“I started rehearsing Prince Hamlet when my daughter was 7 weeks old” has become something of a badge of honour for me. Pregnant artists ask me about it. New parents marvel at it. I look back at it from where I am now and it seems impossible. But that’s because now things are way harder.
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A small but important thing on our New Leadership To-Do List was to rename Ruff’s levels of giving. The original names, which had been around since the company was founded, had an implicit hierarchy that we wanted to move away from. We’re grateful for any donations, of any size – it’s all equally valuable to us – and we wanted the new names to reflect that. We also wanted to move a little farther away from the Shakespeare part of our name, and a little closer to the Ruff.
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Shakespeare in the Ruff is seeking applications for an Education Coordinator to join the Artistic Leadership Collective and company to guide the Youth Development and Outreach Program, focusing on the Young Ruffian Apprenticeship Program (YRAP). The role of the Education and Outreach Coordinator is to lead with passion, dedication, and a desire to create meaningful and vibrant programming for youth.
The contract runs from February 1st, 2022 to October, 2022 with an increase in activity in March/April and July/August.
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We had the opportunity to officially meet you at the 10th Anniversary Fun(d)raiser back in May but we wanted to take this opportunity to dig a little deeper. Below we answer some of the questions we didn’t get to at the event and re-visit some of our favourites.
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It wasn’t until this year that I truly understood how much Ruff is part of the neighbourhood community. Whenever we would be working in the park, painting, or rehearsing, someone would inevitably come up to us and ask when the show would be.
The great thing about Shakespeare in the Ruff is that anyone can engage with their shows. No matter where they’re at in life, they can come experience some magic for a little while. There’s a sense of openness and of welcoming that even a pandemic couldn’t squash.
We wrote a shakespeare play. A story that is filled with epic-ness, and heartbreak, and poetry, and laughter, and verse, and joy and tragedy. A play that is not an adaptation, or a retelling of shakespeare— because it is shakespeare.
For 10 years, the Young Ruffian Apprenticeship Program has welcomed exciting new creators, and this year is absolutely no different!
Led by Desirée Leverenz and Education Coordinator Makram Ayache, this year’s program is a paid 4-week creation course, where participants from across Ontario are gaining skills in diverse creation methods, creating solo pieces as well as ensemble pieces, and interrogating play structure and content creation. They are learning the rules of creation and daring to break them as they discover, uplift, and amplify their own unique and vital theatrical voices.
Alongside creating with Desirée, participants are being mentored by artists Kwaku Okyere, Jeff Yung, Maddie Bautista, Jeff Ho and Erum Khan.
Check out these amazing artists and their work live on July 30th from 5:30pm to 8pm. This is an informal sharing session where we will share stories, poetry, films and be in conversation with the audience. Email Desirée for the zoom link!
Marco DeLuca
Marco DeLuca is an actor, singer, dancer and creator living in Oakville, Ontario and hails from Treaty Six. He will be entering his final year in the Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College in the fall of 2021 and is thrilled to be an administrative assistant and team member for Sheridan College’s Expanding the Lens Diversity and Inclusion initiative. Marco is always eager and thrilled to continue honing his craft through writing and creation. In his work, Marco hopes to inspire and elevate community passion through impactful and delicate stories that encourage and embrace individuality and authenticity.
Ericka Leobrera
Ericka is a Philippine-born multi- and inter-disciplinary performer and creator. As a storyteller, their imagination manifests itself in more ways than one. In creation, Ericka intertwines various artistic practices; playwrighting, physical theatre, movement, dance, poetry, and sound. Ericka is a graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Arts – Performance program where they trained in devised and physical theatre. Selected theatre credits include: TomorrowLove (dir. Christopher Stanton), Elektra (dir. Richard Greenblatt), Through The Bamboo (dir. Nina Lee Aquino), Odd Ones Out (dir, Herbie Barnes)
Kiara-Kumail
Kiara-Kumail is a South Asian trans-feminine actor and artist from Tanzania. They currently study Performance Acting at what is now called X-University. Their most recent-credits include Wanda Murley in the radio-play Can’t See Home From Here at the Pocket Festival. They also have experience with classical Shakespearean texts such as their performance of Falstaff in King Henry IV Part 1. They are committed to telling stories from a decolonized, queer and racialized perspective to liberate marginalized voices. They have a profound interest in uncovering the mysteries of the deep sea and the creatures that lie within.
