Kim Renders
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Kim Renders | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 14, 1955 |
| Died | July 17, 2018 (aged 63) |
| Alma mater | University of Ottawa |
| Known for | Founding member of Nightwood Theatre |
Kim Renders (January 14, 1955 – July 17, 2018)[1] was a Canadian writer, director, actor and designer and a founding member of Nightwood Theatre, the oldest professional feminist theatre company in Canada.[2]
Career
In 1979, Renders co-founded Nightwood Theatre with Cynthia Grant, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White.[6] While working with Nightwood, Renders acted in such productions as The True Story of Ida Johnson (1979), Glaze Tempera (1980), Flashbacks of Tomorrow (Memorias del Mañana) (1981), Mass/Age (1982), Smoke Damage: A story of the witch hunts (1983) and The Edge of the Earth is Too Near, Violette Leduc (1986 - as Violette). Renders was involved in the collective creation of many of the works she performed in. In 1987, Nightwood performed The Kingdom of LoudAsCanBe, a show for children written and directed by Renders.[7][8] Of the four founding members of Nightwood, Renders was the only one to never hold the position of artistic director/artistic coordinator.[9] Renders left Nightwood's board of directors in 1989.[10]
In May 1980, Renders' play Soft Boiled premiered at the Rhubarb! Festival. She acted in the play alongside Maureen White. Soft Boiled #2, written and performed by White and Renders, premiered at the September 1980 Rhubarb! Festival.[7] Soft Boiled #3 premiered in at the November 1982 Rhubarb! Festival and featured Renders, White, and Cheryl Cashman.[11] The Soft Boiled shows were clown performances.[12]
In the 1980s, Renders was a member of the Toronto-based theatre company, Autumn Angel. Other company members were Richard Rose, Thom Sokoloski, Maggie Huculak, Stewart Arnott, Tanja Jacobs, Bruce Vavrina and Mark Christmann.[13]
She lived in Kingston, Ontario, where she was the artistic director of Theatre Kingston from 2007 to 2011. She was the artistic director of Chipped Off Performance Collective, a feminist/queer company that collaborates with local artists and community groups to create original performances that speak to the needs and concerns of marginalized Kingstonians.[14][15]
She also managed the TYA troupe Barefoot Players, and was a faculty member of the Queen's University Dan School of Drama and Music.[16] She acted in and directed works at the Factory Theatre, Tarragon Theatre and Nightwood Theatre in Toronto.[5][17]
Her one-woman show Motherhood, Madness and the Shape of the Universe was performed across Canada and Britain, and was adapted for CBC Radio; and her other one-woman show Waiting for Michelangelo opened at the Baby Grand Studio in the Grand Theatre Kingston in April 2009.[5]
In 2006, Renders became a professor at Queen's University in the drama department (Dan School of Drama and Music). She also taught in the department of gender studies.[18] In 2012, Renders was given tenure and appointed an associate professor.[3] Renders contributed several articles to the Canadian Theatre Review.
Works
Plays:
- Gently Down the Stream[7]
- Soft Boiled[7]
- Soft Boiled #2 - co-written with Maureen White[7]
- Soft Boiled #3[11]
- Notes on a Tumour - co-written with Christopher Thomas[19]
- Peace Banquet: Ancient Greece Meets the Atomic Age - co-written with Micah Barnes, Sky Gilbert, Dean Gilmour, Cynthia Grant, Charis Polatos, Judith Rudakoff, Philip Shepherd, and Maureen White[20]
- The Kingdom of LoudAsCanBe[8]
- Motherhood, Madness and the Shape of the Universe[21]
- Waiting for Michelangelo
Canadian Theatre Review Articles: