Selection Process:
An arms-length jury was appointed by the ADC PQ2019 committee to select the best work from the previous few years of Canadian design for presentation at PQ2019. Five highly respected and accomplished Canadian designers, (Susan Benson from BC, Guido Tondino and Wade Staples from Alberta, Lorenzo Savoini from Ontario and Leigh Ann Vardy from Nova Scotia) selected six productions representing the breadth of scenographic work across the design disciplines of set, costume, lighting, sound and video/projection design. The jury also chose to celebrate excellence and theatricality in a broad range of scales, from major stages to independent productions. It was also important to reflect the best in design from across Canada and across theatre, dance, and opera.
The Jury’s responsibility was to look for the most exhilarating, innovative and theatrical design work Canada has recently produced; work that pushes the boundaries of scenographic possibility and that shows the designer as integral to the production and the heart of the project. Additional selection parameters were related to the idea of transformation, collaboration, the crossover between design disciplines and diversity and inclusivity Canadian theatre.
The Jury
(Salt Spring Island, BC)
Susan Benson
Susan Benson was born in Kent, England. She trained as a painter in the UK before emigrating to Canada. Over the years her work as a painter has been interwoven with design for the theatre, ballet, and opera. As a designer, she worked with distinguished directors and companies in some of the world’s great houses. Her costume-and set-designs are instantly recognizable for authenticity, imagination, craftsmanship and an artist’s attention to subtlety of line and colour. Her work has been repeatedly recognized in awards and in inclusion in public collections.
Portraiture has been prominent in her painting, but the influence of the natural world, especially the scenery of the West Coast of Canada is revealed in her landscapes and in her representations—sometimes approaching abstraction—of natural forms.
Susan’s time spent in the Leighton Colony at the Banff Centre has had a profound effect on her work as a painter. The original time spent in the Colony was part of a Banff CentreAward for Contributions to the Arts in Canada. Since then she has been able to spend further time in the Colony developing her painting.
She now lives on Salt Spring Island on the West Coast of Canada.
Guido Tondino
Guido Tondino was born in Montreal Canada in 1951. The son of Canadian artist Gentile Tondino, he studied design at the National Theatre School of Canada graduating in 1977. He began his career in Montreal working in both the Anglophone theatre (The Saidye Bronfman Centre, Centaur Theatre, Festival Lennoxville) as well as in the Francophone theatre (Le d’Aujourd’ hui, Le Théâtre Populaire du Québec) and Montreal Theatre Lab. Some notable productions from his early career include Forever Yours Marie Lou, directed by André Brassard, the first English language production of a Michel Tremblay play in English in Québec. In 1978, he designed temps d’une vie for André Page and the Théâtre Populaire du Québec. This production went on to play Belgium, Switzerland, France and was featured at the Avignon Festival.
Between 1977 and 1980, he was appointed Lecturer at Bishops University, and resident designer for Bishops Drama Department designing a number of plays and teaching design to undergraduates majoring in Drama. While in Lennoxville, he designed Eighteen Wheels, and Herringbone among many other plays for Festival Lennoxville.
In 1980, and 1981, Guido designed four productions for The Shaw Festival, including a noteworthy and controversial production of A Respectable Weddings as well as Tons of Money. After designing some thirty-five productions in theatres from Neptune to The Manitoba Theatre Centre, he moved to New York City-residing there from 1981-1985. While in the U.S., he became a member of United Scenic Artists 829, and designed off-Broadway and at The Hartman Theatre for Ed Sherin. Other design credits include The Time of Your Life and They Knew What They Wanted for The Denver Centre.
In 1987, he moved to Calgary to become Associate Director and Resident Designer of Theatre Calgary then under the direction of Martin Kinch. He remained Theatre Calgary’s Resident Designer until 1991, after which he continued to design there as well as across Canada. While at Theatre Calgary he designed numerous productions. Some notable productions after 1995 included: The Little Foxes, Filumena, The Diary of Anne Frank, Much Ado about Nothing, as well as an acclaimed production of Death of a Salesman at the Stratford Festival. In 1998, he designed the set for Tieble and her Demon for the National Theatre of Romania. In 2004, he returned to Stratford to design The Count of Monte Cristo.
