Postmodern Display: Staging the Mind of Marshall McLuhan

Creatively commingling the life and theories of Canadian media icon Marshall McLuhan may yield robust material for negotiating and staging postmodern performance. This article considers certain of McLuhan’s theories that have parallels to influential postmodern theoretical constructions and the ways in which these parallels are ripe for performance. It considers the uneasy relationship between dramaturgies and dialectics, and deals with frequent criticisms leveled at postmodern thought, including a hectic rejoicing over consumerism, a cacophony of signs, and the dangers of incorporating into performance the mixed-media environments inherent to McLuhanism and postmodernism alike. Finally, the article considers the potential for mixed-media performance to engage with social objectives linked to producing alternative theatre. But it begins and ends by asking the question: Do artists who attempt to stage theory risk allowing the theory to distract from and overwhelm the performance? In order to probe these effects, the sprawling Edmonton science-fiction "Alt-Rock Opera," The Illumination of Marshall McLuhan, is offered as a case study. Résumé Associer de façon créative la vie et les théories de Marshall McLuhan, célèbre figure canadienne des médias, voilà une démarche qui promet de produire du matériel solide qui permet de penser la négociation et la présentation d’une performance postmoderne. Whittaker s’attarde dans cet article à quelques-unes des théories de McLuhan qu’on peut inscrire en parallèle à des constructions théoriques d’une grande importance en postmodernisme; l’auteur cherche ainsi à voir comment ces parallèles peuvent servir à enrichir une représentation. Whittaker examine le rapport précaire qu’entretiennent la dramaturgie et la dialectique et aborde quelques-uns des reproches formulés à l’égard de la pensée postmoderne, y compris sa réjouissance fiévreuse à l’égard de la consommation à outrance, sa cacophonie de signes et le risque que représente le recours aux environnements multimédia si essentiels aux tenants de la pensée de McLuhan et du postmodernisme. Enfin, Whittaker voit comment la performance multimédia peut servir à aborder des enjeux sociaux liés à la production d’un théâtre alternatif. Sa contribution part d’une question à laquelle elle revient à la toute fin : l’artiste qui cherche à montrer la théorie risque-t-il de voir son public distrait et sa performance monopolisée par la théorie? Pour examiner ces effets, l’auteur propose une étude de cas d’un opéra tentaculaire « alt-rock » science-fiction d’Edmonton, The Illumination of Marshall McLuhan

Fusing the Nuclear Community: Intercultural Memory, Hiroshima 1945 and the Chronotopic Dramaturgy of Marie Clements’s Burning Vision

In recent years, attention to Marie Clements’s work as a playwright has gradually accumulated. Her plays are eagerly produced across Canada and around the world. Scholarly articles have appeared on these pages, as well as in Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Research International, and the Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance, and panel papers focusing on her work have been presented at conferences from Vancouver to Belgium. Much of this attention has dealt with three mutually definitive aspects of her plays: their autobiographical relevance to Clements’s life and worldview, their aboriginality, and their staging of women. That is to say, for the most part attention to Clements’s work has been predicated on questions of identity that flow from the "personal engagement with the text by its writer-actor" (Gilbert, "Shine" 25). Here I consider her award-winning play Burning Vision as performing cultures in ways that are productively political, imaginative, theatrical, and complex. I argue that moments of reciprocal communication between cultures—"intercultural handshakes"— are negotiated by Clements as "timespace" moments through a Dene-inspired form of "chronotopic dramaturgy" which, following Mikhail Bakhtin and Ric Knowles, re-visions the ways in which time and space structure a theatrical work and inform our understanding of the political effects at play. Résumé Ces dernières années, on s’intéresse de plus en plus à l’œuvre théâtrale de Marie Clements. Un peu partout au Canada et à travers le monde, on s’empresse de monter ses pièces. Des articles sur l’œuvre de Clements sont déjà parus dans notre revue, de même que dans Canadian Theatre Review, Theatre Research International et le Baylor Journal of Theatre and Performance; des plénières sur l’œuvre de Clements ont eu lieu dans le cadre de colloques tenus de Vancouver jusqu’en Belgique. Or, une bonne part de l’attention consacrée à la dramaturge a porté sur trois aspects reconnus des pièces de Clements : le rapport autobiographique de ces pièces à la vie de Clements et au regard qu’elle jette sur le monde, le caractère autochtone des pièces et la mise en scène des femmes. L’attention portée à l’œuvre de Clements a donc été largement fondée sur des questions d’identité qui découlent de « l’engagement personnel de l’auteure-actrice Clements à l’endroit du texte » (Gilbert « Shine » 25). Ici, Whittaker examine la pièce Burning Vision pour laquelle Clements a remporté plusieurs prix en montrant qu’elle offre des représentations culturelles qui sont politiquement productives, imaginatives, théâtrales et complexes. Il fait valoir que Clements présente les moments de communication réciproque entre cultures—des « poignées de main interculturelles »—comme des moments d’« espace-temps » inspirés d une forme de « dramaturgie chronotope » dénée qui, comme l’ont déjà montré Mikhail Bakhtin et Ric Knowles, redéfinissent la façon dont le temps et l’espace structurent une œuvre théâtrale et informent notre conception des effets politiques en jeu

