44. Josh Languedoc - Unpacking What We Are Carrying
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In the case of his first formal play, Rocko and Nakota: Tales From the Land, theatre artist Josh Languedoc has come to realize that while the play was first produced in 2018 professionally, he had been carrying in pieces for many years, being unpacked and revealed gradually along the way. Josh, a proud member of the Saugeen First Nation, now lives as a guest in Treaty 6 Territory as an Anishinaabe playwright, producer, storyteller, and teacher. His most recent production, Civil Blood: A Treaty Story, an immersive contemporary tale inspired by the signing of Treaty 6, the love story...
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43. Jenna Rodgers - Practice and Preparation
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The role of mentor suits Jenna Rodgers’ love of partnership whether she’s sitting alongside a playwright in the supportive role of dramaturg, as the leader of an artistic ensemble somewhere in the midst of bringing a story to the stage or in the past few years as a mother of two, learning how to best respond to the wild wonder of early childhood; an improvisation unto itself. While her professional path following her double Science and Arts major led her to a life in the theatre, Jenna remains committed to a practice that embodies the inquisitive curiosity of a creative...
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42. Jordan Hart - Letting Go
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For the past decade, Toronto-based singer songwriter, Jordan Hart has been engaged in an adventure in letting go; no small task for someone who admittedly holds tightly to the controls every time he enters the studio. His tendency to lean towards the idea of perfection, has been anchored in a desire to connect deeply with his listeners. Lately, Jordan has begun to dance more freely with the idea that in letting go, he is able to experience a kind of freedom to be even more fully connected, trusting that every listener, of recordings and performances, is going to define perfect by their...
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41. Shelley Lepp - Why We Write
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The transformative work of the Writer’s Collective of Canada is anchored in the core belief in the power of seeing, hearing and inviting ourselves to know one another better. Shelley Lepp joined the WCC as a volunteer facilitator in 2018, then Co-Executive Director in 2019, and early in 2024 stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer. Shelley holds a Master’s Degree in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE, University of Toronto. Her academic research has focused on the practice and pedagogy of expressive writing as a non-clinical mental health intervention. She is a...
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Season 4 - TRAILER
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New Season Launches Oct 11
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40. Shannon Litzenberger - Artistic State of Emergence
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Shannon Litzenberger is keenly committed to the exploration and rehearsal of new ways in doing and being in the practice of art and living. As a dancer and performance maker, her work explores our relationship to land, the politics of belonging, and the forgotten wisdom of the body. She collaborates frequently with the wind in the leaves collective and has been an invited resident artist with major arts organizations nationwide. As a skilled freelance strategist, leadership developer, and embodiment facilitator, she works with organizations in the arts, academia, and the corporate sector....
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39. Stephen Nachmanovitch - The Art of Is
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Stephen Nachmanovitch, an accomplished and classically trained violinist, has for years been espousing the life affirming power of stepping away from the notes on the sheet to explore the freedom of playing between, within and around the notes, of music, art and life as one beautiful composition. He performs and teaches internationally at the intersections of multimedia, performing arts, ecology and philosophy. He is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (1990) and The Art of Is: Improvising as a Way of Life (2019); both of which make the compelling argument “that...
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38. Brent Allan – Living Your Most Fabulous Life!
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Brent Allan has always led with heart, art and a deep passion to make positive impact on the world he encounters. Drawing strength from his early personal experiences during the dark days of the HIV crisis in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver, Brent has come to be recognized globally as a highly respected and sought after advocate and crusader for people living with HIV, through education, the arts, health policy and practice and industry. The way they have defined and designed life, community and family speaks to a true embodiment of the creative spirit. In fact, Brent often...
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37. Vern Thiessen – In Search of the Untold Story
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Vern Thiessen’s curiosity is forever leading him to the untold story, inspiring plays that have embraced theatres around the world. Thiessen, one of Canada’s most produced playwrights, a recipient of numerous awards and honours, including Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award, for Einstein’s Gift in 2003, continues to seek out those places where a drama might find breath and lead to a life on stage. Beyond his formal writing career, Vern has always supported other writers, formally in classrooms teaching playwrights of all ages and experience and informally, he has...
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36. Gianna Vacirca – Play...Pasta...Possibilities
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Throughout these conversations on the creative process, the idea of play features heavily. There’s an incredible joy in the experience of inviting our imagination to a party of our own making and then hosting it as the guest of honor. If we believe that the innocent creative child we were when we were small, remains alive within us, then play at any age opens the door to our freedom to express ourselves and be fully alive. For Gianna Vacirca, her playful self seems never hidden within, and in her words and in her life, PLAY shows up as a language. And so, a few years ago...
info_outlineFor the past decade theatre artist, Cynthia Jimenez-Hicks has been surfing some incredibly wild waves, fuelling her love of what she refers to as creative chaos. Since graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada in 2015, she has appeared across North America on stages of all sizes, hopping confidently from comedy to drama. From the soul building and edifying work of bringing the seed of an idea to life on the smallest of stages to the high-flying adventure of hitching on to an internationally recognized sensation as a member of the San Francisco company of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Cynthia’s understanding of what it means to stay present to self, art and life has continued to expand. We sat down together days after it was announced that she would be heading to the Stratford Festival this season in the role of Wendy in the premiere production of Ella Hickson’s, Wendy and Peter, the latest iteration of the J.M Barrie classic.