To close out the coverage of Essential Collective Theatre‘s The Team by our critics, the non-embedding students attended the premiere and closing of the show last month. The Team ran at Theatre Aquarius from March 14-16, and at the First Ontario Performing Arts Centre from March 20-23. Check out what these new pairs of…

Our Shaw embedders stepped into The Horse and His Boy‘s rehearsal hall for the first time. Shannon Fletcher, Alexandra Chubaty-Boychuk, Matt Lazaris-Brunner, and Danielle Woodcock write, The Shaw Festival is one of Canada’s most prestigious theatre companies. The four of us have all seen shows at Shaw before, and now w…

The other half of our embedders give their final thoughts on The Team to close out DART Critics’ time embedding with Essential Collective Theatre. Dani Shae Barkley, Jonah Pace, and Kristina Testa write, The creative team engages in their “Check-out” circle. Photo by Kristina Testa. When we walked into the Robertson Th…

Hazel Adie and Frances Johnson write, Feeling almost as excited as if we were about to step on stage ourselves, we take out seats in the Robertson Theatre. Director Colin Anthes steps forward to thank us all for attending and gives a land acknowledgement. That calm, confident voice now so familiar from rehearsals is li…

The second production we have students embedding is The Horse and His Boy at The Shaw Festival. Their first order of business was to meet the director, Christine Brubaker. Alexandra Chubaty Boychuk, Shannon Fletcher, Matthew Lazaris-Brunner, and Danielle Woodcock write, Photo by Peter Andrew Lusztyk. Design by KeyGordo…

Alexandra Chubaty-Boychuk writes, “Are you scared to have another baby?” This is a question Christina Serra gets asked solely because her son, Bruno, has cerebral palsy. She used to perform in Ahuri Theatre’s This is the Point, but then made the decision not to anymore. Her husband Dan Watson explains during the show t…

Still in two groups, one half of our embedding team returned to The Team‘s rehearsal room once again and share their final observations. Dani Shae Barkley, Jonah Pace, and Kristina Testa write,  Returning to the Suitcase in Point rehearsal space, we are quite excited to witness the progress that the artists of The Team…

Having returned to the rehearsal room once more, half of our embedding team remarks on the changes they witness.  Hazel Adie and Frances Johnson write,  We arrive for our second and final visit to familiar smiling faces. This rehearsal is a week and a half away from Essential Collective Theatre’s first performance of T…

The second half of our embedding team offers further insight into their visit to The Team‘s rehearsal room.  Hazel Adie and Frances Johnson write, “Holy shit! – that’s not the line,” the actor Laura Welch shouts as she starts a run-through of a scene, and the room dissolves into helpless giggles. This moment is one amo…

After interviewing part of creative team for Essential Theatre Collective‘s production of The Team, our five embedders split into two groups to provide a broader range of perspectives and more coverage of the process.  Dani Shae Barkley, Jonah Pace, and Kristina Testa write, On the chillyafternoon of March 1st, we appr…