New faculty member in 2021-22: Dr. Dennis Gupa
Tue. Apr. 26, 2022
The Faculty of Arts is pleased to welcome new faculty members in several departments this year including: Criminal Justice; English; History; Political Science; Psychology; Religion and Culture; Rhetoric, Writing, and Communications; Sociology; Theatre and Film; and Urban and Inner-City Studies.
We're asking each of our new faculty members to introduce themselves by providing us with a brief profile highlighting their research, a list of courses they'll teach, and a photo. That way we'll recognize them when we meet them in the halls on campus or in Zoom meetings online.
Dr. Dennis Gupa (Theatre and Film)
According to Prof. Christopher Brauer, “[Dr. Dennis Gupa's] combination of interests, linking climate science with Indigenous South-East Asian performance and western theatre traditions is utterly unique.” (photo supplied)
Here, we feature Dr. Dennis Gupa, who is Assistant Professor in the Department of Theatre and Film. Dr. Gupa completed his PhD at the University of Victoria, where he was distinguished as a Vanier scholar.
Prof. Christopher Brauer, Chair of the Department of Theatre and Film, enthuses: “Dennis Gupa is a remarkable theatre practitioner/scholar, deeply invested in inter-disciplinary, inter-cultural theatre making. His combination of interests, linking climate science with Indigenous South-East Asian performance and western theatre traditions is utterly unique. Dennis brings excitement and vitality to our department, thanks in part to the international scope of his creative practice, ranging from Canada to Dubai to the Philippines.”
Please join us all in welcoming Dr. Gupa to the Faculty of Arts. And thank you to him for providing his profile info and photo.
Biography
Dr. Gupa is a theatre director, applied theatre practitioner, and performance researcher of Asian Theatre, Southeast Asian-Canadian Theatre, and diasporic performance and dramaturgy in Canada.
His scholarly and artistic interest in Canadian intercultural theatre conceived by the diasporic communities gestures towards an intersectional, decolonial, and emancipated world making. As a former Vanier scholar, Dr. Gupa wrote his dissertation on sea rituals, climate change, and Indigenous ecological knowledge in island communities in the Philippines impacted by climate crises. His interdisciplinary creative research builds on an ethnographic, lived, and theoretical inquiry on climate justice and the practical mobilization of re-futuring climate crises by looking at the ethics, politics, and aesthetics of diasporic performance making and transnational collaboration.
Degrees
PhD – Applied Theatre, University of Victoria
MFA – Theatre (Directing), University of British Columbia
MA – Theatre Arts, University of the Philippines
BA – Broadcast and Radio Communication, Polytechnic University of the Philippines
Courses
Acting Theatre and Practice – THFM-2101
Special Studies: Approach to Directing – THFM-3002
Selected Creative Works as a Theatre Director/Collaborator
The Correspondence/Rizal Project
Russian Hall, Vancouver, BC
Gossip with Whales
Virtual Ocean Pavilion at the COP26 - Climate Change Conference
Banyan: an Intercultural Ceremonial Performance
Performance Works Grandville Island, Vancouver, BC
Murupuro: Islands of Constellation
Prairie Theatre Exchange, Winnipeg, MB
MigARTion
Roundhouse Community Center, Vancouver, BC
Tlingipino Bingo
Elks Bingo Hall Whitehorse, Yukon
The Bacchae 2.1
Frederic Wood Theatre Vancouver, BC
COLONIAL
Scotia Dance Center, Vancouver, BC
MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) Montreal, QC
Gurgurlis Ed Banua/Landscape with Memories
Sekolah Tinggi Seni Indonesia, Bandung, Indonesia
Teginef/A Dream Play
University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna Province, Philippines
Riders to the Sea/Sa Sinapupunan ng Dagat
University of the Philippines Los Baños, Laguna Province, Philippines
MITO-POETIKA
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia
WOMB
Raffles Hotel Le Royal Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Referred Journal Articles
Jung, J., Gupa, D., Hash, C., Thoms, J., Owens, D., Threlfall, J., Juniper, K. (in press). Doubling down on wicked problems: Ocean ArtScience collaborations for a sustainable future. Frontiers in Marine Science, 2022.
Christie, S., Garrett, I., Geary, D., Gupa, D., Hall, J. Fanconi, Osnes, B., Richards, K., Sharplin, S., Welch, K. (in press). Theatrical Calls to Climate Action: Excerpts of a Conversation. Theatre Research in Canada, 2022.
Gupa, D., Baylosis, A., Lianza, J., Babon, A., and Cinco, K. (in press). “What is Still to be Sustained?”: Performing Climate Justice through Staging Transnational Sustainability from Canada to the Philippines. Canadian Theatre Review 194, 2022.
Gupa, D., Zerrudo, R., Inday Dolls: Body Monologues and Lullabies for Freedom in Prison; Scripting Possible Futures in Justice Art in Iloilo’s Correctional System. Arts Praxis, Vol. 5 Number 2. New York University, 2018.
Maiquez, R., Gupa, D., Labitigan, K. Between Theatre and Environment: The Experience of Cope/with/Land Theatre Co. GPS: Global Performance Studies international https://gps.psi-web.org › issue-1-2 › gps-1-2-9, 2018.
Gupa, D., Maiquez, R., Narciso, M. (2008). Narrative, Memories, and Redemption in a Parfait Glass: The Ingredients of Pasyong Mahal Ng Halo-Halo in/as Performance”. Text and Performance Quarterly, Vol. 29, Issue 1. 2008.
Book Chapters/Handbook
Gupa, D., (forthcoming). Climate Change and Applied Theatre as Practice of Post-Disaster Response. Disasters in the Philippines, 2000-2020 edited by Bonifacio, G. Bristol University Press/Policy Press, 2022.
Gupa, D., Colonial Adventurism in Applied Theatre: An Ethical Critique. Applied Theatre: Ethics. Methuen Drama, 2022.
Aysal, L., Gupa, D., Sadeghi-Yekta, K. Voices we carry within us: A trialogue about climate change, Indigenous ways of knowing and activism. Theatre Pedagogy in the Era of Climate Crisis 1st Edition. Routledge, 2021.