Visiting Artists
SSILC will be hosting visiting artists from a variety of disciplines to support participants as they work toward their artistic goals. Some of the talented people who will be sharing their skills and experience with our community are:
David Roche
David Roche is an inspirational humorist, motivational speaker and performer who has transformed the challenges and gifts of living with a facial disfigurement into a compelling message that uplifts and delights audiences around the world. Now, with the publication of his first book, The Church of 80% Sincerity, in February 2008, he is also an author.
He has performed his signature one-man show, The Church of 80% Sincerity, across the U.S. and in Canada, England, New Zealand, Australia and Russia. David appeared at the Clinton White House and headlined at the Olympics Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia. David and his wife Marlena Blavin present Love at Second Sight, a program for adolescents about appearance, acceptance and diversity.
David has been featured in four films, including Shameless, a 2006 feature-length documentary by Bonnie Sherr Klein from the National Film Board of Canada. The Perfect Flaw, a 2005 documentary about David by Mike Grundmann, won first place awards at the Canadian International Annual Film & Video Festival and the Da Vinci Film & Video Festival. Two other award-winning films featuring David, Face First (Mike Grundmann, 1999) and Able to Laugh (Michael J. Dougan, 1993) have been seen worldwide.
Alan Shain
Alan Shain's solo work in theatre blends comedy with a strong flavour of honesty and truth while drawing from the lived experience of disability. He has been touring his first original play, Still Waiting for That Special Bus, across Canada, England, the United States and Australia since 1999. Alan has performed this solo work for over 350 audiences, receiving both national and international critical acclaim
Alan’s writing on disability arts and culture has been featured in the Canadian Theatre Review (Spring 2005, where he also appeared on its cover) as well as in Blizzart (Fall 2001) by the Canadian Conference of the Arts. Abilities Magazine (Fall 2005), Canada’s leading national publication on disability issues, also featured Alan on the cover of their Fall 2005 issue.
Along with theatre, Alan’s work has also gained recognition within storytelling, dance and stand-up comedy. He has toured with Yuk Yuk’s Komedy and recently appeared at the John F. Kennedy Centre for the Performing Arts. His stand-up act is a hysterical rebuff at public attitudes to disability, he attempts to answer burning questions such as 'Do wheelchair-people ever go to the bathroom? Are all wheelchair-people related to each other? Do they ever think about sex?' You’ll probably learn just a little bit more from Alan than you really wanted to know.
Alan Shain’s work in dance has focused on Improvisation and Contact Improv. His main interest in dance is the development of movement vocabulary which embraces physical disability to express beauty, power and autonomy.
Fides Krucker
Fides Krucker specializes in contemporary vocal repertoire. In January 2004 she wrote, directed and produced CP Salon – an intimate rhythm and blues piece about a man and love and his disability – with performers Kazumi Tsuruoka and Sageev Oore, choreographer Kathleen Rea and designer Laird Macdonald. CP Salon toured to Regina and Vancouver in May of 2006 along with a diverse abilities workshop taught by Fides. In 2008 it was invited to Whitehorse for the Pivot Festival where Fides has also sung as a solo performer. CP Salon toured three university campuses in Toronto this past season. It is currently being submitted to the NFB by one of their producers (Annette Clarke) so that filmmaker Lawrence Jackman can make a documentary about the history of this relationship and process.
As a teacher Krucker is in high demand for private and group voice classes in Toronto by singers, actors, dancers and non-performers. She teaches regularly at Humber College in the theatre department, for ISIS Canada’s 2nd year expressive arts therapy students and in Halifax for the dance company Verve Mwendo and for Catherine Frazee, founder of Ryerson’s Institute for Disability Studies and former Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Fides’ expertise in teaching groups has taken her frequently to Vancouver, Regina, Montreal, Tel Aviv, Zurich, Whitehorse and Rome.
Kevin MacKenzie
Kevin MacKenzie is a Regina Speaker and Professional Storyteller. For the last ten years he has spun tales and taught the art of storytelling in seven countries to thousands of people. His ability to lead groups of people safely into zones of personal risk makes his workshops rewarding and sought after.
Kelly Jo Burke
Kelley Jo Burke is an award-winning playwright and poet, a director, storyteller, documentarian, and broadcaster. Her plays and poetry have been produced and published in Canada, and around the world.
Her stand-up documentary, Ducks on the Moon, which she wrote, and performs, is currently touring Western Canada, and was published by Hagios Press, in fall 2010. It was also the centre of the CBC Radio IDEAS documentary of the same name, written and narrated by Burke. Her play The Selkie Wife was recently published by Scirocco Drama. Charming and Rose: True Love was published by Blizzard Publishing in the anthology Prerogatives: Contemporary Plays by Women. Jane’s Thumb was released in 2006 in Signature Editions' Two Hands Clapping, edited by Kit Brennan.
Kelley Jo directs and produces for stage and radio. Recent radio productions include Gail Bowen’s “The World According to Charlie D.” Kevin Kerr’s “Unity 1918”, Andrea Menard’s “The Velvet Devil, Ken Mitchell’s “Sarah Binks” and Merelda Fiddler’s “My Indian Brother”.
Kelley Jo hosts and produces SoundXchange, an arts performance and news show for CBC Saskatchewan. She has authored and produced documentaries for CBC Radio's IDEAS, and has been a regular contributor to national and regional current affairs shows, including This Morning. For eight years, she was the spoken word host/producer of CBC Saskatchewan’s Gallery.
She’s been telling stories all her life; for the last 20 years, professionally.
Shayna Stock
Shayna Stock is a writer, activist and journal-writing instructor. She has been journaling ever since she can remember and became certified through the Center for Journal Therapy as a Journal to the Self Instructor in December 2009. Since then, she has been leading weekly classes out of her home and offering workshops to various community groups. Shayna also works full-time for Briarpatch Magazine as one of two Editor/Publishers.
Gerry Ruecker
Gerry Ruecker has been a practising artist for over 25 years, working primarily in mixed media sculpture and sculptured furniture, and photography. He is a self-taught artist, and has exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally. Gerry has been an entrepreneur in the graphic arts industry for many years, and was President of the Regina Folk Festival in 2005 and 2006. Having recently returned from a two year volunteer position with CUSO in Kingston, Jamaica, where he taught art and photography in an inner city community, he continues his work in the areas of community and art as the Southern Artistic Coordinator for Common Weal Community Arts.
