FACULTY 2012/2013
- KATHRYN AKIN (The Alexander Technique/Physical Text and Devising)
- BRENDA BAZINET (Scene Study, TV Acting)
- HEATHER BERRY-MACPHAIL (Cardio)
- CINDY BLOCK (Storytelling, Voice & Movement)
- MARK BROWNELL (Theatre History, Creative Process)
- CLAIRE CALNAN (Shakespeare Scene Study)
- MAURIZIO DODARO (Dramatic Literature, On the Town)
- SARAH DODD (Shakespeare Scene Study)
- ALEX FALLIS (Theatre History)
- LAUREN FERRERO (Speech)
- SHARRY FLETT (Monologue)
- SIMON FON (Stage Combat)
- LESLIE FRENCH (Movement, Vocal Masque)
- PATRICK GALLIGAN (Period Study)
- TODD HAMMOND (Acting, Vocal Masque)
- VRENIA IVONOFFSKI (Mask, Commedia Dell’Arte)
- DAVID JANSEN (Scene Study)
- PAM JOHNSON (Contact Improvisation)
- DEBORA JOY (Voice)
- JEANNETTE LAMBERMONT-MOREY (Period Study, Monologue)
- PAUL LAMPERT (Guest Director)
- DIANA LEBLANC (Guest Director)
- ANNA MacKAY-SMITH (Introduction to Monologue)
- C. KENNEDY MacKINNON (Shakespeare)
- ROBERT McCOLLUM (Dance)
- SUE MINER (Career Studies)
- DIANA REIS (Acting)
- ED SAHELY (Group Improvisation)
- TRENT SCHERER (Canadian Drama)
- JAMES SIMON (Artistic Director, Director, Business of Acting, Scene Study)
- DAVID STORCH (Acting)
- JULIE TEPPERMAN (Business of Acting)
- SEVERN THOMPSON (Guest Director)
- J. RIGZIN TUTE (Music)
- BLAIR WILLIAMS (Guest Director)
- LEE WILSON (Guest Director)
- PETER C. WYLDE (Text Study)
KATHRYN AKIN (ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE / PHYSICAL TEXT AND DEVISING) Kathryn Akin is a Canadian performer, teacher and director who has also trained and worked extensively in Britain. She qualified in England as a teacher of the Alexander Technique with Walter Carrington, one of FM Alexander’s first generation of teachers and his assistant for many years. She is a member of the British Society of Teachers of the Alexander Technique (MSTAT) and has been teaching Alexander Technique to actors and non- actors for over a decade. Kathryn also trained extensively in actor movement and devising with master teacher Monika Pagneux (Lecoq, Peter Brook) and worked as Monika’s assistant in London. She received further training from members of the highly regarded UK theatre companies, Complicite, Frantic Assembly and Told by an Idiot. Her coaching or directorial work in professional settings includes Shakespeare and Company in the USA, Equity Showcase Theatre and Canadian Stage here in Toronto and with the Dende Collective and the renowned British theatre company, Shared Experience in London. In Britain Kathryn has taught or directed at RADA, LAMDA, The Central School of Speech and Drama and The Mountview Academy. In Canada she is on the faculty of George Brown and also teaches at Humber College and privately. As a performer, Kathryn has been seen on many Canadian main stages such as the Shaw Festival, the NAC, the Grand Theatre, the Elgin Theatre, Young People’s Theatre and the Royal Alexandra. Recent stage credits include ‘Cora’ the MTC/ Mirvish co-production of Calendar Girls and Diana in Next To Normal at both the Tarragon Theatre and in the Theatre Calgary/Citadel co-production. In the UK her performance credits include plays, musicals and cross discipline work at well- known theatres such as the Bristol Old Vic, the Traverse Theatre, Dundee Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Lyric Hammersmith, the New End and the King’s Head as well as many productions in London’s West End for directors such as Trevor Nunn and Lindsay Posner. Other acting credits include television appearances and radio dramas for both the CBC and BBC.
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BRENDA BAZINET (SCENE STUDY, TV ACTING) Brenda is an actor, acting instructor and theatre director. With over 30 years of experience, she has performed on stages across the country, receiving 4 Dora nominations and appeared in over 100 film and television projects. Some of her recent acting credits for the theatre include: Death of a Salesman, The Goat, Equus (Citadel Theatre); Harvest (Persephone Theatre); Hamlet (Resurgence Theatre); Ring Round the Moon, The Wild Duck (Soulpepper); Old Love (Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Theatre Orangeville); The Price (Sudbury Theatre Centre); Ashes to Ashes (Summerworks); Death of a Salesman (Neptune Theatre); End of Civilization (Factory Theatre); Leaving Home (Blyth Festival). Recent television credits include: Saving Hope, Haven, Against the Wall, Flashpoint, Burn Up, Custody, Sins of the Father, This is Wonderland, Redemption, Puppets Who Kill, Rabbittown and A Grief Shared (Gemini Award). As an acting instructor, Brenda is delighted to be returning to George Brown Theatre School. She has also taught for the prestigious Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Academy, Ryerson University (Act II), Fanshawe College, Equity Showcase, Actraworks, Actors Workshop, Armstrong Acting Studio, the Women in the Director’s Chair Program (Banff), Theatre Ontario and Humber College (Acting for Film and Television Program). She has conducted Acting for the Camera workshops in cities across Canada and served as a private coach to actors preparing for film and theatre auditions. Brenda’s recent directing credits include: Three Sisters, Unity 1918, Splendor in the Grass, Problem Child, Adult Entertainment, Featuring Loretta (Fanshawe College); Love List (Iguana Productions, Mexico); Blown Sideways Through Life (Toronto Fringe Festival – Best of the Fringe); Of the Fields Lately (Sudbury Theatre Centre); The Sea (Actors Repertory Company); Little Women, The Broadway Musical (Assistant Director, Citadel Theatre). Upcoming she will be directing Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad for the Citadel Theatre.
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HEATHER BERRY-MACPHAIL (CARDIO) is an independent dance artist and teacher based in Toronto. Heather is a graduate of The School of Toronto Dance Theatre. She has worked with numerous choreographers and dance companies, including blackandblue dance projects (Sasha Ivanochko), Zata Omm (William Yong), Forcier Stageworks (Marie France Forcier), Darryl Tracy, Allison Cummings, Peggy Baker, Michael Caldwell, Lynndsey Larre, and spent two seasons with Toronto Dance Theatre. Heather was a founding member of the Crazyfish Collective, who presented three full evening performances and has also performed in many festivals and events across the country. Heather is on faculty in the dance department at George Brown, as well as an instructor for The School of Toronto Dance Theatre and the George Brown Theatre School. She is also a STOTT pilates instructor and personal trainer.