The Professionalization of a Stage Naturalist, the Making of a Mythmaker: The Theatre Criticism of Urjo Kareda at the University of Toronto’s Varsity Newspaper

The theatre criticism of Urjo Kareda in the Toronto Star offers favoured primary source material for theatre historians evaluating the so-called “alternative theatre” movement in Toronto in the early 1970s. Indeed, it has been argued that theatre activity during these years constitutes a “movement” largely because of Kareda’s engaging writing at the time, which popularly labeled it as “movement” even as it emerged. However, Kareda’s equally engaging writing in the campus weekly newspaper the Varsity in the mid-1960s, while he was a student at the University of Toronto, has been left unexplored. This essay argues that Kareda’s themes, styles, and opinions in that student publication reveal much about the development of his early views on theatre practices and aesthetics in the years prior to the emergence of the alternative theatres, most notably his unwavering preference for neo-Aristotelian stage naturalism and psychological realism, and a dynamic emphasis on Toronto’s theatre ecology. In doing so, it offers connections between undergraduate cultural production and career-minded journalistic theatre writing. And it challenges scholars to rethink the professional researcher’s undervaluation of extra-professional theatre criticism.Les critiques que signait Urjo Kareda dans le Toronto Star sont une importante source première pour les chercheurs en histoire du théâtre qui étudient le mouvement du théâtre dit « alternatif » à Toronto au début des années 1970. On a qualifié cette activité théâtrale de « mouvement » en grande partie à cause des écrits engagés de Kareda qui, à l’époque, lui attribuait déjà ce qualificatif. Or, les textes tout aussi engagés que publiait Kareda au milieu des années 1960 dans Varsity , le journal étudiant de l’Université de Toronto où il faisait ses études à l’époque, restent largement méconnus. Dans cet article, Whittaker démontre que les thèmes, les styles et les opinions de Kareda dans ce journal étudiant font voir l’évolution de sa perception des pratiques et de l’esthétique théâtrales avant l’émergence des compagnies de théâtre alternatif, notamment en ce qui concerne son inébranlable préférence pour le naturalisme néo-aristotélicien et le réalisme psychologique, de même que l’importance qu’il accordait à l’écologie du théâtre de Toronto. Whittaker souligne ainsi le lien entre la production culturelle dans le cadre d’études de premier cycle et celle, davantage axée sur la carrière, de la critique théâtrale produite dans un contexte journalistique. Ce faisant, il remet en cause la tendance qu’ont les chercheurs professionnels à sous-évaluer la critique théâtrale produite dans un contexte non professionnel

The Casting and Makeup of Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies in Canada: A Report on the Discipline by the Numbers (and Letters)

Are we poised at the outset of a faculty hiring crisis in Drama, Theatre, and Performance (DTP) studies at Canadian universities? The question has been raised before, and perhaps at no time more frequently than in recent years as more students are entering graduate school and completing their degrees following the worst financial downturn in seventy-five years. Reactions range from malaise ("It was bad twenty years ago too") or comparativism ("It’s bad in other disciplines, and in other countries too") to economic determinism ("As the stock market goes, so too university hiring; things will get better") and even panic ("After years of sending out job applications I’d be a fool to stay on the job market any longer"). But what do we really know about DTP graduation and hiring rates in this country? This quantitative report updates and deepens past attempts to analyze perceptions about DTP education by offering aggregated "personnel flow" and "student flow" statistics generated from current Canadian university tenure-stream DTP faculty and graduate student population data. Faculty data were gathered primarily from university DTP and English department websites, and graduate student data were gathered primarily from records held at the University of Toronto’s Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, the largest single source of DTP faculty in Canada. Résumé Les universités canadiennes sont-elles sur le point de connaître une situation de crise dans l’embauche de professeurs dans le secteur théâtre, dramaturgie et performance? La question n’est pas nouvelle, mais elle se fait plus pressante ces dernières années alors que de plus en plus d’étudiants entament et terminent des études supérieures au moment même où se produit le plus important ralentissement économique en soixante-quinze ans. Les réactions varient, passant du malaise (« C’était difficile aussi il y a vingt ans ») ou du comparatisme (« C’est la même chose dans d’autres disciplines et ailleurs au monde »), au déterminisme économique (« Les embauches en milieu universitaire varient selon le marché boursier ; la situation va s’améliorer ») et à la panique (« Il faut être fou pour choisir de rester sur le marché du travail après avoir cherché un poste pendant plusieurs années »). Mais que savons-nous au juste du nombre de diplômés et du taux d’embauche au Canada dans le secteur théâtre, dramaturgie et performance? Ce rapport quantitatif propose une mise à jour du dossier et approfondit d’autres tentatives d’analyser nos perceptions de l’éducation dans ce secteur en offrant des statistiques globales sur le « flux » d’employés et d’étudiants obtenues en consultant les données actuelles sur les professeurs universitaires occupant un poste menant à la permanence et sur les étudiants de cycles supérieurs dans ce secteur. Les données sur le corps professoral sont tirées principalement des sites web de départements universitaires de théâtre et d’anglais, tandis que les données sur les étudiants des cycles supérieurs sont tirées essentiellement des dossiers du Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama à l’Université de Toronto