Sid Malcolm
Sid Malcolm is a recent graduate from Brock University, Hons. BA in Dramatic Arts with a minor in Music. Sid has a passion for the world of production and performance with a new found desire to explore storytelling.
She has been able to pursue production as the Assistant Technical Director to three consecutive shows at Brock. Most recently, she had the pleasure of directing, devising, and performing in anthology piece Ouroboros (2021)
Sid has a passion for sharing truths and combining stories of injustice with theatre. She strives to create art which questions the practices that are considered normal in day to day life.
Summer Mahmud
Summer is a Queer writer, director, actor & musician, and fresh graduate of McGill University. They are currently a Writer-in-Development at Teesri Duniya Theatre in Montreal, and an Artistic Associate at Theatre Artaud. Previously, they have worked as Art Director & Curator at Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre, and have played multiple concerts across Pakistan & Canada. Summer is interested in the malleability of form and the absurdity of being[;] anything at all.
Are you an emerging artist who wants to keep in the know about all our educational programs and opportunities? Join our mailing list today!
Are you someone who wants to support paid educational opportunities, like the Young Ruffian Apprenticeship Program, and keep them available for future generations? Make a charitable donation and help us support emerging voices!
On behalf of the Board of Directors, it is my pleasure to announce the incoming leadership of Shakespeare in the Ruff: Patricia Allison, Christine Horne, Kwaku Okyere, PJ Prudat, and Jeff Yung. These incredible leaders have experience on stage, behind the scenes, and in the audience of Shakespeare in the Ruff. Their creativity, community-mindedness, and compassion make them the undeniable leaders of this company.
Since the announcement of Kaitlyn Riordan and Eva Barrie stepping down as Ruff’s leadership, the Leadership Search Committee has worked diligently and embedded Ruff’s five key values (creative audacity, anti-racism & decolonized practice, accessibility, education & mentorship, and respect) into the entire search and hiring process. The Leadership Search Committee consisted of of board members Dasha Peregoudova, Cecile Peterkin, and Joseph Zita, and Ruff community members Rachel Forbes and Miquelon Rodriguez. For their dedication to the future of this company, we thank them.
The board is excited for the new leadership to take the reins of Shakespeare in the Ruff in November 2021. We have had ten amazing years, where Kaitlyn and Eva have taken the company from inception to an institution in Withrow Park. There is no doubt in my mind, and in my heart, that the new leadership will continue the creative audacity to rediscover the work of Shakespeare that will break boundaries and move the community forward
— Fernando Alfaro, Chair of the Shakespeare in the Ruff Board of Directors
Patricia Allison (she/her) is a queer/ disabled choreographer and movement director. She comes from a contemporary dance background and spent a significant time studying canonical-counter discourse. Patricia lives with her wife and two birds named Larry and Wilbur who enjoy sitting on her shoulder while she types (the birds, not her wife).
Christine Horne (she/her) is a mother and actor, last seen on stage as Hamlet in Why Not Theatre’s Prince Hamlet. She’s a fledgling gardener, excitable bird watcher, and avid reader aloud of children’s literature. Christine has received several awards for her work in theatre, television, and film, but she holds none so dear as when she was crowned The Queen of Weird Shakespeare by a passing cyclist while rehearsing Ruff’s Portia’s Julius Caesar.
Kwaku Okyere (he/him) is a queer Ghanaian-Canadian multidisciplinary theatre artist. Most recently, Kwaku played Oberon in the Dora-nominated ensemble of Theatre Rusticle’s acclaimed swan song production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, performed at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, which recently presented Kwaku with the 2020 Queer Emerging Artist Award. Kwaku is also an emerging director, most recently having co-directed the 2nd Year Period Study Project at George Brown Theatre School with veteran director Jeannette Lambermont-Morey, and will return to GBTS this summer to co-direct the 1st Year Shakespeare Scene Study with the visionary Allyson McMackon.
PJ Prudat (she/her) is a Treaty 6 born, proud Michif/Métis/Cree (roots to Batoche, Red River, Qu’Appelle) & French/Scandinavian actor and writer. She holds residencies with the Theatre Centre and Nightswimming and recently with Canadian Stage. PJ has performed as a company actor at the National Arts Centre (English Theatre), the Shaw Festival and in Indigenous~Creative-Led shows extensively across the country. Her maternal 3rd great-grandparents were Buffalo hunters; she loves cake, hats and poetry; and she’d prolly leave it all for the love of a horse.
