The Impact of Theatre: An Interview with Jan Selman and April Viczko

The University of Alberta’s Studio Theatre is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2024-25. Every year its productions feature student actors, technicians, and stage managers. I sat down with Jan Selman, the director, and April Viczko, chair of the drama department and costume designer, to discuss their upcoming show, [BLANK], and the impact Studio Theatre has on the students and larger community.

“In Studio Theatre it’s about what … the students need,” Viczko says

When deciding what shows to pick for a Studio Theatre season, many factors are taken into consideration. Viczko considers the make-up of the bachelor of fine arts (BFA) class that will be cast, as well as if any master’s of fine arts designers will want to use it as a thesis project. Fundamentally, they ask “is it interesting?”

Viczko must choose a play that caters to the students’ needs, while also providing them with a healthy challenge.

“We’re not doing theatre just to do theatre. We’re doing theatre to teach,” Viczko explained. “In Studio Theatre it’s about what … the students need.”

Eventually, Viczko and Selman landed on [BLANK] for the third show of the season. Written by Alice Birch, [BLANK] consists of 100 scenes focusing on the struggles of women and youth in the justice system. As the director, Selman must select a number of scenes from the 100 available that she wishes to stage.

When deciding which scenes to stage, Selman had to decide what she wanted her focus to be, and how to create a structure from the scenes given to her. Selman decided she was less interested in the scenes that declared “how broken the system is,” and more interested in “what can one do?” She explained, “once you’re in that system, it’s very tough to get out, move on. How do you survive that?”

“Selecting was partly, ‘what am I drawn to?’ and ‘what do I really not want to do?’ because it’s a … tough subject,” Selman said.

“We’re … a resource for the whole community … because we can do plays that downtown can’t do,” Selman says

Studio Theatre intends to create a collaborative community for students, while also providing the building blocks necessary for the workforce. “Theatre is such a collaborative art, [and] it is really cool to collaborate. Even more than [usual within] the standard methodology. And this play made that possible,” Selman explained.

“It’s really [about] training people how to have an artistic practice and how you maintain your life inside of an artistic practice,” Viczko explained.

Not only does Studio Theatre provide a space for students. Selman explained it also affects the larger university and Edmonton community.

“We’re … a resource for the whole community … because we can do plays that downtown can’t do. We can investigate things in a different way. [We can provide] a different place [to] hook into … different specializations of the students,” Selman explained.

[BLANK] marks the last show Selman will direct with the Studio Theatre. She expressed that she is “excited to do something that’s incredibly challenging.” She hopes the production will make people think about their role in society and what they can do to start helping others who have been wronged by the system.

“It’s not a finger-pointing play, but I think it is a ‘I could think about this more and I actually could make a difference’ [play].”

[BLANK] opens February 7 and runs until February 15 at the Timms Centre for the Arts. Regular tickets are $28 and student tickets are $14.