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CINDY BLOCK (STORYTELLING, VOICE & MOVEMENT) holds an honorary BFA, an MFA in Acting, a Voice Teaching Diploma from York University and is an accredited Movement teacher. She studied Acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New York and has played over 40 roles in many of Western Canada’s Theatre Companies; among her favorites are new Canadian works such as Paradise and the Wasteland and Criminal by Elizabeth Dancoes, Tamahnous Theatre, Book of the Dragon and Remnants by Ron Reed, Pacific Theatre (Chalmers Award) and Mamu: the currency of Life by David Diamond, Headlines Theatre. In 1988 she was co-founder of P.I.E. Theatre in Vancouver; holding the mandate of bringing new works to the Canadian stage. Cindy is currently a core performer with Toronto Playback Theatre: an improvisational form developed to generate the possibility of dialogue in community through storytelling. Her artistic research includes extensive study and application of the practice of Authentic Movement to writing, performance and collective creation for the stage, culminating in a Master’s Thesis. She has been a co-presenter of this research at the International Festival of Making Theatre in Athens, Greece, The Myth and Theatre Festival’s Summer University at the Roy Hart Centre in France, and at the Canadian Association for Theatre Research. Her Pedagogical research continues in the synthesis of voice and movement principles in actor training. Over the past 12 years she has been teaching voice, movement and collective creation. She is currently on Faculty of Canada’s National Voice Intensive, University of Toronto, George Brown Theatre School and the Pro Actor’s Lab. She has also taught at York University’s Theatre Department, the Humber College Comedy School, The Centre for Indigenous, to name a few.
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MARK BROWNELL (THEATRE HISTORY, CREATIVE PROCESS) is an award winning Canadian playwright and co-artistic director of the Pea Green Theatre Group with his wife and partner Sue Miner. Awards: Nominated for a Governor General's Literary Award for his play Monsieur d'Eon. He received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for his libretto Iron Road and a Dora Mavor Moore Award Nomination for Medici Slot Machine. He is also the recent recipient of the Harold Indie Theatre Award. In 2011 Scirocco Drama published his "Break A Leg! An Actor's Guide to Theatrical Practices, Phrases and Superstitions". Other work includes The Gate of Harmonious Interest, The Schoolyard Carmen, The Barbecue King, The Martha Stewart Projects, Playballs, High Sticking - Three Period Plays, The Chevalier St. George, The Storyteller’s Bag and The Weaving Maiden.
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CLAIRE CALNAN (SHAKESPEARE SCENE STUDY) Claire is a Toronto-based actor, director, and theatre maker. Her performance credits include: The Small Room At the Top of the Stairs, After Akhmatova, The Clockmaker, Past Perfect (Tarragon Theatre), Antigone (Soulpepper/Crow’s Theatre), Duel at Dawn and New Canadian Kid (Young People’s Theatre). She has collaborated with playwright Nicolas Billon and Director Ravi Jain on two award-winning Summerworks productions: Iceland (2012 Audience Choice Award, Contra Guys Outstanding New Text Award) and Greenland (2009 Audience Choice Award, Summerworks Outstanding Production Award, 2011 NYC Fringe Overall Excellence Award for Playwrighting). Claire works extensively in creation-based performance with credits including: Katherine Mansfield and Chekhov’s Heartache (Theatre Smith-Gilmour/Factory), A Fool’s Life (Ahuri- nominated for 6 Dora Awards including Best Ensemble, Best Production), Appetite (Exchange Rate/Volcano- nominated for 6 Dora Awards including Best Production), and Defenestration (La Corporacion Columbiana de Teatro in Bogota, Columbia) She co-created and directed Favour (Volcano/Luminato), Co-Ed (with Ross Manson, York University/Volcano), Combat, Raising Luke, and Inanna (tiny bird theatre). Claire is the co-Director of tiny bird theatre with Jenny Young and was the Associate Director of the Festival of Ideas and Creation at Canadian Stage from 2009-2012. Claire is the founder and, along with Weyni Mengesha, the co-Artistic Director of The AMY Project (Artists Mentoring Youth), an arts education program for young women that celebrated its seventh anniversary in 2012. She has worked for a wide variety of youth arts programs and is in demand as a mentor and instructor with companies including Soulpepper, Project Humanity, Canadian Stage, Theatre Revolve, the TDSB, George Brown Theatre School, Nightwood Theatre, and The Paprika Festival. Claire was the recipient of the Crow’s Theatre Emerging Director Award in 2008 and a 2010 Chalmers Professional Development Grant to support her studies of traditional theatre in Japan. She was voted the Top Theatre Artist of 2009 by NOW Magazine. Claire is a graduate of Studio 58 in Vancouver.
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LEAH CHERNIAK (CLOWN) Leah Cherniak is the Co-Founder with Martha Ross of Theatre Columbus in Toronto. The company has created over 30 new plays and also has an excellent reputation for innovative productions of classics. For Theatre Columbus she directed and co-created most of the company's repertoire, including: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Gynty (an adaptation of Peer Gynt), Twelfth Night, The Betrayal, Hotel Loopy, Dance of the Red Skirts, And Up They Flew (by Martha Ross) and many more. She created and performed the role of Jelly in The Attic, the Pearls and 3 Fine Girls. Other directing highlights: Nativity, by Peter Anderson, National Arts Centre, Ottawa; The Book of Esther and Schoolhouse, by Leanna Brodie at The Blyth Festival; Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at the NAC in Ottawa and Theatre Passe Muraille; The Little Years by John Mighton; Ibsen's John Gabriel Borkman for Soulpepper and Theatre Columbus; Past Perfect by Michel Tremblay, Rune Arlidge by Michael Healey and John and Beatrice by Carole Frechette at Tarragon Theatre; The Miracle Worker at The Lorraine Kimsa Theatre and I Claudia by Kristen Thompson at The Saydie Bronfman in Montreal. Most recently directed Having Hope at Home by David Craig at The Blyth Theatre. Leah is an Associate Artist at Soulpepper Theatre Company and is the Actor Academy Liaison. Leah teaches an intensive clown course for the Ryerson Theatre Program. She also teaches Directing at U. of T.
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MAURIZIO DODARO (DRAMATIC LITERATURE, ON THE TOWN)Maurizio holds a BA Honours in Italian Studies and History from York University, a MA in Italian Studies from the University of Toronto, a MA in Drama from the University of Toronto and is currently completing his PhD in Drama at U of T. His theatre work has included: dramaturge for Verdi's Don Carlos for the Chicago Opera House, Julius Caesar for the Stratford Festival, The Dark Lady of the Sonnets and The Clairvoyant for the Drama Centre at the U of T.; producer for San Pascal Baylon and Qui Fra Noi Facendoci Compagnia at the Alumni Theatre, U of T and Mozart and Salieri: An Operatic Paraphrase After Rimsky – Korsakov and Mozart at the Robert Gill Theatre; costume designer for Il Re Cervo (Robert Gill Theatre); The Transfiguration, The Annunciation and The Last Judgement (the York Cycle Plays); The Cabot Voyages (Campiello Players). In addition to George Brown College, Maurizio has taught at the Columbus Centre, Ryerson University and the York Catholic District School Board.
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SARAH DODD (SHAKESPEARE SCENE STUDY) Sarah graduated from George Brown Theatre School in 1995. The year after graduation she joined the Stratford Festival where she stayed until 2003. Featured roles at the festival included: Electra in Electra, Masha in The Seagull, Varya in The Cherry Orchard, Lady MacDuff in Macbeth, Lady Anne in Richard III, Sibyl in Private Lives, Nerissa in The Merchant of Venice and Chorus in Agamemnon. She received two Tyrone Guthrie Awards from the Stratford Festival and recently returned to play Miss Prism opposite Brian Bedford in the acclaimed production of The Importance of Being Earnest. Other theatre credits include The New Electric Ballroom (MacKenzie Ro), Communion; The Fall; Humble Boy (Tarragon Theatre), Them and Us (Theatre Passe Muraille), Sisters Rosensweig (Harold Green Jewish Theatre), The Age of Arousal (Nightwood/Factory Theatre), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canadian Stage), Marion Bridge; A Whistle in the Dark (Company Theatre), Blithe Spirit (Globe Theatre), Proof (Grand Theatre) and Wit (Citadel Theatre). Other theatre credits include: The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs (Tarragon Theatre) and The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre). Upcoming: Sarah will be directing This Lime Tree Bower (Cart/Horse Theatre), remounting The Penelopiad and performing in Judith Thompson's new work Who Killed Snow White? (Nightwood's Groundswell Festival). Sarah is the recipient of 2 Dora Awards for acting, one for Marion Bridge and one for The Penelopiad (ensemble performance). She lives in Toronto with her family.
