Stageworthy

“I am the son of two tribes. I am the daughter of one birth. I am the spirit of many nations. I am a child of mother earth.” B’atz’ Recinos was born and raised on Turtle Island with mixed Maya roots from Iximulew (Guatemala). A creator, performer, advocate, and Harold Award recipient for the performing arts of Tkaronto. Their commitment to equitable and diverse practices within the arts has led them to speak at YouthREX and several other panels and publish articles with NOW, Intermission Magazine, and contribute to The Director’s Lab book published by Playwright Canada Press. A trained facilitator, B’atz’ has delivered various workshops on diversity, inclusion, art and self-care with youth, artists, and communities across Ontario. Their extensive experience in the performing arts led them to found Creative Mafia. Instagram: @chwenkan Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Sukhpreet Sangha is a theatremaker, lawyer, poet, and barfly. After studying theatre and English at the University of Waterloo, she studied law at Osgoode Hall, and has since questioned that decision regularly. She spends her days working in legal education at a non-profit dedicated to youth and her nights, well, wouldn’t you like to know. Sukhpreet is co-Artistic Director of Informal Upright Theatre Collective. You can also read some things she writes here and see some things she tweets here. Sukhpreet invites you to find out more about “Yellow Bellies” (and perhaps even buy it!) here: http://theatreofthebeat.ca/yellow-bellies. Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Kitoko (Kit for Short) is a Black, Non-binary, disabled emerging multidisciplinary performance artist, media artist, and community artist. They’re a graduate of the Theatre/ Film studies and Multimedia studies at McMaster University (which they both love and regret) and the APT program at Generator (currently no regrets). Kit’s primarily interested in creating performance-based work that challenges the notion of binaries, and explores lateral violence and power dynamics within marginalized communities. Their work is rooted in social justice, anti-oppression, accessibility, #femmeaesthetics, and the pursuit of messiness. It’s best described as a chaotic poetic collage. www.kitoko.ca Instagram: @kitokomai Twitter: @Kitokomai Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

HAUI is a multi-disciplinary entrepreneur of many artistic trades including performance, directing, design & visual arts. He was born in the United Kingdom to mixed Caribbean, Taino/Arawak and European heritage. Howard is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School. To date has worked at the Stratford Festival as an assistant director as part of the inaugural bud’s program (part of the Michael Langham Director’s Workshop Presentation) He has worked at Canada’s Shaw Festival as an actor and designer, National Arts Centre as an assistant director, directing/design intern at the Grand Theatre; Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop, Ottawa’s Great Canadian Theatre Company and Neptune Theatre as a designer, and performed with Native Earth Performing Arts, Cahoots Theatre, Paper Canoe Projects, and Factory Theatre. His work as a filmmaker emphasizes history and how it can inform our current sociopolitical climate. He hopes to continue building a practice in telling stories of his heritage, marginalized cultures not at the forefront of history and modern original works with an emphasis on bridging classical, theatrical and historical context to contemporary cinema and stage. www.howardjdavis.com Twitter: @hauidavis Instagram: @hauidavis Transcript at https://stageworthypodcast.com/260-haui-aka-howard-j-davis/ Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Camille is a graduate of Sheridan’s College’s Musical Theatre program. Theatre highlights include RENT, High School Musical, Hairspray, and The Book of Mormon. Twitter: @camilove90 Instagram: @camilove90 Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Emerjade Simms is a Jamaican-Canadian actor and storyteller. She is a graduate of the Acting program at the University of Windsor and holds a BFA degree. Emerjade is also a 2016/17 graduate of the Mechanicals program at Factory Theatre. In her career as an actor so far, she has worked with many wonderful people and companies. Select theatre credits include Peter Pan (Bad Hats/Soulpepper), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Obsidian/Nightwood), Wounded Soldiers (4th Line), The Bird Killer (Let Me In). Television credits include Forbidden, Fear They Neighbor, See No Evil and Paranormal 911. Emerjade enjoys napping in her down time and thanks her family for inspiring her daily. Twitter: @emerbabe Instagram: @em.er.jade Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Laura Caswell is Neptune Theatre’s Director of Education, and has been a part of Neptune for over a decade playing various roles on stage (including 5 witches!) as well as a director and choreographer. Laura trained in Musical Theatre in New York City and London, England earning a Masters in Performance through the University of East Anglia. She has also trained extensively in improv, puppetry, voice work, singing, dance, acting, and film and television. Laura has worked as an artist and educator at theatres all over the country. Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

