Artists
The people who have made it happen...
Artist Biographical Info
Majdi Bou-Matar
Majdi Bou-Matar is a theatre director and performer who immigrated to Canada from Lebanon in 2003. He holds an MA degree in Drama from the University of Guelph with research focus on Canadian intercultural theatre. Majdi has directed several productions in Beirut and has been an active participant in several theatre, television, and film projects in the Middle East and Tunisia. Majdi represented his country of origin, in Le Centre Arabo-Africain de Formation et de Recherches Theatrales (CAAFRT) where he gained broad experience with and passion for the intercultural aspects of theatre. An active member of the arts community in Waterloo Region, Majdi founded The MT Space (the Multicultural Theatre Space) in 2004.
In Beirut, Majdi’s directing portfolio includes: Nijinsky: the Hour of his Wedding to the Lord (1997); Miss Julie (1999); Something Like Macbeth (2000). In Canada, he has directed for The MT Space: Three-Legged Horse (04-05), Seasons of Immigration (2006), Yes or NO! (2007), Exit Strategy (2008), and The Last 15 Seconds (2009).
He is currently the Artistic Director of the IMPACT 09 theatre festival, hosted by the MT Space.
Badih AbouChakra
Badih AbouChakra graduated in 1998 from the Lebanese University in Beirut with a BA Honours in acting. He attended acting workshops in Lebanon, France, Jordan, Tunisia, The Actors Workshops in Boston USA (Sanford Meisner Acting Technique), and the Equity Showcase in Canada with David Smukler. Badih was an actor in several movies, TV series, and theatre productions in the Middle East, France, and Canada.
In Canada, he has been featured in The MT Space's Seasons of Immigration and Exit Strategy, Terrance Odette's feature film Sleeping Dogs screened at the Toronto International Film Festival, Amar Wala's short film The Good Son selected for the Dubai International Film Festival and in other feature and short films. Badih has played a leading role in the History Channel's Zero Hour and participated as an off-camera actor in the CBC's Little Mosque on the Prairie. He published two books and designed sets for several plays. He was the host of a famous talk show on Orbit TV. Badih won the prestigious Murex D'or award for the best actor in Lebanon for the year 2002.
Olga Barrios
Olga Barrios is a Colombian choreographer, dancer and actress. She graduated from the Scenic Arts Program at the Arts Academy of Bogota. Between 1999 and 2001 she visited San Francisco and New York City to explore different aspects of modern dance.
She has been a choreographer for several troupes in her native Colombia (1996-2003). As an independent choreographer, Olga has developed several dance creations. Olga was also a dance teacher in different cities in Colombia, as well as San Francisco, Montreal and New Jersey. In the latter where she coordinated the dance theatre program at the Progressive Language Institute.
As a dancer, Olga has worked with companies like Marc De Garmo and Dancers (NY-USA, 2000), L'Explose (Colombia, 1997-1999, 2001, 2007) and Federico Restrepo (Colombia, 1999). She has participated in many national and international festivals and events, and has received significant awards and recognitions in Colombia. In 2005, Olga took part in an international artistic collaboration as a result of the Asberg -Unesco Scholarship in Montreal. Currently, Olga continues to develop her dance and theatre career in Canada.
More about Olga can be found at:
Gary Biggar
Gary Biggar is a theatre, TV, and film actor based in Cambridge. His performance experience comes from more traditional theatrical productions. He graduated from George Brown College, Performing Arts and appears frequently at Galt Little Theatre in Cambridge.
He appeared in the Canadian premiere of The Perfect Manhattan that went to the WODL 2005 Festival and was nominated for Best Actor. Recent credits include: Wife Begins at Forty, The Butler Did it, The Devil's Disciple, The Nerd, Arsenic and Old Lace, A Clown's Show, The Mousetrap, and A Christmas Carol.
Graham Brown
Graham Brown got his start in the theatre performing in classical tragedies and musical plays with his high school. He holds a theatre degree from the Université de Provence in France, where he acted in the philosophical comedies Demeure fragile and Tokyo Notes, and directed adaptations of Hamlet and of Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Painting, writing, the theatre and foreign language-learning are the pet-obsessions that dominate his life. A great fanatic of music from the Balkans however, he has been known to throw down his paintbrush and shout Opa!, tormenting his neighbours with frenetic syrtaki-dancing.
Trevor Copp
Trevor Copp is a professional actor, ballroom dancer, and mime. Locally, he has performed and choreographed with Theatre & Company over 7 years. He teaches Ballroom/Latin dancing through danceScape in Burlington and has competed and performed extensively. Trevor completed a BA degree at the University of Waterloo and An MA in Drama at the University of Guelph, which have both invited him to return as an acting instructor.
Douglas Campbell
Douglas Campbell was seized by the dance bug, and took every kind of dance class imaginable, including Flamenco, Tap, and Highland Dancing. He appeared on stage several times, notably in a ballet recital, where he was the only male creature within a league of the theatre. (Not all pictures have been destroyed.) He also studied Aikido for several years and knows how to disarm an assailant wielding a sword (in principle.)
Seeking to put this training to good use, he joined Theatre & Company's Writer's Bloc in 2001. A scene from his play Pamphilia was produced as part of the New Works Festival in 2003, and Little Crickets was given a workshop and public reading as part of the NU2U program in 2005.
Nicholas Cumming
Nicholas Cumming (BA Drama and English / U. of Waterloo) is a founding company member of the MT Space. He has appeared in Exit Strategy, Yes or No!, Seasons of Immigration, Legion of Memory I + II, Me Here/Me Happy, Motio X Industria, and Three Legged Horse (MT Space); Asphalt Jungle Shorts I, II & III (Flush Ink Prod.); a German-English, production of Faust (Shadow Puppet Theatre); Sherlock Holmes & the First English Gentleman (Seventeen Steps); GLT's Queen Milli of Galt; and Mimetic Flesh/Mimetic Hotel, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Spring Awakening with UW Drama.