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ALEX FALLIS (THEATRE HISTORY) Alex Fallis has been involved with George Brown in a variety of ways over the past thirteen years. He has taught history courses for both the IPAC and professional programs, Monologue class in the professional program, acted in The Bewitched with the 1999 graduating class and directed Tales from the Brothers Grimm. As a performer he has worked at the Shaw and Charlottetown Festivals, in the development of new work for companies such as Factory Theatre, Canadian Stage and Native Earth Productions, as well as across the country at The National Arts Centre, the Citadel, the Belfry, YPT, Canadian Stage and Manitoba Theatre for Young People. He recently co-directed the world premiere of the electro-acoustic opera Julie Sits Waiting. He has extensive credits in the musical realms, working with companies such as Opera Atelier, and Livent. His interests range from the classical to the experimental in both text-based and musical theatre.
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LAUREN FERRARO (SPEECH) Lauren trained as a Voice and Speech Practitioner in England at the Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London where she received a Master’s Degree in Voice and Speech Studies and Pedagogy. She has taught in various Colleges and Universities including Kingston College and The University of London, England; as well as Voice and Speech Instructor for The Ryerson Theatre School. She is currently teaching Advanced Speaking and Presentation Technology with the Master Professional Communications Department at Ryerson University and is the head of Speech at George Brown Theatre School. As an Accent and Dialect coach, she trained in London, England and New York City with Dudley Knight and Phil Thompson, exploring new techniques and tools in the world of phonetics and accents; bringing world class training to her home base in Toronto. Lauren coaches for various productions and private clients modifying and softening accents for artists, ESL clients and business associates. She is the founding member of the company YOUR VOICE AND YOU which gives personalized voice, speech and presentation workshops; specializing in one-on-one coaching for all artistic, personal and business endeavours. Travelling Toronto and the GTA, Lauren is a frequent speaker at various conferences, cultural events and educational institutions; giving lectures and seminars on various topics including: Finding Your Authoritative Voice, Vocal Identity and The Lost Art of Speaking, just to name a few. Lauren trained as an actor and singer in Toronto and received her Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in Performance, Acting from Ryerson University. For over 15 years she has performed professionally in various summer theatres across southern Ontario and is a part time adjudicator for music, drama and speech-arts festivals including the Kiwanis Festival. Lauren can also be seen on the shows Daytime, In the Know and In Georgina giving weekly expert tips and advice on vocal health and speech exercises.
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SHARRY FLETT (MONOLOGUE) Sharry Flett has just completed her twenty-fourth season at the Shaw Festival. In 2012 she appeared in A Man and Some Women, and Come Back Little Sheba. Ms Flett has appeared in over 45 productions at the Shaw including: My Fair Lady, Maria Severa, Age of Arousal, The Women, Sunday in the Park with George, A Month in the Country, Summer and Smoke, High Society, The Magic Fire, The Autumn Garden, Major Barbara, Man and Superman, Floyd Collins, Blood Relations, His Majesty, The Return of the Prodigal, Six Characters in Search of an Author, A Woman of No Importance, Getting Married, Rebecca, Joy, Hobson's Choice, The Seagull, The Secret Life, The Hollow, Calvalcade, Busman's Honeymoon, Eden End, The Silver King, Lulu, Hedda Gabler, Misalliance, Night Must Fall, Berkeley Square, Dangerous Corner, Once in a Lifetime, and War and Peace. Ms Flett earned two music degrees from McGill University before studying theatre at the Webber-Douglas Academy in London, England. She began her career in musical theatre at Charlottetown, and soon branched out into non-musical roles. In 1981 she played Kate to Len Cariou`s Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew at the Stratford Festival. She appeared at Stratford for three seasons in She Stoops to Conquer, The Misanthrope, The Tempest, and Translations. She also appeared in Company at Centre Stage; as Nora in A Doll’s House at Theatre London; and for Theatre Aquarius as Ellen Dean in Wuthering Heights, Blanche Dubois in A Streetcar Named Desire and the 2012 production of The Pitman Painters. She also served as Assistant Director on the Canadian Stage Company production of Passion. Ms Flett`s television work has been recognized with Best Actress Gemini nomination for War Brides and a Best Supporting Actress Gemini nomination for The Suicide Murders. Her impressive array of television and film credits includes the starring role in 35 episodes of Full House with Sharry Flett for TVO, as well as appearances on CBC Sunday Arts, Eleventh Hour, Forever Knight, Street Legal, Secret Service, Top Cops, Jane of Lantern Hill, and last seen in Shades of Black for CTV. She currently teaches between seasons at George Brown Theatre School and partners with fellow Shaw Ensemble member Guy Bannerman to teach a specialized course on the manners and social history of Shaw’s lifetime, which has been taken to several theatre schools and universities. She recently served as etiquette coach to Drew Barrymore and Jessica Lange on the HBO film Grey Gardens.
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SIMON FON (STAGE COMBAT) With 23 years as a professional Fight Director, Stunt Coordinator and performer Simon has worked on numerous feature films, TV shows and live theatre venues. He is currently working at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival and has been part of countless Dora award winning productions with every theatre company in Toronto. He has taught at George Brown for 14 years, and continues teaching at U of T, York University, Equity Showcase. He holds the title of Fight Master with Fight Directors Canada, and is the Founder and Executive Director of RIOT A.C.T. a multi award winning action creation team www.riotact.ca. You can also see Simon at www.simonfon.com
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LESLIE FRENCH (MOVEMENT, VOCAL MASQUE) is an internationally recognized movement teacher and coach. She is beginning her 28th year as movement teacher at George Brown College. As well as teaching at George Brown, Leslie is a movement coach at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival where she previously taught for 8 years in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training. Until recently Leslie taught in the evenings at her own school The Centre of Movement where she originally studied. After five years of intensive study in body wisdom, modern dance, mime, improvisation and composition with Til Thiele, former master teacher and principal of the Mary Wigman School in Berlin, Til passed on The Centre of Movement to her. Working with the question 'what is important for an actor' Leslie began to develop her own innovative and personal approach to teaching the actor process in movement terms. She is one of the first people in Canada to teach movement specifically for the actor. As well as George Brown, Leslie has taught at the Maggie Basset Studio, Ryerson's Act Two Studio, Theatre Ontario's Summer Intensive, Harbourfront, OISE, Charlottetown Festival Young People's Company and many other places. Since studying with Til Thiele, she has developed her work further through her studies in Sensory Awareness with Charlotte Selver, Authentic Movement with Judith Koltai and Janet Adler, Syntonics with Judith Koltai, and Craniosacral Therapy with the Upledger Foundation. Presently Leslie is participating as a supporting member in a Masterclass of Embodied Practice TM with Judith Koltai. As well, she is a founding member of a recent movement research project called The Cassandra Project. Leslie is one of two people in Canada certified by Charlotte Selver to teach the practice of Sensory Awareness. As well as teaching classes and workshops, Leslie gives private movement sessions in Toronto.