He became Director of Scenography at The National Theatre of Canada and served until 2002. In 2003, Guido he became Coordinator of the Theatre Design Program at the University of Alberta and currently resides in Alberta, and continues to teach and design across the country as well as in Europe.
Other Canadian productions include The Cripple of Inishmann, Copenhagen, Life after George and Long Days Journey into Night for Centaur Theatre, and Shakespeare’s Willfor the Citadel. For Soulpepper, he designed Present Laughter, A Winter’s Tale, and A Chorus of Disapproval.
He has designed Playboy of the Western World for Dublin’s Abbey Theatre Centenary for Ben Barnes. The play toured Ireland as well as New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Boston. Other recent international credits include Athenee Palace for The National Theatre of Timisoara.
Recent credits in Edmonton, include LeCadeau d’Einstein, (Set and Lighting Design), Lentement labeauté for La Seizeieme (Vancouver) and L Uni Théâtre, Set Design for Mile Zero’sKi, and Set and Lighting Design for Public Domain also with Mile Zero Dance. Upcoming work includes: Set and Lighting Design for Les fraises en janvier, as well as directing L’ homme du hasard
Wade Staples
Wade is a Theatre Production faculty member at McEwan University in Edmonton where he has taught for over 20 years.
Wade is a sound designer and technician. Wade has been behind the Sound Design of all the Catalyst Theatre productions over the past 14 years, and he has toured throughout Canada, the United States, Australia, Scotland, Wales, and London with new Canadian works such as The Blue Orphan, Frankenstein, Carmen Angel, Nevermore, Hunchback, The Soul Collector, and Vigilante. He operates his own production company, providing services in sound and multimedia design, systems consultation & sales, production management, pyrotechnics, and music production/engineering. Wade has designed across Canada and internationally including eight years with the Stratford Festival and productions at the Citadel Theatre, Canadian Stage Company, Persephone Theatre, and the National Arts Centre.
In 2015, Wade shared the CITT Technical Merit Award for his work on Shared (private) Space part of the Canadian submission for PQ15 in Prague. Wade is a member of the Associate Designers of Canada, recently stepping down from its Board of Directors after serving for 9 years.
Lorenzo Savoini
Lorenzo Savoini is an award-winning set, costume, lighting and video designer whose work has been seen throughout North America. Most notably he has created designs for Soulpepper Theatre, The Stratford Festival, Les Grand Ballet Canadian, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, MTC, Tarragon Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Blyth Festival, The Globe Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Buddies in Bad Times, The Belfry Theatre, and Theatrefront. His design for Soulpepper’s Of Human Bondage was selected to represent Canada at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial.
is an award-winning set, costume, lighting and video designer whose work has been seen throughout North America. Most notably he has created designs for Soulpepper Theatre, The Stratford Festival, Les Grand Ballet Canadian, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, MTC, Tarragon Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Blyth Festival, The Globe Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Buddies in Bad Times, The Belfry Theatre, and Theatrefront. His design for Soulpepper’s Of Human Bondage was selected to represent Canada at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial.
Lorenzo is also the Director of Design for Soulpepper Theatre Company. He has taught Theatre Design at the University of Guelph and York University. He has an MFA from the University of British Columbia, and a BA from the University of Guelph. He is also a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.
Leigh Ann Vardy
Leigh Ann is a lighting designer for theatre and dance. She is based in Atlantic Canada and works in theatres across Canada. She has toured her designs throughout the US, Japan, New Zealand, and Tasmania.
Leigh Ann’s passion for new works has led her to be a collaborator on many premieres of Canadian theatre and dance.
Recent favorite projects include The Silver Arrow (Citadel Theatre), As You Like It, The Diary of Anne Frank (Stratford), the World Premiere of The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Artistic Fraud), The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum, Metamorphoses, The Importance of Being Earnest (National Arts Centre), Anne of Green Gables (Charlottetown Festival), What a Young Wife Ought to Know, The God That Comes (2b theatre) and Oil and Water (Artistic Fraud). Leigh Ann is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. She is the recipient of six Merritt awards for design and was nominated for the Siminovitch Prize. When not designing, she teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada.
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