The Title Block

On September 3, 202, we held a panel entitled Sustainability in Design.The UN has named this the Decade of Action, our last chance to create the transformation to a livable future. What does it mean to align our practices with a 1.5 degree Celsius global temperature rise?This event focuses on the aesthetics of climate-friendly sustainable design in theatre, as a core design practice and as part of a larger equitable green recovery.Panel members include Logan Raju Cracknell, Kendra Fanconi, Paul Fujimoto-Pihl, Lauren Gaston, Elia Kirby, Ken MacKenzie, and Edward T Morris. The moderator is Ian Garrett.

On August 6th, 2020, we presented what proved to be another important discussion about todays theatre in Canada or Turtle Island: Grounding Indigenous Art & Design On Mixed-Raced Teams: A conversation reflecting on creating spaces and processes for Indigenous Theatre with anti-appropriative practices and inter-Nation collaborations. Our panel included performer Yolanda Bonnell, sound designer/composer Mishelle Cuttler, costume designer Samantha McCue, and projection, set and lighting designer Emily Soussana. The panel was led by Fire Creator, Indigenous Theorist and Cultural Evolutionist, Kim Senklip Harvey.

This time the final conversation from my trip in Vancouver at the end of 2018. Michael Whitfield was the head of lighting design at the Stratford Festival for over 25 years from the mid 1970’s through to the early 2000’s., so he is perfectly placed to round out our discussion about the history of the design of the festival stage. He is also has designed opera across North America and we talk about his take on the important communication strategies when building your show in a team.

This week a special presentation of The Title Block Live, presented in partnership with The Associated Designers of Canada on Supporting a BIPOC cast with your design. A panel of fantastic Canadian theatre designers and artists discuss several questions around how our designs and collaborations can support or hinder the flourishing of Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour in live performance.This weeks panal consists of Carmen Alatorre, C.J. Astronomo, Sammy Chien, Deanna H. Choi, Rachel Forbes, Camilia Koo, Sage Paul, Kimberly Purtell, and Emily Soussana, and is moderated by Michelle Ramsay.Please go to designers.ca for more information about the ADC. All members of the panel were paid a honorarium by the the ADC to sit on the panel. The Title Block and Michael Kruse did not accept any fees for this.

Conor Moore in the pentultimate interview from my trip to Vancouver and Victoria in December of 2018. We talk about his early schooling at Queen’s University and UBC and his breakout as a projection, lighting and set designer at Bard At the Beach and other great Vancouver based companies. Conor was persuing his Masters of Socialwork in Labour studies at Simon Fraser University and is very active in the labour movement of the Canadian theatre scene, so we talk about this shift in his focus and his great work advocating on behalf of Vancouver and Canadian designers in several forums. You can see his portfolio at conormooredesign.com.LinksQueen’s Dan School of Drama and MusicTom McGee and Kat SandlerUBC MFA Theatre designCarmen AlatorreHeadlines Theatre, Theatre for Living and David DiamondAfter HomelessnessBard on the Beach, Falstaff directed by Glynis LeyshonAlan BrodieRobert GardinerThe Pipeline Project produced by ITSAZOO and Savage SocietyDr. Silver, A Celebration of Life by Musical Stage Company and Outside the March TheatrePeter and the Starcatcher at the Artsclub TheatreKevin LamotteShaw FestivalJock MunroLouise GuinandVancouver Design ForumAssociated Designers of CanadaSFU Labour Studies ProgramProf. Kendra StraussIATSECanadian Actors Equity AssociationPrecarious work and Theatre and the Arts

