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Description

Be part of the script reading of Kohkom’s Babushka, a family theatre production by Joleen Ballendine and Lianna Makuch, featuring the actor participants of the Slaight New Play Actor Training program. Directed by Lianna Makuch and inspired by Marion Mutala’s book, this play re-examines Canadian settler narratives through a heartwarming story that celebrates cultural traditions, the beauty of generosity, and the spirit of friendship. This process workshop showing is a step in the development of the play, which will premiere at Banff Centre in October 2025. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to see the early stages of a compelling new Canadian play.

Cast from the Slaight New Play Actor Training program

Cassandra Bourchier
Lana Kouchnir
Matthew Lumley
Valerie Planche
Jessica Rose

 

 

A group of people are rehearsing a play
Page Summary
Inspired by Marion Matuala’s book, this play re-examines Canadian settler narratives through a heartwarming story that celebrates cultural traditions.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/Online/seatSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=3E357FAF-46C3-479D-A645-14661348925A
Description

Join us for a special script reading of DUCKS by Ellen Close, featuring the actor participants of the Slaight New Play Actor Training program. Directed by Marie Farsi and based on Kate Beaton’s acclaimed graphic novel, this play follows the journey of Katie, a 22-year-old cartoonist from Cape Breton, who takes a job in the oil sands to pay off her student loans. This process workshop showing is part of the development leading up to the play’s premiere at Banff Centre in October 2025. Take advantage of this unique opportunity to see the early stages of a compelling new Canadian play.


Cast from the Slaight New Play Actor Training program

Caroline Bell
Kira Chisholm
Jesse Dwyre
Olaoluwa Fayokun
Andrew Halliday
Katelyn Morishita
Blake Pyne
Brahm Taylor

 

A group of people are rehearsing a play
Page Summary
Based on Kate Beaton's graphic novel, DUCKS follows the journey of Katie, a young cartoonist from Cape Breton working in the oil sands.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Age Restrictions
Audience Advisory: DUCKS features mature content, including discussions of sexual misconduct. Audience discretion is advised.
Performance Date
Date
Audience View Micro Site URL
https://tickets.banffcentre.ca/Online/seatSelect.asp?BOset::WSmap::seatmap::performance_ids=31218708-91CC-4369-91D0-36FFE24564DC
Description

Explore the creative journey of emerging audio engineers at our Practicum Open House. Experience a showcase of their recorded works from the past 15 weeks and get an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour of the cutting-edge studios and equipment that bring these compositions to life.

Celebrate their talents as you listen to diverse repertoire and engage in discussions about the art of producing world-class recordings. Join us on the main level of JPL, where different compositions will play throughout the studios. Signage will guide you.
 

Image from Audio Recording Engineering Practicum
Page Summary
Discover emerging talent at the Audio Engineer Practicum Open House. Experience recorded works and a behind-the-scenes look at state-of-the-art studios.
Exhibition
No
Free
Yes
Donation
Off
Banff Centre Artist/Practicum/Staff Only
Off
Licensed
Off
Performance Date
Date
Extra Description

Main Level - Follow Wayfinding Signage

4 – 6 pm

Submitted by Jessica Brende… on
English

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Jacqueline Bell is curator at Walter Phillips Gallery. Recent exhibitions include Cassils: Movement (2024, co-curated with Carol Stakenas); The Shape of an Echo: Selections from the Permanent Collection (2022); darkness is as deep as the darkness is by Rita McKeough (2020); A materialist history of contagion by Candice Lin (2019); Guidelines by Carmen Papalia with Heather Kai Smith (2019); If the river ran upwards (2018) with Silvina Babich, Alana Bartol, Diane Borsato, Carolina Caycedo, T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss and Anne Riley, and Genevieve Robertson; THE CAVE (2018) by Young Joon Kwak with Marvin Astorga, Shawna Dempsey and Lorri Millan, Adrian Stimson, and Kim Ye; and the exhibition and performance, Everything I Say Is True (2017) by Kite. Prior to joining Walter Phillips Gallery, Bell contributed to a number of projects and exhibitions at LACE (Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions). As an independent writer, Bell has been published by C Magazine, FIELD: A Journal of Socially-Engaged Art Criticism, and X-TRA: Contemporary Art Quarterly, among others. She is a graduate of the MA Art and Curatorial Practices in the Public Sphere program at the University of Southern California.

