Participants: Nina Lee Aquino, Daryl Cloran, Jenna Rodgers
Facilitator: Vanessa Porteou
As creative people, we all want to work in great creative rooms, and we know that starting well can be a crucial part of that process. These days, the room or community agreement has become a familiar, though far from universal first step in a lot of rehearsal practices.
When setting out on a creative process, what is most important? How do we put theory into practice, and what happens when things go wrong? What works, what doesn’t, and what factors are in play?
Join Nina, Daryl, and Jenna, as Vanessa hosts them for a chat about how, and why, we use room agreements and other strategies to set expectations, name our shared values, find ways to adhere to best intentions, allow for true difference, and seek real common ground.
Monday, November 4
2:00 p.m. ET to 3:30 p.m. ET
Register Here
ASL Interpretation will be provided.
Feel free to submit a question in advance while registering.
Featuring…
Nina Lee Aquino
Nina Lee Aquino, a Filipino Canadian, is a renowned director, dramaturge, and artistic leader. Her journey began as the inaugural Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian Canadian theatre company, where she organized the first Asian Canadian theatre conference and edited a seminal anthology of Asian Canadian plays, alongside co-editing an award-winning book on the subject. She became Artistic Director at Cahoots Theatre Company and Factory Theatre, leading to her current role as Artistic Director of English Theatre at the National Arts Centre.
Daryl Cloran
Daryl is the Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Citadel Theatre and has built an international reputation for the Citadel which has included hosting productions of Hadestown, SIX: The Musical and Peter Pan Goes Wrong previous to their Broadway runs. Daryl’s Beatles-infused adaptation of As You Like It and directing have been seen at theatres across Canada and the United States, and in countries such as South Africa and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Up next, Daryl is directing Sense & Sensibility at the Stratford Festival.
Jenna Rodgers
Jenna (she/her) is a mixed-race Dramaturg and Director. She is the Artistic Director of Concrete Theatre in amiskwaciy-wâskahikan (Edmonton), the Director of Theatre Alberta’s Artstrek program, and the Board Co-Chair for the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA). She was the founding Artistic Director of Chromatic Theatre (Calgary), and served as the Dramaturg for the Playwrights Lab at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity for over 10 years. Jenna is a recipient of Canada Council’s John Hirsch Prize and is a passionate advocate for equity in the arts, a fierce supporter of new play development, and is learning to raise small responsible humans while maintaining a career in the arts.
Vanessa Porteous
Based in Calgary, Vanessa is a theatre maker whose practice is rooted in directing plays and opera. A major career focus has been new Canadian plays, on which she has worked in various dramaturgical and directorial capacities. Lately, Vanessa’s trajectory has expanded to include filmmaking, writing, translation, teaching, and arts consulting.
From 2009 – 2017, Vanessa was Artistic Director at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary, after a decade as the company’s dramaturg. She is a member of the Directors, Choreographers, Fight and Intimacy Directors committee of CAEA, and a member of LMDA, CGDC, ACCA, and an individual member of PACT.