In academia, it鈥檚 known as 鈥減ublish or perish鈥濃�攔eferring to the pressure to publish work for a professor to secure a tenure-track position.
But in the Departments of Music and Theatre, that pressure can also be referred to as 鈥減erform or perish.鈥�
Credible
鈥淚f we鈥檙e going to be credible at all with our students, we need to be pursuing creative activities in the professional realm,鈥� says Susan Stackhouse, an actress and acting professor in the Department of Theatre. She teaches voice and speech classes for second (THEA 2840), third (THEA 3810) and fourth years (THEA 4830), as well as Speak with Confidence (THEA 2841), a class for non-theatre majors.
She recently performed in two productions at Neptune Theatre: as the nurse in Romeo and Juliet, and the mother 鈥楴at鈥� in the searing Rabbit Hole, for which she won a Merritt Award for best supporting actress. You can also hear her warm, rich voice on the radio鈥攕he plays the role of Anna Dobchuk in the CBC Radio drama series Backbencher.
鈥淚t helps us to stay in tune with student needs and what they鈥檙e grappling with. If we don鈥檛 practice ourselves, we can become numb to having that crisis of confidence when you鈥檙e waiting backstage waiting for your cue to come on or when the words you know inside and out suddenly evaporate into thin air.
鈥淎nd let鈥檚 face it鈥� she adds, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a lot of research and perfection of technique that goes into making what we do look natural.鈥�
Rob McClure, who also teaches acting, works on his art each summer. As classes wrap聽 for the summer, he relocates to Ontario where he is a regular with Drayton Entertainment, which has playhouses in St. Jacobs, Grand Bend, Drayton and Penetanguishene. This summer, he'll be playing the role of Frank Foster in Alan Ayckbourne's How the Other Half Loves.
'Right back in the classroom'
鈥淲hat we do on the professional stage鈥攁nd learn during the rehearsal process鈥攁bsolutely comes right back in the classroom,鈥� says Prof. McClure. His classes include Intro to Acting & Performance (THEA 1800), Acting II (THEA 2800), Acting IV (THEA 4800) and Advanced Performance Techniques (THEA 4840).
It wasn鈥檛 always so. Prof. Stackhouse explains that when she arrived at AV俱乐部 in 1996, the expectation was that academics in any department needed to publish. And indeed she does as a voice, speech and dialect specialist; she collects dialects for the world鈥檚 first online dialect and accent repository, the . But then the department, and the faculty, changed to realize the importance of the professors鈥� creative pursuits as well.
鈥淚 am an actress and I鈥檓 happy to say my colleagues listened. FASS listened,鈥� she says. 鈥淧eople are realizing what a practical artist has to accomplish to be perceived as equal to an academic for tenure and promotion.鈥�
An eight-season veteran of the Stratford Festival, Margot Dionne has also appeared on stage at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. She鈥檚 also narrated a number of audiobooks, including Margaret Atwood鈥檚 The Blind Assassin and Mavis Gallant鈥檚 Montreal Stories.
Road trip
She shares that her entire third-year class took a road trip to Montreal to catch her performance when she appeared in Ibsen鈥檚 An Enemy of the People at the Segal Centre in Montreal a few years ago.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a different set of muscles, acting muscles, and it鈥檚 so important to keep them limber,鈥� says Prof. Dionne, who teaches Introduction to Acting and Performance (THEA 1800), and the third-year (THEA 3800) and fourth-year acting classes (THEA 4800). Her students also turned out to see her when she portrayed Madame Arcati 鈥斺�漚 hilariously physical performance,鈥� according to The Coast 鈥攊n Neptune Theatre鈥檚 Blithe Spirit earlier this year.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot to learn by watching a performance. And you鈥檒l never have a more penetrating audience than acting students.鈥