Raconteur - Season 1

Suzie Payne and I have created a production company to produce our web series "Raconteur"  Raconteur is a YouTube channel dedicated to conversations with Canadian film, theatre, and television artists.  In our first season of nine episodes, we talk with guests - actors, writers, teachers, designers, and production artists - about their insights into the evolution of Canadian arts and culture.  The series highlights the personal as much as the professional.   Enjoy.  

Kathy Duborg articulates a big vision of what creativity can look like - poetic, profound, humorous and utterly practical. In this conversation she illuminates the processes of acting and directing, sharing a how-to for those seeking artistic inspiration and eloquence. Kathy has built a professional career working as a Stage, TV and Film, and voice-over actor, and as a director, producer, and new play developer. She currently teaches acting as an adjunct professor at UBC, and also teaches at Vancouver Film School, Douglas College, and McIlroy & Associates.
 

Conversation with Jay Brazeau whose theatre credits include The Drowsy Chaperone, Hairspray, and The Wizard of Oz, and whose film credits include Best in Show, We're No Angels, X-Files, Watchmen, plus a plethora of voice gigs, and too many Christmas movies to count. A Winnipeg expat, he is one of the most accomplished actors we know, and a great guy to work with. Enjoy.

Immediately drawn to theatre as a child, Dawn grew her talent and skills and has nurtured a remarkable professional life. As a stage manager (Young Peoples Theatre, The Grand Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse Theatre) she rocks. Dawn brought her compassionate leadership to many community organizations. As an administrator and educator she has championed new voices (Women in View, Urban Ink, Vancouver Writers Festival, Capilano University). Join our open-hearted Conversation with Dawn Brennan.<< New text box >>

Conversation with playwright and educator John Lazarus, whose acting credits include the Canadian classic film Skip Tracer, and whose plays have been mounted across the country. He discusses the beginnings of Vancouver's Co-op Radio, his student years at Canada's National Theatre School, his career at Queen's University, meeting and reviewing Tennessee Williams, and Tamahnous Theatre's production of John's play, MIDAS.

Award winning playwright, director, climate activist, and educator Elaine Avila celebrates the arc of her journey from the California Institute of Arts Playwriting Program, to settling in Vancouver, with many stops for “Indiana Jones theatre adventures” along the way. Recorded at a picnic table in Vancouver's Trout Lake Park, Elaine talks about the founding of the LEAP multicultural initiative for young writers in Vancouver, discusses the creation of her plays which have been produced locally and internationally, and describes her travels as a director and teacher at universities from British Columbia to Tasmania to China to Panama. And she’s distinguished as a Noble Descendant by the government of the Azores!

Part Two resumes with actor/film educator Ty Haller landing a gig as a contract player at MGM. The studio folds and Ty moves on - modelling and acting in Toronto, where he acquires a "Herbie" VW Beetle that ultimately carries him to the west coast of Canada. Over the years Ty has avidly pursued his love of film and teaching and we get the goods: Steve Spielberg, plus early days of Vancouver Film School, and the evolution of Capilano University's film studies program.

From Adams Center, NY, (home of the Dewey Decimal System!) to managing computers at Quantico, to contract player at MGM, to film instructor at Capilano University, Ty Haller has built a life of creative adventure. His credits include Ice Station Zebra, The Groundstar Conspiracy, and cult film Frankenstein on Campus.

Actor, director, beekeeper, and farmer, Laara Sadiq talks with host Stephen E. Miller about her career in film, stage, and television, her work in the international 24hr. performance, "The Second Woman" at Harbourfront in Toronto, and her love affair with the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong, B.C.

Conversation with Bill Dow whose credits include Stargate SGI, X-Files, Legends of the Fall, DaVinci's Inquest, The Big Year, Supernatural, and more, with host Stephen E. Miller.