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TODD HAMMOND (ACTING, VOCAL MASQUE) Todd Hammond is a director, playwright, acting instructor, and is currently on staff at the George Brown Theatre Department. His writing credits include Fish and Starker which he directed for his own company Alchemy Theatre Projects, White/Noise/Jump (director/co-author, Parallel Exit, Best Production Award, New York International Fringe Theatre Festival). Recent directing credits include Fanny's First Play and J. M. Barrie's The Old Lady Shows Her Medals for the Shaw Festival, the Harry Somers opera A Midwinter's Dream for Soundstreams Canada and the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus. Other credits include Short Sharp Mamet (David Mamet/Accessible Theatre), Alias Barcode (Young People's Theatre), Philip-Dimitri Galas' Performance Hell - Avante Vaudeville (BabyJump Project - Toronto and New York), Suddenly Shakespeare and The Lost Land (Shakespeare In Action), Peter Barnes' The Bewitched (Equity Showcase/George Brown), The Crucible (George Brown), King Lear, and Peter Barnes' Red Noses for the York University Theatre Dept. Todd has also taught acting at the National Theatre School and York University.
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VRENIA IVONOFFSKI (MASK, COMMEDIA DELL' ARTE) Vrenia Ivonoffski studied acting at the Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris, mask with Phillip Gaulier, and directing at Ryerson Theatre School. She has taught at George Brown Theatre School since 1987, Mime and Mask at Ryerson Theatre School and physical theatre workshops at the Centre of Movement, C.O.D.E. conferences and University of Guelph. She has been Artistic Director of the Yellow Bench Theatre Company, Assistant Director at Gryphon Theatre and YPT, Associate Director of the Young Company at the Blyth Festival, and has directed for the Huron Country Playhouse, Hole-in-the-Wall Theatre, Cabbagetown Theatre, Black-White-and-Yiddish Project at the Ford Centre and Act II Studio, of which she has been Artistic Director since 1990. Her play, Leacock Live!, an adaptation of Stephen Leacock’s work, was awarded Patrons’ Pick at the 2010 Toronto Fringe Festival. She was dramaturge and director of Beyond the Pail, a mask show at the 2011 Calgary Fringe. Ivonoffski is also Artistic Director of Research Based Theatre, a company which translates psychosocial research into theatrical form. Among her research-based plays are three Canada-U.S. touring shows with the Toronto-Sunnybrook Regional Cancer Centre, a show on aging with the Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens Organizations, and a play for the Aboriginal Health Centre in Hamilton. Her latest research-based play, I'm Still Here, on living with dementia, is currently being performed throughout Canada and the US. Ms. Ivonoffski was president of the Toronto Association of Acting Studios from 2006-09.
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DAVID JANSEN (SCENE STUDY) David Jansen recently directed Have I None for the Edward Bond Festival and performed in the Dora Award-winning production of The Ugly One at the Tarragon Theatre. Prior to that he played Leontes in The Winter’s Tale in High Park (Canadian Stage), and also co-directed (with Birgit Schreyer-Duarte) Kaspar and the Sea of Houses for Summerworks 2011, which won the award for Outstanding Production. Before that he performed in The Cosmonaut’s Last Message… (Canadian Stage) and co-directed Martin Crimp’s Attempts on her Life with Jennifer Tarver for Ryerson Theatre School. In 2010, he directedbothHarold Pinter’s Betrayal for BeMe Theatre in Munich and The Return of Corporal Mazenet for Summerworks 2010. He has played lead roles at the Shaw Festival and for most of Toronto’s theatres including Mirvish Productions, Canadian Stage, Tarragon, Soulpepper, Theatre Passe Muraille, Necessary Angel, Factory Theatre, and the Theatre Centre. He was a member of the Peter Hall Company in the UK. And, also performed leading and supporting roles at the Stratford Festival for five seasons. David is proud of his work with The Wrecking Ball in the 2000s, and with Wild Pig Theatre in the 1990s (which he co-founded) acting in and producing The Conquest of the South Pole (Dora Award) and Greek. David is also currently working towards a PhD at the University of Toronto.
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PAM JOHNSON (CONTACT IMPROVISATION) has been dancing, choreographing, teaching and directing in Toronto for 29 years. She has danced for many choreographers including: Dave Wilson, Susan McKenzie, Darcey Callison, Viv Moore, Kaeja D'Dance and Kathleen Rea. In 2009 she choreographed and produced Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? at Winchester Street Theatre. Her choreography has appeared in fFida, Dances for a Small Stage, Square Zero, Dance Matters series, on bicycles, trapezes and in anti-war events. She has been commissioned to create work for the MacMaster Dancers, IN pulse Dance Co., composer John Oswald, Kid in the Hall Bruce McCullough, actor/playwright Diane Flacks and performance artist Phillip Barker and taiko drummers, Raging Asian Women. She is a founding member of High Xposure: Rock Climbing Dance Theatre and dance buskers, Bo Mon 7 Pagolac. Pam's theatre credits include: Myth Me and By a Thread (Mythproductions), Gravity Calling (Tarragon), The Stranger (Praxis Theatre). Her film credits include features Zero Patience and Million Dollar Babies and many independent films. She has toured the world as an actor/dancer with the acclaimed Canadian Opera Co. production, Bluebeard’s Castle/Erwartung directed by Robert LePage. As a director, Pam’s credits include the Canadian premier of Marx in Soho, A Tribute to Howard Zinn and video Toronto’s Price Tag. Pam’s dance specialty is Contact Improvisation. She is co-coordinator of the Toronto Contact Jam, now in its 35th year. She holds an MA for York University. Her work has been supported by the Toronto and Ontario Arts Councils and the Canada Council for the Arts. She is a faculty member in theatre at Humber College, George Brown College and the School for Toronto Dance Theatre.
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DEBORA JOY (VOICE) A professional actor/singer /director for 25 years, Debora has been the voice professor at the George Brown Theatre School for the past 14 years. She holds a voice performance degree (BMus) from the University of Toronto and a Masters in Fine Arts in Directing (MFA) from York University. She studied extensively with master voice teacher, David Smukler, and master singing teachers, Richard Armstrong, Patricia Kern and Mary Morrison, and attended both the National Voice Intensive in Vancouver as well as Shakespeare and Company in Lennox, Massachusetts, where she studied with Kristin Linklater, the ground breaking author of Freeing the Natural Voice. This past summer, she attended the Voice Teachers’ Conference with Patsy Rodenburg at Stratford. Debora has taught voice for actors at York University, the University of Windsor, and Erindale College (Uof T). She taught singing at York University and in the Musical Theatre Department at Sheridan College, and she also teaches voice, singing and audition preparation in her private studio. A Tyrone Guthrie award winner, Debora spent five seasons at the Stratford Festival and toured with the company to Broadway and the Old Vic in London, England. She has also directed and acted in many productions at regional and summer theatre festivals. Equally at home in plays, musicals and contemporary opera, her favourite professional credits include the title role of Evita, Emily Dickinson in The Belle of Amherst, Aggie Rose in the Canadian opera The Boiler Room Suite, Mme. Gobineau in The Medium, Cecily Pidgeon in The Odd Couple (directed by Martha Henry) and Portia (understudy) in Julius Caesar (directed by the late Richard Monette at Stratford). Debora has worked with the Soulpepper Academy Artists and has also taught voice workshops for the Tom Todoroff Acting Studio, and at Elevated Grounds, coaching at-risk youth, and with Workman Arts, a not for profit arts company working in partnership with the Centre of Addiction and Mental Health. This past summer, she coached Pamela Sinha in her award–winning solo show, Crash, at Theatre Passe Muraille. Debora is proud to be part of the faculty of the George Brown Theatre School, and she is prouder still of the past, present and future graduates of this illustrious school.
