#23 Bonnie Beecher / January 15, 2016 by Michael Kruse

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 about Canadian theatre and how she works abroad. Bonnie joined me at Soulpepper Theatre in May of 2015 to chat about her life and style.

Links

University of British Columbia

John Lazarus

Banff Centre for the Arts

Adam Stewart

Neptune Theatre (Halifax)

Mirvish Theatre Productions

Frida K

Peter Hinton and Here

The Duchess of Malfi

Cabaret

Joe Ziegler

The Conjuror by David Ben

Dominique Dumais

FIDa festival

Desrosier Dance Theatre

Kevin O'Day

Mannheim National Theatre

Bridget Briner and Ballett im Revier

Stuttgart Ballet

Dortman Ballet

Royal Flanders Ballet

Beleuchtungsmeister

InOne by Cory Pattak

Beverly Emmons (designer for Martha Graham Dance Company who speaks of face lighting in dance)

Sweet Charity

Morris Panych and Ken MacDonald

Versailles Opera House

Bonnie Beecher.  Photo by David Cooper — Bonnie Beecher. Photo by David Cooper

#22 Michael Gianfrancesco / December 24, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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

Pat Flood

Banff Centre for the Arts

Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

Canadian Stage Company

Des McAnuff

The Shaw Festival

The Divine: A Play for Sarah Bernhardt by Michel Marc Bouchard

Christine, la reine-garçon

#21 Fina MacDonell / October 17, 2015 by Michael Kruse

Fina Macdonnel.  Photo by Michael Kruse — 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 Centre

Rainbow Stage

FLQ October crisis

Opportunities for Youth Grant Manitoba

The Patchwork Players

Paul Thompson

The Farm Show

Theatre Passe Muraille

Miles Potter

#20 William Schmuck / September 3, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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 Referendum

National Theatre School

The Latin Quarter - London Ontario

George Schloegle, National Ballet of Canada

#19 Michael Laird / August 5, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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 reinforcement rather than scoring behind acoustic voices in small theatre so there is still a large world of sound design to explore: this episode has really given me a vocabulary to speak to other sound designers and I am sure you will feel the same. We also have a discussion about sound designers as collaborators and the removal of the sound design award from the 2014-15 Tony Awards.

This episode is also the debut of both a new theme, composed by sound designer Verne Good with voice over by lighting designer Gabriel Cropley, and the start of our Patreon campaign. If you like what you hear, go the Patreon Page and find out why it is a good thing to become a patron of the show!

sound design materials

Canstage - Berkeley - MAPP - Section.png

Citadel - Avenue Q - Audio Bible - 23 - 2015 04 25.xlsx.jpg

#18 Sue LePage / July 4, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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

The Donnallys

James Reaney's "The Donnallys: a Trilogy"

David Ferry talks about the 1973 production of The Donnallys

The Cast of Top Girls at the Shaw Festival 2015. Set and Costumes by Sue LePage and Lighting by Louise Guinand. Photo by David Cooper. — The Cast of *Top Girls* at the Shaw Festival 2015. Set and Costumes by Sue LePage and Lighting by Louise Guinand. Photo by David Cooper.

Which is not the Paul Thomson collective production of "Them Donnallys" in 1973 at Theatre Passe Murailles and "The Outdoor Donnallys" in the 2000's at the Blyth Festival, with Janet Amos

Not to be confused by the reworked play "The Death of the Donnallys" at Blyth in 1982 by Ted Johns

Also n ot to be confused with Peter Colley's musical play "The Donnallys" commissioned by the Grand Theatre

William "Bill" Schmuck

Neil Munro

You Can't Take It With You

Top Girls - Carol Churchill

The Courthouse Theatre

Vicky Anderson

Devil's Disciple

Christopher Newton

#17 Christina Poddubiuk / June 3, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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 at thetitleblock@gmail.com.

Links

National Theatre School

François Barbeau

The Shaw Festival

The Straford Festival

The Chocolate Soldier

The Royal George Theatre at The Shaw Festival

Crown Making (jewelry)

Christina Poddubiuk.  Photo By David Cooper. — Christina Poddubiuk. Photo By David Cooper.

#16 Ronnie Burkett / March 14, 2015 by Michael Kruse

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 early career and development, his approach to story-telling and his fastidious attention to the details of design.