Submitted by Jessica Brende… on
English

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Ivy Pan (she/her) is a project management professional rooted in the performing arts, education, and entrepreneurship. With a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto, specializing in the violin, Ivy has honed a dynamic skill set. Her expertise encompasses strategic planning and successful execution of fundraising events, educational programming, concerts, competitions, and tours. Ivy is passionate about supporting artists and has contributed to organizations like the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, York Region Arts Council, and the Royal Conservatory of Music. Ivy currently serves as the Program Manager, Performing Arts - Music at Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.

Submitted by Jessica Brende… on
English

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Nicholas Dourado is all of the above and none of the latter. Adisciple of the school of creative mysteries and hard nocks and the
holder of innumerable leafs. Don't hold your expectations too tightly around this artisté.

Nicholas was generously supported by the Banff Centre Artists' Awards and the Alice and Betty Shultz Scholarships Endowment Fund for Dance and Music.

Submitted by Dolson Rhona on
English

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Born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and raised in Northern Ontario, Colleen Murphy won the 2016 and 2007 Governor General's Literary Award for English Language Drama for her plays Pig Girl and The December Man / L'homme de décembre respectively. Both plays were also awarded a Carol Bolt Award. Other plays include The Breathing Hole (shortlisted for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and the Carol Bolt Award), The Society For The Destitute Presents Titus Bouffonius, I Hope My Heart Burns First, Armstrong's War, The Goodnight Bird, The Piper, and Beating Heart Cadaver, which was shortlisted for a Governor General's Literary Award. She is also a librettist - Fantasma for composer lan Cusson, My Mouth On Your Heart for composer August Murphy-King, and Oksana G. for composer Aaron Gervais - and is an award-winning filmmaker. She has been Writer-in-Residence at seven universities and Playwright-in-Residence at two Canadian theatres as well as at Finborough Theatre in the UK. She is a member of the Order of Canada. 

Dolson Rhona
Playwrights faculty
Feature Image
Banff International Workshop in Jazz 2017
Page Summary
Experience captivating participant performances from Jazz & Sonic Arts: Gather Listen Hear, showcasing diverse talents and styles.

Submitted by McKeon Margaret on
English

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Shelma is a sucker for a good story. Whether it’s documenting cyclists of color in New York City, building a temporary community art park in the Lower East Side or highlighting underrepresented stories in the outdoors, she focuses on bringing people together and sharing their stories. She is the founder of Flash Foxy, a multi-media platform that celebrates women and genderqueer folks in climbing. Shelma's directorial debut, Do Better Together, was an official selection for several festivals, including but not limited to MountainFilm, Kendal Mountain Film Festival, No Mans Land Film Festival and Filmed by Bike Film Festival. Shelma recently completed her first featured length film, On The Land, which documents a skill swap between two women - one a hunter and the other a climber - over the course of two years and the community they find with one another.

The current Vice President of the Access Fund Board of Directors, Shelma was named one of 40 women who’ve made the biggest impact in the outdoor world by Outside Magazine in 2017 as well as listed on the 30 Most Powerful Women in Travel List by Conde Nast Traveler in 2019. A leader in our community, she has written, spoken and presented on the importance of creating a climbing community that reflects and welcomes everyone who identifies as a climber. Shelma currently splits her time between Brooklyn, NY and the Eastern Sierra, CA and can often be found plugging widgets into horizontal cracks at the Gunks or getting scared on granite highballs in Bishop.

Submitted by McKeon Margaret on
English

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Masha Gordon is an experienced board executive, an avid alpinist, and a mother-of two. She started her career as a journalist for the Washington Post in Moscow and spent the next two decades working in finance leading investment teams at Goldman Sachs and PIMCO. She moved to a portfolio career of non-executive board roles in 2014 and currently serves as a board chair of Constellation and a non-executive chair of Capricorn Energy. She is a founder of GRIT&ROCK, a foundation that supports female attainment in mountaineering through annual expedition grant program.

A passionate alpinist, Masha participated in over 30 expeditions and is a holder of two Guinness world records.

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