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JEANNETTE LAMBERMONT-MOREY (PERIOD STUDY, MONOLOGUE) Jeannette Lambermont-Morey has directed major productions in major theatres across Canada and the United States, from the Stratford Festival, to the Virginia Stage Company; including such theatres as The Citadel (Edmonton), The Great Canadian Theatre Company (Ottawa), Atlantic Theatre Festival (Nova Scotia), Manitoba Theatre Centre (Winnipeg), Theatre Aquarius (Hamilton) the Thousand Islands Playhouse (Gananoque), Talk is Free Theatre (Barrie), the New World Theatre Project (St. John’s, NFLD) and Huron Country Playhouse (Grand Bend); and Toronto theatres, Factory Theatre, Canadian Stage, Harbourfront Centre, and The Toronto International Fringe Festival, etc. Jeannette directed the World Leaders Tributes to Harold Pinter and Robert Rauschenberg as part of the internationally acclaimed Series produced by Harbourfront at the Liberty Grand in the fall of 2001. That year also marked her 8th season with the Stratford Festival in Ontario, where she directed Henry V. Other significant Stratford Festival productions include As You Like It (2000), Pride and Prejudice (1999) and The Miracle Worker (1998). In earlier years at the Festival she directed Titus Andronicus, The Grand Inquisitor and Swan Song (1989 and 1990), as well as serving as collaborating director on The Comedy of Errors and The Relapse (1989) and assisting Richard Monette on The Taming of the Shrew (1988) and John Neville on Othello (1987). Her hit production of The Syringa Tree (The Citadel) won a Sterling Award for Liisa Repo-Martell; and her productions of Twelfth Night in High Park (Canadian Stage) and Digging For Fire (Paramour Productions) were both nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore awards for Outstanding Production. Favorite projects have included The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice for the New World Theatre Project in St. John’s, Newfoundland, As You Like It for BlueBridge Rep Theatre in Victoria, Private Lives at the Atlantic Theatre Festival, The Beauty Queen of Leenane at the Virginia Stage Company with Eileen Brennan, and also at the Manitoba Theatre Centre with Rosemary Dunsmore. Doc (Great Canadian Theatre Co., Ottawa), Moving Day by Cathy Elliott (TIFT), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Juilliard School , N.Y.), to name only a few. She also produced and directed the CBC's live show Get Set for Life for a cross-Canada tour and the Milk International Children's Festival of the Arts at Harbourfront. Jeannette works extensively in college and university theatre programs as a director and instructor. Among them are George Brown College, York University, the Juilliard School (NY), the University of Alberta, Ryerson University, Dartmouth College (NH) and the University of Victoria. In 2008, Jeannette directed Sophocles’ Oedipus trilogy The Thebans, translated by Timberlake Wertenbaker, at the University of Calgary. At George Brown College she has directed War and Peace, The Beau Stratagem, Lion in the Streets, Rites, Wild Honey and Bon Ton & The Lying Valet as well as the Annual Period Study exercise. Jeannette is passionately devoted to the development and dramaturgy of new work, and is currently working with several George Brown graduates on various projects. Jeannette is currently the Artistic Director of the New World Theatre Project in Newfoundland. She is also Executive Director of the Shakespeare Globe Centre of Canada. Jeannette lives in Oshawa with her husband, fiction writer and computer special effects compositor Mike Morey, and their daughter Micaela.
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PAUL LAMPERT (TEST PIECE) Mr. Lampert has worked extensively as a director, actor, and teacher. His European credits include acting with Poland's Theatre BLIK and the International Theatre in Vienna, Austria, as well as directing the national premiere of Oleanna for the Stary Theatre in Kraków, Poland; Raised In Captivity in Berlin, Germany; I Claudia in Barcelona, Shanghai and Munich; also in Munich Problem Child; twice directing at the renowned East 15 Acting School in London, England; and, most recently, Beast on the Moon in Los Angeles. His many directing credits in Canada include work for the Actors Repertory Company, Globe Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Persephone Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Tattoo, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, The National Theatre School of Canada, as well as six seasons with the renowned Shaw Festival and three seasons with Blyth Festival. He has taught mask, scene study and improvisation at theatre schools in Canada as well as England, Poland, Sweden, Cuba, Austria, Switzerland and China. Mr. Lampert is past Associate Director of Persephone Theatre and past Artistic Director of the George Brown Theatre School. Currently he teaches acting and directing at York University and is Co-Artistic Director of Theatre PANIK. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (Acting) and holds an MFA (Directing) from York University.
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DIANA LEBLANC (GUEST DIRECTOR) Selected directing credits: A Delicate Balance, Ghosts, Macbeth, The Seagull, The Cherry Orchard, Death of a Salesman, Sweet Bird of Youth, Romeo and Juliet and A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, Stratford. Other directing credits include The Retreat from Moscow, Theatre Calgary; The Unanswered Question, A Streetcar Named Desire, The Maids, The Zoo Story, The Real Thing, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Price, Soulpepper Theatre Company, of which she is a founding member; Copenhagen, Neptune, NAC and Mirvish Productions; Rose and Fallen Angels, Leonor and Alvin Segal Theatre; A Long Day’s Journey Into Night, MTC; The Glass Menagerie, Tarragon; and Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Les Femmes Savantes, Les Fausses Confidences, La Répétition and Eddie, A Toi, pour Toujours, L’Ecole des Femmes all at Théâtre Français de Toronto where she was Artistic Director from 1991 to 1996. Ms Leblanc has also directed opera for the Canadian Opera Company, Opera Calgary, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Ontario and Opera Centre Amsterdam. Ms Leblanc is a Director of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award Foundation.
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ANNA MacKAY-SMITH (MONOLOGUE) Anna MacKay-Smith has had an eclectic career in the theatre. She was trained as an actress at The University of Ottawa for her B.A. in Theatre and English and then went on to theatre school in England, The Drama Centre, London for a three year acting program. Starting her professional career, she performed at regional theatres across Canada, including The Stratford Festival. Always more interested in process than performing, Anna started teaching at C.A.S.T (Centre for Actors Study in Toronto), where she had studied under the master teacher Kurt Reis for many years. She returned to her studies at York University to obtain her MFA in Directing. Upon graduation she began to teach at York University, as well as, founding a full-time one-year foundation school in Toronto, called The Players Academy. This school ran for ten years with Anna as Artistic Director with over thirteen of the top theatre professionals teaching in the school. Anna began working with a Cuban Theatre company, Teatro Escambray for eight years, teaching workshops, writing and being directed in a play, bringing students from Players Academy to the company, and providing workshops with Canadian teachers, in clown, voice, mask and movement. Anna founded a professional playreading company The Motley Theatre, that has been in existence since 1996 and has produced more than 80 plays and brought in such talent as Rachel McAdams, R.H. Thompson, Kenneth Welsh, Paul Gross, Gordon Pinsent, to name a few. Her company Mothertree Projects, creates large performance pieces from the writings of women in the community. Anna works currently, as well, as a Creativity Coach, helping artists find their direction, inspiration and creativity. She currently teaches acting at George Brown College, University of Toronto Mississauga, Sheridan College and coaches privately. Anna is also a playwright and writes columns about life for a small newspaper.
