Ben Waldman

Winnipeg

Reporter and Writer at Winnipeg Free Press

arts, culture, life, obits and randomness writer @WinnipegNews and a human as well

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Articles

Famous Shakespeare and Beckett dramas take over the ruins

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

On a sweltering May afternoon, with an apocalyptic smokescreen descending upon the ruins of a burned-down monastery in St. Norbert, director Rodrigo Beilfuss leads rehearsals for a play that’s frustrated him every day since preparation began in April. “It’s killing me in a beautiful way,” the artistic director of Shakespeare in the Ruins says with a smile.
Production invites audience to experience theatre as blind actors do

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

With their latest original stage production, opening tonight at Prairie Theatre Exchange, Sick + Twisted is inviting audiences not just to look and to listen, but to feel. Before each performance of Neither Here Nor There, up to eight guests will have the opportunity to be led onto the Cherry Karpyshin Mainstage for a “touch tour,” allowing low-vision, blind and sighted audience members alike to experience the set and gain an understanding of the production’s non-traditional geography.
Winnipeg-born director wins big at Canadian Screen Awards

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

By: Ben Waldman Posted: 6:38 PM CDT Monday, Jun.
What’s old and new again at Cercle Molière

3 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

The oldest theatre company in Canada will begin its 100th season with a new artistic director and co-executive director at the helm. Last month, Théâtre Cercle Molière introduced Marie-Ève Fontaine as successor to Geneviève Pelletier, who led the trailblazing company for a dozen years.
The sounds of deep listening and digital panic at Cluster Festival of New Music and Integrated Arts

4 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

To recruit vocalists for her interspecies choir, Jami Reimer slipped on a pair of hip waders and eased into the swampy waters of Brazil’s Atlantic Forest. Clutching three microphones and a flashlight, the bioacoustic artist masqueraded as a talent scout, eavesdropping on the “erotic refrain” of an amphibian mating chorus. What she heard changed the way she understood the possibilities of sound and the responsibilities of recording it.
Explosive and techy tales set to open local Winnipeg theatre seasons

4 weeks ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

By: Ben Waldman Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Friday, May. 30, 2025 On the heels of particularly strong 2024 production years, the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre and Theatre Projects Manitoba have each announced the shows slated for their 2025-26 seasons.
Drama explores how storytelling accuracy, trauma affects communities

1 month ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

Drama explores how storytelling accuracy, trauma affects communities By: Ben Waldman Posted: 2:01 AM CDT Thursday, May.
Discounts offered for musicians to send tunes to campus stations

1 month ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

Local musicians can save some serious dough when sending their work to community radio stations across the country via a new grant program from online distribution platform Earshot. Until Jan. 31, 2026, artist-members of Manitoba Music will have access to a 50 per cent discount code when uploading their music to the Earshot platform, allowing the work to reach the distributor’s network of 120 member stations from the National Campus and Community Radio Association (NCRA).
Jewish film festival brings art and community together

1 month ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

By: Ben Waldman Posted: 2:00 AM CDT Friday, May. 23, 2025 Print Email Read Later Don’t ask Karen Burshtein her favourite Jewish movie.
Manitoba Museum apologizes for holding ancestral belongings

1 month ago | winnipegfreepress.com | Ben Waldman

By: Ben Waldman Posted: 4:58 PM CDT Thursday, May. 22, 2025 The Manitoba Museum issued a historic apology Thursday to First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities for holding ancestral belongings, including biological and physical remains, in its collections in downtown Winnipeg.