After a two week hiatus we are back with the Title Block Live for June 6 2020. This week a multi-disciplinary panel discusses collaboration in theatre design. The panel is also composed entirely of women, so that lens is applied to think about design in Canada. Our panel consist of: Kate De Lorme, Rachel Forbes, Pam Johnson, Beth Kates, Megan Koshka, Michelle Ramsey, and Amelia Scott. The panel was co-hosted by Vancouver based sound designer and composer Mishelle Cuttler.BiosMishelle Cuttler is a sound designer and composer based in Vancouver who works primarily with the intersection of music and storytelling. She is board member for the ADC and a core member of the Vancouver Design Forum.Kate De Lorme is a Sound Artist and Co-founder of Lobe Spatial Sound studio in Vancouver, BC. Her work ranges from contemporary dance and theatre to immersive sound experiences. More at: Katedelorme.com Lobestudio.caRachel Forbes s a Toronto based set and costume designer who thoroughly enjoys a good puzzle. Artistic, jigsaw or crossword. She loves (and misses) collaboration most of all.Pam Johnson has been a theatre designer for 40 years, and was an instructor at Studio 58 for 29 years. She has designed in most theatres from Montreal to Victoria.Beth Kates is a set, lighting, video and mixed reality designer, who started working in rock and roll a long time ago and is now actively creating work that blends virtual reality, augmented reality and live performance. She is currently completing a Masters degree at the University of Calgary, is a proud member of the ADC, and is the mom to an 8 year old who has the same initials. More infot: www.playgroundstudios.ca www.burythewren.caMegan Koshka is an Edmonton based set, costume, and lighting designer and graduate of the University of Alberta. She was recently nominated for two Sterling Awards for "The Blue Hour" as part of the SkirtsAFire festival. More info: www.mkoshka.comMichelle Ramsey is an award winning Toronto based lighting designer who works with dance, theatre and opera companies across the country. She is also on the board of the Associated Designers of Canada. More info: michelleramsaydesign.caAmelia Scott is a video designer, projection technologist, and new media artist creating for theatre, opera, dance, and beyond. Based out of Montreal and working across Canada, she works in the intersection of animation, video, film, and live performance. More info: ameliascott.ca

This is the second to last interview from my BC interview trip at the end of 2018. Mishelle Cuttler invited me to her home in Vancouver BC and we speak about her career as a composer and sound designer. We speak of her early career at UBC and discovering her talents as a composer as well as an actor/musician up to her experience at NYC’s Tisch School of the Arts studying composition and all points in between. You can find more information about her work at www.mishellecuttler.com

On this next episode of The Title Block Live we discuss video and projection design with a panal of fantastic Canadian designers. Our panel is led by Conor Moore and includes Hugh Conacher, Cameron Fraser, T. Erin Grube, Jamie Nesbitt, Sean Nieuwenhuis, and Emily Soussana.

The next episode of The Title Block Live for May 7 2020 features an all-star panel of costume designers.

This week on The Title Block Live on our You Tube channel, a panel of top Canadian theatrical set designers take questions about their craft and approach to design. On this episode, Pat Flood, Susan LePage, Shawn Kerwin, Camellia Koo, Ken MacDonald, Ken Mackenzie, and Lorenzo Savoini join co-host Conor Moore to take your questions.

I met with Robert Gardiner at the University of British Columbia’s Fredrick Wood Theatre in the design department at the beginning of 2019. We speak about his early work in the US and is eventual move to the UBC drama department, and his thoughts on theatre training and the changes in producing theatre in Canada over the last 40 years.

On this inaugural Title Block Live event, join Conor Moore as he attempts to wrangle a rambunctious panel consisting of Bonnie Beecher, Kevin Fraser, Louise Guinand, Kevin Lamotte, Kimberly Purtell, and Michael Walton to answer your questions about lighting design.

