...with Making Art in a Noisy World (Ep. 61)

What on Earth is Going on?

Denise Clarke is one of Canada's most respected performing artists, perhaps best known for her work with One Yellow Rabbit. Since 1997 she has opened up the company's process with the Summer Lab Intensive. She recently published The Big Secret Book: An Intense Guide for Creating Performance Theatre.

Ben talks with Denise about her book, the recent Calgary production of Waiting for Godot (which she directed for Black Radish Theatre), the life of an artist, the meaning of art in an age of noise, and much more.

This episode contains some swearing.

About the Guest

Denise began working with One Yellow Rabbit in 1983 and became Associate Artist and a permanent member of the Ensemble in 1986. She has created or co-created several shows including The Erotic Irony of Old Glory, Touch, CD Dance, Breeder, So Low, Permission, Featherland, Sign Language, Heavens to Murgatroid, A Fabulous Disaster, Smash Cut Freeze, and wag. In 1997, Denise created the Summer Lab Intensive and as Director continues to welcome a broad range of established and emerging artists from all over the world. She continues to teach, provide master classes, and lecture across Canada and abroad.

Other work includes choreography for Theatre Calgary and Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary, Edmonton's Citadel Theatre, Crows Theatre, Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, and the Shaw Festival in Niagara on the Lake. Denise has toured extensively in shows including Ilsa, Queen of the Nazi Love Camp, Mata Hari: Tigress at the City Gates, Doing Leonard Cohen, Thunderstruck, Sign Language, and Dream Machine.

On December 30th, 2013, Denise was appointed as a Member to the Order of Canada, one of Canada's highest civilian honours. Prior to this appointment, she was also recognized by the University of Calgary with an Honorary Doctorate from the Faculty of Arts.

Recently Denise wrote The Big Secret Book, An Intense Guide To Creating Performance Theatre.

The Quote of the Week

"Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence." - From "Desiderata" by Max Ehrmann, 1927