As a triple-carded professional actor (ACTRA, UdA, CAEA), Carolyn has been gracing the stage and camera in various theatrical productions, TV and movie spots. Altera Vitae Productions is her own theatre production company, a non-profit organization where each theatrical presentation is partnered with a community organization whose mandate is similar to the theme of the play. Altera Vitae Productions aims to assist the community organization with its public awareness program. As a singer, Carolyn fronted the band DD Swank and, for four years, sang under the pseudonym of Mama B, singing in French, English and Spanish. As an actor, Carolyn Fe has been gracing the stage and camera in various theatrical productions, TV and movie spots since 2005! Her theatrical appearance was in Dora Award Winner’s, Audrey Dwyer, play called “Calpurnia” in 2018. With sold out shows and thrilling reviews on Carolyn Fe’s, she was awarded for 2018 Best Supporting Actress by the esteemed Toronto Theatre Critics’ Award for her role as Precy, in Calpurnia. This brought on the opportunity for Carolyn Fe to take on a recurring role as Lola (Grandmother) to Josh De La Cruz in Nickelodeon’s “Blues Clues and You”. carolyn-fe.com Twitter: @TheCarolynFe Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Sarah Rankin is an actor educator, and the director of the Fundy Fringe. This year, the Fundy Fringe proceeded with their festival to produce an exciting digital/in person hybrid festival. Twitter: @sarahrankin03 www.fundyfringefestival.com Twitter: @fundyfringefest Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Monica Ogden (she/they) is an award-winning disabled Filipina, Polynesian, British storyteller, actor and comedian. Her Lilang migrated from Illocos Sur, Philippines in 1966, and she is now an uninvited visitor in the unceded territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. Her solo show Monica vs. The Internet: Tales of a Social Justice Warrior ( ★★★★★ Winnipeg Free Press, ★★★★★ Saskatoon Star Phoenix) directed by K.P. Dennis toured 6 cities across Canada in the summer of 2019, toured to Second City Toronto, and was recently featured on CBC Arts with the National Theatre School #ArtApart series. Their next show 100 YT GUYS IN AN HOUR is currently in residency with the Belfry Theatre, and the Tremors Festival with Rumble Theatre Twitter: @monicaogden12 Instagram: @monicaogden12 K.P. DENNIS is a black, non-binary, multi-disciplinary artist, producer, director, and activist. They were the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Victoria and are currently the artistic director of COLORQODED, QTI2POC arts collective. In 2017 they were the recipient of the VACCS Community recognition Award and just finished a cross Canada tour with their critically acclaimed shows, Monica vs the Internet & LUBDUB. In February 2020 they released a chapbook entitled Growing Pains, available for purchase on their Instagram @wild.womxn, and are currently working on two new plays, The Cowboy Church & the Arena of Life in residency with the Belfry Theatre, and 100 YT GUYS IN AN HOUR in residency with Tremors Festival (Rumble Theatre) and the Belfry Theatre Incubator Program. Instagram: @starboi.dennis Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Ken Hall is a Canadian Comedy Award Winner (Best Breakout Artist) and multiple CCA nominee. He is also one half of the award winning sketch/improv/clown duo 2-MAN NO-SHOW along with his comedic soulmate Isaac Kessler. Ken has appeared on Conan and has had the pleasure of working for Cirque Du Soleil. Ken teaches improv, clown and public speaking at The Second City. You can catch Ken on TBS’s People of Earth as Jeff The Grey, and on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy as Herb. www.thekenhall.com Twitter: @thekenhall Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Mumbi is an acclaimed theatre creator and director raised in Kenya and Victoria, BC and based in Toronto. She recently won a Dora Award for her Outstanding Direction of The Brothers Size, which also won for Outstanding Production. Mumbi is the Artistic Director of Obsidian Theatre. She is the Founder/Artistic Director of the experimental theatre company IFT (It’s A Freedom Thing Theatre) Theatre and also recently directed the critically acclaimed plays: Trout Stanley (Factory Theatre), Here are the Fragments (The Theatre Centre/The ECT Collective), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Soulpepper) and Oraltorio: A Theatrical Mixtape (Obsidian/Soulpepper). Mumbi is also the recipient of a Toronto Theatre Critics Award, an Artistic Director’s Award (Soulpepper), a Pauline McGibbon Award , a Mallory Gilbert Protege Award, a Harold Award, and has been twice nominated for the John Hirsch Directing Award. She is a graduate of Soulpepper Academy, York University and University of Toronto as well as Obsidian Theatre’s Mentor/Apprenticeship Program. Twitter: @mumbitindyebwa Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Aaron Jan is a Hamilton born and Toronto-based director, playwright, dramaturg and community builder. Aaron has worked as a creator with the Stratford Festival, Factory Theatre, Tarragon, Native Earth Performing Arts, Fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre, Canadian Stage, Theatre Aquarius and Hart House. With his company, SILK BATH COLLECTIVE, Aaron has sold out critically acclaimed tri-lingual plays at the Next Stage Theatre Festival and Soulpepper. Aaron is the 2019 winner of the Ken MacDougall Directing Award and is a co-founder of Porch Light Theatre, a company dedicated to paying and training the next generation of Hamiltonian theatre artists. A highly sought after teaching artist and collaborator, Aaron is a graduate of Generator's Artist Producer Training Program and is dedicated to making his hometown a place where professional artists can make new work and be compensated fairly for it. https://aaronchihojan.wixsite.com/home Twitter: @afatchineseboy Instagram: @afatchineseboy Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Natasha Strilchuk was born in Malaysia, was raised in King’s Lynn, England and Regina, Sk and is now a Toronto based artist. She is a proud graduate Randolph College of the Performing Arts and is an accomplished, multi versatile artist. She was recently chosen as a 2019/2020 participant for Neptune Theatre’s, RBC Chrysalis Project, in the director’s unit. Natasha is being mentored by AD Jeremy Webb in his production of Calendar Girls in early 2020. On top of her acting endeavors, she is very excited to learn about the art of directing and will continue to develop her own choreography as well. Some her favourite credits include: The North American Premiere of Bend it like Beckham (Bluma Appel Theatre), Chicago (Globe Theatre), Mamma Mia (Neptune Theatre), Guys & Dolls, Romeo & Juliet (Stratford Festival), Romeo & Juliet (CBC/Stratford HD), Motives and Murder (Cineflex Productions). Represented by daCosta Talent. Twitter: @tashastrilchuk Instagram: @natashakstrilchuk Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Reba Terlson is a multidisciplinary artist based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg with a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre Performance and the PTE@ PTE program. Recent credits include L’armoire with Cercle Moliere, Theatre By The River’s Wine and Words, One Trunk Theatre’s Stage Frights. She produces, writes and acts in her theatre company, It’s All Relative Productions which has mounted three Winnipeg Fringe Productions. Her 2018 show, One Date City, received glowing reviews and four stars from the Winnipeg Free Press. Her Winnipeg Fringe play, Filter This, landed her on Virgin Radio’s Top 100 Fascinating Manitobans of 2017. In 2018, she mentored under Mel Marginet, artistic director of Theatre By the River. She is a member of an Emerging Creators Unit that specializes in devised theatre for Manitoba Theatre for Young People under the guide of Andraea Sartison and Rick Chafe. Reba is a strong advocate for more inclusion and diversity in theatre. Twitter: @rebajesse Instagram: @rebajesse Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Spencer Streichert is an actor (of stage and screen), producer, stunt man, and comedian, of Metis, German and Nordic descent, living in Calgary, AB. Growing up performing in community theatre and rodeoing, he began his film career in 2012 shadowing stunt coordinator Daniel Skene on the sci-fi thriller "Stranded". After moving to Calgary in 2014, he began to learn various filmmaking techniques through NUTV, and studied acting & creative writing at the University of Calgary. Spencer has independently recorded and released 3 stand-up comedy albums, was a Canadian Comedy Award nominee in 2018, and is a 6x Best of Calgary nominee (Best Comedian 2018/2019, Best Actor & Best Filmmaker 2019/2020 ). He has been a team member on 2 Telus Storyhive funded digital shorts "Lust in the Time of Heartache"(2014) and "Red Water Valley"(2018). In 2019 Spencer produced "A Goog Night Sleeps" which just began its festival run at the Varese International Film Festival, and directed an experimental short "Emote" Which began its festival run with the Lift-Off First Time Filmmakers Sessions. Spencer is also a festival director and co-founder of the Quarantine International Film Festival (QIFF) which was started on March 13th, 2020 as a way for filmmakers from around the globe to stay creative in self Isolation, and has quickly grown to be a favourite among filmmakers world-wide. Instagram: @spencerstreichert Spencer Streichert on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0xexfIK2DDtWEQBWQ9XVN6 Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Velvet Wells is a Black, velvet voiced autistic queer entertainer from Toronto. He is a stand-up comedian, actor, and musical improviser. He is lauded for his authenticity, originality, and quick wit. In 2014, Velvet graduated from the Second City Toronto’s inaugural Musical Improvisation Conservatory. Velvet is the co-founder of two successful troupes: The Dandies and OverDude. For the last 8 years, The Dandies have created fandom themed improv shows across Canada, including opening for William Shatner. Improv-drag-rock n’ roll duo OverDude just released Hell Toupee, their greatest hits EP on Bandcamp. In 2019, he touring his critically acclaimed solo Fringe production Personal Demon Hunter; the sequel is being launched in 2020 as part of Fringelivestream. Twitter: @VelvetDuke Instagram: @thevelvetduke Personal Demon Hunter: Divine & Conquer Velvet Wells (he/him) returns as motivational guru Velvet Duke to be your Personal Demon Hunter. Through personal stories of Black Joy, conversations and improvised songs, Velvet is a master at working through the things that haunt us in a funny, accessible, interactive way. Date: Thursday, July 30 @ 9pm EDT/ 6pm PDT Instagram: @pdhdivineconqur Tickets (by donation): https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/personal-demon-hunter-conquer-divine-tickets-110577235488 Support Stageworthy: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/stageworthy

