On Sunday, March 8th from 12-3pm at the Urban Curvz offices, we’ll be joining forces with activists across the country to increase women’s visibility in the arts by adding Wikipedia pages on women artists, female-centric groups and events in Canadian theatre. This initiative is the brainchild of Equity in Theatre (EIT), a new national initiative aimed at improving gender parity in the arts.
You can join in the fun during our scheduled hours or contribute from home – EIT has a handy How-To on their site. Let us know if there’s an artist or event that you think deserves the Wiki treatment!
To join us at the UC office, email artistic associate below Lindsey Zess-Funk with your
1. Name
2. Email
3. Inquiry
LINDSEY: How do you define the word “Feminism” in relation to your life?
JEREMY: Honestly, I don’t usually use that word. Some people think it’s a bad word, or that it somehow means Tank Girl: you wear army boots and step on dudes’ toes…. In my head, I would probably say that I’m a feminist, but I don’t use that vocabulary.
I think actions speak louder than words. Instead of saying “I’m a feminist” I treat women the way they should be treated – collaborating with them, respecting them. I wouldn’t treat you any differently than I would treat a male colleague. (He ironically pats my hand in a patronizing way.)
LINDSEY: Why do you think feminism is so divisive right now in the pop culture sphere?
JEREMY: I think with social media we’re hearing more stories and opinions from a lot of different sources. I don’t have cable – I have Twitter on my phone. The negative side of that is that it’s hard to get the truth. Big media events trigger all these other stories that we wouldn’t normally have heard about… That’s how I found out about the Men’s Rights movement. Really? That’s a thing?
LINDSEY: Can you tell me about a bad experience you’ve had within the context of the feminist debate?
JEREMY: Reading articles, I always try to find where I fit – trying to find your place within that spectrum, where you’re not pandering, but you’re not disregarding women’s thoughts. You’ll see two different articles technically on the same side of a debate saying opposite things, and I’m not sure who I agree with. Is it even possible to be right? So sometimes I’m hesitant to participate.
LINDSEY: What are three names off the top of your head when I say “feminist Icon”?
JEREMY: Tina Fey – she’s been associated in pop culture with feminism because she’s strong, she’s funny, she’s not afraid to say things, and other people recognize her as a feminist without being scary.
…this is totally wrong, but Ayn Rand springs to mind? Actually I don’t actually think she’s a feminist. I know people hate her because she had strong views on things, but wasn’t afraid to say what’s on her mind. I’m not sure if that makes her a feminist or not.
LINDSEY: Ayn Rand was publicly anti-feminist. But Virginia Woolf said that “a feminist is any woman who tells the truth about her life”…
JEREMY. Well there you go! Third I’m going to say my grandma – she was really funny too. She was who she was, didn’t give a shit about what anyone thought. The men in my life didn’t talk down to the women in my life.
LINDSEY: I know that as the Artistic Director of New West Theatre you actively try to hire more women. Tell me about that decision.
JEREMY: We want to choose plays that are going to resonate with our audience – theatre in general hasn’t been great about sharing female stories, so we’re trying to find some parity. Our audience is mostly women, so why aren’t we sharing more stories about women?
It started with looking for female perspectives in plays, but then it spread out to directors, designers, choreographers, other positions in the artistic process… We weren’t doing it to check a box on a survey, but we were asking “are there women we know of who are really good at what they do and can help bring a varied viewpoint to the stories we’re telling?” That being said, I do check boxes… we keep track of it – we’re constantly evaluating. Some seasons are better than others.
LINDSEY: Do you have any advice to young female artists trying to work in theatre?
JEREMY: I’d give the same advice to any young person – diversify yourself, don’t feel like you have to be put into a particular box. And, specifically for women: just because you look like the ingénue doesn’t mean you have to be the ingénue. Sure, you can look pretty and sing the one soprano part. But you can also play the character part – that’ll reveal a bunch of new things about who you are as an artist.
LINDSEY: What do you say to the argument that women aren’t funny?
JEREMY: Comedy is a big part of my life and as a result a lot of women in my life are funny – I surround myself with those people because I like to laugh. There are plenty of un-funny guys AND girls – a sense of humor is a personal thing. I had an argument with a woman I used to date who said that women aren’t funny on stage. I think people find different things funny, maybe there’s a broad stroke “guy humor” and “girl humor”, but honestly I think it’s deeper than that. I think women are willing to go further to participate in male stories, but some men are still hesitant to meet halfway for whatever reason.
