THIS IS AN ARCHIVE OF AN EVENT THAT HAS ALREADY HAPPENED.

Presented by Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre

Dora Maar: the wicked one

By Beth Graham and Daniela Vlaskalic

GAL Productions With Hit and Myth


Dates: October 27th - November 6th

Evening performances at 7:30pm

Matinees on October 30th and November 5th at 1:30pm.

Location: The Gateway Theatre (8529 Gateway Blvd NW)

A haunting tale of love and obsession

In 1935, the brilliant photographer Dora Maar meets the famous Pablo Picasso at a café in Paris. The world glimmers. The air warms. Their hearts sharpen. A play about love, obsession, surrealism and how private becomes public when reflected through the artists’ lens. WWPT is thrilled to present the newest work by this internationally recognized Edmonton playwriting duo.

(SCROLL DOWN TO VIEW the creative team and bios)

“Beth and Daniella have been creating fiercely innovative stories by women, about women for over 20 years. Since they swooped onto Edmonton’s Theatre scene with Downing Girls at Edmonton’s Fringe Festival in 1999, their work has been produced across Canada and internationally. Beth and Daniella are artists fully and rigorously dedicated to their crafts. This production is a demonstration of the elegant simplicity of their superb theatrical skill.”
— Heather Inglis, Artistic Producer of WWPT
 
 

ARCHIVAL PHOTOS

 
 

The Playwrights

 

Beth Graham

Daniela Vlaskalic

Daniela and Beth are both actors and playwrights. The two of them met as students at the University of Alberta, while taking their BFAs in acting. After graduating, they teamed up with Charlie Tomlinson to create The Drowning Girls. Their production of The Drowning Girls toured across the country (Alberta Theatre Projects, Tarragon Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Persephone Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre). Since then, the play continues to be produced nationally and internationally. The Drowning Girls received numerous awards, including the Gwen Pharis Ringwood literary Award for Drama, and was shortlisted for the Carol Bolt Award. Daniela and Beth’s other collaborations include: Comrades, The Last Train, A foolish Boy, Mules, and, most recently, Dora Maar: the wicked one, which premiered at One Yellow Rabbits High Performance Rodeo: Spring Edition in 2022.

 
 

The Creative Team

Daniela is an award-winning Canadian actor, playwright and producer. As an actor, she has appeared across the country with many of Canada’s major theatres including; Stratford Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Calgary, ATP, Globe Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Canadian Stage Company, Tarragon Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Magnus Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Drayton Entertainment and others. Some of her Edmonton credits include: Apple (Workshop West Playwrights Theatre); Vimy, Equus, Einstein’s Gift, Arms and the Man (Citadel Theatre); At the Zenith of the Empire (Teatro La Quindicina); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice, Twelfth Night, Two Gentleman of Verona; (Free Will Players) Sylvia, Speak (Shadow Theatre). Daniela has also performed her own work, The Drowning Girls (co-written with Beth Graham and Charlie Tomlinson); Comrades, Mules and Dora Maar: the wicked one (with co-writer Beth Graham). Recent Film & Television credits include: Ten Minute Call (Bravo Fact), Departure (Shaftsbury Productions), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Private Eyes (Global) and The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair (Muse Productions). Daniela is a proud graduate of the University of Alberta (BFA Acting) program.

daniela Vlaskalic
”Dora Maar” / co-Writer / Co-Producer

Blake is the co-founder and artistic director of One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre and the High Performance Rodeo in Calgary.

Blake Brooker
Director / dramaturg

Beth Graham
Co-Writer / Co-Producer

As a Calgary-based artist, David works extensively in theatre, dance and opera with designs being presented across the country from the Vancouver Opera in British Columbia, to the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Additional international work includes designs presented with Choreographers, Tania Alvarado, and Pamela Tzeng, and lighting designs for the 2015 and 2019 English Canadian Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Space and Design, for which he was also the Director of Production. Nominated for a Jessie Richardson Award, three Betty Mitchell Awards, a SATA Award and 12 Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards, David has been the recipient thrice for his designs.

