September 28, 2006 Source: :
http://www.brandonu.ca/news/article.asp?A_ID=1106 Tomson Highway to host playwriting workshops and musical cabarets at Brandon University BRANDON, MB – Brandon University Stanley Knowles Distinguished Guest Professor Dr. Tomson Highway will be keeping busy this fall with a number events scheduled on the BU campus. These offer several opportunities for the Brandon community to talk to and hear from this highly acclaimed writer, teacher and musician! On Sunday October 1, 2006, Dr. Highway will host an Introductory Playwriting Workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. in the Elephant Room, located on the top floor of the Knowles-Douglas Students' Union Building on the Brandon University Campus. Lunch is included with the workshop, and registration fees are $30.00 for BU students and $60.00 for non-students. Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from one of Canada's foremost playwrights! The workshop is limited to 12 participants, so register early! On Friday, October 20 and Saturday, October 21 at 8:00 p.m., Balazee Productions will present Highway reading from his own works and playing piano in a cabaret format at Brandon University's Lorne Watson Recital Hall (located in the Queen Elizabeth II Music Building on the Brandon University campus – 270 18th Street, Brandon). On these nights, Highway, a trained classical pianist, will be accompanied by special guests Patricia Cano, a Paris, France-based singer and actress, and BU School of Music Faculty member Greg Gatien on saxophone. The cabarets will feature 15 sings from two of Highway's shows, Rose, the third installment in what Highway calls his 'Rez Septology' (the first two being The REZ Sisters and Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing), and Mary Jane Mosquito, a one-woman show that tells the life story of a young mosquito from northern Manitoba named Mary Jane, who also happens to be the only mosquito in the history of the world born without wings! Can she survive? Come to find out and see her sing her heart out! Tickets for the cabaret are $10.00 for students and $12.00 for adults, and are available at the door by contacting the Brandon University School of Music at (204) 727-9631. On Saturday, November 11 and Sunday, November 12, Dr. Highway will host a two day Advanced Playwriting Workshop from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. (both days) in the Elephant Room, located on the top floor of the Knowles-Douglas Students' Union Building on the Brandon University Campus. Lunch is included on both days, and registration fees are $150.00 ($100.00 for Manitoba Association of Playwrights members). Once again, the workshop is limited to 12 participants, so register early! Registration and payment of fees for both of Dr. Highway's Playwriting Workshops can be processed through the Brandon University Faculty of Arts Main Office, located in Room 100 Clark Hall on the Brandon University campus. (Phone: (204) 727-9790). Tomson Highway, the proud son of legendary caribou hunter and world championship dogsled racer Joe Highway, was born in a tent pitched in a snow bank in the extreme northwest corner of Manitoba. Among his acclaimed works are a best-selling novel, Kiss of the Fur Queen, and several plays, The Rez Sisters, Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing, Rose, and most recently, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout. He has three children's books to his credit, all written bilingually in Cree and English, and has toured his cabaret work throughout Europe and North America. He divides his year between a cottage near Sudbury and an apartment in the south of France. Dr. Highway is the Stanley Knowles Distinguished Visiting Professor for 2006 and 2007 in the Brandon University Faculty of Arts. Patricia Cano was born in Sudbury, Ontario and is currently based in Paris, France, where she has worked with Arianne Mnouchkine's world-famous Theatre du Soleil for the past four years. Ms. Cano was also the singer/actress who world-premiered the singing role of Rez Sister Emily Dictionary. Greg Gatien is a saxophone player and professor at the Brandon University School of Music. He will join Highway for the second half of the show, performing on songs from Rose and playing, for the first time in his life, Cree cabaret! The BU Faculty of Arts sponsors all events, and the workshops are co-sponsored by the Manitoba Association of Playwrights (MAP), with partial proceeds going to MAP. For further information, please contact: Dale Lakevold
Department of English
Brandon University
Phone: (204) 727-7413
Email: lakevold@brandonu.ca Kelly Stifora
Communications Officer
Brandon University
Phone: (204) 727-9762
Email: communications@brandonu.ca - 30 -
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