Shannon Litzenberger is keenly committed to the exploration and rehearsal of new ways in doing and being in the practice of art and living. As a dancer and performance maker, her work explores our relationship to land, the politics of belonging, and the forgotten wisdom of the body. She collaborates frequently with the wind in the leaves collective and has been an invited resident artist with major arts organizations nationwide. As a skilled freelance strategist, leadership developer, and embodiment facilitator, she works with organizations in the arts, academia, and the corporate sector.

Sparked by her own experiences and observations of Canada’s cultural reality during and emerging out of the pandemic, Shannon wrote a powerful essay titled, State of Emergence: Why we need artists right now. Anchored in systems and policies shaping society, she asks the question: What would it mean to ambitiously mobilize artists to do their most essential work well and fully, with the aim of catalyzing transformative change? She goes on to ask, Could the chaotic domain of the artist’s creative process be the fertile ground from which a healthier and more sustainable, just, and caring society emerges?

Stephen Nachmanovitch, an accomplished and classically trained violinist, has for years been espousing the life affirming power of stepping away from the notes on the sheet to explore the freedom of playing between, within and around the notes, of music, art and life as one beautiful composition. He performs and teaches internationally at the intersections of multimedia, performing arts, ecology and philosophy. He is the author of Free Play: Improvisation in Life and Art (1990) and The Art of Is: Improvising as a Way of Life (2019); both of which make the compelling argument “that artistic power is available to anyone at any moment. It is not a psychological tool or an artistic one...it is a way of being.”

For more information on Stephen and his work, visit www.freeplay.com

Brent Allan has always led with heart, art and a deep passion to make positive impact on the world he encounters. Drawing strength from his early personal experiences during the dark days of the HIV crisis in Edmonton, Toronto and Vancouver, Brent has come to be recognized globally as a highly respected and sought after advocate and crusader for people living with HIV, through education, the arts, health policy and practice and industry. The way they have defined and designed life, community and family speaks to a true embodiment of the creative spirit. In fact, Brent often finds themself being sought after by peers and professional colleagues when they are in search of unconventional wisdom and fresh perspective. I caught up to Brent at their home, bearing the wildly saucy name, Buggery Acres on the Da Da Wjurng lands of the Kulin Nation just north of Melbourne, Australia.

You can find a documentary on the HIV Science as Art project that Brent curated for the 2023 International HIV Conference in Brisbane by visiting ordinarypodcasts.com and clicking on the Ellipses Thinking page which will take you to this specific episode.

Vern Thiessen’s curiosity is forever leading him to the untold story, inspiring plays that have embraced theatres around the world. Thiessen, one of Canada’s most produced playwrights, a recipient of numerous awards and honours, including Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award, for Einstein’s Gift in 2003, continues to seek out those places where a drama might find breath and lead to a life on stage.

Beyond his formal writing career, Vern has always supported other writers, formally in classrooms teaching playwrights of all ages and experience and informally, he has brought his mentorship to inspire a new generation of theatre artists in rehearsal halls, workshop readings and mainstages.

Our conversation ranged from the importance of authenticity as a writer to some lessons learned from failure to the vitally important reorientation in place and space of an artist with privilege.

Throughout these conversations on the creative process, the idea of play features heavily. There’s an incredible joy in the experience of inviting our imagination to a party of our own making and then hosting it as the guest of honor. If we believe that the innocent creative child we were when we were small, remains alive within us, then play at any age opens the door to our freedom to express ourselves and be fully alive. For Gianna Vacirca, her playful self seems never hidden within, and in her words and in her life, PLAY shows up as a language.

And so, a few years ago the much sought-after actor, dancer and choreographer turned inwards not to invite PLAY which was already present, but rather she turned to play to invite new connections to her community, to her family story and to her own creativity...and the playground ... was her kitchen and her pasta.

Fred Keating has a long and multi-faceted career in theatre, radio, TV and film in character roles and as a host, motivational speaker and podcast producer/host. I consider Fred to be a dear friend and celebrate him as one of my personal mentors and as someone who left an indelible imprint on me as a young artist and educator. He has always led with generosity, and this was certainly the case in our conversation in which we double-clicked on some of the many learnings that Fred has experienced and continues to gather over a lifetime of living through a creative lens.

Throughout her career as an educator in Toronto and then Victoria, Karen Close aimed to inspire her students through literature and visual arts; she loved to witness young people become better able to articulate themselves and to share their understanding with others through their writing and art making. Karen passionately believes in the importance of storytelling to give us a way to know ourselves more deeply and share our wisdom. So when she stepped away from the formal classroom, it was no real surprise that she brought this same desire to engage imaginations to her new community of Kelowna.  In fact, in an interview with a local newspaper several years ago, she acknowledged her dream of helping to build the city into a centre for creative ageing and has fostered numerous local initiatives with that aim. Her passionate belief in the healing power of the arts and the importance of creativity on individual and community wellness is as strong as ever and her definition of community has widened its reach as the online Journal for Creative Ageing, she created in 2011, aptly named Sage-ing: With Creative Spirit, Grace and Gratitude, now boasts readers and contributors spanning the globe.

When a previous guest recently reached out to say that I simply had to speak with Jan Alexandra Smith, who in his words “is one of Canada’s finest actors and directors”, I thought, “what wonderful idea.” 

For nearly 35 years, Jan has been stepping onto stages in roles that have entertained, challenged, surprised and thrilled audiences across this country. The work itself has fueled her passion for sharing stories and her love of creative expression. And yet leading up to 2020 and then throughout the pandemic quiet that performing artists were cast in, Jan was becoming aware of what she describes as a dwindling pilot light in her sense of what theatre seemed to be offering to her lifelong passion for it.  She began to wonder if the party was over for her and theatre. And then a conversation with a friend and colleague led to her discovery of a highly inventive company whose work felt both exciting and inviting to her imagination, sparking not just a reignition but a bright burst of new flame for her love of movement-based theatre.