Regional Women+ Lead Master Classes in Creation

We are super-excited to present five Regional Women+ Lead Master Classes during IMPACT’19. Produced by our good friends at MT Space Theatre, 2019 marks the 10-year anniversary of this significant intercultural festival where World-class local, national, and international performers gather in downtown Kitchener for theatre that moves and speaks in new ways.

Regional Women+ Lead programming begins September 23 and runs through to September 29 throughout Waterloo and Kitchener. It includes Master Classes, local women’s story collection installation at S.A.I.L., Conversation Café Brunch with Indigenous Teaching and a visit from our new friends at the Lyth Arts Centre from Northern Scotland as we begin our New Conversation.

We’ll be adding special events throughout the week.  Check our social media pages for updates.

Regional Women Lead Master Class in Songwriting

Led by Julia Appleton
Train Station, Uptown Waterloo
Monday September 23 + Tuesday September 24 at 10 AM – 2 PM

JULIA APPLETON is a Singer-Songwriter based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, she has been writing and performing music of various genres since age 7.  This past June, Julia was selected for the 2019 Johnny Mercer Foundation Songwriter’s Project at Northwestern University where she learned from master teachers, Andrew Lippa, Stephen Bray, Craig Carnelia and Lindy Robbins. In 2018, Julia participated in the ETC Lab courtesy of Eclipse Theatre Company in Toronto. Julia is currently developing her first musical The Yellow Wallpaper, as a recipient of The Alliance Theater’s Reiser Lab (Atlanta, GA). The show has been featured in the Atlanta Musical Theatre Festival in 2016 and Playsmelter New Works Theatre Festival in 2018. Julia is passionate about collaborating with other emerging songwriters at all levels and encouraging others to pursue their creative goals.

Regional Women Lead Master Class in Drag

Led by Pearle Harbour
Edna’s, 159 Frederick Street, Kitchener
Wednesday September 25 at 11 AM – 2 PM + 4 PM – 7 PM

JUSTIN MILLER is a queer, Toronto-based theatre artist. As a writer/creator, his work explores the ethos of bouffon, the aesthetics of drag, and a gonzo, participatory performance style that incorporate audiences as active participants in the drama. As a performer, his work has been called “riveting” (NOW) and “a tour de force” (Stage Door), has recorded voiceover for animation and audio-books, and is Dora-nominated for Outstanding Performance.

Photo by Michael Cooper

Regional Women Lead Master Class in Playwrighting

Led by Judith Thompson
S.A.I.L. airstream at DTK 220, Kitchener
Thursday September 26 at 10:30 AM – 5:30 PM

JUDITH THOMPSON is a multi-award-winning Playwright and a Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph. She is the artistic director of RARE theatre, a theatre dedicated to bringing those who are seldom heard or seen to our stages. She has more than 15 published plays and she is most proud of the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award for her play Palace of the End. Her plays have been produced all over the world in many languages.

Regional Women Lead Master Class in Dramaturgy

Led by Joanna Falck
Friday September 27 (S.A.I.L. airstream at DTK 220) at 11 AM – 4 PM
Saturday September 28 (Edna’s) at 10 AM – 1 PM

JOANNA FALCK is the Literary Manager at the Tarragon Theatre. Previously, she spent 10 seasons as Literary Manager at the Shaw Festival Theatre (2007-2016) and was the Tarragon Theatre’s first Literary Manger (2003-2007). As a freelance dramaturg, she has worked across Canada with companies including Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, fuGen Asian Canadian Theatre, Nightwood Theatre, Theatre Panik, Tapestry New Opera Works, Studio 180, Arts Club Theatre (Vancouver), Banff Playwrights’ Colony, Native Earth Performing Arts, Cabaret Company/Buddies in Bad Times and Canadian Stage. She has been a member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA) since 1996 and served on the Executive Board and was on the Founding Board of LMDA Canada. She also served on the steering committee for the Equity in Theatre Initiative and was on the Theatre Committee for the Toronto Arts Council.

Regional Women Lead Master Class in Directing

Led by Miriam Cusson
Edna’s, 159 Frederick Street, Kitchener
Saturday September 28 at 3 PM – 7 PM
Sunday September 29 at Noon – 4 PM

Miriam Cusson is a bilingual director, actor, playwright, designer and literary advisor. She lives in the epicenter of un grand trou noir dans l’espace du Nord, also known as Sudbury. Her multidisciplinary work explores poetry amidst the violence and cruelty of contemporary society and questions the place and impact of individuals in our collectivity. Her artistic approach embraces a juxtaposition of vulnerability and fortitude, of beauty and destruction, while attempting to challenge preconceived notions and conventions.

Miriam has created and co-created several original works including Tranquillité (2005), Le parcours littéraire (2006-2007), Stuff ou les aventures en catalogue (2007), Fara Lifa : Fred et Crudo do Iceland(2010), Nowhere du Nord (2013) and Parmi les éclats- Shattered (2018).

In 2017, Miriam received the OAC’s prestigious JOHN-HIRSCH award for directing and in 2018 she was honored with the Greater Sudbury Mayor’s Celebration of the Arts Award for Mid-career artist. In April of 2019, she received the Teaching Excellence Award for Part-Time Faculty from Laurentian University, where she has been teaching and developing curriculum in the Programme de Théâtre since 2004. She also teaches at Ottawa University’s new conservatory program within the Département de Théâtre and at the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance (also known as the Clown Farm).