Treena Stubel

PRESS QUOTES

RIDE THE CYCLONE, Atomic Vaudeville, SummerWorks Theatre Festival, Toronto, Ont.

“With musical director Brooke Maxwell and choreographer Treena Stubel, they made the strangest, funniest, most touching new musical I’ve seen in years......I’d like to buy everyone involved in this production a celebratory drink and find out what kind of trip they were on to create something so original.”
Roselyn Kelada-Sedra, Plank Magazine, August 11, 2010

“Ride the Cyclone, probably the most uproarious and outrageous piece of musical theatre Canada has ever produced....a detailed production packed with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it visual gags. Treena Stubel’s choreography is relentlessly entertaining.” ****
J. Kelly Nestruck, The Globe and Mail, August 10, 2010

“Choreographer Treena Stubel also brings impressive work to the table, echoing the same carnival and vaudevillian energies, while continuously surprising us.”
Dave Deveau, Plank Magazine, August 9, 2010

FALSTAFF, Bard On The Beach Shakespeare Festival, Vancouver, BC

“I must give praise to fight director Nicholas Harrison and choreographer Treena Stubel for their amazing work. The fight scenes were realistic, dynamic, and gripping. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one on the edge of my seat.” *****
Tessa Perkins, PRESS+1, Vancouver BC, July 9, 2010

“The battle scenes, courtesy of fight director Nick Harrison and choreographer Treena Stubel, are very effective. “
Vancouver Plays Review, 2010

“Choreographer Treena Stubel's fight scenes were unique and interesting. A mix of swordplay interspersed with red-headed women with long red robes and tall narrow flags moving rhythmically throughout; both haunting and beautiful.”
Wendy Dallian, The Vancouver Observer, July 23, 2010

AGNES B, Suddenly Dance Theatre, Belfry Theatre Spark Festival

“Speaking of the performers, there are some fine ones here.......Treena Stubel...all have a striking physicality that really add to the hybrid performance approach of the piece.”
Amanda Farrell-Low, Monday Magazine, March 11, 2010

“Stubel, who opens in platform silver boots, long gloves, short mini and alien headdress, is Bernelle in her prime. Stubel leaps into the challenging role, showing off gorgeous gams-and more-in a striptease.”
Grania Litwin, Times Colonist, March 11, 2010

THE FANTASTICKS, Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, Victoria
“...the show engages our imagination with cleverly used props and gestures. This is most evident whenever the expressively chameleonic Treena Stubel flits about in black tights and a red body suit as the Mute. Whether embodying the metaphorical wall, working wonders with a glittery white drape or sprinkling confetti to signify snow or rain, she’s an eye-catcher.” ****
Michael D. Reid, Times Colonist, August 8, 2009

NOT FIT FOR FLIGHT, 2009 Victoria Fringe Festival “Treena Stubel’s new solo dance work about a lonely, strung out ’50’s housewife is mesmerisingly bizarre. While struggling to complete daily chores such as baking a pie or sweeping the floor, our heroine drifts off into a dream world, listening to radio programs about grasshoppers, intersecting strange phone calls and fantasizing about escape. The intimate venue and Stubel’s engaging, full-on performance make this a stellar show. Part dance, part theatre, all surreal, this is a tale of desperation and loneliness from the era of quaaludes. Bonus points for using one of my favourite Explosion in the Sky songs-the aptly named “So Long, Lonesome”--as a closer.” ****
Amanda Farrell, Monday Magazine, September 3-9, 2009

THE HISTORY OF EVERYTHING, Metro Theatre, Victoria
“What happens when two interpretive performers break up before their last show together? A remarkable piece of theatre that happily intertwines the entirety of human existence with one relationship rift. Through acrobatic dance and pop-culture references, two spectacular actors (Treena Stubel and Rod Peter) provide a quick history lesson while exorcising their own feelings on the purpose of human evolution. The result is a highly original and well-written spectacle that never ceases to entertain. Visually impressive, genuinely engaging and perhaps the funniest show in the Fringe, The History of Everything is the show no one should miss.” *****
E.G. Anderson, Monday Magazine, August 28-September 3, 2008

“The History of Everything is a comedy dance piece created by Rod Peter and Treena Stubel of Atomic Vaudeville. It’s an entertainment and spectacle from start to finish. Peter and Stubel prance around the stage as Dean and Tam, a show-biz couple performing their last show in front of their last audience before they break up. The audience literally watches a show-biz couple have a melt-down in front of them as the show progresses. We see Dean is an immature man-child obsesses with “tactical figurines” and Blu-Ray DVDs, while airy-fairy Tam’s greatest interest in life appears to be turtles. This is a funny, entertaining show that is well worth seeing for its humour alone......The various movements and expressions--writing hands, bizarre headstands and various hops, skips and jumps throughout--are what make this show stand out. The way the performers make simple actions represent complex moments really is a triumph.” ****
Steve Carey, Times Colonist, August 29, 2008

THE SPACECOW KIDS, LabCab Festival, Toronto, Ontario
“Camille and Treena Stubel played with puppetry and country music in The SpaceCow Kids, set on the main Factory staircase. The performers became the offspring of a cowboy and a woman from outer space, searching for their parents kidnapped by the government) and eventually transforming into their true alien selves. Silly fun.”
Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine, (From “LabCab Experiments That Worked”), June 5, 2008

MY THREE SISTERS, Metro Theatre, Victoria
“Victoria’s Theatre SKAM is regularly applauded for its innovative stagings. The company’s new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s Three Sisters continues the trend--cheeky, irreverent and chockful with moments of great beauty......Finally, Treena Stubel--playing Olga--has a sudden intake of breath, an ambiguous gesture that’s astoundingly beautiful....The fact that the three sisters are played by real-life sisters somehow adds a layer of poignancy.....each moved well in this highly physical production. Each brought something clever and distinctive to her roles, which extend beyond the characters of the three sisters themselves. Treena and Camille also play suitors to Irina, for instance. One curious touch is to have the three--or sometimes two--Stubels play the character of Natasha simultaneously..Live music is used very effectively....this poetic, visually striking production is well worth seeking out.”
Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist, October 3, 2008

“The Stubels all work well in the title roles (whether you know they’re actually sisters or not)...Treena brings a physicality to her roles that reflects her movement background.”
John Threlfall, Monday Magazine, October 4, 2008

SWIRL, Suddenly Dance Theatre
“Likewise, Treena Stubel is a local dancer unafraid to risk testing new ideas in front of an audience. Over the years, she has explored everything from silliness to stillness in her work. This time, she melds her theatre, dance and vocal training in The Faeirie’s Love Song, an engaging piece that showcases her continuing maturation as a dancer/choreographer. The audience longs to see what Stubel is seeing as she dances in the faeirie world with only the sounds of her own breath and her spoken Gaelic words as accompaniment. As the faerie Nature Spirit, she morphs through curiosity, wonder, fear, apprehension and torment, before settling into a state of acceptance. Ultimately, she is one with the spirit world, plucking a ukulele while singing a traditional Gaelic folksong.”
Diane Dakers, Times Colonist, June 2, 2001