Hope has a BFA (University of Saskatchewan) and an MFA in directing (University of Victoria). She also completed an apprenticeship in England. Hope is in her fourteenth year as Artistic Director of Sarasvàti Productions. She is an award-winning playwright. Jail Baby (co-written with Cairn Moore) premiered in May 2013 and has been published by Scirocco Drama. EDEN premiered in May 2012 and Empty premiered at FemFest 2012. In 2006 Hope was awarded the YWCA Women of Distinction Award.
She currently teaches at the University of Winnipeg and has previously taught at Mount Allison University, Brandon University and University of Manitoba. She is a former President of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.
FemFest started in 2003 as a result of work I was doing with the Women’s Caucus at the Playwrights Guild of Canada. We were exploring embarking on a new study of women in theatre. Several women playwrights who had been involved for years felt we were repeating the same conversation that occurred decades earlier and that little had changed. FemFest was a way of taking some immediate and direct action. It was what I could do through Sarasvàti Productions to support the need for a showcase of women playwrights, a place for women to develop their writing and network.
When it started it was small. I used the model of Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival, which I had experience as a director while in Toronto. Each play was given a small budget of $50 and a bin of props. The focus was on the script and the actors. Our desire to support the playwrights and really showcase their work led to more production support in future years, bringing in designers and production team members. As well we started bringing in other components in order to explore the wide array of what women were writing/creating. We added hosting touring shows from across the country. We added readings and skill-development workshops. Then we added cabaret evenings to showcase women artists in other disciplines. We tried various other things from year to year, including multiple venues and running over ten days. We’ve also brought in amazing international artists to share their work. We are now at the point where we’ve stabilized the structure so that it is just the theme and content that shift from year to year. After trial and error we have found that 8 days is ideal for the festival. The mix of touring shows with local productions has been a successful opportunity for cross-pollination and allows audiences to learn about work in other parts of the country. We now open and close the festival with a multi-disciplinarian cabaret. We also now regularly do what we call a Bake-Off, which allows five playwrights to write something new with set ingredients. The festival is a great mix of new work, workshops for emerging artists and more polished professional work. Audiences really respond to this diversity and it helps us to include multiple female artists at all stages of their careers while also making clear that women write about a wide array of issues in a wide array of formats.
Sarasvàti Productions mandate is to use theatre for social change and to support emerging artists. It made perfect sense that this could be done through a female-centric theatre festival. Firstly because women were underrepresented in theatre and as a result their stories and voices were lacking in mainstream venues. Secondly, I was hearing from my female colleagues that there was a vicious cycle where they weren’t getting productions and as a result could not improve their work/writing therefore leaving many stuck in the endless position of being an emerging artist. I was inspired personally by the amazing work by women that I was hearing about and reading but not seeing produced. As Chair of the Women’s Caucus, I did also go on to work with other groups to initiate a new study of women in theatre but FemFest was a way to do something about it rather than continuing to just talk about the problem.
No surprise that the biggest challenge has been funding. Part of this is having to continually prove the relevancy and need for the festival. Some funders, especially sponsors, shy away from anything that might be political or feminist. Working against misconceptions has been necessary in order to get support, bring in revenue and even attract audiences. Although funding for the arts is always an uphill battle, we have certainly felt that FemFest is working against additional barriers. We want to keep the festival accessible which means we can’t raise ticket prices but while expenses go up with the cost of living each year revenue has not increased.
We have been told again and again that it is an invaluable opportunity for artists. We are proud to see so many women who were nurtured through FemFest go on to new opportunities and bigger productions. Many writers use it to develop new work or in some cases FemFest has produced first plays by women who get their hands on training as playwrights through the process. Touring artists are often introduced to the Winnipeg community for the first time, especially the international artists we bring in. Over the years we have contracted close to a thousand artists and production team members. Of course the downside is that many of them move on to the larger companies and we lose the ability to compete to contract them, but it is definitely what we hope for in helping to give a start to many emerging artists. I believe it has led to a more balanced representation in the Winnipeg theatre community. For audiences, they have been able to see shows and a diversity of theatre that they would not have otherwise experienced. Many have commented on the diversity of FemFest audiences as well, since we see a wider cross-section of people in our audience than the mainstream theatre. We have worked in partnership with several community groups, which has made theatre accessible to marginalized groups and brought those who don’t normally go to theatre in the door. We allow women playwrights to write about whatever they want, but certainly the plays we’ve had submitted tend to tackle relevant community issues. As a result we’ve worked with immigrant groups, Amnesty International, food banks, at risk youth, women’s shelters and various support groups. We’ve made theatre relevant and accessible to a larger spectrum of Winnipeggers.
