The only professor in academia working on deaf education
There is a fierce debate raging in the deaf community. Many audiologists believe sign language is obsolete, recommending instead that deaf children rely exclusively on technology such as cochlear implants and hearing aids. Sign language, they contend, interferes with learning to speak. Joanne Weber argues the whole dispute is absurd and unnecessary. The first Canada Research Chair in…
Gordon Hirabayashi took a principled stand against the internment of Japanese Americans
When Japanese Americans were evacuated from the West Coast and sent to internment camps during the Second World War, Gordon Hirabayashi refused to comply. Acting on the courage of moral conviction, the Quaker pacifist instead turned himself in to the FBI, prepared to challenge the unjust executive order and take the case as far as…
Facilitators say the experience has given them a new perspective on telling stories through drama
In an all-too-familiar tense scene, a fraudulent immigration officer demands money from a Filipino immigrant intent on starting a new life in Canada. Empowered by the audience, the immigrant pushes back, refusing to comply. It’s a scene that hits home with everyone in the room – all of them migrant workers in Edmonton turning to…
Edmonton troupe finds a creative way to keep performing during pandemic
Carlean Fisher has been in love with the stage for as long as she can remember. As a young woman, pulling the curtains from backstage was enough to feel the rush, until years later when she got involved as a player with Edmonton’s Walterdale Theatre. “It’s an important part of who I am, ever since…
Professor's experimental approach explores science, technology, society and the environment
For Yelena Gluzman, science and theatre have much in common. And she’s intimately familiar with both. That makes her a great fit as the newest addition to Media and Technology Studies in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta, where she’s teaching a new course on the interrelations of science, technology, society and environment.…
Leo McKern transforms into the barrister with personality, magnificent inflection and dry wit
Thanksgiving in Canada is a wonderful, relaxing time. Turkey dinner with family. Football games and baseball playoffs. Listening to music. Catching up on reading. How could you ask for anything better? As it happens, I can add one cherry on top of the proverbial sundae. I was able to go through my DVD collection of…
Actor, playwright, director, producer Reneltta Arluk returns to U of A as first Indigenous woman to direct on Timms Centre’s main stage
Reneltta Arluk admits being the first Indigenous woman to graduate from the University of Alberta’s BFA acting program in 2005 was a hard-won distinction. In a moment of frank disclosure, Arluk recalls confronting no small measure of racial bias among certain faculty members who made her feel she had no right to be there. Some…
There’s no requirement to stick to the details of the original story. The entertainment imperative trumps ‘authenticity’ every time
People raised in North America aren’t usually exposed to the phenomenon of the Christmas pantomime. Some might even think it has something to do with mime, which it most assuredly doesn’t. But those who grew up in Britain or Ireland will have an entirely different perspective. Pantomime – panto for short – is an integral…
Think of them as a form of therapy, a way of easing back to everyday life while still experiencing the atmospherics of the political arena
If you’re suffering withdrawal pangs from the wind down of the American election, here are three political dramas to assist your transition. Think of them as a form of therapy, a way of easing back to everyday life while still experiencing the atmospherics of the political arena. Subject matter aside, the films have two things…
Special interest groups demanding a say in casting choices flies in the face of diversity and freedom of expression
Visiting the Globe Theatre in London, England, is an unforgettable experience. When viewing the modest grounds and realizing that the ‘groundlings’ – the people in the cheap seats – were sometimes privileged to see original Shakespeare plays, it brings home the long and important history of the performing arts. On our tour of the theatre,…
There is a fierce debate raging in the deaf community. Many audiologists believe sign language is obsolete, recommending instead that deaf children rely exclusively on technology such as cochlear implants and hearing aids. Sign language, they contend, interferes with learning to speak. Joanne Weber argues the whole dispute is absurd and unnecessary. The first Canada Research Chair in…