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KENNEDY C. MacKINNON (SHAKESPEARE) Kennedy MacKinnon holds a MFA in Acting, a Diploma in Voice Teacher Training (York University) and a BFA in Acting (University of Windsor). Also known as Cathy, she is the founder and Artistic Director of Shakespeare Link Canada. With SLC Kennedy has spent the last seven years working in Mozambique where she co-created/co-directed Romeo and Juliet, Medida Por Medida, A Tempestade, and Sonho Noctourno. She co-adapted/co-directed Death of a Chief for Native Earth Performing Arts at the NAC/Buddies in Bad Times. She is currently working on Romeo and Juliet - Signing the Bard which will go into production Fall/Winter 2012 at YPT. She spent ten years as Head of Voice at Humber College where she continues to teach Acting (Shakespeare). She is currently in her fifth season as a Voice and Text Coach at the Stratford Festival of Canada where she also spent time working with the Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training and the Education department. In Denver, Colorado, Kennedy interned as assistant to Gary Logan (Head of Voice and Speech) at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts/National Theater Conservatory. She has taught and given workshops at a variety of places including Native Earth Performing Arts, Ryerson (Act II), Equity Showcase Theatre, University of Windsor, York University, Indigenous Theatre School, Randolph School for the Performing Arts, Young People's Theatre and the National Voice Intensive. Kennedy coaches for film and television and at theatres around Toronto and surrounding area. This winter she will add Shakespeare Chicago Theater to her coaching credits. She is an actor, director, stage manager and a certified Reflexologist. By either name, she is, as always, privileged to be here.
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ROBERT McCOLLUM (DANCE)Robert started his career in New York City as a scholarship student at the Joffrey Ballet and as an artist-in-residence at St. John Divine Cathedral with the Omega Dance Company. In 1978 Robert came to Toronto to dance with Ballet Ys and toured Canada, which he loved, and has been based here ever since. As a choreographer, his work has been seen across Canada with Ballet Ys, Danseast, Sharon, Lois and Bram, and Dance Nova Scotia. As well, he has choreographed for the theatre including the productions Monsieur D’eon is a Woman (Pea Green Productions), Maestro Orpheus (Centre in the Square in Kitchener), Love’s Labour’s Lost (Resurgence Theatre), and five shows for Soulpepper Theatre – Ring Round the Moon, Travesties, Waiting for the Parade, White Biting Dog, and You Can’t Take It With You. As the Dance Teacher and Resident Choreographer for George Brown Theatre for over 20 years, he was created dances for many productions including some memorable shows such as Sunday in the Park With George, The Threepenny Opera, Pride and Prejudice, War and Peace, and The Baker’s Wife. In addition to teaching at George Brown Theatre School, Robert is the Adult Ballet Program Director at Canada’s National Ballet School.
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SUE MINER (CAREER STUDIES) Versed in both classical text and new work Sue Miner is a freelance director and co-artistic director of Pea Green Theatre Group with her husband Mark Brownell. Recent credits include Opera Briefs (Tapestry New Opera) War of the Clowns (Pea Green) Say Gingerale (Summerworks), The Barbeque King (Port Stanley Festival Theatre) The Love List (Theatre Sudbury) The Tempest (Canadian Stage Dream in High Park) The Fantasticks (Red Barn Theatre) the opera Orphea and the Golden Harp (Jeunesses Musicales/ Theatre Cotton Robes) I Love You Forever and More Munsch (Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, Dora Winner) and Sexy Laundry (Theatre Aquarius). Other notable productions include Bella Donna (Burning Passions/ Some Strange Reason), Women Beware Women (Theatre Erindale), Sunday in the Park with George (George Brown/Equity Showcase), Le Chevalier St. Georges (Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra), Titus Andronicus (Dora Nomination) and Measure for Measure (both for Shakespeare in the Rough). Her other work with Pea Green includes the musical The Barbeque King, Conservatives in Love, Medici Slot Machine (Dora Nomination), Monsieur d'Eon is a Woman (Dora Nomination), Playballs, The Blue Wall (Dora Nomination) and Orchidelerium (Dora Nomination). As well as garnering several Dora nominations, Sue has been thrice nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Award for body of work in directing and has been twice touted as one of Toronto’s Top-10 theatre artists by NOW Magazine, and was on the Long List for the Siminovitch Prize for Directors in 2010 Sue along with Mark Brownell won a Harold Award for "outstanding contribution to the Toronto Performing Arts Scene" Sue trained at the National Theatre School and has participated in the Tapestry New Opera Works Director's Lab and the Director’s Masterclass at the World Stage Festival studying with Yoshi Oida, Phillida Lloyd and Peter Brook among others. Sue also teaches at Sheridan College’s Music Theatre Dept. and the Toronto Film School.
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DIANA REIS (ACTING) Ms Reis trained at the National Theatre School, HB Studio in New York and The Centre for Actors' Study in Toronto (CAST). Ms. Reis is best known to television audiences as the notorious Stephanie Long on CBC's Riverdale and saintly Lucy Ramone (Busy's mom) on Ready or Not for Global/Disney. She has appeared in over forty TV series, movies of the week and feature films and worked with such esteemed directors as John Huston, Robert Altman, Allan King, Lee Grant and Kinji Fukusaku. Most recently, she played principal roles in the LIFETIME film Taken in Broad Daylight and on the CTV series Nikita and LA Complex. Theatre highlights include: The Diary of Anne Frank (Manitoba Theatre Centre); Amadeus, The Little Foxes (Asolo State Theatre); Top Girls (Arbour Theatre); Salt-water Moon, A Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Aquarius); A Doll’s House (Banff Centre); Hedda Gabler, Waiting for the Parade (Magnus Theatre) and Charlie's Aunt (Capitol Theatre). Ms Reis' directing credits include: Loose Ends (National Theatre School); Under the Skin, If Betty Should Rise (Grand Theatre, London), Amadeus (Theatre Sheridan) and over 30 concert play readings for The First Stages Theatre Company of which she is the former and founding Artistic Director. She has been an acting coach on over 25 films and TV movies. In addition to her long time association with George Brown Theatre School, Ms Reis has taught and directed at Florida State University, Equity Showcase, Sheridan College, Ryerson University, The Armstrong Acting Studio, Humber College, The National Theatre School of Canada, the National Ballet of Canada and at her own professional theatre training workshop. In addition to her acting, directing and teaching commitments, Diana is pursuing her Masters degree in Theatre Studies at York University.