Jeff Yung (he/him) is a settler on Treaty 13 territory. He is an actor, martial artist, and sometimes poet. Pre-pandemic Jeff appeared in Monday Nights as a member of the 6th Man Collective and in Hong Kong Exile’s Room 2048. Jeff is an avid gamer, anime watcher, movie/tv junkie, basketball fan, and bubble tea lover.
We are so excited to be organizing Unpacking 2020: Deaf Perspectives. Join some amazing panelists and our host, Elizabeth Morris, as they talk about all things 2020, and especially it’s effects on the Deaf Community.
Time: October 8th from 6pm to 7:30pm EST
Location: Zoom! For the zoom link please email info@shakespeareintheruff.com by Oct 8th at 1Pm EST
This is a free event, made possible with generous support from Autism Ontario
Live captions and English Interpretation will be provided.
Hosted by Elizabeth Morris
Elizabeth Morris is a graduate of Washington, D.C’s Gallaudet University for the Deaf and also holds MDes in Inclusive Design from OCAD University. Her thesis was based on creating ways to make live theatre more accessible and inclusive for Deaf and Hard of Hearing audience members, including their families and friends. She won a medal for the best exhibit in her program at OCAD U’s 102nd Graduate Exhibition. Elizabeth is also a professional actor, and has performed in Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Japan and Australia. She was the very first Deaf signing actor at the Stratford Festival, and has performed at the Young People’s Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, and Shakespeare Link Canada, National Arts Centre, Concrete Theatre and Citadel Theatre. She is a co-founder of the Deaf Spirit Theatre company. She has performed in
Mustafa Alabssi is a Deaf actor living in Regina, Saskatchewan. Mustafa arrived in Canada from Syria in 2016.He is an actor with Deaf Crows Collective, a Deaf theatre troupe based in Regina. Mustafa has performed in Apple Time at Regina’s Globe Theatre and Edmonton’s SoundOFF Festival. He played the character Ryan alongside co-stars Jaime King, Justin Chu Cary and Kelsey Flower in Netflix’s 2019 hit series Black Summer. Mustafa is a passionate advocate for Deaf rights and accessibility. He hopes to see more Deaf performers involved in theatre and film across Canada and the world.
Natasha is an athlete and artist. She is passionate about mental health, deaf advocacy, fitness and physical expression. Throughout her life, she has nurtured her passion for fitness by competing as
a professional athlete and securing medal positions in both the Deaf Olympics and Pan Am Olympics as well as many other competitive sporting events. While running was her first passion and a means of emotional release, she used acting as a mode of physical expression and found theatre and film to be the preferred spaces for her to thrive as an actor. She has participated in a number of theatre and film productions and has a strong desire to continue to grow and develop as an artist in these industries, expanding representation to include differently-abled persons and empowering Black Deaf women in Canada to shine on and off the stage.
Thurga Kanagasekarampillai is a Deaf Tamil Queer artist. She graduated with Honours in the Acting for Media program at George Brown College in 2018. She has worked as Deaf Interpreter and ASL performer with Cahoots Theatre for ``The Enchanted Loom`` (2016); Red Dress Production for “Drift Seeds” (2017) as ASL performer; Speculation (2018/2019) as ASL performer and Deaf Interpreter; Million Billion Pieces (YTP 2019); The Holy Gasp (July 2020). She is also an actress and was in ‘The Tempest’ at Citadel Theatre as Miranda in Edmonton in April - May 2019. She is the one of three founders of Deafies’ Unique Time with Ali Saeedi, and Ralitsa Rodriguez. Deafies’ Unique Time - ‘Eye So Twisted’ ( Rhubarb Festival / Sound Off Festival 2019) and Deafies Detective Agency (Sound Off Festival 2020).
In 1990, Gary became the first elected Deaf politician in the world, when he served as an NDP Member of Provincial Parliament. He is a provincially and nationally recognized leader with an extensive track record of human rights, anti-discrimination, Deaf and disability advocacy work. Gary graduated with a BA in Social Work and Psychology and MA in Counselling at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., and, in 2011, received an honorary doctorate degree from Gallaudet. He has been featured on TV, radio, and in newspapers and magazines nationally and internationally, including the CTV, Global and CBC. He has been the subject of a BBC documentary and a biographical play and book. He is currently writing his Memoirs book.
ASL-English Interpreters:
Carmelle Cachero & Marcia Adolphe
Live Captions:
Sushani Singh