Landon Walliser is a director, producer, and publicist from Regina, Saskatchewan. Past credits include Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Producer, Co-Director, Publicist | The Women’s Company), Philistines (Assistant Director | University of Regina & Rose Bruford College), Small Boy Dreams (Publicity, Curtain Razors & International Tour), Terry Pratchett’s Mort (Director & Publicity | The Blue Room Company), and Young Frankenstein: The Musical (Assistant Director | Prairie Skies Musical Theatre). He is the recipient of two BroadwayWorld awards for his work on Love, Loss, and What I Wore (Best Play & Best Touring Show) at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival. He currently works as the producer and store manager for The Women’s Company. Twitter: @LandonWalliser Instagram: @LandonWalliser The Women’s Company Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/womenscompanyregina/ Instagram: WomensCompanyRegina Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/TheWomensCompany

Joylyn Secunda is a Vancouver based actor, dancer, singer, and puppeteer. She is a BFA Acting graduate from University of British-Columbia and has studied clown at the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance. She has performed her solo physical comedy, The Moaning Yoni, 50 times in cities across Canada. Highlights from her recent tour include performing for audiences of 600 people at the Vancouver Island MusicFest, receiving a 5-star review in the Edmonton Journal, and having a sold-out run at the Vancouver Fringe Festival. When she isn’t performing, Joylyn leads community engaged theatre projects for seniors (Theatre Terrific and Arts & Health), teaches puppetry, physical theatre, and storytelling to school groups at the Evergreen Cultural Centre, and instructs yoga classes at various studios. Since 2017 she has been a puppeteer in the Cassie & Friends educational puppet show. Twitter: @JoylynSecunda Instagram: @joylynsecunda Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/joylynsecundaproductions Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNLqd2m6tM9JvXcTGAgTAbw/

Kelly Wolf is a Theatre Maker, a Set and Costume designer and an Artist Educator who is interested in exploring ways that design can augment the theatrical experience. She has created designs for many theatres across Canada ranging from small independent companies to the major festivals. Most recently designing Berlin Blues at the Blyth Festival and A Christmas Carol at the Grand Theatre. Upcoming: Hook Up a new opera with Tapestry Music Theatre and Hare and Tortoise with Carousel Players. Recent work has taken her into the realm of site specific theatre creation. Kelly has worked in collaboration to create One Small Drop, inspired by the textile workers of the Imperial Cotton Company and In Sight investigating the effects of a stroke and perception at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. Her most recent site-specific collaboration, HERE, took Kelly to Barton St in Hamilton to explore gentrification and change in that neighbourhood. Recent designs include: Pantalone’s Palace and Top Girls (Brock University) Waiting Room (Tarragon Theatre), Quiver (Nightwood, Theatre Aquarius Studio), Rukmini’s Gold (Toronto and Hamilton Fringe), Commercials for Hamilton (Hammer Theatre/Staircase), Sanctuary Song (Theatre Direct – NAC), The Incredible Speediness of Jamie Cavanaugh (Roseneath)The Old Man and the River (Theatre Direct) Queen for a Day – set (Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts), Midsummer Night’s Dream –costume (Citadel Theatre),Sound of Music – set (Drayton) and Between the Sheets (Nightwood). www.kellywolf.ca

E.B. has over twenty years of experience as a director, performer, coach, producer, and teaching artist in the worlds of theatre, print, film, television, and voice-over, with a mission to inspire and encourage passionate storytelling. His goal is to empower as many diverse voices as possible so that we may all learn from one another just how vast the spectrum of identity can be. As an artist of colour, he brings a special recognition of the power of experiencing one’s own history and world view manifest on stage as well as furthering connections to the stories of others. It is his mission, therefore, to facilitate the cultivation and cooperation of artists from every cross section of our society, and across artistic styles and traditions. He received his training in the BFA Performance program at Ohio University, as well as two years at the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival where he served for six years a text and acting coach and is currently in his tenth season as an actor. Twitter: @starringeb Instagram: @storyforge www.ghostlight.ca Twitter: @GhostLightca Instagram: @ghostlightca Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Ghostlightcanada/ Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwRcAAaXC8de2u9wQ5NkWjQ

Holly Brinkman has been creating storytelling and theatre pieces since 2011 when she began working for the Montreal St.-Ambroise Fringe Festival. She has performed with Confabulation! in both Victoria and Montreal and The Flame, Vancouver. Storytelling has also taken her to Smut Slam in Montreal and Vancouver, and Monobrow in Victoria. Holly is extremely active in the Victoria Theatre community serving on the board of Impulse Theatre and working for Intrepid Theatre and the Victoria International Fringe Festival since 2015. Holly’s first long form theatre piece, A Woman’s Guide to Peeing Outside premiered at the Montreal Fringe in June 2017. The piece has since been performed all over North America. In 2017, Holly Brinkman started collaborating with S.E. Grummett, a talented playwright, puppeteer, clown, and digital arts creator. Their idea to create a show that discusses gender, dating, and the patriarchy through the framework of girl guides and cub scouts became the wild vaudeville-esque show Pack Animals. Pack Animals premiered at the Saskatoon Fringe Festival August 2nd, 2018 to critical praise and resounding success. It reached further success on a North American tour in 2019 (Orlando, FL; London, ON; Ottawa, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Edmonton). Holly Brinkman and S.E. Grummett (aka Brinks and Grumms) continue to create together and are constantly adding to the Pack Animals world with a Christmas special and an upcoming sequel, Pack Animals to the Rescue. Instagram: @packanimalscomedy Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/packanimalscomedy/ https://www.facebook.com/peeingoutsideadventures/

Kate Smith is Artistic Director of Skeleton Key Theatre. She originally trained as an actor and singer (Dalhousie University), and has performed on stages across the country. She is also an award-winning theatre creator. Her work with Skeleton Key Theatre has been presented at the Ottawa International Children’s Festival, the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, the Shenkman Arts Centre (Petrie Island), the In The Soil Festival, the undercurrents festival, the Fresh Meat Festival, and all iterations of site-specific theatrical event subDevision. In 2017, the company was awarded a New Chapter grant through the Canada Council for the Arts for its innovative outdoor multi-disciplinary ambulatory piece Swan River, and the show was later nominated for a Prix Rideau Award for Best New Creation. Kate is a freelance director and performer, and also serves as Artistic Manager of Ottawa StoryTellers. She is a Member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. www.skeletonkeytheatre.com Twitter: @skeletonkate

Siobhan is an actor/fighter/singer/dancer, currently based in Toronto, but originally from Kitchener-Waterloo, and trained at the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria. Tours and travelling are one of the perks of the job! Acting credits include Lucy Debrie (And Then The Lights Went Out, Stage West Calgary), Mo (Mo and Jess Kill Susie, Harley Dog Productions), Lady Capulet (Romeo and (her) Juliet Headstrong Collective/Urban Bard), Solange (The Maids, Whirligig Productions), the twins Jessica and Julia (The Last Resort, Stirling Festival Theatre), and the world premiere productions of The Madness of the Square (Cahoots Theatre Projects) and The Forbidden Phoenix (Citadel Theatre and LKTYP). www.siobhanrichardson.com Twitter: @fighteractress Instagram: @fighteractress

