Carina Gaspar will be leading an extensive exploration of clown theatre with The Manitoulin Conservatory for Performance and Creation (MCCP) in association with Pat the Dog Theatre Creation.
The internationally-recognized MCCP (formerly The Clown Farm), teaches a uniquely Canadian tradition of clowning that involves European, North American and Aboriginal practices; it attracts theatre creators from around the world, and offers a place to workshop in-development pieces of physical theatre. Given the resurgence of clown-based theatrical work, Carina will be the on-site dramaturg to capture its development.
Carina will offer her hybrid skills as a text-based dramaturg but also a physical theatre creator. She will work alongside the MCCP’s John Turner—of the famed clown duo ‘Mump and Smoot’—to dramaturg new professional work on the ground level. The intent is to forge a dramaturgical template for this kind of work, delving deeper into the question of “how do you dramaturg the body?”.
The bulk of the residency will take place in Northern Ontario—a burgeoning site of innovative physical theatre—with regular visits to Toronto. From clown noses to casebooks, the project aims to support a region of new artistic growth and to extend the vocabulary of physical theatre dramaturgy
In 2014 the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival will undertake dramaturgy and literary management activities for the first time to completely re-invent and re-invigorate its summer theater lab, recently renamed “HVSF2.” The project will be overseen by HVSF’s New Artistic Director Davis McCallum, who has extensive background in the world of new play development, in collaboration with Project Dramaturg Christine Scarfuto, who will be mentored by Beth Blickers. Christine is a New York-based dramaturg and producer who has worked in the literary departments at Signature Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and the Goodman Theatre, and has recently produced the 2014 PEN World Voices International Play Festival and the New Georges JAM Festival.
HVSF is the only resident professional Shakespeare company in the Hudson Valley region, with year-round performances and education programs that serve 75,000 adults and young people annually. HVSF2 will be an off-site extension of the mainstage season, enabling company members to ask and answer new artistic questions that are relevant to HVSF's mission and audience. Projects to be explored at HVSF2 include contemporary plays and new play development; new adaptations of literature, and translations of classical plays from other languages and cultures. The successful Black Swan Lab at The Oregon Shakespeare Festival is the model for what we are hoping to create in the Hudson Valley.
Lab explorations will begin in July, with culminating readings and workshops to be presented to the public in August at The Depot, an 80-seat black box theater in Garrison, NY. For more information about the company and the full range of its programming, please visit hvshakespeare.org.
Christine will be the point person for the series, interfacing with playwrights, helping to organize casting and script production, collaborating with the directors, and supporting the development of these pieces throughout the process. Each of these pieces are heading towards production, either at HVSF or at other theaters, and this reading series is a crucial stage in their development.
Christine and Beth have a history of collaboration, and Beth will be available as a resource to Christine throughout the process, as well as traveling up to Cold Spring to attend the readings, as available.