Creative appetite

11 November 2010

Creative appetite

UCOL Performing Arts Lecturer Jaime Dorner has a hunger for all things theatre and freely admits he can’t stop himself.

Jaime not only teaches the Certificate in Performing Arts programme at UCOL, he has his own theatre company and has just been appointed as the next Resident Artist under Palmerston North’s Visiting Artist Scheme.
“I need to continually create and explore theatre,” he says. “I have to keep my career as an artist alive.”

The Visiting Artist Scheme is a collaborative venture between the School of English & Media Studies at Massey University, in conjunction with Palmerston North City Council and Community Arts Palmerston North.
Three residencies of three months each are offered each year in Creative Writing, Film or Digital Arts and Theatre. The position includes accommodation at a central city apartment in the Square Edge building.

Jaime’s Visiting Artist appointment begins in November and fits perfectly into the hiatus of the UCOL academic year.
“The scheme is great for me and my employer,” says Jaime. “UCOL encourages its staff to keep in touch with our industries. This is the best kind of professional development.”

As the Resident Artist, Jaime will direct the Manawatu Summer Shakespeare season of MidSummer Night’s Dream.
In its ninth year, the Manawatu Summer Shakespeare production will bring together emerging and established actors and technical personnel from throughout the community for a short season of performances in the city’s Esplanade Gardens in March.

Jaime has not directed Shakespeare before but relishes the chance to get the best from his troupe. “As I always do with my students, I will be asking big things of the actors,” he says. “I feel confident they will rise to the challenge. There is amazing talent in Palmerston North.”

Manawatu Summer Shakespeare Executive Producer and Massey Drama Lecturer Angie Farrow, says Jaime’s appointment as the next Visiting Artist is very exciting. “He was the perfect candidate. He already has good connections within the community and is not afraid to use them,” says Angie. “Jaime is a team player and people like working with him.”

Before Jaime begins his 12 week tenure later in the year he has another major production to direct.
His UCOL Certificate in Performing Arts students will perform their graduate season of Blood Wedding from 24-26 November.

Jaime’s own White Coat Ensemble presented Madame de Sade in a hugely successful six show season in October.
Chilean born Jaime came to the Manawatu in 2006, joining Massey University as Arts Officer. He directed two productions in Palmerston North, including Project Exiles: The Return of a man Called Ulysses, which he also wrote, and tutored courses in creative processes and creating plays for theatre.
His appointment as Programme Leader for the Certificate in Performing Arts at UCOL enticed him back to Palmerston North after two years in Wellington where he completed a Masters in Theatre Arts in Directing at Toi Whakaari Drama School.

ENDS