Jon Paterson has been working in the theatre industry for the past 30 years and is the current Technical and Artistic Director of the Astor Theatre in Liverpool, NS. Jon is also one of the founders of FringeLiveStream. Jon studied theatre at Grant Macewan University in Edmonton, where he began his association with director Kenneth Brown. Jon has co-produced, performed in, designed and/or directed dozens of shows with his theatre company, RibbitRePublic. Jon has performed in various theatre and festivals across North America including The Centaur Wildside Festival, Canoe Theatre Festival, Just For Laughs Comedy Festival, Mayfield Dinner Theatre, Vertigo Mystery Theatre, Zero Gravity Circus, Orlando Fringe Festival, Fresno Rouge Festival and, most recently, Off-Broadway’s Soho Playhouse. Jon is also a stilt-walker, stage manager, poster designer, and Winnipeg Jets fan. Instagram: @jon.paterson Fringe Live Stream FringeLiveStream is a group of artists dedicated to providing a platform for live performances. Showcasing live, FringeLiveStream, and unjuried content, with artists receiving 100% of donations. FLS also provides a voice for underrepresented artists through their AUC Performance Series. http://www.fringelivestream.com/ Twitter: @Fringelive2020 Instagram: @fringelivestream Transcript at https://stageworthypodcast.com/239-jon-paterson/

Chris Tolley is a writer, director and producer, and the Co-Artistic Director of Expect Theatre. After graduating from York University he teamed up with Laura Mullin, and together they have created award-winning multi-disciplinary productions that have toured across Canada and the US. Chris’ work has been nominated for five Dora Awards in the General Theatre category, and has been shortlisted twice for the Toronto Arts Foundation Awards. In 2006 both Chis and Laura won Harbourfront Centre’s inaugural FreshGround commissioning award. His most notable works include Romeo/Juliet REMIXED (Toronto and Philadelphia), STATIC (World Stage Festival) and AWAKE (Next Stage Festival). Other work with Mullin include the CBC Radio drama, The Tunnel Runners, and the short film, AWAKE. He sits on the Board of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and serves as the Contracts Chair. He is also on a number of other theatre boards. Outside of theatre, Chris is also very active in national politics. In 2015, Chris ran in the federal election as the Green Party’s candidate in Toronto-Danforth, advocating for the cultural issues he is passionate about. His campaign resulted in the best showing for the Green Party in the GTA and surrounding area, and was recognized as one of the strongest campaigns run nationally. Twitter: @christolley Laura Mullin is a playwright, director and producer, and the Co-Artistic Director of Expect Theatre and The Spark Collective. She graduated from York University with a bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre before forming Expect and Spark with Chris Tolley. She has created and produced several highly acclaimed productions with Tolley that have toured nationally and internationally. Selected writing and directing credits: Romeo/Juliet Remixed (5 Dora award nominations, winner of Outstanding Choreography), EXPECT/ Spark; Tunnel Runners, CBC Radio; STATIC, Harbourfront Centre’s World Stage Festival; AWAKE, Next Stage Festival; AWAKE The Short Film; Rapid Eye Movement & To The Kid That I was, Nuit Blanche; One Sleepless Night, International Festival of Authors; Allowance (in development); Burusera, Watermark Theatre (national 21 city tour & to be published in the Playwright’s Guild Short Play Anthology); History of Visual Sources (short story). Awards & Commissions: Toronto Arts Foundation Award (short listed 2009 & 2013); Harbourfront Centre’s inaugural Fresh Ground Commissioning Award; Dora Award nomination for Outstanding Production for Romeo / Juliet Remixed (General Theatre category), Ontario Arts Council’s Creator’s Reserve from Nightwood Theatre (2013) and Crow’s Theatre (2015) for Allowance, Watermark Theatre Commission of Burusera for Canada 300’s national tour (2015). Twitter: @expectlaura PlayME Expect Theatre has created an exciting new initiative that celebrates the best of Canadian Indie Theatre on a national and international scale. The project helps raise the profile of Canadian playwrights by highlighting new works through a series of podcasts, making it accessible to audiences worldwide. PlayME is transforming the way we experience Canadian theatre, by taking a bold and innovative approach to disseminating plays. The podcast features distinguished actors, and focuses on current and relevant scripts geared to the growing “on-demand” audience. Expect’s Artistic Directors, Laura Mullin and Chris Tolley are spearheading this project, in partnership with organizations such as The Toronto Fringe Festival and the Playwrights Guild of Canada. http://www.playmepodcast.com/ https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcasts/arts-culture/playme/ http://expect.org/ Twitter: @expecttheatre

Rebecca Perry is a Toronto-based playwright, performer and producer. She has written three solo shows which she tours around the English-speaking world. Her most well-known show, Confessions of a Redheaded Coffeeshop Girl has earned her awards and critical acclaim, has sold out in more than 30 cities worldwide, and was taped in front of a live studio audience for Bell Fibe TV’s On Stage On Demand. Her most recent show, From Judy to Bette: The Stars of Old Hollywood recently featured in the Sudbury Theatre Centre’s 19/20 season, debuting all-new scenography, and the grandest production Rebecca has yet put on. Following a hugely successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019, a two-month tour of the UK was booked (currently being rescheduled), and the show is in talks with presenters in Australia and New Zealand. Her work has even had celebrity attendees, including Anthony Rapp and Neil Patrick Harris. She also works in film and TV, and her work can be seen on Amazon Prime (Best Friend from Heaven, Forest Fairies and Fast and Furriest), T+E (Haunted Hospitals), Oxygen (Killer Affair) and Superchannel (Baby in a Manger). She also co-stars in the multi-Canadian Comedy Award-winning web-series A Gay Victorian Affair (YouTube). Twitter: @rebeccaperry21 Instagram: @redheaded_coffeeshop_girl Facebook: facebook.com/confessionsofaredheadedcoffeeshopgirl David Kingsmill hails from London, England, but now lives and works in Toronto. He is a writer, musician and online media producer who has worked on a wide variety of shows and productions. He has travelled all over Canada, England and Scotland with Rebecca Perry Productions, as musician and stage manager. He has composed music for various Shakespeare productions by Dauntless City Theatre in Toronto, and his two-man musical, Out of the Lens, co-written with Nicholas Cave, was featured in Musical Works in Toronto. He created his own superhero for the musical cabaret Mr Millennium: Issue #1 – and even had the character’s origin story drawn up as an 11-page comic! He is established in the board gaming industry, and worked for Snakes & Lattes for over 4.5 years, mainly teaching games. He runs the solo board gaming Twitch stream and podcast Once Upon a Die. Twitter: @uponadiepodcast Instagram: @onceuponadiepodcast

Carly Heffernan is an award winning writer, director, actor, show runner and Capricorn. She is an alumna of the Second City Toronto where she wrote and performed in four main stage revues. She became the youngest resident director in Second City Toronto history when she directed the critically acclaimed, main stage hit, Come What Mayhem! She co-wrote, Second City’s Guide to the Symphony, which played such historic venues as Roy Thomson Hall and the John F. Kennedy Center. She also directed the critically acclaimed Second City main stage revue, “The Best is Yet to Come Undone” which was named one of NOW Magazine’s TOP 5 Comedy shows of 2018 and the smash-hit, first ever, all-female Second City sketch revue, SHE THE PEOPLE which has played for three years in Second City Chicago’s UP Theatre as well as enjoyed runs in Boston, Nebraska, Washington D.C. and Toronto. www.carlyheffernan.ca Twitter: @carlyheffernan Instagram: carly.heffernan

Lucy Eveleigh is the Executive Director of the Toronto Fringe Festival, and the President of the Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals. She has been the Managing Director of the Toronto Fringe, the General Manager for the SummerWorks Performance Festival, and the General Manager of the Pleasance Theatre in London, England. Twitter: @eveleigh_lucy Toronto Fringe https://fringetoronto.com/ Twitter: @Toronto_Fringe