The identity of the non-marine ostracod Cypris subglobosa Sowerby from the intertrappean deposits of Peninsular India

During an investigation of type collections in The Natural History Museum, London, made in India during the nineteenth century, the syntypes of Cypris subglobosa Sowerby have been re-discovered. This species is shown to belong to the genus Paracypretta and to be confined to the Upper Cretaceous, and possibly Palaeocene, non-marine intertrappean deposits of the Indian Deccan Volcanic Province. The numerous and widespread Recent and Quaternary records of this taxon are of a separate species that belongs to the genus Cypris. The examination of comparative material from a number of localities in India reveals the presence of two other contemporary species of ParacyprettaP. jonesi Bhatia and Rana and P. elizabethae sp. nov., which is formally described herein

The Landscape of Connected Cancer Symptom Management in Rural America: A Narrative Review of Opportunities for Launching Connected Health Interventions

Background: The 2016 President’s Cancer Panel called for projects focusing on improving cancer symptom management using connected health technologies (broadband and telecommunications). However, rural communities, like those in Appalachia, may experience a “double burden” of high cancer rates and lower rates of broadband access and adoption necessary for connected health solutions. Purpose: To better understand the current landscape of connected health in the management of cancer symptoms in rural America. Methods: A literature search was conducted using four academic databases (PubMed, CINAHL, MEDLINE, and PsycINFO) to locate articles published from 2010 to 2019 relevant to connected cancer symptom management in rural America. Text screening was conducted to identify relevant publications. Results: Among 17 reviewed studies, four were conducted using a randomized controlled trial; the remainder were formative in design or small pilot projects. Five studies engaged stakeholders from rural communities in designing solutions. Most commonly studied symptoms were psychological/emotional symptoms, followed by physical symptoms, particularly pain. Technologies used were primarily telephone-based; few were Internet-enabled video conferencing or web-based. Advanced mobile and Internet-based approaches were generally in the development phase. Overall, both rural patients and healthcare providers reported high acceptance, usage, and satisfaction of connected health technologies. Ten of the 17 studies reported improved symptom management outcomes. Methodological challenges that limited the interpretation of the findings were summarized. Implications: The review identified a need to engage rural stakeholders to develop and test connected cancer symptom management solutions that are based on advanced mobile and broadband Internet technologies

Exploring electronic effects on the partitioning of actinides(III) from lanthanides(III) using functionalised bis-triazinyl phenanthroline ligands

The first examples of 4,7-disubstituted 2,9-bis(5,5,8,8-tetramethyl-5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-1,2,4-benzo-triazin-3-yl)-1,10- phenanthroline (CyMe4 -BTPhen) ligands are reported herein. Evaluating the kinetics, selectivity and stoichiometry of actinide(III) and lanthanide(III) radiotracer extractions has provided a mechanistic insight into the extraction process. For the first time, it has been demonstrated that metal ion extraction kinetics can be modulated by backbone functionalisation and a promising new CHON compliant candidate ligand with enhanced metal ion extraction kinetics has been identified. The effects of 4,7- functionalisation on the equilibrium metal ion distribution ratios are far more pronounced than those of 5,6-functionalisation. The complexation of Cm(III) with two of the functionalised ligands was investigated by TRLFS and, at equilibrium, species of 1:2 [M:L] stoichiometry were observed exclusively. A direct correlation between the ELUMO-EHOMO energy gap and metal ion extraction potential is reported, with DFT studies reaffirming experimental findings