While continuing to teach and connect with students through Waterloo University, Professor Andrew Houston has discovered his passion for excelling as an artist in intermedia, researcher and site-specific performance through quite an unconventional path. From flourishing in the field of athletics during his higher secondary years to later on carrying out an interest in the field of theatre under the mentorship of Phillip Stansbury, his passions slowly moulded into the pathway of the arts. Helping several different kinds of communities animate their concerns in theatrical formats and foster awareness particularly when considering suppressed groups such as indigenous youth, single parents, homeless, and several more was an integral part of his mission.
However, Professor’s Houston’s area of practise was not only limited to animating identity and suppressed voices but also in the theatre forms of European practitioners who catered towards creating artwork that embodied a collection of bizarre movements and voices. He further went to the UK to pursue his PhD and develop a better understanding of post modernity. He was able to bring all his knowledge working with renowned theatre companies and professionals back to Canada. Alongside waiting for a commonwealth scholarship, one of the primary challenges that was encountered along the path to following his passions was taking on more professions that involved physical expenditure.
Professor Houston fabricates work that engages the audience and seeks different registers of response. Focusing primarily on the tensions and antagonisms in specific works he is able to uncover the various facets and depths of specific topics. He worked exclusively on vibrant unique projects such as Berlin+Berlin, Cross firing/ Mama Wetotan, Edna’s Archive, Mushole project, The Weyburn project which encapsulated the aforementioned themes of tensions. He later on continued his work in Germany and received the ZK/U – Centre for Art and Urbanistics / Zentrum für Kunst und Urbanistik fellowship. He has also established a lab called the Sensorium Suite which was a means of obtaining funding to acquire equipment in order to execute a full investigation of a space through various kinds of representations traversing along mediums such as sound, video, imagery etc. He encourages all youth and young adults who wish to pursue the path of intermedia and site-specific theatre to be daring and to not be afraid to pursue their passions.
Thara Menon is currently a student of Waterloo majoring in Theatre and Performance. She has studied and practised East Indian ethnic cultural arts involving Carnatic music, and dances such as Bharatanatyam, Mohiniyattam, and Kuchipudi. Her hobbies include playing the piano, and violin. She inspires to create awareness and increase exposure to the Canadian community about the Eastern artforms.
