Panels

Women's Work Festival 2021 Panels

The Co-Curating Model at NAC English Theatre
Tuesday, March 9, 3pm
WhyNot Co-Artistic Director and Founder Ravi Jain and National Arts Centre Artistic Director Jillian Keiley tell the story of the creation and implementation of the “National Arts Centre English Theatre Co-Curating Company in Residence” which platforms the artistic and curatorial choices of a Black Mandated company who select half of English Theatre’s programming annually.

This panel is presented in partnership with APTNL.

Pivot to Digitization
Wednesday, March 10, 4pm
A conversation with three artistic leaders in our community on the move from Live Performance to Digital Delivery since beginning the global pandemic. Featuring Danielle Irvine, Nicole Rousseau & Jenn Deon. Moderated by Lois Brown

Decolonization in the Arts
Thursday, March 11, 3pm
What does Decolonization in Action look like? A conversation about the structures that prevent our community from truly achieving reconciliation with our Indigenous communities, and what we can all do to work towards our common goals of community conscious practices. Featuring Megan Gail Coles, Jenelle Duval & Jennifer Alicia Murrin. Moderated by Nora Barker.

All panels can be viewed via Resource Centre for the Arts's YouTube channel.

Panelists

Jillian Keiley is an award-winning director from St. John’s, Newfoundland and founder of Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland. Jillian has directed and taught across Canada and internationally. She received her BFA in Theatre from York University and was awarded Honorary Doctorates of Letters from both Memorial University and York University. She was the winner of the Siminovitch Prize for Directing in 2004 and the Canada Council’s John Hirsch Prize in 1997. Jillian assumed her role as NAC English Theatre Artistic Director in August 2012, and her productions at the NAC have included The Neverending Story, Between Breaths, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, A Christmas Carol, Twelfth Night, Metamorphoses: Based on the Myths of Ovid, Tartuffe, Oil and Water and Alice Through the Looking-Glass. More recently, she directed Bakkhai, The Diary of Anne Frank and As You Like It for the Stratford Festival and her productions of Tartuffe (NAC) and The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Artistic Fraud) toured through Newfoundland and Labrador. Tempting Providence, her collaboration with Robert Chafe for Theatre Newfoundland Labrador, toured internationally for 12 years and will be the inaugural production at the launch of the Nurse Myra Bennett Theatre in Cow Head, Newfoundland in the summer of 2020.

Toronto-based stage director Ravi Jain is a multi-award-winning artist known for making politically bold and accessible theatrical experiences in both small indie productions and large theatres. As the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre, Ravi has established himself as an artistic leader for his inventive productions, international producing/collaborations and innovative producing models which are aimed to better support emerging artists to make money from their art.
Ravi was twice shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 Siminovitch Prize and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He is a graduate of the two-year program at École Jacques Lecoq. He was selected to be on the roster of clowns for Cirque du Soliel. Currently, Sea Sick which he co-directed will be on at the National Theatre in London, his adaptation of The Indian epic Mahabarata will premier at the Shaw Festival, and What You Won’t Do For Love, starring David Suzuki will premier in Vancouver in 2021.

Lois Brown is an interdisciplinary artist. She has won numerous awards including The Canada Council’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award for outstanding achievement in theatre and YWCA’s Women of Distinction Goodwill Award. In 2019 was inducted into the Encore Dance Hall of Fame. She was Dramaturge and Artist-in-Residence at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal from 2011 to 2013. Recent work includes curation of a micro-festival Injury, Illness, Pain, Sadness, Grief and Performance. Lois’s production of her playWhen the Angel of Death says ?how are you… about PTSD was named best play of 2016 by The Overcast. Her current investigations include democratization, following the objects or things, autonomy, and patience and boredom in long-form structured improvisations. Lois holds a Masters from Memorial where she has taught directing and acting.

Nicole Rousseau is a director and performer from St. John’s. She holds a BFA (Acting) from Grenfell Campus at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Directing credits include Men of Misfortune, Seal
Slippers, Tangly, The Ogre’s Purse (RCAT); Krapp’s Last Tape, Fleming (Independent); Art (c2c);MacBeth, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Troilus and Cressida (SBTS); Eli and The Death Curse (Bare Boards) and artistic collaborations with The Ora Ensembe (m’habiller encore, Rites).

Nicole has performed with c2c theatre, Artistic Fraud, White Rooster, She Said Yes!, The Open Actor’s Studio and The Gros Morne Theatre Festival. She is the current Artistic Animateur for RCA Theatre Company and a past recipient of the Rhonda Payne Award from ArtsNL.