David Fraser
Lighting Design

 

Peter has run Egg Press Co., a Calgary-based graphic and sound design establishment, since 1976. He is the recipient of a number of Betty Mitchell and Elizabeth Sterling Haynes awards and nominations for his theatre sound designs. Recent designs: The Gold Rush REDUX (One Yellow Rabbit/High Performance Rodeo); In Wonderland, Disgraced, The New Canadian Curling Club (Alberta Theatre Projects); The Merchant of Venice (The Shakespeare Co. and Hit & Myth), Waiting For Godot (Black Radish); Modern Times REDUX (The GRAND); 1958, a sound design presented at Calgary’s Arts Commons. To see and hear Peter’s work, please visit eggpress.ca

Peter Moller
Sound Design

Joel Cochrane is an actor and the artistic producer of Hit & Myth, an independent professional theatre company based in Calgary, Alberta. Joel has produced and performed in over 30 shows, ranging from modern to classical to alternative. Hit & Myth has collaborated with numerous theatre companies, and Joel is thrilled to be teaming up with GAL Productions on Dora Maar: the wicked one.

Joel Cochrane
Co-Producer

Narda is a set, costume and lighting designer currently based in Calgary. She was the resident designer at WWPT for 5 seasons (2000-2006). During that time she designed the première’s of Vern Thiessen’s Apple and Ron Chamber’s Respectable and 17 Dogs.  Favourite designs for new Canadian plays include: Vigilante (Catalyst Theatre); The Garneau Block, Vimy, Einstein’s Gift, Extinction Song, The Forbidden Phoenix (Citadel Theatre); To the Light, Cockroach, The Circle, The Drowning Girls (Alberta Theatre Projects); Glory (Western Canada Theatre/ATP/Canadian Tour); Cipher (Vertigo Theatre/Arts Club); Brontë: The World Without (Stratford Festival). Narda was the costume designer for The Freewill Shakespeare Festival for 16 seasons. She also designed the costumes for the feature film Cut Bank. See her work at: https://narda.ca/

Narda McCarroll
Costume Design

T. Erin Gruber is an award-winning set, lighting, costume, and projected media designer. She works professionally across Canada and her work has been toured and exhibited internationally. She is a member of the board of directors of the Associated Designers of Canada and instructor at the University of Alberta. Award-winning projects: Métis Mutt (One Little Indian Productions, Sterling Award for Outstanding Production), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Citadel Theatre and RMTC, Sterling Award for Lighting Design). Online at: eringruber.com

T. Erin Gruber
Sculpture design

John is a Full Professor in the University of Alberta's Drama Department where he leads Canada's only specialized BFA in stage management. He has worked professionally as a Stage Manager since 1985 and has worked for Catalyst Theatre, The Citadel Theatre, Mayfield Dinner Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Theatre Calgary, Canadian Stage, Centaur Theatre, The Banff Centre for the Arts and Edmonton Opera. Over his career he has toured productions (mostly Catalyst Theatre Productions) to New York City, London (England), Vancouver, Vernon, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Ottawa, London (Ontario) and Toronto. From 1998 to 2004 John was the Director of Production at The Citadel Theatre. More recently, he was on the CITT/ICTS Board of Directors from 2014 to 2020, and was on the Organizing Committee of World Stage Design 2022 held at the University of Calgary in August 2022. John will be stage managing Catalyst Theatre's Nevermore at Vertigo Theatre in Calgary in Spring 2023.

John Raymond
StaGe management

 

Content That Provokes

At Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, we often create theatre that deals with challenging content.

We do believe that theatre should be surprising – it should be exciting, it should create discussion, and it should delve into situations and ideas that are unexpected.

While keeping you and our actors safe, our shows may contain coarse language, emotionally charged scenes, and deal with subjects that may challenge you.