Passe Muraille The Factory Theatre Eric Steiner George Walker Donald Davis Playwright's Co-op National Theatre School Yale University School of Drama A...
May 21, 2014•36 min
In this episode, I conclude my talk with the Director of Lighting Design at the Shaw Festival in Kevin Lamotte. In this episode we begin by discussing Kevin's relationship with the director and how he visualises lighting. We move on to discuss his approach to cuing and his role as the director of lighting design.
May 08, 2014•51 min
This week, I have the first part of my discussion with Kevin Lamotte, the director of lighting designer at the Shaw Festival in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. We discuss his original training and dig into his early years at the festival as well as his design philosophy. Leamington. Ontario Niagara College The Shaw Festival The Studio and Forum of Stage Design Lester Polokoff The Banff Centre Josef Svoboda Ubu Roi...
Apr 16, 2014•38 min
In this second installment of my chat with lighting designer Michelle Ramsay, we spoke about some of her favourite shows, her work on festival designs and collaboration between designers. Some further reading from the show Nightwood Theatre Rough House - Nightswimming Theatre April 14th, 1912 - Theatre Rusticle Obaaberima - Buddies in Bad Times Rhubarb Festival T he Toronto Fringe Festival Arcadia - Shaw Festival...
Apr 05, 2014•37 min
Michelle Ramsay, a Toronto-based lighting designer, agreed to be my guinea pig for episode one of the podcast. This is the first of two 30 min sessions we taped. Here is Michelle's bio (updated March 18 2014) Michelle is a lighting designer for dance and theatre based in Toronto. Companies she has designed with include: Modern Times, Cahoots Theatre Company, Blue Ceiling Dance, fu-Gen, The Theatre Centre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Stand Up Dance, New Harlem, Shaw Festival, Human Cargo, Theatre...
Mar 18, 2014