To be honest my biggest dream is that the festival becomes unnecessary. That women playwrights are being produced at 50% or more at all theatres in Canada. That feels like a crazy dream sometimes but there are glimmers of hope when there is a particularly balanced season like we had in Winnipeg last year with the premieres of six new plays by women. The problem is that this is still the exception and not the norm. There will be a good year and then a bad year so the average stays under 30% of plays by women in Canadian theatres. For the time being though what I’d love to see is even greater community involvement. I would love to see FemFest recognized with the same amount of respect and validity as the Fringe. We want to keep being grassroots and able to do a wide variety of work without worrying about a particular audience base being offended, but we’d also love to break free of being marginalized and instead recognized for the amazing theatre the festival showcases. I would love to have other artistic directors come and see the work so they can become part of the conversation. I would love to take the shows in to more community venues for greater accessibility. We don’t want the scope of the festival to grow but want its relevancy to be further recognized in the same way that women’s voices need to be heard more often in all forums. So in five years we’d love to be selling out all performances, having wider community dialogues and cross-over with our colleagues in theatres across Canada. In my fantasy, by year ten work by women is happening in all theatre seasons and FemFest will have re-invented itself.
The “F-word” is having a new moment. For better and for worse, the word Feminism suddenly seems to be resonating from all angles of pop culture. So much so that Time Magazine included the F-word in its words-to-ban poll for 2014. (Past nominees have included cultural buzzwords words like OMG, YOLO and Twerk). Time’s reasoning:
“Nothing against feminism itself, but when did it become a thing that every celebrity had to state their position on whether this word applies to them?”
From “Beyonce Voters” to #IDontNeedFeminism to Gamer Gate to the Ghomeshi accusations, discussions about the status of women is suddenly the stuff of kitchen table conversation. For years I’ve been talking in bars, at bus stops, at movies, basically with anyone who’ll listen about my relationship with the F-word, and suddenly, to my surprise, other people are talking about it too. Men and women, young and old, seem to be realizing “wait a second! Gender politics is actually still a thing!”
Now here’s the rub: In a post-everything, pluralistic culture, how do we define a word like “feminism”? People seem to react to it like a loaded gun: some feel empowered by it, some feel threatened, some throw up their hands and slowly back out of the room. There seems to be just as many kinds of feminism as there are subgenres of dubstep, and nobody really understands those either.
So we’re going to start a conversation here on the blog about the almighty F-Word in order to flesh out a portrait of that complex but important “ism” that defines the work we do at Urban Curvz. The goal is to reach out to artists and non-artists, male and female, and ask questions about their relationship with Feminism and unpack some cultural baggage.
I don’t know about you, but I’m excited. Stay Tuned.
Twas a night of pure horror! Patrons were ushered up the rickety wooden steps of the Hillhurst United Church only to be faced with a patriarchy haunted House filled with a myriad of knee trembling scenarios. Vulnerable visitors were subjected to a job interview where it was made clear that having a child would mean a demotion (or a lack of promotion, in the very least), a group of mad scientists maniacally developing the ideal woman (cue lobotomy) and a super mom chained to the treadmill of her busy life.
Though tongue and cheek, or vagina and bean bag (you had to be there), Urban Curvz and the Hillhurst United Church’s Take Back Halloween managed to portray the scary situations that continue to haunt woman today. Luckily, like the absurd amount of butter put on the popcorn, the evening’s terror was doused with the wonderful and often hilarious vaudeville acts of Ali de Gret, Jen LeBlanc, Kathryn Smith, Kelly Malcolm, Jenna Rodgers, Ellen Close, Holleay Rohm & Hayley Feiggs and it was delicious!
