Art Matters on stage as well as in galleries and other venues

marc losier

From pimple-faced pirates dabbling in taxidermy to absurd Euro-esque puppeteers, 2006’s Loyola Theatre Festival, Beyond Blood & Bra Straps, staged an amusing array of work from March 9 to 12 in the F.C. Smith lobby and auditorium and the Cazelet Theatre.

Though this was the theatre festival’s fourth year, it was the first time it had been part of the student-organized Art Matters festival.

In past years, the theatre festival comprised student-initiated project assignments (SIPA) done for credit by Theatre students. Due to the new partnership however, Art Matters performers worked alongside SIPA performers.

Second-year theatre student Katharine Childs co-produced Beyond Blood & Bra Straps with longtime friend and second-year political science and theatre student Angela Potvin.

“When the positions of student producers were introduced, we suggested that we ought to be the Art Matters curators for the space as well,” Childs said.

Though there could have been ego trouble, the performers created a delightful, enthusiastic atmosphere for everybody. Each show was directed, produced and written or adapted by theatre students.

Potvin gave credit for the professionalism and work ethic demonstrated by the students to the faculty. Their expertise makes working with them “pretty incredible — and they aren’t going to coddle you because you’re a student.”

Roughly 30 performers applied in the fall through Art Matters to work on Beyond Blood & Bra Straps. In January, Childs and Potvin picked seven acts.

Reverse Momentary Switch, a multimedia-infused musical circus by Flynt Annis and Ember Williams, was an example of the diversity created by the bond between Theatre and Art Matters.

“It gave us access to a larger pool of performers, which in turn meant more dynamism in the venue, as well as more people coming to see the shows. Also, the exposure for the department shows by being a part of Art Matters was great,” Childs said.  

The insane Poppin’ Poppy Cock Puppeteers, a European-influenced puppet show, kept everybody in the F.C. Smith Lobby cackling.

Desdemona: A Play About a Handkerchief featured witty exchanges between a housewife, a foul-mouthed prostitute and a disapproving maid.

The hilarious Improvised Soap Opera Collective, made up of theatre students Jillian Larkin, Aimee Ambroziak, Nem Jevtovic and John McNeish-Hastings, used a “suggestion bowl.”

Audience members could trigger subject matter with words or one-liners on bits of paper as members of Soap Opera randomly fished them out and integrated them into their performance.

A five-minute discourse on the previously mentioned pimple-faced pirates practicing taxidermy ensued.

Hastings said audiences are intrigued by the ploy because “it adds an extra element of danger.” No word yet on whether this apparently successful collaboration between SIPA and Art Matters will become a fixture.