Franny is an actor and playwright based in the GTA. She has performed her award-winning original work in Toronto, Hamilton, Oakville, Stratford, Winnipeg MB, Saint John NB and New York City. Franny is also Associate Producer at the Hamilton Fringe, www.frannymcb.com Twitter: @franny_mcb Instagram: franny_mcb

Recorded via live stream: April 7 2020. Michael Ross Albert Michael is the author of several plays including Miss (FringeNYC; Unit 102 Actors Company); The Farmers Lit the Fields on Fire (Edinburgh Fringe Festival); The Grass is Greenest at the Houston Astrodome (FringeNYC, published by Applause in Best American Short Plays 2014-2015); and Karenin’s Anna (Toronto Fringe Festival, “Outstanding New Play,” — NOW Magazine), as well as the 2018 Toronto Fringe hit, Anywhere and the 2019 Fringe hit The Huns, which was to travel to the Brighton Fringe, until that festival was postponed. http://michaelrossalbert.com/ Twitter: @michaelralbert Instagram: michaelralbert Cass Van Wyck Cass is an actor and producer, one of the co-creators of the new works series, Open Open Open, and one of the forces behind Toronto’s Assembly Theatre. Cass was part of the cast of The Huns. Twitter: @classvanwyck Instagram: classvanwyck Please consider supporting The Assembly Theatre. Due to the current mandated closure and the multiple cancellations of shows and events, The Assembly Theatre is taking a significant financial loss and is struggling to stay afloat. This is a very difficult time for all of us societally, and in the arts community, independent theatre is uniquely vulnerable. GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-assembly-theatre-covid19-help

Teiya Kasahara 笠原貞野 (they/them) is a queer, gender non-binary multidisciplinary performer/creator, and first-generation Nikkei-Canadian of Japanese and German roots. Recently heralded as “a force of a nature” (Toronto Star) Teiya comes from a background of over 12 years of singing operatic roles across North America and Europe and has recently begun a career in multi-disciplinary theatre creation, acting and artistic leadership. Equally comfortable on the operatic, concert hall or cabaret stage, you can find them singing and making music with or without a microphone, sometimes even with a taiko drum or looping machine. www.teiyakasahara.com Twitter: @teiyakasahara Instagram: teiyakasahara

Maria Wodzinska (“she/her”) Maria began her training at Humber College working with physical theatre practices from the Barba, Grotowski and Lecoq tradition. Later inspired by mask and movement workshops in London at LAMDA with Mark Bell, she continued physical theatre studies and graduated from L’ecole Jacques Lecoq in 2015. Concurrently she studied under Pascale Lecoq in the Laboratory of Movement (LEM). LEM focusses on the language of movement of scenic objects, masks, and object manipulation. Additionally, she has worked with Raymond Bobgan of the Cleveland Public Theatre on physical theatre training from the Grotowski tradition. Her current interest is to develop a blended pedagogy from these two traditions, Lecoq and Growoski, and evaluate their possibilities for applied theatre contexts. This is the focus of her Major Research Project for her MA Studies at York University, funded through SSHRC research fellowship. www.mariawodzinska.com Twitter: @Maria_Wodzy Instagram: mariawodzinska Oliver Jane (“they/them”) Oliver is a Toronto based multi-disciplinary artist, devised theatre director, and theatre producer. Canadian-born, US-raised Oliver Jane began creating and producing original works in Philadelphia starting in 2013. Oliver currently resides in Toronto where they dedicate themself to creating immersive installations and theatrical experiences to address the questions that nag Oliver throughout their daily life. To date, Oliver’s work walks a delicate line between clown, dance, performance art, art-installation and ritual experience. In Philadelphia Oliver has presented work part of Between A Boat and Green Place at Bartram’s Garden, Four Weeks in January, FringeArt’s Scratch Night, INVISIBLE RIVER, and SoLow Fest. Original works include The Gathering of the Mother Moth People; an exploration of ritual and spiritual pursuit guided by some widely naïve clowns (1fiftyone Gallery, 2015), and David & Oliver: Mystic Masters; a collaboration with playwright David Jacobi about their collective experiences as students of metaphysics (SoLow Fest, 2016). Oliver has been Assistant Director for a variety of projects with the Pig Iron Theatre Company (www.pigiron.org), including PayUp! (2013), I Promised Myself to Live Faster (2015), and SWAMP is On (2015), and for director Hinako Arao on her project Milky Way. As a performer Oliver has appeared in Surge Protector (MFA Thesis 2016), David & Oliver: Mystic Masters (2016), Mad Forest (d. Alex Torra, 2014), 99 Breakups (Pig Iron Theatre Company, 2014), The West (d. Alex Bechtel, 2013), and Dinner With Madness(Goat Howl, 2018). Oliver graduated summa cum laude from Drew University with a BA in Theatre Studies, and is a graduate of the inaugural class at the Pig Iron School for Advanced Performance Training and completed a Master’s Degree in Devised Performance at the Pig Iron School/University of the Arts in 2016. www.oliverjane.com Instagram: olivia_oliver_yoga www.goathowl.com Instagram: goathowltheatre Featured Theatre Many theatres and theatre companies that have shut down their productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of these companies are in desperate need of help to ensure that they can keep their doors open once the current crisis is over, and many are turning to crowdfunding in order to do that. In the coming weeks Stageworthy will highlight some theatres and theatre companies that need your help. Red Sandcastle Theatre The Red Sandcastle is a 50 seat Storefront theatre, in which Anything is Possible! The Red Sandcastle Theatre was created as a place where our theatre community of artists and audiences could get together and share what we do best: tell stories together. Unfortunately, with the COVID-19 outbreak, the Sandcastle has had to shut its doors. The funds will go toward the rent and bills associated with the Red Sandcastle Theatre. GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/life-support-for-the-red-sandcastle-theatre

Karen is an award-winning writer, director and performer and the artistic director of Keep Frozen: Pochsy Productions, which develops Hines’ dark comedies for stage and screen. She is the author of Drama: Pilot Episode, Citizen Pochsy, Hello…Hello (A Romantic Satire),Oh, baby and Pochsy’s Lips as well as several short plays and the Neo-Cabaret Pochsy Unplugged, which have been presented across North America and in Germany at venues such as Alberta Theatre Projects, Tarragon Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Joe’s Pub (Public Theatre, NYC), Word Stage, Factory Theatre, Magnetic North, One Yellow Rabbit and Beme Theatre in Munich. Featured Theatre Company Many theatres and theatre companies that have shut down their productions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. A lot of these companies are in desperate need of help to ensure that they can keep their doors open once the current crisis is over, and many are turning to crowdfunding in order to do that. In the coming weeks Stageworthy will highlight some companies that need your help. The Assembly Theatre Due to this current mandated closure and the multiple cancellations of shows and events, The Assembly Theatre is taking a significant financial loss and is struggling to stay afloat. This is a very difficult time for all of us societally, and in the arts community, independent theatre is uniquely vulnerable. GoFundMe Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/the-assembly-theatre-covid19-help

No guest this week. With all the theatre closings and cancellations, we may see this coming up now and then. instead, some thoughts about social distancing, and more. www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter: @StageworthyPod Instagram: stageworthypod Facebook: https://facebook.com/StageworthyPod

