SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles
About
SNAFU Society of Unexpected Spectacles
since 2006
“Theatre with a serotonin kick” - PLANK Magazine“Fresh and daring . . . SNAFU Dance Theatre is one to watch out for.”– Monday Magazine
"Sheer joyous magic to behold" - The Visitorium
SNAFU’s work invigorates audiences of all ages, creating dynamic spaces for young and old to experience art together under new terms. Their creative collaborations connect multi-disciplinary artists in theatre, storytelling, puppetry, dance, live music, circus, and visual art. SNAFU targets audiences who do not normally go to watch live theatre. Spectators are invited to have an active role in the action as it unfolds.
They work to foster an open-hearted, anti-oppressive and queer-positive working environment, and create work that sheds light on situations where people are marginalized, oppressed, ignored or forgotten. SNAFU artists create dynamic visual design with a low ecological footprint, using repurposed, recycled and found materials as often as possible.
SNAFU also creates and performs site-specific work in fields, washrooms, warehouses, public parks, bike trails, schools and prisons. Behind bars, SNAFU creates shows together with the inmates at William Head Prison with the support of the CRD Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts.
SNAFU Dance Theatre was founded in November 2006 in Victoria, BC, by Victor Dolhai, Ingrid Hansen, and Sarah Jane Pelzer. SNAFU has since created and produced 15 full-length theatrical productions, 7 site-specific shorts, 3 full-length prison plays, and 7 cross-country tours. The company is led by Co-Artistic Directors Kathleen Greenfield and Ingrid Hansen, based out of Victoria, BC.
SNAFU has had their work presented by The National Arts Centre, The Great Canadian Theatre Centre in Ottawa, The Centaur Theatre in Montreal, the SummerWorks Festival and Next Stage Festival in Toronto, Theatre Direct’s WeeFestival, The Evergreen Cultural Centre in Coquitlam, The Belfry Theatre in Victoria, the Gabriola Theatre Festival, Intrepid Theatre, The Port Theatre in Nanaimo, The World Fringe Congress, Theatre Wakefield, The Undercurrents Festival, The Toronto Festival of Clowns, the PUSHoff Festival, The Festival of Living Things, Theatre SASA, The Phoenix Theatre, University of British Columbia Okanagan, Hectik Theatre in Regina, The Puppets for Peace Festival, Noreen Young’s Puppets UP Festival, Theatre SKAM’s Skampede Festival of Theatre on Bikes, and more.
ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Kathleen Greenfield
Kathleen is a settler who lives and collaborates on the territories of the WSÁNEĆ, Lkwungen & Wyomilth people. Her interests and experience are in site-specific outdoor performance, shadow and object puppetry, clown and storytelling. She holds a BFA in Theatre from the University of Victoria and studied at the Banff Puppet Theatre Intensive in 2012.
In 2013, she joined SNAFU Dance Theatre as Co-Artistic Director. She has directed the premiere and workshop productions of many new works including Calling Home: Stories from Military Families (SNAFU, Belfry Incubator) The Hunt Workshop (Impulse, Intrepid Theatre YOUshow), Little Orange Man , Kitt & Jane and Interstellar Elder (SNAFU), and I Have Seen Beautiful Jim Key (Intrepid Theatre). In 2015, she co-directed the smash-hit-site-specific-remount of Lieutenant Nun (Theatre SKAM, PUENTE, SNAFU) and in 2017 she directed 20 youth in Concord Floral (Theatre SKAM).
In 2013, Kathleen joined the artistic team at William Head Prison in various roles as a facilitator, workshop leader, assistant director, projection designer, writer or performer for Time Waits for No One: A Prison Play (2014) and HERE: A Captive Odyssey (2015) and The Crossroads: A Prison Cabaret (2018) alongside a team of resident men and outside artists. She directed and devised Sleeping Giants (2016) and The Emerald City Project (2019) with WHoS and SNAFU.
CO-ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Ingrid Hansen
Raised by gregarious Danish immigrants, Ingrid is a performer, television puppeteer, theatre creator, and prison theatre leader. In 2006 she co-founded SNAFU to create unexpected theatre, dance, and puppet theatre (@snafudance). With SNAFU, Ingrid has co-created award-winning five-star shows Little Orange Man, Kitt & Jane, Interstellar Elder, Table Top Tales, Snack Music and The Merkin Sisters, presented by the National Arts Centre and theatres and festivals across North America.
On TV, Ingrid performs and voices ‘Heart’, the big orange monster on Sesame Workshop’s new series Helpsters on AppleTV+. She also puppeteers for Tiga Talk (APTN), Miss Persona (Treehouse TV) and Princess Sparkly Butt and The Hot Dog Kid (Teletoon).
For the past decade, Ingrid has built an ongoing collaboration with the prisoners at William Head on Stage, the only prison theatre company in Canada that performs for the public. She has worked on their annual fall production nearly every year since 2008, in varying roles as director, actor, design mentor, and choreographer. She has taught at Humber College, the Canadian College of Performing Arts, The Magnetic North Theatre Festival, the Toronto School of Puppetry, the Victoria Youth Justice Centre, Grand Valley Institution for Women, and has been artist-in-residence at several elementary schools across Canada.
Hansen earned her BFA in Theatre at the University of Victoria, and studied with clown master Sue Morrison, the SITI Company in New York, and the Old Trouts at the Banff National Arts Centre Puppet Intensive.
Open / Operational
Theatre >> Theatre Company / Producer
Dance >> Dance Company / Producer
Theatre >> Theatre School
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