The evening’s feature event, the screening of WONDERWOMEN: The Untold Story of American Superheroines. was as enlightening as it was inspiring. Though scarily accurate in its commentary, the evening was a blast for all those who came, a celebration of smart, creative people getting together to say something! Oh, and the bloody tampons hanging from the ceiling like tiny ghosts were GENIUS!
-Meg Braem
We are thrilled to have the incredibly talented and multi-faceted Karen Hines joining us this year for the Creation and Performance Master Class: Creating New Work Without Killing It. We asked Karen a few questions about her current projects, her process for creating new work and where she finds artistic inspiration.
1. Can you tell us what you are working on right now?
I’m currently writing three new plays – very unusual for me. I’m typically much more myopic. One of them is taking primo position as its first deadlines loom. Its working title is “The Bechdel Fail: Women Talking About Whatever it is Women Talk About.” It’s inspired by Alison Bechdel’s “Bechdel Test” which, if you don’t know it, is an amazing piece of thought. The next one up is “Crawlspace,” a solo; site specific – the performance happens at a dining table. It’s a true horror story about a real estate deal gone horribly wrong – I call it “Theatre of Realty.” The third is secret for now.
2. Do you have a method or a ritual that you go through when creating new works, or does it change from project to project?
I keep trying new things but come back to the same thing: write anything by hand until I’m exhausted and/or something leaps up off the page, demanding to be placed in context. Usually, something leaps up first. When inspiration flees, as it will even after a fantastic three or four hours of actual writing, I read, read, read. Good stuff. Always, something someone else thought makes me think, wow, I wish I’d thought of that. Then I find myself thinking more … and that carries into the next day. I wish I could write by outline but my outlines often come last. It never gets easier, it’s never obvious, it’s never a straight line, and for me and it always comes down to: put the pen to the paper, computer standing by.
3. You have filled many roles in theatre including director, writer and actor. Do you feel the process in relation to performance creation differs for each role and if so how?
It’s absolutely different for each, though the goal is common. As a director of original work, my role is to help realize the ideas, desires and inspirations of my collaborators, then to vivify them. As a writer, my role is to have that vision and those ideas and communicate them clearly so others can share, participate, be inspired (literally – to be enlivened by them). As an actor my role is to understand, interpret, respect and gently give life to that which is nascent. These descriptions are what happen in optimal situations but so many thing can go wonky, even in the most brilliant hands – it is everyone’s responsibility to keep the horse from bucking everyone off, which is what this course is about.
4. Who has inspired you as an artist?
Lately Jennifer Egan. She’s a novelist (A Visit from the Goon Squad) but the way she talks about creation is so honest and real she hates but embraces the pain of creation. Also, I am very lucky – many of my dearest friends are my inspirations.
Join us for Karen’s creation and performance masterclass in November and discover your own process for creating new works.
Dec 3 and 4, 2014
Penny Lamb: A sixteen-year-old, sister of Ezra.
Ezra Lamb: A thirteen-year-old, brother of Penny.
(Note- due the to highly stylized nature of the piece the actors playing Penny and Ezra can be in their 20’s and 30’s- they need not believably look 13 and 16.)
Rehearsals: May 25- June 10, 2015
Production: June 11-20, 2015
Successful applicants will be provided with audition sides.
Please submit a resume and headshot to Artistic Director, Jacqueline Russell no later than Sunday, November 16, 2014.
Please email submissions to
Both equity and non-equity members are encouraged to submit.
Equity members will be seen first at all open audition calls. Equity members cast in this production will be engaged under an equity form of contract.
Urban Curvz encourages submissions from artists of diverse backgrounds.
Great friend of Urban Curvz, Pam Rocker spoke to CBC radio this morning about the upcoming event presented in partnership with Hillhurst United Church “Take Back Halloween”. See the content below for some highlights from cbc.ca.
Listen to Interview on Calgary Eyeopener.
7:08 AM MT
CBC News
media duration: 7:21
Take Back Halloween
AUDIO
Sexy Halloween costumes a bad fit for young girls: advocates
Pam Rocker, the organizer of Take Back Halloween, spoke on the Calgary Eyeopener about her inspiration for starting the event.
She says they are taking back the holiday from those who think a sexy leopard costume for a three-year-old, complete with fishnet stockings, is a good idea.
“When we saw that in a costume shop a couple of months ago, the artistic director of Urban Curvz and I thought, ‘You know what, this is a problem for all ages,'” said Rocker. “And this is something that we want to take back by having something like a feminist costume contest where you actually have to be creative and think about things that don’t gender stereotype and that maybe actually empower women.”
