Theatre Creation Lab with Creative Manitoba
Join One Trunk Theatre in what they do best, creating theatre from scratch!
This is a crash course in theatre creation. Learn how to collectively create for the theatre. You will get an introduction to every aspect that goes into the final products you see on stage from lighting, set and costume design to stage managing, production managing and much more! We will bring in theatre professionals in each of these fields to show you how the pros do it. This is for people who want to learn more about the process of theatre creation every step of the way. Facilitated by Gwendolyn Collins & Tanner Manson, with guest mentors: Joseph Abetria, Zoë Leclerc-Kennedy, Katherine Johnston, Cuinn Joseph & Ari Weinberg.
Gwendolyn Collins is an actor and devised theatre artist living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the Artistic Associate of One Trunk Theatre and a frequent collaborator having co-created Stage Frights, 204FM, Mission Potluck and I Dream of Diesel as well as performing in Hamlet as Told on the Streets. She has appeared on stage at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre as Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass, as well as in multiple shows for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Prairie Theatre Exchange and Manitoba Theatre for Young People. She has extensive touring experience having travelled the province in PTE Munsch tours, Greenkids shows, the RMTC rural tour and for MTYP. She is a graduate of The University of Winnipeg’s BA Honours program in theatre, and has trained with Ghost River Theatre in Calgary.
Tanner Manson (he/him) is a queer artist specializing in devised performance creation, poetry and physical theatre. He grew up in rural Manitoba and currently resides in Winnipeg, Treaty 1 Territory. He does a little bit of everything and loves everything a lot; from performing, to collective creation, to producing, to constructing sets, to constructing scripts. Tanner is co-founder of the award-winning Walk&Talk Theatre Company where he, along with he best pals and collaborators, create new music-theatre. He was recently an artist-in-residence with Theatre Projects Manitoba with Chautauqua: The Interlake Trail, and works as Administrative & Outreach Associate with TPM as well.
Some projects he’s been a part of include: Climate & Main, Variations of a Patchwork Heart (Theatre Projects Manitoba - Playwright/Performer), Our/Their Parade (Gwen Collins, Adam Charbonneau, Genevieve Collins - Script Writer), The Headliners, The Ballad of Johnny Boy, The Last Garden, KING (Walk&Talk - Co-Creator, Performer), Blink (W&T, One Trunk Theatre - Co-Artistic Producer, Performer), Knock Knock Ginger Series - Florist Follies (One Trunk Theatre - Creator/Performer), Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare in the Ruins - Tour - Performer), FERN (University of Winnipeg, Director, Co-Creator, Performer) and Moving In Moving Out (Weather Parade Dance Theatre - Production Manager). He, with Walk&Talk have also held residency with the International Institute for Sustainable Development - Experimental Lakes Area.
Joseph Abetria is a queer theatre designer currently based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Joseph’s work is deeply influenced by his vibrant childhood in Manila, Philippines dressing up paper dolls in 28°C weather, playing under blue skies punctuated with banderitas, and watching magical anime girls kick ass. He initially wanted to be a comic book artist and then a fashion designer, but eventually found passion in story telling with the art of theatre. He went to University of Winnipeg where he graduated with a BA Honours Degree in Theatre Design and Production.
His credits include designs for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Theatre Projects Manitoba, Sarasvati Productions, and The Belfry Theatre. He has also worked with the Stratford Festival as an assistant costume designer on various productions such as Othello, The Neverending Story, The Rocky Horror Show, and Romeo & Juliet. At times, Joseph also works as a scenic artist with companies like Theatre by the River, KOBA entertainment, and Little Opera Company.
Zoë Leclerc-Kennedy is currently the props Builder/Buyer at Royal MTC. Previously, she has also built props at the Grand Theatre in London, ON, Watermark Theatre in PEI and various companies across Winnipeg. Zoë has also worked as a Stage Manager throughout Winnipeg and is a long-time staff member with the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. Zoë holds a BA from the University of Winnipeg in Theatre Production and also participated in the Props Building Practicum at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity.
Katherine Johnston is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg where she specialized in Production and Stage Management. She worked as an Equity stage manager, touring across Manitoba for five years before moving into her current role as MTYP’s Assistant Production Manager.
Previous credits include How it Ends (Sick and Twisted), The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Dib and Dob and The Journey Home, Routes, New Canadian Kid (Manitoba Theatre for Young People); Ubuntu (ASM), Portage & Munsch – 50 Below (Prairie Theatre Exchange).
Cuinn Joseph is a Winnipeg-based writer, composer, and designer. Joseph’s most notable projects include composition and sound design for WJT's Intimate Apparel (2019), Dear Jack, Dear Louise (2021), and Queen's Girl in the World (2022), associate musical direction and instrumentation for Pizza Party Productions' Chicago (2019), and composition and musical direction for University of Manitoba's Peer Gynt (2019). Joseph has also spent time creating with companies such as MTYP and One Trunk Theatre as a resident artist. For his work in theatre, Joseph has been awarded the RMTC Jean Morray/Murry Sinclair Theatre Scholarship, the Harry S. Rintoul Award for Best New Manitoba Play at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and has twice received the Charles M. Cohen Prize for the Best Original Writing in Theatre or Film at the University of Manitoba. Joseph's current projects include the writing and composition of a pop-punk musical, Breaking Up With Me, as well as a Shakespeare inspired musical theatre project entitled Hal.
Ari Weinberg is the Artistic and Managing Director of Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Directing credits include Dear Jack Dear Louise, After Jerusalem, Tribes, The Whipping Man, Another Way Home, Stars of David (WJT), Frankenstein (University of Winnipeg), Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Knavish Hedgehogs at Winnipeg Fringe), The Theory of Relativity (MTYP, MTCO), and Godspell (Theatre Sheridan). Ari has appeared in numerous productions as an actor, including Falsettos (WJT/Dry Cold Productions), A Year With Frog and Toad, A Charlie Brown Double Bill, and The Mid-Winter Mosey (MTYP), South Pacific (Rainbow Stage/WSO), Romeo and Juliet (RMTC), Peter Pan (Stratford Festival), Hana’s Suitcase (Magnus Theatre), The Merry Wives of Windsor and Man of La Mancha (Theatre by the Bay). Ari is currently the interim Executive Director of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre and also one of its board members.