{"id":967,"date":"2020-10-13T12:48:10","date_gmt":"2020-10-13T16:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/?page_id=967"},"modified":"2025-05-08T10:07:25","modified_gmt":"2025-05-08T14:07:25","slug":"artist-profiles-series-mary-ellis","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/artist-profiles-series-mary-ellis\/","title":{"rendered":"The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Mary Ellis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Mary Ellis\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n
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Mary Ellis – Biography<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mary Ellis has worked extensively as an actor, director and educator, and has been a very active member of the Ottawa theatre community, for many years. With a particular interest in developing and delving into text, her directing and acting work has encompassed everything from Shakespeare to brand new work. As an actor, she has performed at the Great Canadian Theatre Company, the NAC, the undercurrents festival, A Company of Fools, Plosive Productions, Third Wall Theatre, and New Theatre of Ottawa, among others. She has directed for A Company of Fools, Theatre Wakefield, Three Sisters Theatre Company, Third Wall Theatre, and most notably, for Parry Riposte Productions, the multi-award winning The Elephant Girls<\/em>, which has toured to Edinburgh, London, Dublin, and in Canada. She has received numerous awards and nominations for her work, as both an actor and a director, and she has inspired countless students over the years, teaching at Carleton University, and in the Music Theatre Performance Program at St Lawrence College. She is an alumna of the University of Ottawa. Mary is currently Co-Artistic Director of Horseshoes and Hand Grenades Theatre Company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The CDCC Artist Profile Series – Q&A<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What drew you to the dramatic arts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> I became interested in theatre in high school, and then went on to study it at university. I was fascinated by all the possibilities of the art form and the collaborative nature of it, and I loved language. As well, I was quite shy when I was younger, and I think that acting gave me the opportunity to express myself on stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What do you like most about teaching drama at Carleton?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>.I really appreciate the opportunity to connect with students from all different departments and programs, who want to learn more about the craft of acting. I love seeing them gain confidence, and achieve things that they may not have thought possible, when they\u2019re given the chance to perform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What is it like to rehearse at Carleton Dominion-Chalmers Centre?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> It\u2019s wonderful. We worked in the large basement room at the CDCC, so there was plenty of space to move around \u2013 very important for a drama class. It also meant that the students had enough space to rehearse in pairs or small groups all at once. And the staff is incredibly supportive and understanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What advice would you offer to someone trying to pursue a directing or acting career?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>. I would suggest that they get training to acquire the necessary skills. It\u2019s all about just doing the work, as there aren\u2019t really any shortcuts. It\u2019s a demanding and rigorous job, but there\u2019s also a lot of joy in it, and the joy comes from having done the work. I would also suggest that they see as much theatre as possible, to really get a sense of the possibilities of the art, and to be inspired, but also to help them understand the kind of theatre they want to do, and the kind of artist they want to be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> How has your work been impacted during COVID-19?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> I lost work as a result of the pandemic. I was supposed to direct a workshop of a play in the spring, and then direct a brand new play by my frequent collaborator, Margo MacDonald, who wrote and performed The Elephant Girls.<\/em> We were also scheduled to do The Elephant Girls <\/em>at a summer theatre festival. Everything has shut down – the pandemic has had a devastating effect on live theatre everywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q.<\/strong> What are the special projects that you have undertaken during the quarantine time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A.<\/strong> I\u2019ve been spending a lot of time preparing for my fall teaching, as all of my courses, at Carleton and at St. Lawrence College, will be online, and it\u2019s quite a shift to think about teaching acting in an online environment. I\u2019ve also watched some amazing theatre online, which has really inspired me. Apart from that, I\u2019ve been doing a lot of gardening, cooking and walking, which has helped a lot in dealing with the isolation of this new reality we find ourselves in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Follow our #CDCCartistprofiles<\/a> Twitter thread to track when new profiles are added each week this fall!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/a> to return to The CDCC Artist Profiles Series main page.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mary Ellis – Biography Mary Ellis has worked extensively as an actor, director and educator, and has been a very active member of the Ottawa theatre community, for many years. With a particular interest in developing and delving into text, her directing and acting work has encompassed everything from Shakespeare to brand new work. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cu_dining_location_slug":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_page_type":[35],"class_list":["post-967","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","cu_page_type-general"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2558,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/967\/revisions\/2558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_page_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/cdcc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_page_type?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}