It’s that the time of year again when students are expected to memorize line after line-but not from a textbook for a midterm, but rather for the 14th annual University of Toronto Drama Festival.
Patricia DeSales, one of the festival organizers and president of the Drama Coalition, highlighted the importance of acquiring credible expertise to properly critique the festival.
“Every year, the coalition seeks to find an adjudicator that can provide constructive criticism, and essentially help these aspiring playwrights, directors, and actors with tips that’ll help better their performances and production,” DeSales explains.
This year’s pick, Lynn Slotkin, is the ideal choice for the adjudicator’s role, thanks to her passion for the theatre and her experience as a theatre critic on CBC Radio’s Here and Now. She’s also well-known for her monthly Slotkin Letter, which subscribers note is written with such “incredible detail that you feel like you’ve actually seen [the shows she’s describing].”
Slotkin on average sees over 250 plays a year, not just in Toronto, but all over the world. Oddly enough, though her passion may be the stage, Slotkin doesn’t work in the theatre world, but instead is a student affairs officer right here at U of T in the Geology department. Asked how someone who spends over $6,000 a year on theatre tickets ended up in Geology, she quips, “I need this job to fuel my addiction.”
Yet, Slotkin strives to keep her day job and her enthusiasm for the theatre separate, because she fears that “people would get the impression that I don’t think about my job if I talked about the theatre at work. I try never to talk about when I’ll be on the radio. The [two gigs] should be separate.”
She says her job at U of T gives her a first-hand look at the student experience.
“I think it helps to work with students in my real job, and get to see what they go through, [which will help me] guide them to be better playwrights, directors, etc.”
Although this will be Slotkin’s first time adjudicating the festival, she is looking forward to seeing the next generation’s take on the theatre. Slotkin won’t candy-coat her evaluation just because they’re students, but at the same time understands that she has a key role to play in guiding these budding dramatists.
“People have a hard time taking criticism, no matter how politely it is given,” she notes. “You must be mindful that you are still dealing with people, even if it’s tempting to be smarmy-it doesn’t serve anybody.”
Though Slotkin has a tough job ahead of her, festival organizers are looking forward to her take on the one-act plays being presented over the festival’s four evenings because, as DeSales says, “she’s friendly and really supportive that students are juggling a production, part-time jobs, and school all at the same time.”
Slotkin is going to have a long week-11 original one-act plays are competing for five awards (the President’s Award for best production, the Robert Gill Award for best direction, the Robertson Davies Playwriting Award, and this year’s new award, the Viewer’s Choice Award).
Mike Page, secretary-treasurer of the Drama Coalition, points out that “the quintessential importance of the Viewer’s Choice Award is that everyone gets a say in what they like, and therefore the audience as whole decides objectively what the best play of each night is.”
The festival is organized each year by the Drama Coalition in order to promote theatre across U of T-this year, seven theatre companies from all three campuses are involved. It’s also a great opportunity to showcase material completely conceived and created by students (many students go on to work in the theatre, such as local indie diva Maggie Macdonald, who won a playwriting award at the festival years ago while at U of T).
“It’s about the experience of stepping onto the historic Hart House Theatre stage and realizing that this group of people are the Donald Sutherlands, Kate Reids, William Hutts, and Lorne Michaelses of the next artistic generation,” Page says.
See the Drama Coalition website for synopses of the plays and ticket ($10 per night for students) info: drama.sa.utoronto.ca.