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ED SAHELY (GROUP IMPROVISATION) Ed Sahely worked with the renowned Second City as improviser/writer for seven years. His cast received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for their work on the Toronto Main-stage. He co-created the troupe Not To Be Repeated which would improvise a new Canadian play everynight, first running at the Tarragon Theatre. It was picked up by CTV and became This Sitcom Is Not To Be Repeated. Along with teaching Improv to the first year George Brown theatre students, Ed teaches Improv at the Second City Training Centre, the Sheraton/UTM first year students as well as guest artist for the George Brown Gaming Design students/2011. Other teaching credits include the Charlottetown Festival's Young Company/2010, frequent guest artist acting coach/director for Cawthra Park High School for the Arts in Mississauga, improv and monologue coach for the Theatre Aquarius Summer Theatre Camp 2011-2012. As an actor Ed has many credits for television, film and theatre work and continues to work as an actor, a writer, a director of theatre and dramaturge for new works.
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TRENT SCHERER (CANADIAN DRAMA) Trent holds a BA from UBC and a MA from University of Toronto. Trent was one of the co-Artistic Directors for 3 Men of Sin Theatre Productions based in BC directing such plays as Sexual Perversity in Chicago, Screwtape, The Beggar’s Opera, House,and Of the Fields, Lately. Over the years, Trent has been fortunate to produce Newhouse, Lear’s Daughters, The Soldier Dreams, and Lawrence & Holloman as well as act in Possible Worlds, Brights, A Sermon, and Creation of the World and Other Business.Trent has taught Acting, Digital Photography, Lightroom, History of Costume and Canadian Theatre History at the post-secondary level as well as Acting and Stage Management at the secondary level. Trent is an Equity Stage Manager and has stage-managed for Western Canada Theatre, Sunshine Theatre, Cabaret Company, 3 Men of Sin, Theatre Non Nubis, and Welcomewood. Trent has been teaching at George Brown since 2006 and is the Academic Operations Manager for the School of Design.
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JAMES SIMON (DIRECTOR, BUSINESS OF ACTING, SCENE STUDY)James Simon is a director and acting instructor. He holds an M.A. from the University of Alberta, B.A. from McGill University, and has studied at the Banff Centre. As an instructor, Mr. Simon has taught at the University of Alberta - Department of Drama, Grant MacEwan Community College (Edmonton), Theatre Ontario, and the Citadel Theatre. Directing credits include productions at the National Arts Centre; the Citadel Theatre; Tarragon Theatre; Young People's Theatre; Blyth Festival; Buddies in Bad Times (Dora nomination); Stage West; Theatre Network; Carousel Players; Theatre on the Move; University of Alberta - Department of Drama; Berkeley Street Theatre; and George Brown Theatre. Mr. Simon has been on the teaching staff for seventeen years, and been Artistic Director of the Theatre School for twelve years.
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DAVID STORCH (ACTING) For 25 years, David has worked across Canada as an actor, a director, and a teacher. Recent work as a director includes Arcadia (National Theatre School), Metamorphoses (Globe Theatre), Glengarry Glen Ross (Soulpepper), The Palace of the End, A Number, Omnium Gatherum, Sunday Father, Twelfth Night, Misery (Canadian Stage), “Art” (Arts Club), How I Learned to Drive (Manitoba Theatre Centre, Belfry Theatre), Einstein’s Gift, The Goat, Blue/Orange, Beauty Queen of Leenane (Citadel Theatre). Recent work as an actor includes The Misanthrope (Tarragon), A Month in the Country, Antigone, Travesties, Mary Stuart, King Lear, Translations (Soulpepper), The Overwhelming (Studio 180), What Lies Before Us (Crow’s Theatre), Frost/Nixon (Vancouver Playhouse, Canadian Stage), Hamlet, Servant of Two Masters, Measure for Measure, Wit (Citadel Theatre).
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JULIE TEPPERMAN (BUSINESS OF ACTING) A graduate of George Brown Theatre School, Julie is an actor, playwright & educator, as well as co-founding artistic director of Convergence Theatre (with fellow GB grad, Aaron Willis). In 2007 NOW Magazine voted Convergence Theatre as the "Best Site-Specific Theatre in Toronto", and in 2009 Aaron & Julie were listed as "Toronto's Most Respected Theatre Duo". Past Convergence productions include: AutoShow, The Gladstone Variations (4 Dora nominations, named one of NOW Magazine’s "Top Ten Toronto Productions of the DECADE") & YICHUD (Seclusion), which was twice produced in co-production with Theatre Passe Muraille in 2010 & 2011, and was the gala opener at the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Ottawa in June 2011. Recent acting credits include: Mr. Marmalade (Outside the March) and Out The Window (The Theatre Centre). Previous selected acting credits include: two seasons at The Stratford Festival and their Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, as well as numerous appearances at local Toronto festivals including The Toronto Fringe Festival, The Next Stage Theatre Festival, RED, The Lab Cab Festival, Hysteria & The Ashkenaz Festival. Selected writing credits include: ROSY (for AutoShow), I Grow Old (for The Gladstone Variations, Dora nomination), YICHUD (Seclusion), which was recently published by Playwrights Canada Press, and The Father - a re-imagining of the August Strindberg play for Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. As an educator, Julie regularly facilitates "Self-Producing" workshops for Nightwood Theatre and The Toronto Fringe, as well as teaches her own playwriting workshop: "Actors Who Want to Write". She runs A Bit O’ The Bard, an in-school Shakespeare program for teachers and students grades 4-12, has been an Artist Educator with the Stratford Festival since 2002. Julie is on the faculty of Ryerson University’s Act 2 Studio (a drama school for people aged 50+), has been an Artist-in-the-Schools with Factory & Tarragon Theatres (where she has facilitated the Paprika Festival’s “Creators’ Unit”), and is a regulator education consultant/facilitator with The Luminato Festival. ETC: Julie is an active member of TAPA's Indie Caucus, and is on the organizing committee of Toronto's Wrecking Ball. Convergence Theatre is currently a resident company at Theatre Passe Muraille.
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SEVERN THOMPSON (GUEST DIRECTOR) As an actor, Severn has appeared in theatres across the country. Selected acting credits include: Macbeth (Shakespeare in Action); Hannah’s Turn, (SummerWorks Festival); Tout Comme Elle (Necessary Angel/Luminato); More Fine Girls (Tarragon Theatre); The Merchant of Venice, Fuente Ovejuna, The Liar (Stratford Festival). She appeared in 8 seasons at the Shaw Festival in productions such as The Cherry Orchard, Diana of Dobson’s, Hay Fever, and The Doctor’s Dilemma. Severn was assistant director to Eda Holmes for George Brown’s production of Liaus and then directed its remount for the City of Wine Festival (Theatre Passe Muraille). She also assisted Ms. Holmes for Ryerson’s production of Serious Money. Most recently, Severn directed the Blyth Summer Festival’s Young Company in a collective creation called, The Farm: 2012. Severn is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory.