Steven Vlahos Steven is an actor/creator based out of Toronto. His mom thinks he’s a really nice guy, but don’t let that fool you, he’s also an infamously known bad boy. He can lift upwards of 30 pounds, but Steven knows that muscles don’t make the man, which is why his only life aspiration is to make all of your dreams come true. He is also a co-founder and associate producer of The Theatre Circuit and one half of Nose Bros Comedy (an improv, sketch and clown duo). Steven attended the Humber Theatre Performance program, and has performed in numerous theatre, tv, and film productions since graduating. You can catch him hosting “Bad Improv” at the Imperial pub or playing different comedy shows in the city with Nose Bros. He was recently seen playing Pratt in Judith Thompson’s new play ,Who Killed Snow White? at 4th Line Theatre. He was also seen as Roy in Brandon Crone’s Turtleneck (Some more theatre credits include: The Last Performance (Nose Bros), Sister Act: The Musical (Lower Ossington Theatre), Inch Of Your Life: Episode One (The Theatre Dept.) . Recent Film and TV: Goodnight Sleep Tight (Evelyn Eleven Prod.) WAYNE (YouTube Premium) Fear Thy Neighbour (Bad Movie Prod.) Murder Wall (Our House Media) 100 Days to Victory (HISTORY channel). Jonathan Sconza Jonathan is a Toronto based performer, voice actor, clown, improvisor and D&D player. He has performed in an award winning production of The Stranger (DLT), has starred in every production of The Secret Sessions Movie Experience since its inception (Anchorman, Casablanca, Shaun of the Dead, The Princess Bride, and Ghostbusters), and played Sam Catelli in the Inch of your Life Trilogy. You can catch him hosting late night comedy shows such as Bad Improv and Beer Beer Comedy Show. He is the co-founder of Nose Bros, a clown, improv and sketch duo. He is also a co-founder and associate producer of The Theatre Circuit (A theatre company devoted to producing new, Toronto-centric work). In addition to his theatre credits, Jonathan has also voiced animated characters in Gary and His Demons, (CBC Comedy) and in Dog and Pony (Discovery Kids) He was a Worlds Biggest Improv Tournament semi-finalist, holds a national gold medal from the Canadian Improv Games, an intermediate actor combatant certificate (with distinction), and a Hnatyshyn Award nomination. Bad Improv April 9, 2020 The Imperial Pub Tickets $5 at the door Doors at 7:30, show at 8 Sign up to play at the door.

The Negroes Are Congregating (NAC) unapologetically wrestles with deep-rooted internalized racism through the lens of the Western World and the ‘Black experience’ hat stretches far beyond Canada and the United States, and rather a pan-African exploration. The laugh-out-loud piece balances comedy with discomfort, pulling audiences beyond the fourth wall, where everyone is invited to cackle, cry and be still together. Artists; Uche Ama (Female 1), Christopher Bautista (Male 1) and Christopher Parker (Male 2) perform this contemporary piece delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, soulful dialect and musical vocals. Audiences will enter a realm of private truths and leave with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready. The Negroes are Congregating has already received international acclaim, having been programmed by Théâtre de l’Usine (Geneva, Switzerland); Black Theatre Network Conference (Memphis, TN); Halifax Fringe (Halifax, Nova Scotia); SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto, Ontario) and selected ‘Best of The Fest’ Award at The Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (Atlanta, GA). Tickets can be purchased at www.passemuraille.ca. This production is a Theatre Passe Muraille Production in association with Piece of Mine Arts. Created and Directed by Natasha Morris an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre. Troy De Four (Producer) is an award-winning producer whose experience started in regional theatre and is recently producing professional productions. Troy De Four is the executive producer of Scores in The City Musical Productions (Toronto, Ontario). Troy has recently been a participant of Obsidian’s 2018/2019 Playwrights Unit and has received grants from the OAC and CCA for his development of new Canadian libretto’s focused on stories centralizing characters of the black-Canadian and pan-African diaspora. Past producer credits include; Jesus Christ Superstar, The Full Monty, Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, CHESS, TOMMY and more. Uche Ama (Performer – Female 1) is a graduate of the St Clair College Music Theatre Performance program. Some previous credits include; Obeah Opera (Luminato Festival2019), Rosencrantz: Drunk Hamlet (Dauntless City Theatre), Oya/Ahosi/Buffalo: Lukumi: A Dub Opera (Watah Theatre). She is honored to be a part of this production. Christopher Parker (Performer – Male 2) received his Master of Music in Literature & Performance at Western University while studying under renowned Canadian baritone Theodore Baerg. He made is professional debut in the Canadian premiere of Choir-Boy (Centaur Theatre) by Oscar-winning writer Tarrell Alvin McCraney which won Best PACT Production at the 2019 Montreal English Theatre Awards. Since then, he has participated in the workshopping of new productions with Obsidian Theatre, Tapestry Opera, and The Musical Stage Company. Christopher is elated to make his Toronto stage debut in The Negroes are Congregating before flying to Halifax to perform in Billy Elliot (Neptune Theatre) Christopher Paul Bautista (Performer – Male 1) was born in Dallas, Texas. While playing Santa Claus in his kindergarten class, and seeing his Grandmother Shirley look on with a smile, he fell in love with performing. Following September 11th, he joined the military and went on two deployments with the US Marine Corps. Christopher then attended and graduated from the University of Southern California, where he studied English Literature, Theatre, and Film. It was while studying at USC, after attending a performance of Tennesee Williams’ Glass Menagerie that Christopher rekindled his passion with acting. His striking appearance, strong presence, and distinct voice make him a memorable addition to theatre, television, and film productions. Christopher’s recent credits include; Sound and Fury; (Shakespeare in Action), Fences; (Grand Theatre), Timothy Findley’s The Wars; (Grand Theatre). When: Performances run from February 29 to March 14 at 7:30pm, with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:00pm Previews: Feb 27 at 7:30pm, Feb 28 at 2:00pm for previews, and every performance has a part-of-show discussion as a part of the 90 minutes. Where: Theatre Passe Muraille (Mainspace Theatre), 16 Ryerson Ave, Toronto, ON Price: Tickets range from $17 – $

Natasha Adiyana Morris is an award winning playwright whose work has been presented in Canada, the United States, and Europe. She is the founder and executive director PIECE OF MINE Arts, a platform for Black play creators to showcase work-in-development, featuring over 150 artists since 2013. Natasha is the recipient of several accolades including SummerWorks’ New Performance Text Award, The Black Canadian Awards’ Leadership Certificate, and the Ontario’s Leading Women Building Communities Certificate. She credits local companies b current, anitafrika dub theatre, and Obsidian Theatre for her invaluable artistic training. The Negroes are Congregating originated out of development and excerpt presentations during the Piece of Mine Festival in 2016 at Toronto’s Palmerston Library Theatre. The Negroes Are Congregating The Negroes Are Congregating poses an unapologetic and impolite perspective about the ongoing effects of racism in Canada and around the world. Delivered through a fusion of spoken word, satire, and soulful dialect, audiences are invited to experience raw truths up close and personal – leaving them with an understanding of what it means to be Black, proud, and ready. Each performance will include audience discussion. www.pieceofminearts.com Instagram: pieceofminearts Tickets: https://www.passemuraille.ca/19-20-season-shows/the-negroes-are-congregating/ Episode Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/natasha-adiyana-morris/

