Alternatives to Auditions: A Community Round-Table

Do auditions really show us in our best light? Are they really the best way to get to know a performer or to cast a show? Join us for a round-table discussion with professional artists as we break down alternative forms of casting, as well as how we can create a better system to bring out the best in our community.

About the Facilitators

Gwendolyn Collins is an actor and devised theatre and film artist based on Treaty 1 Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is the Co-Artistic Producer of One Trunk Theatre and a frequent collaborator of the company. She has performed at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre as Alice in Alice Through the Looking Glass and in Penelopiad. She has performed in multiple shows for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Prairie Theatre Exchange and Manitoba Theatre for Young People. She has extensive touring experience, having travelled the province in PTE Munsch tours, Greenkids shows, the RMTC rural tour and for MTYP. She is a graduate of The University of Winnipeg’s BA Honours program in theatre and has trained with Ghost River Theatre in Calgary.

Paul De Gurse is a musician based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has been nominated for two Merritt Awards for Outstanding Music Direction (Mamma Mia!, Beauty and the Beast, Neptune Theatre) and has won a Winnipeg Theatre award for best design with Brian Perchaluk and Scott Henderson (Sound Design, The Whipping Man – Winnipeg Jewish Theatre). Paul works as a music professional across Canada. His work as a music director and conductor for musical theatre productions has taken him to theatres across Canada, including Neptune Theatre, Mayfield Theatre, The Musical Stage Company, and most of the theatre companies in Manitoba.

Rochelle Kives is a graduate of the Sheridan Musical Theatre Performance program. She has trained in many different vocal styles, including classical, Broadway, and pop vocals, since the age of 10 and was the vocal teacher at School of Rock Winnipeg. Select theatre credits include Rent, Ma-Buhay (Workshop Presentation), The Hockey Sweater, Little Shop of Horrors, Miss Saigon, South Pacific (Rainbow Stage); Into the Woods, Calpurnia (NAC/RMTC); 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (WJT); where.are.you.from (RMTC); A Year with Frog and Toad (MTYP); South Pacific (Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, Regina Symphony Orchestra); Kiss of the Spider Woman, The Prom (Dry Cold Productions.) She is co-founder and producer of the world vocal group Unique3, who travel as featured guest artists on various cruise lines around the world.