David DeGrow –

The Association congratulates David DeGrow on his successful proposal to research three Toronto theatre companies and their synonymous theatre spaces: Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times, and the Theatre Centre. His in-depth and comparative examination of the mandates, audiences and relationships of each of these companies will allow us to better understand how they were each dramatically changed by the acquisition of permanent spaces. Mr. DeGrow’s proposal struck the committee for its precise description of the project, with theorized contexts, his well prepared objectives for specific archival work, and his clear set of anticipated outcomes. His proposal was succinct and clearly written with a modest but well thought-out budget for travel to the L.W. Conolly Archives at the University of Guelph.

As part of his larger dissertation research, Mr. DeGrow carefully chose three companies to allow an analysis of specific aspects of the relationship between the theatres and their spaces, both architecturally and within the larger socio-economic currents at work in the city. In addition, he expressly links the outcomes of his research to larger contributions to Canadian theatre studies: first, a complex case study of the interconnection between Toronto’s theatre ecology and the city over a span of forty years; second, the work will reveal the symbiosis between theatre companies and the urban landscape (real-estate market, shifting demographics, urban planning, etc.). Mr. DeGrow hopes his work will contribute to the long-term needs of theatre makers in the future by offering new viewpoints on how theatre spaces are used and how they impact theatrical creation.

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L’Association félicite David DeGrow pour avoir proposé avec succès d’étudier trois compagnies de théâtre torontoises et leurs lieux attitrés : Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times et le Theatre Centre. Son examen approfondi et comparatif des mandats, du public et des rapports de chacune de ces compagnies nous permettra de mieux comprendre comment elles auront radicalement changé suite à l’acquisition d’espaces permanents. Le comité a été frappé par la proposition de DeGrow, notamment la précision de sa description du projet par le biais de contextes théorisés, ses objectifs bien préparés pour un travail en archives particulier, et son ensemble clair de résultats escomptés. Sa proposition était succincte et clairement rédigée, cela avec un budget modeste mais judicieux pour consulter les Archives L.W. Conolly à l’Université de Guelph.

Katrina Dunn –

Ms. Dunn’s dissertation project “Real Estate and Theatricality in Vancouver’s Downtown Core” investigates the theatrical past in Vancouver by applying concepts arising from the spatial turn in performance studies and incorporating recent work in economic geography to three diverse case studies, each of which represents a different relationship between urban life, civic government, and arts infrastructure: the Vancouver Playhouse and the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Livent’s The Ford Theatre, and the application of Wagner’s concept of “Gesamtkunstwerk” to the development of Vancouver House. The project employs an ambitious mixed methodology, combining immersive spatial research, archival research, and semiotic analysis. Ms. Dunn aims to create “a deep map that allows the reader to view layers of time and space both underneath and above the site, and to foreground the global, national, and local forces that have brought a particular space into being.” The McCallum scholarship will allow Ms. Dunn to travel to the Provincial Archives in Victoria, BC and the L.W. Conolly Archives at the University of Guelph.

The committee was impressed by the potential of Ms. Dunn’s project to employ archival research to shed light on under-examined case studies and to extend the boundaries of performance scholarship by delving into the relationships between theatre, economic geography, and real estate development. The committee agreed with Ms. Dunn’s referee, who noted the project’s strong interdisciplinarity, the need for scholarly attention to the three case studies, and the potential of the project to combine materialist analysis and an investigation of socio-economic and political discourses to provide an important study of Vancouver’s urban theatre environment.

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Le projet de thèse de Katrina Dunn, intitulé Real Estate and Theatricality in Vancouver’s Downtown Core [Immobilier et théâtralité dans le centre-ville de Vancouver], vise à étudier le passé du théâtre à Vancouver en mettant à contribution des concepts découlant du tournant spatial des performance studies et en intégrant les travaux récents en géographie économique, pour les appliquer à trois études de cas, chacun de ces cas représentant une relation différente entre vie urbaine, gouvernement civique et infrastructures artistiques : le Vancouver Playhouse et le Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Livent’s The Ford Theatre et l’application du concept wagnérien de Gesamtkunstwerk au développement de Vancouver House. Le projet s’appuie sur une ambitieuse méthodologie mixte combinant recherche spatiale immersive, recherche archivistique et analyse sémiotique. Dunn veut créer « une deep map permettant au lecteur de visualiser des couches temporelles et spatiales autant au-dessous qu’au-dessus du site, et de mettre à l’avant-plan les forces globales, nationales et locales qui ont mené à l’avènement d’un espace particulier ». La bourse McCallum permettra à Katrina Dunn de visiter les Archives provinciales à Victoria, en Colombie-Britannique, ainsi que les Archives L.W. Conolly à l’Université de Guelph.