Helen and Peter – actor, teacher, computer scientist, and mathematician – we find our professional lives rich with wonderful challenges. In this dramatic presentation Helen focuses on the actor she strives to become while Peter attempts to take hold of the teacher he would like to be. These come together in a surprising way as we arrive at a single image that seems powerful enough to capture the essence of our two struggles. It’s about how to hold a beautiful thing, how to hold it gently and forthrightly, how to support and be supported by it, and how to honour its beauty and share that with others.
Helen Bretzke
Helen Bretzke is an actor; in 1990 she won the Medal in Drama from Queen's University. Her professional theatre credits include Sandy in Kingston Summer Festival’s 20th anniversary production of Judith Thompson's Crackwalker, and Maria in Twelfth Night with Thousand Islands Playhouse. In 2006 she completed a second undergraduate degree; a Specialist B.Sc. in Computer Science at the University of Toronto. Helen is currently a software developer and research assistant with the Centre for Neuroscience Studies at Queen's University. After 14 years studying, teaching, and working in computing, she returned to the stage as Martha in a Kingston production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? She is typically to be found in the middle of the bridge, ready to jump either way. Affiliation: Centre for Neuroscience Studies, Queen’s University
Peter Taylor
Peter Taylor is Professor of Mathematics, Biology and Education at Queen's University. His research interests centre around genetic models of behaviour. He is a 3M Fellow, Fellow of the Fields Institute and Chair of the Education Committee of the Canadian Mathematical Society. He has done extensive curriculum writing with the Ontario Ministry of Education and in preparation for this, taught two semesters in high school. His course Math and Poetry, taught for 20 years with an English Professor, attracted a wide range of students. He is known for the quality of the problems he gives his students, though recently he has been seen skulking outside math classrooms declaring darkly that something is amiss. Affiliation: Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Queen’s University
St. Jerome's University
University of Waterloo, Faculty of Arts
University of Waterloo, Faculty of Mathematics