Jenn is a freelance theatre artist who has worked in St. John’s since the early 90’s. With PerSIStence, she has directed Robert Chafe's Isle of Demons (2017) and Berni Stapleton's The Haunting of Margaret Duley (2019). As artistic director with the Shakespeare by the Sea Festival from 1995-2015, she directed many of its productions over the years, including a female-driven production of The Taming of the Shrew (2014) and an all-female production of Much Ado About Nothing (2008). In 2013, Jenn was a recipient of a Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her community involvement, and in 2018, the Woman of Distinction Award for Arts & Culture from the YWCA St. John's. Jenn was also a nominee for the 2020 Human Rights Award from the NL Human Rights Commission. She is a founder of and the producing artistic director with PerSIStence Theatre. Jenn is also a CHRC-trained facilitator of Respectful Workplace workshops for arts and non-profit organizations. More at jenndeon.ca.

Artistic director of Perchance Theatre since 2013, Danielle Irvine is an award-winning Newfoundland-based theatre director who has worked across Canada for over 20 years. Highlights of her career include six years teaching at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal; assistant directing at the Stratford Festival of Canada for two seasons (including being the first director to study in their Birmingham Conservatory); and winning the Canada Council for the Arts prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Directing and the Elinore and Lou Siminovitch Protégée Prize under Jillian Keiley.

Danielle has directed theatrical productions of all sizes and types in all manner of venues. She has co-founded two other successful theatre companies and is also the current founding artistic director of Sweetline Theatre. She has served on the boards of many arts organizations including Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland and the Resource Centre for the Arts.

Danielle is also frequently called upon to adjudicate local theatre festivals, has served on numerous arts juries, and has served on arts advisory committees for the City of St. John’s. She has also been a key note speaker and workshop leader at various conferences over the years and is a sought-after teacher bringing Shakespeare’s words alive through classes, workshops and fun events for all ages.

Danielle has spent many years working in television and movie casting including CBC's Republic of Doyle and more recently for the Netflix series, Frontier.

Danielle was a selected participant in the World Stage Festival 2000’s Master Class for Directors, where she was honoured to study with such theatre greats as Peter Brook, Yoshi Oida and Polly Teale.

Recently, Danielle was selected as the "2015 MVP for the Local Theatre Scene" by the readers of the Overcast, and was a 2016 nominee for the YWCA St. John's Women of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture.

Jennifer Alicia Murrin (they/she) is a queer, mixed Mi’kmaw/Settler (German, Irish, Scottish) storyteller originally from Elmastukwek, Ktaqmkuk (Bay Of Islands, Newfoundland), now residing in Toronto. She is a two-time national poetry slam champion and member of Seeds & Stardust Poetry Collective. Jennifer Alicia's debut chapbook titled Mixed Emotions is being published by Moon Jelly House. She is also working on a play titled Restor(y)ing Identity and part of it was recently presented at the Weesageechak Begins to Dance Festival. Find out more about their work here: www.jenniferalicia.com.

Megan Gail Coles is a graduate of Memorial University of Newfoundland, National Theatre School of Canada and University of British Columbia. She is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Poverty Cove Theatre Company for whom she has written numerous award-winning plays. Her debut short fiction collection, Eating Habits of the Chronically Lonesome, won the BMO Winterset Award, the ReLit Award, the Margaret and John Savage First Book Award and earned her the Writers’ Trust of Canada 5×5 Prize. Her debut novel, Small Game Hunting at the Local Coward Gun Club, was a finalist for the Scotiabank Giller Prize, a contender for CBC Canada Reads and recently won the BMO Winterset Award. Originally from Savage Cove on the Great Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland, Megan lives in St. John’s where she is the Executive Director of Riddle Fence and a PhD candidate at Concordia University. Megan’s debut poetry collection is forthcoming from House of Anansi this fall.

Jenelle Duval is an L’nu artist and arts administrator from St. George’s, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). She is a founding member of Eastern Owl and is currently the arts and culture coordinator for First Light in St John’s, where she coordinates local arts programming that prioritizes Indigenous arts practices. She has been instrumental in building the annual Spirit Song Festival and is rooted in her connection to community arts and creation.

Nora Barker is a St.John's based L'nu artist and arts administrator from GrandFalls-Windsor, Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland). Nora has a BA from Memorial University, and has worked with many arts organizations in the province, including the St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, St. John’s Shorts, Lawnya Vawnya, HoldFast Contemporary Arts Festival, Isle Aux Morts Theatre Festival and White Rooster Theatre. Nora is RCA Theatre Company's Artistic Associate for the 2020-2021 season and the co-producer of #WWF15.