The last few weeks have been crowded with incident:
Rita's play "McCarthy and the Old Woman" was produced by the theatre department of University of Washington in Seattle. She flew back to Nova Scotia and performed her one woman show, "Smoked Glass Ceiling" in Wolfville and then, if that wasn't enough, opened a two day conference about Body Image at Mount St. Vincent University.
Rex, meanwhile, was in Toronto working with Humber College students on the new version of "Swimming for Shore" which will be staged in March, 2011. While in Toronto, he also, with Michele George and Matthew Romantini, led a workshop for Actors Equity Showcase, and revised Mixed Company's "Project Act" which is now touring schools throughout Ontario.

Current Rita and Rex Deverell News

Rex Deverell has returned to Halifax after the first phase of PROJECT ACT - an amazing Mixed Company forum theatre project about fitness, nutrition, body image, and substance abuse created for the Ontario Ministry of Health Promotion.
Yesterday, he led a workshop with Club Sandwich in New Minas, Nova Scotia. In the evening, workshop participants demonstrated forum theatre techniques at the Kent County Schizophrenic Society's AGM.

Rita Deverell is finishing her first year of two as the Nancy Chair of Women's Studies at Mount St. Vincent University. (See earlier posts)

Rex's Current Script Writing Projects

Diss, a Mixed Company forum theatre play about youth gangs and gun violence is touring schools in the Greater Toronto area and receiving rave reviews from students and teachers alike.
Project Act, another Mixed Company initiative is in development. Project Act is addressed to youth, grades 6-9 and is about making healthy choices related to fitness, nutrition, and substance issues. The pilot production begins its tour on Monday, May 10 and will visit schools in Ottawa, Thunder Bay, Hamilton, and Toronto.

Rita Deverell receives BWCEN award.

Tuesday, March 16, Rita was honoured by the Black Women's Civic Engagement Network with 2010 BWCEN Leadership Award

The event, held at Ottawa's City Hall, recognized "the contributions of two extraordinary Canadian Women, -- Dr. Glenda Simms, former President of the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women of Canada and Dr. Rita Deverell, founder of Vision TV, whose vision, commitment and achievements are transforming Canadian society through leadership and service."

The Deverell duo in Halifax until June, 2011.

Rita's work as Nancy's Chair: She is teaching her second course this semester in women's studies , she is working on a new screen play, Sisters Inc., which received a first draft reading Monday, and she has lectured at Acadia, Dalhousie, and St. Xavier Universities. and taught a popular course in Detective Fiction by authored by women at a nearby branch of the public library

Last Saturday, Rex appeared at a Playwrights Cabaret with four Atlantic playwrights reading from their own work. He has finished a new version of "Diss" - one of last summer's projects about youth gangs and gun violence. The play, produced by Mixed Company Theatre, is touring schools in Toronto and the surrounding area from March 23 through April. He is also in the development phase of a new project for MixedCo about health issues for young people.

Tillie Goes to the Clinic, the animated short film about quality improvement for community clinics and family health teams, was launched at the Quality Improvement and Innovation Partnership learning Collaborative in September. The film was written and produced by Rex with animation designed and directed by Shelton Deverell.