Stephen Waldschmidt

Stephen Waldschmidt
A photograph of a man with blue-green eyes looking at the viewer, smiling, and wearing a brown shirt all in front of a sheet of black material
Born Cleveland, Ohio
Nationality Canadian of American origin
Information
Genre Comedy
Notable work(s) Hockey Dad
Works with Andrew Kooman
James Popoff

Stephen Waldschmidt is an actor, playwright, theatre director, scenic designer, graphic designer, and stay-at-home dad originally from Cleveland, Ohio, United States.

Theatre career

Stephen Waldschmidt is an actor, playwright, theatre director, scenic designer, graphic designer, and stay-at-home dad originally from Cleveland, Ohio, United States.[1] He is known for portraying Jesus in the Canadian Badlands Passion Play in Drumheller,[2] a part that he has played five times.[3] He also performed as Greville in the premiere of A Bright Particular Star.[4] As a scenic designer, he designed the set for a 2007 performance of The Quarrel[5] and a revolving set for a 2009 performance of Lettice and Lovage.[6] As a playwright, he wrote Hockey Dad: A Play in 3 Periods with James Popoff.[7] He is one of Burnt Thicket Theatre's artistic associates.[1]

She Has a Name

In 2010, Waldschmidt attended a presentation by Andrew Kooman in Strathmore about human trafficking.[1] The location of Kooman's presentation was Waldschmidt's home church.[8] Kooman mentioned She Has a Name, a play that he had written about human trafficking, and Waldschmidt soon asked Kooman for permission to read the script.[1] Waldschmidt felt drawn to address the issue of human trafficking even before discovering She Has a Name[2] and had gotten involved with some fair trade initiatives. Waldschmidt attested to his feet sweating after having first read the script[8] and said that it was one of only two scripts that he had ever read that he could not put down before finishing.[9] Nonetheless, he initially backed off from the play because of the immensity and ugliness of the issue. Eventually, however, he and Kooman worked together on the script,[1] expanding it to a full-length play with an extra hour's worth of material by the end of 2010,[10] resulting in a play that can be performed in ninety minutes[11] but may last up to two hours.[12] Kooman and Waldschmidt were moved to continue working on the play because of worldwide human trafficking statistics; namely, that 800000 people are trafficked across international borders each year, that there are 10 million children forced to work in the sex industry, that 1 million of these are child prostitutes, and that sex traffickers have an average annual income of $280000 per victim.[13] Waldschmidt directed the premiere of She Has a Name,[14] a performance for which he also served as scenic designer.[15] He was also the director for the 2012 tour of She Has a Name.[16]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Pat Donnelly (June 15, 2012). "Fringe 2012: Alberta group's play explores human trafficking". The Gazette. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  2. 1 2 Natalie Faith (June 27, 2012). She Has a Name. 100 Huntley Street. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  3. ↑ Louis Hobson (July 12, 2012). "Power of Passion Play resonates". Calgary Sun. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  4. ↑ Kathleen Oliver (May 25, 2006). "A Bright Particular Star". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  5. ↑ "Why did God allow horrors of Auschwitz?: The Quarrel". The Vancouver Sun. January 31, 2007. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  6. ↑ Louis B. Hobson. "'Lettice and Lovage' a delightful romp". Jam!. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  7. ↑ Kevin Prokosh (July 17, 2010). "Hockey Dad: A Play in 3 Periods". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved August 5, 2012.
  8. 1 2 Frank Rackow (February 16, 2012). "She Has A Name". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved August 1, 2012.
  9. ↑ James Wilt (February 4, 2011). "Human trafficking portrayed through local theatre project: World premiere of 'She Has A Name' in Calgary on Feb. 23". The Calgary Journal. Retrieved August 14, 2012.
  10. ↑ Lana Michelin (February 25, 2011). "Play personalizes an industry that strips away identity". Red Deer Advocate. Retrieved July 22, 2012.
  11. ↑ "Montreal Fringe: Kissed by a Butterfly, She Has a Name, Nothing Never Happens in Norway, How to Stop Kicking Ass and Killing People". Bloody Underrated. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
  12. ↑ "Moving play, She Has a Name, comes with a message". Victoria News. February 16, 2012. Retrieved July 26, 2012.
  13. ↑ Amanda McCuaig (September 11, 2012). "She Has a Name leaves you breathless: Play on human trafficking touches without playing the guilt card". Art Threat. Retrieved September 18, 2012.
  14. ↑ Sara Wilson (January 12, 2011). "Local director shines light on global crisis". The Strathmore Standard. Retrieved July 21, 2012.
  15. ↑ Sara Wilson. "Local church hosts world-class rehersals (sic)". The Strathmore Standard. Retrieved July 30, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Event: She Has a Name (Fringe)". The Charlebois Post. June 12, 2012. Retrieved July 24, 2012.
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