Art Series: Theatre
What once was a safe haven made by two sisters to protect themselves from the monster outside, their childhood bathtub has now been twisted into a cage that won’t let Gabriella move on.
In this memory play/psychological drama, written by new playwright Charlotte Hurdman, the audience follows Gabriella as she is forced to relive memories of her past, in order to accept the present. Drenched in trauma will she be able to wash away her guilt and finally accept forgiveness?
This suspenseful and emotionally driven play was originally written for the stage, but has now been transformed into a short film for this year’s IGNITE! Festival.
On Instagram and Twitter: @nyctocollective
Show Times –
- June 12 – 8:15-8:30
Run time – 12-15 minutes
Rating – PG-13
- Blood
- Death/dying
- Child abuse
- Emotional abuse
- Trauma/PTSD
- Violence
- Adult language/content
If you need immediate help and support the Calgary Distress Centre
can provide immediate access to a crisis counsellor. Accessible by phone at 403-266-4357 and by their chat function – located here.
Owl Pod is offering free virtual counselling sessions – needing to talk is okay. No problem is too small.
Cast and Creative Team
Playwright – Charlotte Hurdman
Charlotte Hurdman (she/her, they/them) is extremely excited to be making her playwriting debut with this year’s IGNITE! Festival. She is a recent graduate from the University of Lethbridge where she appeared in a number of shows such as inVISABLE(Too), Dada Does Not Mean Anything, Carnaticum and Alice: A Devised Adaptation. She is also a co-creator of Nycto Theatre Collective and is delighted that she will be working with not only her fellow co-creators, but also with such a talented group of people!
Director – Alex Watz
A recent graduate of the University of Lethbridge Alex is an actor, director, and costume designer; she has loved theatre since childhood and is happiest when involved in anything creative. She is relatively new to Calgary and is excited to be participating in the IGNITE! Festival for her directorial debut with The Silence.
Stage Manager – Tori Hood
Tori Hood is a 4th year Drama Education student at the University of Lethbridge specialising in secondary grades. She plans on getting her Masters and becoming a Drama Professor. Scripts like The Silence hold a special place in Tori’s heart with its simple yet elegant dialogue. It gives an artist a blank canvas to explore which Tori is very fond of, being a woman of limited words and a million movements herself.
Performer: “Gabriella” – Brooklyn Hopfner
Currently in her final year at the University of Lethbridge studying Technical Theatre/Design, Brooklyn Hopfner has been involved in theatre the majority of her life. You may recognise her from the university’s production of Alice: A Devised Adaptation where she played the Duchess. She recently transferred to the tech/design part of theatre from performance and has been wanting to focus more on that, but after reading The Silence, knew she wanted to act in it.
Performer: “Abigail” – Katrina Holoboff
Katrina Holoboff graduated from the University of Lethbridge with two degrees, one in General Science and the other in Theatre Performance. Her most recent credits include inVISIBLE(Too) (U of L Mainstage & Handsome Alice), Alice: A Devised Adaptation (U of L Mainstage) and Titus Andronicus (U of L Mainstage). Having a sister herself, she sees a lot of her personal relationship through the lens of Abigail and Gabriella. She is excited to work through the tragedy and comedy that’s found between the two of them!
Sound Design – Danelle White
Danelle White is ecstatic to be joining the team for The Silence. She has been working as a Sound Designer for 5+ years and is entirely self-taught. While she holds a BFA in Drama from the School of Creative and Performing Arts at the University of Calgary- her degree is focused on Directing, Performance Creation and Acting. When Sound Designing Danelle follows the philosophy that silence is where the juiciest moments lie- “Theatre is silence interrupted”. It is only fitting that she has this show to interrupt her project “silence” during COVID-19 and to be returning for IGNITE! 2020.
Technical Consultant – Tracy Luc-German
Tracy Luc-German is a filmmaker born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. She is a storyteller at heart with a passion for photography and sharing her craft everywhere she travels. Starting to plant roots in journalism her hopes of filmmaking continue to grow to what it is today.
Our festival is free to attend although donations help us with funding and enables us to keep bringing you amazing performances every year! We are also encouraging donations to the Calgary Black Empowerment Fund.