Dennis Gupa
Title: Assistant Professor
Phone: 204-786-9455
Office: 4T09
Building: Asper Centre for Theatre and Film
Email: d.gupa@uwinnipeg.ca
Degrees:
PhD Applied Theatre, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC
MFA Theatre (Directing), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC
MA Theatre Arts, University of the Philippines – Diliman, Quezon City
BA Broadcast and Radio Communication, Polytechnic University of the Philippines, Manila
Biography:
Dr. Gupa is a theatre director, applied theatre practitioner, and performance researcher of Asian Theatre, Southeast Asian-Canadian Theatre, and diasporic performance in Canada.
His interest in Canadian intercultural theatre conceived by the diasporic communities gestures towards an intersectional and decolonial 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 a theoretical inquiry on climate justice and practical mobilization of re-futuring climate crises by looking at ethics, politics, and aesthetics of transnational diasporic performance making.
Courses:
THFM-1001 Introduction to Theatre: Performance
THFM-2101 Acting Theory and Practice
Publications:
Selected Creative Works as a Theatre Director
Extra Judicial Killings: A New Opera (In Development)
Alunsina’s Love, Department of Theatre and Film, University of Winnipeg
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, Territory
The Bacchae 2.1, Frederic Wood Theatre Vancouver, BC
COLONIAL, Scotia Dance Center Vancouver, BC; MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) Montreal, QC
Refereed Journal Articles
Gupa, D. Imelda’s Dreaming: Applied Theatre in Mobilizing Political Discourse in Filipino Canadian Diasporic Communities. Alon: Journal for Filipinx American and Diasporic Studies. University of California Davis, 2024 (Forthcoming)
Gupa, D. Kaagi (Every Station Counts): The Waray Ritualist of Tubabao
Island and the Prusisyon of Tubabao Island as a Contemporary Performance Method. Eds. Villas, Carlo and Claros, Ian Harvey. Tigaman: New Directions in Leyte-Samar Studies: Ateneo University Press, 2024 (Accepted)
Gupa, D., Lianza, J., Alunan, M., Cinco, K., Babon, A. Torrential Ontology: Born out of Typhoons, our Songs for the Future. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Theatre and Performance. Taylor & Francis, 2024.
Gupa, D., Lianza, J., Babon, A., Cinco, K., Baylosis, A. What Is Still To Be Sustained: Performing Climate Justice through Staging Transnational Sustainability from Canada to Philippines. Canada Theatre Research. University of Toronto, 2023.
Gupa, D., Sumayan, P., Zerrudo, R. Sining Kambayoka Ensemble’s Bayok: Connecting Philippines and Canada in Teaching Voice and Performance. Voice and Speech Review. Routledge, 2023.
Gupa, D. Storied Disasters and Personal Histories of Calamities as Critical Positionalities in Applied Theatre Research. Asia-Pacific Journal of Human Development and Family Studies (APJHDFS), Vol. 1 (1).
Jung, J., Gupa, D., Hash, C., Thoms, J., Owens, D., Threlfall, J., Juniper, K. 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. Theatrical Calls to Climate Action: Excerpts of a Conversation. Theatre Research in Canada, 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/Handbooks
Gupa, D. An Archipelagic Ethnogpraphy: Stories Emerging from Climate Change, Everyday Acts of Emancipation, and Applied Theatre in Island Community in the Philippines. Routledge Handbook of Arts and Global Development. Routledge, 2024.
Gupa, D. Climate Change and Applied Theatre as Practice of Post-Disaster Response. Disasters in the Philippines, 2000-2020. Bristol University Press/Policy Press, 2023
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.