There is no shortage of sexualized costumes for kids, says Rocker.
“There is also a ‘mac pimp daddy’ costume for eight-year-old boys, because it affects all genders. I also saw a sexy Bert and Ernie and a sexy pizza slice.”
‘”We are not saying that if you want to be a sexy nurse that’s bad, but we want to provide an alternative.’- Take Back Halloween organizer Pam Rocker
Rocker says Halloween is an indicator of a larger movement of rewarding over-sexualized behaviour.
“The culture perpetuates this — you’re rewarded if you’re not smart, you’re not a leader and if you’re something to be objectified.”
The goal is not to tell people how to dress but give people more choice.
“We are not saying that if you want to be a sexy nurse that’s bad, but we want to provide an alternative to something that isn’t gender stereotyping,” said Rocker.
“Really the event is going tot be so much fun…. We’ll have puppets, songs, stage fighting, imagining a future of feminist Disney princesses — so there is something for everybody. Awareness doesn’t have to be a drag and that’s really important to us, so we want it to be an exciting night for people.”
There will also be a patriarchy haunted house that highlights some gender issues in a fun scary way.
“What’s scarier than the gender gap, you know? I’m missing out on 26 cents an hour,” said Rocker.
“The politicians that maybe aren’t the biggest fans of equality may jump out at you at any moment.”
All people are welcome at the event but Rocker suggests kids should be at least 13 due to some mature content.
The event takes place on Halloween at Hillhurst United Church at 7:30 p.m. MT.
American teenagers spend: 31 hours a week watching T.V. 17 hours a week listening to music 3 hours a week watching movies 4 minutes a week reading magazines and 10 hours a week online. That’s 10 hours and 45 minutes of media consumption a day!
What is Gendered Media Literacy? The ability to analyze and evaluate gender stereotypes in the media.
When teens are empowered with media literacy skills, they have the ability to ability to interpret the limiting images in media rather than consuming them passively.
Calgary Young People’s Theatre and Urban Curvz Theatre are excited to present:
Full-Day, one week camp
Date: July 2015
Ages: 12-17 (Boys and Girls)
Keep in touch for more details inn 2015!!!!
The TV shows, movies, commercials, and magazines we consume on a daily basis can leave us feeling un-empowered. This camp, will focus on the personal empowerment of young adults by celebrating their unique views and stories.
Participants in Not Buying It! will not only gain the tools to necessary to analyze, review, and critique media messages but will also take the process one step further by re-writing stereotypes into new and unexpected stories, utilizing improv games, theatre exercises, and group discussions. The camp will conclude with a cabaret style performance featuring original pieces of theatre created by our participants and based on their discoveries over the course of the week.
Urban Curvz Welcomes Ann Galbraith
Urban Curvz’s Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Ann Galbraith will be joining the company’s team in September 2014 as Managing Producer. Ann is a performer, writer, designer and life-long lover of theatre. She holds a BFA in Drama from The University of Calgary and has also studied theatre at Mount Royal College and comedy writing with The Second City. Over the past few years Ann has divided her time between writing, designing, performing, digital marketing and communications and hanging out with her two incredibly energetic, quirky and adorable children. Ann also performs regularly with The Kinkonauts long-form improv house team and their all-female improv troupe Fatale.
“This is a very exciting time for the company, both artistically and operationally. We believe Ann’s experience in marketing and communications coupled with her passion for feminism and theatre will be an excellent fit for our organization,” says Jacqueline Russell, the current Artistic Producer. “Urban Curvz has been operating for almost a decade now, and this period of organizational re-structuring is going to benefit the long term sustainability of the company.”
It is with sadness that Urban Curvz bids farewell to Artistic Director Vanessa Sabourin at the end of this season. Ms. Sabourin has resigned from her position in order to dedicate more time to her career as a performer and director as well as her young family. During her three-year tenure with Urban Curvz Ms. Sabourin brought passion, artistry and boldness to her work. She contributed to increasing the company’s organizational stability and developing the long-term vision of the company. Stepping into the role of Artistic Director is the company’s current Artistic Producer, Jacqueline Russell.
For more information or to request an interview:
Jacqueline Russell
403-477-8331