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J. RIGZIN TUTE (MUSIC)Rigzin maintains an active career as a composer, teacher, conductor and singer. He has written incidental music and songs for many George Brown Productions as well as Ah, Wilderness! for Shaw Festival (2004), and Love's Labour's Lost for Resurgence Theatre (2003). In addition to teaching singing at George Brown, he maintains a private voice studio. His students have been accepted into voice programs at the Universities of Toronto, York, Windsor, Westminster Choir College and the Berklee School of Jazz in Boston. He also coaches professionals performing in music theatre and as soloists with such organizations as the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Kitchener-Waterloo Philharmonic Chorus and the Elora Festival Singers. Rigzin is formerly the conductor of the University of Waterloo Concert Choir and Chamber Choir, Guelph's Rainbow Chorus and Toronto's Interlink Choir. He has performed as a soloist with choirs and orchestras throughout North America and Europe. He has also been featured in major operatic productions at the Spoleto Festivals in Charleston, South Carolina and Spoleto, Italy. He is a founding member of Mirror Image, an avant-garde vocal ensemble with performances of major Canadian commissioned works for the Winnipeg Symphony and the K-W new music festivals. Rigzin music-directed Sunday in the Park with George for George Brown/Equity Showcase, The Threepenny Opera, The Baker’s Wife and Happy End for George Brown Theatre
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BLAIR WILLIAMS (GUEST DIRECTOR) Blair Williams returned to the Shaw Festival this year for his eighteenth season to direct the comedy The Millionairess by Bernard Shaw. In 2011, for The Shaw’s 50th, he directed Molnar’s The President and appeared as Hector Hushabye in Heartbreak House. His Shaw credits include The President, Eustace in the North American premiere of Githa Sowerby’s The Stepmother, Saint Joan, A Month in the Country, after Turgenev, Too True To Be Good, Love Among the Russians, The Constant Wife, Journey’s End (2005),The Return of the Prodigal (2002, 2001), Candida, Six Characters in Search of an Author (2001), The Doctor’s Dilemma, Still Life, The Madras House, Uncle Vanya, Major Barbara, John Bull’s Other Island, The Two Mrs Carrolls, In Good King Charles’s Golden Days, Widowers’ Houses, Counsellor-at-Law, The Millionairess, Press Cuttings, Mrs Warren’s Profession (1990), The Waltz of the Toreadors, An Inspector Calls (and tour), Man and Superman (1989), Geneva and He Who Gets Slapped. Recently, Blair directed The Play’s the Thing for the Segal Centre in Montreal and Rope for Vertigo Theatre in Calgary. Additional theatre credits include Charles Condomine in Blithe Spirit (Segal Centre); Dr. Prentice in What the Butler Saw (Soulpepper Theatre Company); Betrayal (Theatre Calgary); Marc Antony in Julius Caesar (Citadel Theatre); It’s a Wonderful Life (Canadian Stage Company); Macduff in Macbeth (NAC/Citadel Theatre); Banquo in Macbeth (Theatre Calgary); Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeareworks); Edward Voysey in The Voysey Inheritance, Mike Connor in Philadelphia Story (Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia); Mickey in Mojo (Theatrefront); Gaslight, Hay Fever, Sherlock Holmes (Theatre Calgary); The Shooting Stage (Winter Fling, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Grand Theatre, London); The Soldier Dreams (with Da Da Kamera), Closer (Canadian Stage Company); The Weir (Geva Theatre, Rochester) and as Trigorin in The Seagull (Alumnae Theatre). He has also appeared on the stages of Theatre New Brunswick, Skylight Theatre, Arbour Theatre Festival, Perth Theatre Projects and The Everyman Theatre Company (Liverpool, England). Blair has also appeared with the internationally acclaimed chamber orchestra Tafelmusik in the narrative concert Chariots of Fire. Other credits with Tafelmusik include King Arthur, The Grand Tour, and The Quest for Arundo Donax; the recording of which won a Juno Award for Best Children’s Album of the Year. His film credits include American Psycho (Lions Gate Films); Sparky’s Shoes, Lovely Boys (Canadian Film Centre). He has been seen on several television series including Street Legal; Kids in the Hall; Material World; ENG; F/X – The Series; Manchester Prep. Blair is a native of North Bay, Ontario and a graduate of the National Theatre School.
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LEE WILSON (GUEST DIRECTOR) Founding Artistic Director and past Resident Director of Resurgence Theatre Company in Newmarket, Ontario. Lee was the assistant director to Des McAnuff on The Tempest film and stage production at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival starring Christopher Plummer. In addition, he was one of eleven directors chosen to participate in the Inaugural Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directors at Stratford. Lee was the Apprentice Artistic Director/Artistic Associate at the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario during the 2008/2009 season. In 2008, Lee was invited to The Old Vic in London, England to take part in a directing workshop with the Peter Hall Company. He was an Intern Director at the Shaw Festival during its 2005/2006 season and the Resident Director in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in2004/2005. In 2003/2004, he was awarded the Urjo Kareda Residency Grant to study directing/artistic direction with director Richard Rose at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. Lee started off his professional career as a member of the Inaugural Soulpepper Training Company studying directing, acting, and design with his mentor Robin Phillips. Select credits include: The Merry Wives of Windsor and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre by the Bay); The Campbell House Story (Single Thread Theatre Co.); The Crucible (Ryerson Theatre School); Hedda Gabler and Picnic (University of Windsor – School of Dramatic Art); Macbeth and The Comedy of Errors (University of Waterloo Drama Department);The Sicilian by Moliere and adapted by Nicolas Billon (Toronto Fringe Festival); Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night (Resurgence Theatre Company); Arms and the Man, The Magic Fire, Rosmersholm (assistant director) andThe Valiant (director) at the Shaw Festival. Measure for Measure, As You Like It and The Winter's Tale (assistant director) at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Upcoming: Artistic Producer on a TV Mini-Series based off of the New York Times best-selling novel Lion of Ireland by Morgan Llywelyn. Lion of Ireland chronicles the life of Ireland's first High King Brian Boru and will be a Canadian/Irish co-production.
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PETER C. WYLDE (TEXT STUDY) began his professional career in 1953 at the Bristol Old Vic and subsequently appeared with the Salisbury Arts and West of England Theatre Companies, Glasgow Citizens’ Theatre, Carlisle Repertory, two Edinburgh Festivals, and the Stratford Festival of Canada in its last year under canvas, and in the Tyrone Guthrie production of Tamburlaine the Great on Broadway. He performed with and subsequently co-managed the Straw Hat Players for three seasons in Part Carling and Peterborough, Ontario. He took degrees in Modern Languages and Literatures, and in Slavic Languages and Literatures from the University of Toronto and at Harvard, subsequently teaching at Harvard, U. of T. and Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts. He was invited by Leon Major to become dramaturge at Toronto Arts Productions, (1973-1980), where his translation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters had been produced in 1972. He was Head of Acting at George Brown Theatre School for thirteen years, (1986-1999), teaching also at the Royal Conservatory Opera School, the National Theatre School of Canada, (1980-2001), the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival, and at Ryerson University Theatre School, (2000 to 2010). He then established the Wylde Project, (www.wyldeproject.com ), teaching and coaching independently (studio@wyldeproject.com ). His directing credits include work with the Toronto Children’s Opera Chorus and the Pacific Opera Victoria, B.C. He continues to work as a professional actor, and appeared in an independent production of Duet for One with George Brown graduate Liz Dixon, directed by Dorothy Ward, the Canadian Stage production of The Beard Of Avon directed by former NTS student David Storch, at the Bluma Appel Theatre in Toronto, and Like A Dog, (Fringe 2012), a new work written for him by Ryerson graduate Matthew Gorman and starring George Brown graduate Andy Trithardt. He has given lectures on the cultural and historical backgrounds of numerous plays for acting companies such as Soulpepper and Stratford in their early rehearsals, written programme notes, and created for Brian Bedford a one-man show, Ever Yours, Oscar, drawn from the correspondence of Oscar Wilde. He can occasionally be caught, very late at night, in a re-run of a sci-fi movie called Carver’s Gate a.k.a. Dreambreaker. His former students now populate stages all across the country and are keeping him poor.
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