2015
August 12, 2016 | Western News
Friedman embraces career as ‘a grinder’
Although he fell a couple of subjects short of graduating, Friedman was an English major at Western (1989-93). Considered an understated and thoughtful presence, he's now reporting for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada.
April 14, 2016 | Undergraduate Studies
Film Studies student presents at SCMS Undergraduate Conference
Honors student Geoffrey Williams represented the Film Studies Program at the Fourth Annual Society for Cinema and Media Studies Undergraduate Conference at The University of Colorado, Boulder. The Society for Cinema and Media Studies is the leading scholarly organization in the United States dedicated to promoting a broad understanding of film, television and related media through research and teaching grounded in the contemporary humanities tradition. This annual undergraduate conference, held in a different location every year, provides young scholars an opportunity to convene as professional colleagues and to present research.
April 7, 2016 | The Gazette
Game of Thrones course coming to English
April 6, 2016 | The Wall Street Journal
The Surprising Story of Japanese Movie Musicals
April 5, 2016 | CBC
David Huebert (PhD 3) named winner of the 2016 CBC Short Story Prize
April 5, 2016 | London Public Library
Shakespeare 400
To celebrate William Shakespeare (d. 1616), M.J. Kidnie highlights the 2016 Stratford Shakespeare season, including Shakespeare in Love.
March 24, 2016 | Western News
Professor John Leonard is the recipient of the 2016 Distinguished University Professorship
The Distinguished University Professorship Award acknowledges sustained excellence in scholarship over a substantial career at Western. The award includes a citation, the right to use the title, an opportunity for a public lecture and a $10,000 prize to be used for scholarly activity at any time.
March 4, 2016 | Bridging Academic Minds (BAM) Conference
The Art of Communication & Success in Research
Dr. M.J. Kidnie provided training in effective communication to BAM conference participants. Kidnie demonstrated how to triangulate the dynamic between performer, audience, and space and analyzed a few non-theatrical examples of effective communication to show how speakers in the “real world” manipulate these elements of performance. The group was also introduced to theatre exercises designed to help speakers gauge the impact of their words and body language on others, and as necessary, to make spontaneous adjustments. As conference co-organizer and BAM co-President, Nasser Chahbar, explained, “Being able to effectively communicate complex research implications to an academically diverse audience is critical. Communication is everything – we start with shared language and meaning in order to arrive at common and socially acceptable understandings. Developing these skills allows us to empathize with others. To really put ourselves in someone else’s shoes, to ultimately understand one another, is how we allow for more thoughtful communication.
March 3, 2016 | Undergraduate Studies
Theatre Studies Program Launch
Evocative puppets, stunning computer animation energized by a Rock’n’Roll soundscape, and the skills of a master storyteller weave together to bring to life Milton’s astonishing tale. Created, adapted and performed by multi-talented Montreal actor/director/playwright Paul Van Dyck (2013 Neil Munro Intern Director at the Shaw Festival; Oroonoko - Winner: best director, Montreal English Theatre Award; The Harvester - Winner: Best Drama, Atlantic Fringe Festival), PARADISE LOST won Best Production at the New York Frigid (Fringe) Festival and the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Van Dyck and the production were awarded with the prestigious ‘Revelation of the Year’ Award by the Montreal English Critics Circle (MECCA).
The performance on Thursday, March 3 marks the formal launch of the new Theatre Studies program at Western University! We invite the London community to join us before the show from 7pm for a reception that will include lively discussion of performance, creativity, and adaptation for the modern stage. Both nights, stay back for a Q&A with the creative team of PARADISE LOST, Paul van Dyck and Sara Rodriguez.
March 3, 2016 | Western News
Taking to a new stage
Theatre Studies students share why they love studying theatre at Western.
February 25, 2016 | The Gazette
English 3666F students explore mental illness through art
“It’s a play talking about young adults dealing with how to get over the struggles of mental health and it centres on suicide and how others deal with suicide after the loss,” says playwright Meg Cormack, third-year English honours student.
February 25, 2016 | London Free Press
Justifying the ways of Milton
Free Press entertainment reporter James Reaney puts the spotlight on Professors M.J. Kidnie & John Leonard as they give voice to the upcoming performance of Milton’s, Paradise Lost.
February 25, 2016 | Western News
Theatre Studies launches a new conversation on the arts
The new Theatre Studies program is designed to train minds to think about theatre, analyze performance, critique it, understand the economics of it, as well as consider theatre in terms of how it works within a community.
January 21, 2016 | Western News
How to die like Bowie, or, we can be heroes
Diana Samu-Visser, PhD Candidate, English & Writing Studies reflects on the death of David Bowie.
January 21, 2016 | The Globe and Mail
#OscarsSoWhite: Why diversity at the movies matters
January 14, 2016 | Western News
Former Western Writer-in-Residence and Alumni earns Oscar nod for her adaptation of her novel, "Room"
January 2016 | The Gazette
Women Beware Women gets 4.5/5 stars!
With expressive line delivery and mesmerizing physicality, the audience was transported with ease into the world of Middleton’s tragedy.
November 25, 2015 | Faculty of Arts & Humanities
The importance and relevance of the imaginative life
Paul Kennedy, host of CBC Radio’s Ideas, Dr. David Bentley, Professor and Department Chair Bryce Traister and Western English alumna Liz Nash, discuss the importance and relevance of the imaginative life and an education devoted to the arts and humanities.
November 19, 2015 | Western News
Raising the curtain on Destination Theatre
In January 2017, Destination Theatre will have its first full outing: 25 students from across the university plus two instructors will jet over to Britain for two full weeks of theatre, workshops, artists’ talks, guest visits to some of the coolest back stages around, and seminars with some of the best performance scholars in the country.
October 6, 2015 | Western News
Ferguson and Halbedl: Film looks to add visibility for trans kids
September 8, 2015 | Western News
Brush named to Royal Society of Canada
Professor Kathryn Brush was named a 2015 Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, humanities and sciences.
September 3, 2015 | Undergraduate Studies
Film students take top prize
