Tag Archives: Winnipeg

Rodrigo Beilfuss, artistic director and actor

Rodrigo Beilfuss is a Brazilian-born Canadian actor-director with a German last name, who trained in England and now calls Winnipeg, Manitoba his home. He is the artistic director of Shakespeare in the Ruins.

Shakespeare in the Ruins. Photo Clarence Abrams.

Growing up in Brazil, Beilfuss envisioned a career as a diplomat. He was well on his way after being accepted to law school, but he faced a fork in the road when he was also accepted to a cultural exchange program in Winnipeg. He chose Winnipeg thinking he’d return to Brazil, and a career in the foreign service after the cultural exchange was completed.

As part of his cultural exchange program, Beilfuss was introduced to the works of Shakespeare; he fell in love with the Bard’s words and soon traded his pursuit of a diplomatic career for a one in theatre.

Beilfuss admits that when he was first introduced to Shakespeare, he didn’t understand much of the language. However, his realization that he was not alone in his struggle to comprehend Shakespeare’s work ultimately gave him the confidence to work through it. “Ironically, Shakespeare gave me a sense of belonging – everyone was confused; everyone was terrified,” says Beilfuss.

From Winnipeg Beilfuss traveled to Stratford, Ontario and England where he studied at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. His master’s thesis research at LAMDA examined the process, and cultural impact, of performing Shakespeare in different languages – a natural topic for Beilfuss, whose first language was not English.

Beilfuss’ was also accepted to Stratford Festival’s prestigious Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre training program and the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction.

Beilfuss went on to perform at the Stratford Festival for three seasons and was assistant director to Graham Abbey in a fourth.

In this episode of The Performer Podcast our conversation begins with the story about a production of “Macbeth” at the Stratford Festival the day that three actors, including the lead, were unable to perform due to illness. The play went on with the actors and understudies scrambling behind the scenes, some covering two roles.

In “Macbeth,” Belfuss played Young Siward whom Macbeth kills in the final battle, shortly before his swordfight with Lord Macduff. The production was filmed and will be available for free, for three weeks beginning May 7th, as part of the Festival’s Shakespeare Film Festival

SHOW NOTES:
Website.
Twitter.
Instagram.
Cyrus Lane podcast
Lisa-Repo-Martell Podcast
Joseph-Ziegler Podcast
Stream Macbeth from the Stratford Festival as part of the Shakespeare Film Festival

Hamlet at the Rose Theatre Brampton with Pakistani-Canadian star Ahad Raza, directed by Haysam Kadri a graduate of the Birmingham Conservatory at the Stratford Festival.

Shakespeare In The Ruins website

LISTEN TO MORE EPISODES

FOUR EPISODES WITH OTHER ACTORS FROM THE STRATFORD FESTIVAL
Click to Listen.

Live From the Winnipeg Comedy Festival

Winnipeg Comedy Festival podcast, Ashley Moffatt, Dan Taylor, Adam Schwartz, Meghan Riley

This episode was recorded at before a live audience at The Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

My Guests
Ashley Moffatt – comedian, writer, and father figure to two small dogs.
Adam Schwartz – comedian, Fringe Festival performer and author of “I’ve got Aspergers, so I’m better than you.”
Dan Taylor – comedian and Pastor.
Meghan Riley – theatre geek and comedy nerd who In her spare time, works full-time as a litigator and raises two delightful little goofballs.

Get all the details about The Winnipeg Comedy Festival.

From the Archives
Previous episodes with performers who appeared at the Festival this year.
John Wing
Martha Chaves

Winnipeg comedy festival podcast, meghan riley
Myself and Meghan Riley

My Random Shots
Pocdast Gang
A post-podcast selfie

Steve Patterson the debaters, winnipeg comedy festival
Steve Patterson

lara rae, winnipeg comedy festival
Lara Rae

Andy kindler, sean cullen, winnipeg comedy festival
Andy Kindler, Sean Cullen

Gala
Getting Ready for the CBC TV Gala

Ashley moffat, winnipeg comedy festival
Ashley Moffat killed it at a library show

Ticket
I love the Old School ticket!

Krista Jackson: Actor, director

Play

Krista Jackson, director, winnipeg

Krista Jackson left her Winnipeg home in her teens to study acting in Toronto, but after she found herself auditioning, with a dozen other young actresses, for a “Tide” laundry detergent commercial she quit that scene and returned the theatre community in Winnipeg.

These days she’s performing in Matt Murray’s “Myth of the Ostrich” directed by Heidi Malazdrewich at the MTC Warehouse. It runs March 9 – 26.

She’s the founder and Artistic Director of Zone 41 Theatre, a theatre company that produces classic texts that aren’t often performed in Winnipeg.

Krista recently directed “Fly Me to the Moon” at The Grand Theatre in London, Ontario.

In 2015 Krista worked as an associate director at The Stratford Festival, under John Caird. She admits “I was always a bit intimidated to direct Shakespeare,” and talks about how she “cracked open that world…of dense text.”

Show Notes
Matt Murray’s Myth of the Ostrich
directed By Heidi Malazdrewich at The Royal MTC Warehouse.
Zone41
Martha Henry
Carolyn Gray
Arthur Miller’s All My Sons
Directed by Martha Henry at The Stratford Festival