Alan Dilworth is a theatre director, playwright and teacher. He is Artistic Director of Necessary Angel Theatre Company in Toronto. Alan’s work explores personal, social and political transformation, questions of the nature of ‘self’ and its relationship with ‘the other’, and the notion of a contemporary text-based theatre, although he also works in physical and image-based forms. His practice privileges vulnerability, presence, simplicity and the unknown. Alan has directed across Canada and internationally. www.alandilworth.com Twitter: @alandilworth1 The Events by David Greig Music by John Browne Directed by Alan Dilworth Cast: Raven Dauda and Kevin Walker Written in response to the politically motivated mass shootings in Norway, The Events has been described as “…a solemn, searching and ultimately very moving play…” and “ an extraordinary new work…strangely uplifting…”. www.necessaryangel.com Twitter: @necessaryangel Note: in this episode, 2004 is given as the year of Utoya shootings, however this event actually occurred in 2011. Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/alan-dilworth/

Lauren Allen is a theatre artist originally from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Since graduating from Grant MacEwan University in 2013, she has worked across Canada and Europe as an actor, producer, burlesque instructor, stage manager, and director. She has settled in Toronto, for the moment. Most recently she has taken courses to become a script supervisor and will soon be seen again in Saskatchewan for Burn Rubber, Dolly at The Lyric Theatre in Swift Current. Lauren is also a social media marketer, and the creator of Social Media the L.A. Way. lauren-allen.net socialthelaway.com Twitter: @lesmis456 Instagram: lesmis456 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/socialthelaway/ Transcript: https://stageworthypodcast.com/lauren-allen/

Shaista Latif is a Queer Afghan-Canadian multidisciplinary artist, consultant and facilitator. Her works and collaborations have been presented by Koffler Gallery, Ontario Scene Festival, SummerWorks, Why Not Theatre, Blackwood Gallery, Mercer Union, the AGO, Halifax Queer Acts Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and recently the Undercurrents Festival. She is a published playwright (Playwrights Canada Press) and voiced the character Soraya in the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner. In 2020, Latif will be touring her critically acclaimed show The Archivist around Ontario. Her latest work Learning the Language of My Enemies was recently presented in conjunction with Nevet Yitzhak: WarCraft at the Koffler Gallery. Twitter: @shaista_latif Instagram: shaistalatifmakes How I Learned to Serve Tea A participatory workshop on the politics of capacity and resource sharing, How I Learned to Serve Tea explores dynamics of power through acts of hospitality with artist-facilitator Shaista Latif. “Assessing the language of invitation and hosting, and how it translates into action is how I learned to serve tea. A hyphenated existence, my life is my work, my work is my life. Some people can categorize and separate but those of us who are marginalized can’t afford to do so. Sometimes I wonder if our work has had to evolve into critical interrogation out of necessity? If we lived in a decolonized world what would we be making? Who would we be serving? I think we are all capable and deserving of knowing and living ourselves into these answers. This workshop invites participants to reflect and confront on who gets to have a seat at the table.” – Shaista Latif Tickets: http://progressfestival.org/programming/how-i-learned-to-serve-tea

Mateo Lewis is a Toronto based actor, writer and composer. His musical, Boys Don’t Cry was performed at the 2019 Toronto Fringe. Twitter: @mateolewis Instagram: mateo.lewis

Alexander Crowther plays Casimir, and Hallie Seline plays Caroline, in The Howland Company’s production of Casimir and Caroline. Casimir just got fired, his phone’s not working and his shoes are falling apart. Caroline wants to dance, sing karaoke, and forget about the weight of the world for just one night. They are engaged… for now. Casimir and Caroline is a play about love in the cold atmosphere of modern capitalism. We follow these ultra star-crossed lovers, as they navigate clingy co-workers, sketchy best friends, questionable HR representatives, the playboy boss, that powerhouse from the Montreal office and those beautiful few who might actually possess an ounce of wisdom. They all desperately long for something more. None of them can say what that might be. But at least their lives look #goals on Instagram. CASIMIR AND CAROLINE, European playwright and novelist Ödön von Horváth’s 1932 tragicomedy, is one of the most frequently staged plays in the modern German repertoire, but until now has never been staged for a North American audience. It seems to be on the mind, however, with its recent shout out in Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story (Thank you Adam Driver)! After nearly five years in development, The Howland Company is proud to present the North American premiere of this new adaptation of a modern classic by company member Paolo Santalucia with Dr.Holger Syme and The Howland Company, based on an original translation from German to English by Dr.Holger Syme. The play will be directed by Paolo Santalucia and will run at Crow’s Theatre’s East End arts hub Streetcar Crowsnest this January 14th to February 9th, 2020. More about the Adaptation & Production: Moving from the original beer hall setting in Octoberfest to a glitzy Toronto roof-top corporate party that quickly deteriorates as the drink tickets run out, this new adaptation takes its cue from Horváth’s insistence that the play takes place ‘now’, and explores Horváth’s distanced but faithful, unflinching but sympathetic portrayal of ‘people as they are’ in Toronto 2020. “CASIMIR AND CAROLINE cares little for decorum,” says director Paolo Santalucia, “It relentlessly reminds us that we’ll never be rich enough, happy enough, or important enough to satisfy our desires. And when faced with the disappointment of falling short, it laughs at how outrageously we try to prove everyone otherwise.” Read more about the show here. This 10-person ensemble will feature Howland Company members Alexander Crowther (Pure – CBC/WGN America, The Glass Menagerie – The Grand Theatre), Hallie Seline (The Wolves – Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre, Winner of the Outstanding Ensemble Award – Toronto Theatre Critics Association), James Graham and Cameron Laurie (Punk Rock – Howland Company, Outstanding Ensemble Award – Dora Mavor Moore Award Nominated), joined by six more of Toronto’s most exciting performers: Michael Ayres (Bang Bang – GCTC, What I Call Her – In Association/Crow’s Theatre), Michael Chiem (Asking For It – Thousand Islands Playhouse, A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Shakespeare in Action), Veronica Hortiguela (NOW Magazine’s Breakthrough Toronto Stage Artist, Dry Land – Cue6 Theatre), Shruti Kothari (Three Seasons at The Stratford Festival), Kimwun Perehinec (The Watershed – Porte Parole/Crow’s Theatre), and Caroline Toal (Selfie, To Kill a Mockingbird – Young People’s Theatre). Rounding out the creative team is award-winning set and costume designer Ken MacKenzie, lighting designer and Howland Company member Jareth Li, with sound design by Jeremy Hutton and original composition by Evan MacKenzie. howlandcompanytheatre.com Twitter: @TheHowlandCo Instagram: thehowlandcompany Tickets: https://tickets.crowstheatre.com/TheatreManager/1/login?event=214

Amy Lee & Heather Marie Annis, along with Byron Laviolette are the creators of the clown duo, Morro and Jasp, presenting Save the Date (directed byByron Laviolette and Kat Sandler) at the 2019 Next Stage Festival. Save the Date Does saying “I Do” to someone new mean saying “I Don’t” to each other? For better or for worse, the sisters have to negotiate what their relationship will look like now that there is a third person in the mix. Can they survive this new chapter of life without the person who has always been by their side? Can they still be Morro and Jasp? www.morroandjasp.com Twitter: @morroandjasp Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/morroandjasp/ Youtube: http://youtube.com/morroandjasp Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/morro-and-jasp-save-date

