| bios |
|
| |
|
 |
RHONDA
Wishes she was back in the cozy confines of her minimalist Yaletown condo. This end of the world thing is a real drag.
Juno Ruddell
Juno was last seen in The Electric Company's, Studies in Motion here in Vancouver and then on tour to Whitehorse and Calgary. Juno has worked for Carousel Theatre, Playhouse, Touchstone, Caravan Farm theatre, WCTC, Tiny Bird (Toronto), Green Thumb. Juno is a graduate of Studio 58. |
| |
|
 |
HUME
Hume has to admit that this is all just a little bit exhilarating. A nice change of pace from teaching ESL, and driving his mom to her Aqua-fit for seniors classes.
Michael Rinaldi
Mike is a University of Victoria alumni. He might happen to mention here that he is a Jessie and Monday Magazine Award nominated actor, a multi award nominated sound designer, and is 5'5" tall. Which is below average for a male his age and weight.
|
| |
|
 |
WALTER
Walter is currently on a break from University. The fact that the break has lasted for eleven years causes no end of awkward conversations with his family and ex-girlfriend. Walter runs the most organized coffee shop on Main St.
Andrew McNee
Andrew is a Vancouver born and raised artist, living with his lovely wife Karen and their unborn rascal. Working in both theatre and film and tv, he finds his most rewarding work is with his Theatre Melee gang. Andrew is a graduate of Studio 58. 
|
| |
|
 |
WINNIE
Winnie wants to be someone else but is kind of glad she is herself so that she could offer herself to be eaten if anyone gets hungry. She works in a print shop and has a few friends who she goes to karaoke with but they're not that close and she never sings. You can call her Windy if you want to.
Erin Mathews
Erin has worked onstage for many Canadian theatre companies. She works in animation now and stars in several series' including: Kid vs. Kat. Geronimo Stilton, My Little Pony and A Kind of Magic. She co-writes and composes the Wild Horse Theatre summer musical each year. She is also a mental health worker in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Erin is a graduate of Studio 58.
|
| |
|
 |
SUSAN
Susan has been working as a neurosurgeon after graduating from Harvard. She is an Aquarius, which means everyone likes her, and she has never done anything wrong in her entire life.
Courtenay Dobbie
Courtenay is an actor, writer, choreographer, and director. She is the Artistic Director of Theatre Melee and has worked for many theatre companies in Canada. Courtenay is a graduate of Studio 58. |
| |
|
| |
|
|
|
|
Mandate
Unabashedly ensemble driven, Theatre Melee seeks to expose the underbelly of human emotion and experience through comedy, music, physical prowess, shock and terror. Subtle, dangerous and perverse, we explore our deepest fascinations through understated comedy. |
| |
A History
Courtenay Dobbie, Erin Matthews, Andrew McNee, Juno Ruddell, and Michael Rinaldi first formed Theatre Melee as a collective for Theatre Under The Gun. They were given an inspiration package and 48 hours to create a 15 minute piece. The inspiration package contained a muskrat pelt, a sound file of a heart monitor, and the quote, “Who is Susan and why is she so lazy?”
Ajineen Sagal joined the group as solo violin accompaniment and the strange little piece was titled Lazy Susan. It went over so well, and the group had such a great time working together that they decided to join up again to create a full length piece for the Vancouver Fringe.
Collaborators Jeff Gladstone and Craig Hall came on board for Lazy Susan's expansion into a one act. The play sold out the entire run at the Fringe, won Critic's Pick, and was remounted later that year at the Here Be Monsters Fest for a two week capacity run at Performance Works, Granville Island. That production garnered three Jessie Richardson Awards and started a small cult following for Melee's unique style of comedy.
For Melee's next endeavor, Juno and Mike went off and made a baby, and the remaining members joined up with Emelia Symington Fedy and Anita Rochon of The Chop to create Sleep Tight, a twisted Edward Gory-esque musical. Sleep Tight also played to a rowdy sold out crowd and Melee continued to develop a voice in Vancouver's theatre community.
Next, Andrew, Mike, and Courtney collaborated on Pool Sharks with Theatre Skam for the original Hive Project . Then the whole gang plus guest Adam Underwood was present for a short piece called The Party at Rumble's Tremors festival.
Craig Hall and Rumble became a champion support for Melee, bringing the group in as Artists in Residence and starting the long collaboration process that would eventually lead to the creation of Cozy Catastrophe.
Like with Lazy Susan, Cozy Catastrophe's first official incarnation was a 15 minute piece, created for Hive 2, and was then expanded into a one act play test-driven at SummerWorks, Toronto 2008.
Now ready for its premiere at the Van East Cultural Centre in April 2010, Cozy Catastrophe brings about the return of the original characters from the play Lazy Susan, and with that, the epiphany that this is the second in a trilogy, the third of which will begin development in the summer of 2010. |
| |
| Mandate |
| Theatre Melee seeks to collectively create and perform original absurdist darkly comedic theatre. The work is built and inspired by our modern responses to fear, death, the grotesque, and the sublime. We expose the underbelly of human emotions, wading through our deepest desires and uncertainties, to expose truth and a new and enlightened understanding of our relations to each other and the modern world. |
|
 Site Credits:
Theatre Melee sketch image by Jordan Bent
Photos by Tim Matheson
Site design and construction by Seán Cummings
|
|
