RSA director anticipates exciting 2019

By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor

Rosebud School of the Arts’ fall season was full of growth and celebration, and education director Paul Muir anticipates another eventful year in 2019.
“I’ve been super thrilled with our first two transfer students from Crandall University,” Muir said.
Ben DeJong and Emmelia Ohlhauser are taking most elements of the year-long Theatre Foundations program at Rosebud School of the Arts (RSA), earning a drama major on their Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Crandall University.
“What I hope is also going to be fruitful,” he said, “is that this also paves the way for our (RSA) students to transfer their credits from here (to Crandall) and also get a BA in Communications.”
At the end of September, RSA celebrated the annual ROSAs, honoring its one-, two- and four-year graduates, and giving out scholarships and awards.
In October, RSA students performed at the Hope Bridges Gala and Fundraiser in Strathmore.
“I just am grateful for that connection with Hope Bridges, because the work that they do is so important,” Muir said. “So when our students can contribute to that in some way, it’s an extra perk.”
In November and December, the second-year class performed the play Best Christmas Pageant Ever, in partnership with the Rosebud Younger Company. Muir was pleased with that partnership, and called the show “pretty darn delightful.”
In early December, Rosebud School of the Arts students and staff provided the entertainment at Christmas in Alberta, an annual fundraiser hosted at Heritage Park and sponsored by Richard and Lois Haskayne, with funds raised divided between Rosebud Centre of the Arts and Heritage Park.
Muir was pleased with an increase in attendance, especially among business people in their 30s. “It was part of what they (the Haskaynes) wanted to put out there,” he said. “They wanted to put a message out to the next generation to say Heritage Park and Rosebud School of the Arts/Rosebud Theatre are worth supporting.”
For Muir, a “huge highlight” in observing growth this fall was directing Prophecy, graduating student Mikayla Whitehouse’s Final Project.
“I was really grateful to work on that show,” he said. “I’m proud of Mikayla for just wanting to tackle something so challenging. I felt like I saw Mikayla take a step of growth in her acting, where her understanding and her awareness of her own voice really took hold. Because part of being a storyteller is discovering what your voice is as a storyteller and then beginning to own it. Discovering is one thing. Owning is another whole process. She has been discovering it and I felt like she began to really own it, so that breakthrough was really satisfying.”
The 2019 winter term begins this month with a four-day intensive presented by RSA graduate Adam Bergquist and Graham Percy.
“They’re going to do a combined intensive workshop focusing on creative imagination for the actor, utilizing folktales, archetypes and mask work,” Muir said. “It’s going to be an amazing four days.”
January will also see the first of five more graduating students produce their Final Projects, all of which will be produced over the next six months.
The first is Lucy Lost in Cancerland in mid-January, written, produced and performed by Esther Koepnick about her own experience with cancer as an 18-year-old.
In February, second-year students will launch a tour of their devised movement, black light piece called Follow the Sun with a performance at the Palliser Teachers Convention in Calgary.
The same month, the first-year students take their annual theatre trip to Canada’s West Coast, and the second- and third-year students travel to London, England, seeing plays and participating in workshops.
Also in February, most members of the fourth-year class, who performed The Amish Project in Rosebud Theatre’s BMO Studio Stage last summer, will go to Vancouver to perform a remount of the show at Dark Glass Theatre.
From March to May, many fourth-year students will perform on the main stage in Rosebud Theatre’s spring show, Bright Star.
In April, the second-year class will perform their spring show, Unity 1918, about the influenza pandemic that swept across Canada in 1918, just after World War One ended, taking the lives of more people in four months than the war had taken in the previous four years.
The first week of May, the first-year Movement Foundations class will give three performances of their devised movement piece, directed by Julie Funk, who’s teaching the class for the first time. “I’m excited for them because Julie’s fantastic,” Muir said. “She’s got such an amazing way with movement, so I’m excited to see what that group is coming up with.”
This winter term will also signal a loss for Rosebud School of the Arts, as it will be the last term for instructors David and Jeany (Van Meltebeke) Snider.
“They’re an integral part of this organization and of course of this community … and the two of them are very involved in church leadership, so their absence in this community will be felt,” Muir said.
“Conversely, (RSA graduate) Aaron Krogman has accepted a position at Rosebud School of the Arts,” he said, “We’re thrilled for him to join the RSA team in the summertime. He will have a combination of duties in the theatre department and in the education department. I’m excited for everything that Aaron will bring to Rosebud.”