Beatrice Pizano is one of Canada’s most important Latin-Canadian playwrights and directors. She founded Aluna – Canada’s first Latin theatre company in 2001 and has gone on to win multiple Dora’s, the prestigious John Hirsch Prize for Direction from the Canada Council for the Arts, The Ken McDougall Award for Direction, The Chalmers Fellowship, The Urjo Kareda Award (Tarragon Theatre), and The Metcalf Performing Arts Internship. As a writer/director Bea has been nominated three times for Best New Play for her multi-award-winning trilogy about women and war comprised of For Sale, Madre, and La Comunión. She has also created and led a number of youth programs both in Canada and Colombia including a theatre/photography workshop with ex-combatant children and youth victims from the armed conflict in her native Colombia. In November, she was named one of TD Bank’s Most Influential Hispanic Canadians of 2019. The Solitudes Eight women follow the thread of history and the bloodlines that brought each of them to this land, to this moment in their journeys towards home. Is home a house? Is home a “homeland?” Their offering: eight recipes for transforming our solitudes and an invitation to sit at the table. Inspired by the women of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, The Solitudes is a provocative, humorous, and visually charged experimental performance that conjures the many forces of separation that have overtaken our lives. This is a protest. This is an act of claiming space. This is a call to action: because a house can be invaded, but home can never be taken away. www.alunatheatre.ca Twitter: @alunatheatre Instagram: alunatheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AlunaTheatre Tickets: https://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/whatson/theatre.cfm?id=10830&festival_id=0

Alia Rasul is a Canadian Comedy Award nominated writer/performer. She received rave reviews for her performance in Generally Hospital whose “outstanding ensemble” won Patron’s Pick and the David Séguin Memorial Award. She understudied for 2 seasons of Second City’s Mainstage hit show, She The People. She is a NBCUniversal Bob Curry Fellowship alumni and holds a BA from McGill University. She made her directorial debut with Kwento, an improvised Filipino folktale. She is currently inclusion director at Bad Dog Theatre. Alia is also a member of the Tita Collective, who present their Fringe hit Tita Jokes at the 2020 Next Stage Festival. Also: check out the Tita Collective’s podcast: Chika Chika with the Titas. www.aliarasul.com Twitter: @aliarasul Instagram: aliarasul Tita Collective Twitter: @tita_collective Instagram: tita.collective Tickets: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/tita-jokes Chicka Chicka with the Titas: http://thesonarnetwork.com/chikachika/

No new episode this week. Just a quick note to say that we're excited to go into the fourth year of Stageworthy, and to thank all our guests who've been on this year, as well as everyone who's listened.

Helen Knight is a Calgary-based actor and creator, and was last seen in Toronto when she joined Soulpepper theater as Mary Tudor in their remount of The Virgin Trial this past January. As an actor, Helen has worked with Alberta Theater Projects (The Virgin Trial, The Last Wife – Winner of the Betty Mitchellaward for best supporting actress), Lunchbox Theatre, Downstage Theatre, Ghost River Theatre, and many other independent companies. Lindsey is passionate about women’s stories and feats of theatre magic.Recent projects include She Kills Monsters (University of Lethbridge), Legoland (Urban Curvz Theatre), FUGLY (The Janes), and The Hudson Bay Epic and River: A Puppet Myth (Mudfoot Theatre). Instagram: helenight02

Andrew Joseph Richardson Andrew is an Indo-Canadian actor, director, dramaturg, and dad. He is a graduate of both the Theatre Arts Program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton (where he is originally from) and the Acting Program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. He is also the Co-Ordinator of the Guerrilla Ruffian Squad and directed their production, Situation Unknown (a Shakespearean improv performance), at the Shakespeare Lives microfestival in libraries across Toronto. A.J. has lead the adaptations for every Shakespeare in the Ruff production in Withrow Park in collaboration with each show’s director. He has also created short adaptations of Henry VI, Part 3 and Julius Caesar (amongst others) for Original Practices events. His adaptation of The Tempest was directed by Diane D’Aquila for Theatre Calgary’s Shakespeare by the Bow. He directed the Shakespeare-in-Hospitals Program for Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective in 2014. Selected Shakespeare Acting Credits: Launce in Two Gents, Cloten in Cymbeline’s Reign, and Banquo in Macbeth: Walking Shadows (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor (Shakespeare BASH’d), Horatio in Hamlet (Forward Theatre), and Rodorigo in Othello (Sound and Fury Theatre). Victoria Urquhart Victoria Urquhart is a Toronto-based actor and director from Caledon. She is also a graduate from the University of Windsor’s 2010 B.F.A. Acting Program. This training has helped her to develop a focus on marrying Physical Theatre Practices with Classical Text. This fascination, combined with her leadership and organizational skills developed through working six consecutive summers at a residential camp have led her to a passion for directing, and the creation of The Spur-Of-The-Moment Shakespeare Collective in Toronto. Through the SOTMSC, she has directed, produced, and sometimes performed in several community projects, including the Shakespeare-On-The-Subway Project, several sessions of Shakespeare-In-Hospitals, and JULIUS CAESAR PROJECT, garnering 4 N’s from NOW magazine at the 2014 Toronto Fringe Festival. Other theatre credits include: Waiting for Alonzo with Empty Box Theatre (2015), Teach Me with Newborn Theatre, and Macbeth with Hart House Theatre. Heart In Hand at Shakespeare-In-Hospitals’ Family Reunion Gala! Grab a drink at the bar, enjoy some sweet and savoury eats and put your picture on our family tree as we extend the SOTMSC family with a final performance of the 2019 Program’s show, Heart In Hand: How will you choose your family if your family doesn’t choose you? In the last flashes of a mother’s life, we see the hopeful imaginings of her family’s choices to move forward when she is gone. Brought together by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Amsterdam Brewery and the Spur of The Moment Shakespeare Collective, this funny and touching piece has toured to rave reviews from patient, staff and family audiences across Toronto and the G.T.A. For a financially accessible gala we offer tickets on a sliding scale. Arts Worker and Student Tickets are available for the cost of $18 ($19.89 with processing fee). Folks who wish to donate more with their ticket to help those who cannot afford full cost can do so on our ticketing site: http://shakehospitals2019.bpt.me/ www.spurofthemomentshakespeare.com Twitter: @shakespur Instagram: @shakespur

Nicole Smieja is a Toronto based actor, and a graduate of the University of Windor’s Acting program. Victoria Urquhart is a Toronto-based actor and director from Caledon, and the artistic director of Spur of the Moment Shakespeare. (and also a graduate of the University of Windsor’s Acting program). Heart In Hand at Shakespeare-In-Hospitals’ Family Reunion Gala! Grab a drink at the bar, enjoy some sweet and savoury eats and put your picture on our family tree as we extend the SOTMSC family with a final performance of the 2019 Program’s show, Heart In Hand: How will you choose your family if your family doesn’t choose you? In the last flashes of a mother’s life, we see the hopeful imaginings of her family’s choices to move forward when she is gone. Brought together by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, Amsterdam Brewery and the Spur of The Moment Shakespeare Collective, this funny and touching piece has toured to rave reviews from patient, staff and family audiences across Toronto and the G.T.A. For a financially accessible gala we offer tickets on a sliding scale. Arts Worker and Student Tickets are available for the cost of $18 ($19.89 with processing fee). Folks who wish to donate more with their ticket to help those who cannot afford full cost can do so on our ticketing site: http://shakehospitals2019.bpt.me/ www.spurofthemomentshakespeare.com Twitter: @shakespur Instagram: shakespur