Hey there, Michael Kruse here again - I have to recall that last announcement! We are also in a period of flux, I jumped the gun a bit, and the First Title Block Live episode will now be on Thursday April 16th at 8 pm EST. Join me, and designer Conor Moore, as well as an all-star panel every Thursday at 8 pm EST, starting April 16th on the Title Block Podcasts channel on youtube live. Find us at The Title Block Podcast on YouTube and plug into a great conservation about theatre design. The show can be linked to here: https://youtu.be/QAo7izFCuZ0 So, this Thursday, April 16th at 8 pm EST we start with lighting designers Louse Guinand, Kevin Fraser, Michael Walton, Kim Purtell, and Kevin Lamotte who will be answering your questions sent to thetitleblock@gmail.com, so start sending those in and we will try to address them during the show. We will have a panel on video design coming up in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that anouncement, and in the mean time, please visit thetitleblock.com for past episodes. I will be releasing the audio from the live shows on the podcast feed as well, and the videos will stay up to review after the event as well, so don't worry if you miss it.

I joined Rob at his home in Port Moody BC, just outside Vancouver in December of 2018. We speak about his start in lighting at the Banff Centre and move into live events at Christie Lites Vancouver. Waxing on about early movers we flesh out his work in large scale live events for television, including the opening and closing ceremonies for the Paralympics in Vancouver in 2010 and the Grey Cup half time show. You can find his portfolio at www.robert-sondergaard.com.

During these, um, what's the euphimism markerters are using? "Uncertain Times" we are all stuck at home waiting to make our art again; waiting for the world to change and settle and pushed apart from each other.In an effort to build comm unity and to take one small advantage of this, tumolt, The Title Block is debuting a new weekly live event to deepen the conversation about design in Canadian theatre.  bJoin me, and designer Conor Moore, as well as an all-star panel every Tuesday at 8 pm EST, starting April 14th on the Title Block Podcasts channel on youtube live. Goto youtube.com/thetitleblockpodcast/live and plug into a great converstation about theatre design. This tuesday April 14th we start with lighting designers Louse Guinod, Kevin Fraser, Michael Walton, and Kim Purtel talking about the Fourth Wall and how lighting designers think about it.We will have a panel on video design coming up in a couple of weeks, so stay tuned for that anouncement, and in the mean time, please visit thetitleblock.com for past episodes.  Thank you for your support, and take care during these outrageous times.

Mary and I met at her home in Victoria BC in December of 2018. We speak of her early days growing up in Winnipeg dancing in her mother’s dance studio and her transition to majorette, sculpture and finally nationally renowned set and costume designer. We speak for considerable length about her collaboration with the late Stephen Katz and her work on the spectacular opening ceremonies for the Commonwealth Games in 1994. Mary’s work was featured in the seminal book Scenography in Canada by Natalie Rewa and she currently is a professor at the University of Victoria.

I had a great opportunity while I was in Calgary in the winter of 2019 to speak with designer April Viczso. She is an associate professor and the chair of the department of design in the school of creative and performing arts at the University of Calgary. She is also the past president of the Associated Designers of Canada and a founding member of the controversial Designers Working Group. We speak about her early experiences at Scenotecnica Piu in Italy at the beginning of her career and her journey from Prudhomme Saskachewan to Toronto and back to Calgary. You can see examples of her work at https://aprilviczko.com/ .

On September 23, 2019, Sholem Dolgoy, the head of theatre production training at Ryerson University’s School of Performance retired. He taught at the school since the early 1980’s while building a towering career in lighting design in Canadian theatre and dance. I recorded the presentation that night and present here to you the juiciest bits of that evening, including an addendum to our talk from Episode #13 of the The Title Clock. We recap Sholem’s career, how he got into teaching and his efforts to laud the word of theatre administrators in a time when we need them most.Thank you, Sholem, for being a mentor to so many great artists, and we wish you all the best on your next adventure.

Susan Benson was born in Kent, England, trained as a fine artist but as a member of a theatre family moved quickly in to theatre design. I met with Susan in Victoria in December of 2018 and she recounted her early life and training in England and her development of a robust training environment at the Stratford Festival, where she was the head of design for many years. Susan defends the idea of a theatre designer as an artist and the need of support of traditional theatre spaces to insure we train a future generation of theatre artists. You can follow along visually by finding a copy of Patricia Flood’s new book about Susan’s design career here. You can also find visual references online from Susan’s work here.