Nicholas was several characters in Brian Hogg's online puppet show, dotBoom 1.0; and seen in several web shorts in TRANSPORT (Ghist Productions). He directed and wrote Copy Protection (UNHINGED 2008), The Children's Crusade (UPStart 2007), and HE (UPStart 2004), produced by his own company What!sInThere? Productions (WiT Prod.). He is working on several new works with Pat the Dog, KW's professional playwrights' development centre.
Anne-Marie Donovan
Anne-Marie Donovan is the founding artistic director of InterArts Matrix, former artistic director of NUMUS Concerts and a founding member of the Blue Rider Ensemble. She has directed a wide range of performance events from the performance installation Soniferous Garden by Richard Wyndeyer, to the opera The Salome Dancer by Tim Brady and John Sobol, to more standard fare like The Importance of Being Earnest and the cult musical The Rocky Horror Show at the University of Waterloo. In 2007, she created a series of 'creative disturbances' entitled Sounding Rituals for the Open Ears Festival.
As a mezzo soprano, Anne-Marie has acted as a vehicle for many composers, having premiered, recorded or commissioned over 50 works. This spring, she performed in the premiere of Reaching for Nothing: Water's Thirst by composer Peter Hatch and architect Dereck Revington at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics.
Currently, she is involved in the collaborative development of Frankenstein's Ghosts, a multidisciplinary work using responsive space technologies, with the Blue Rider Ensemble in Montreal. Anne-Marie lectures in the Faculty of Music at Wilfrid Laurier University and the Drama Department at the University of Waterloo, where she was a recipient of the 2003 Distinguished Teacher of the Year Award.
Daniella Forjč
Daniella Forjč, a native of Montreal, has studied and performed theatre in Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. In Montreal Daniella worked for four years with the French Theatre Troupe CCSE. Since moving back to Ontario she has worked in improv with Bad Dog Theatre, puppetry with Cascade Theatre and has appeared in several short & feature films.
Some past productions include; Cosette in Les Miserables (CCSE), Margo in Le Journal d'Anne Frank (CCSE), Sara in Yes or No, and multiple roles in Exit Strategy (The MT Space), Laura in Stone & Ashes (Theatre Skam), and Curley's Wife in Of Mice and Men (Langham Court). Daniella studied Theatre and English Literature at Glendon College and Improv at Second City.
Athena Guy
Athena Guy was born and raised in Kitchener, Ontario. She has been a busy actor for the past 10 years. Selected credits include the lead role in Oleana in Listowel, Passages of Everette. Athena performs regularly with a Forum Theatre Group called Sexcited.
At The MT Space she appeared in Seasons of Immigration, Me.Here.Me.Happy, and Across the Veil. Athena is working on getting into Stratford's Conservatory Program and The Banff Centre in Alberta. Her ultimate goal is to win an Oscar!
Victoria Harrop
Victoria Harrop is a set designer. Selected design credits for set, costumes and properties include Alice In Wonderland - Theatre Guelph; Steven: The Steven Truscott Story - River Run Centre; The Emperor's New Clothes - Guelph Little Theatre; The King& I, Little Red Riding Hood; H.M.S. Pinafore, The Sound Of Music - Royal City Musical Productions Inc. She was also head scenic artist at Theatre & Company.
Todd Harrop
Todd Harrop has been involved in the local performing arts for many years. He has worked as an actor, dancer, percussionist or composer with Theatre & Company, Dancetheatre David Earle, Carousel and the Canadian Chamber Ensemble. Most of his design work for theatre has involved creating soundscapes and original music.
Gerima Harvey-Fletcher
Gerima Harvey-Fletcher brings over 25 years of musical genius to everywhere that needs his drumming magic. He's a dynamic soloist, a member of three bands and many musical relationships.
Nada Humsi
Nada Humsi is a well known theatre artist in her native Syria and the Arab World. Nada became the first female professional mime in Syria. She wrote and performed The Option (1988), a monodrama directed by Riad Ismat. The show toured Syria, Egypt, Japan and the United States.
She also played leading roles in dozens of plays and non-verbal monodramas that toured Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, India, France, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Japan, Canada and USA. Her recent acting credits include parts in: Me. Here. Me.Happy, by Diana Manole, Motion X Industria, Across the Veil, the Other End of the Line and The Last 15 Seconds, with The MT Space; The Unborn Child by Diana Manole, a short mono drama performed at the Canadian Stage Theatre; Woman . Women, with the Canadian-Iraqi Society and Syrian Mosaic Art Production, York Woods Theatre, Toronto; Much Ado about Nothing by William Shakespeare, Rouge and Peasant Theatre Company, Kingston, Ontario.
Among many other awards and professional distinctions she was awarded: Best Actress, The Non-verbal International Theatre Festival, 1993, Calcutta, India; Best Performer, Toyama Theatre Festival, 1992, Toyama, Japan; Best Actress, Carthage International Theatre Festival, Tunis, Tunisia, 1983. Best Children Play, Carthage Theatre Festival, Tunis, Tunisia 1995. Nada writes plays, poetry and paints.
Andrew Houston
Andrew Houston is the Views & Reviews Editor of the Canadian Theatre Review. In 2002, he and scenographer Kathleen Irwin started Knowhere Productions, a performance company that had its debut with a multi-disciplinary, site-specific performance in a disused wing of the Saskatchewan Mental Hospital at Weyburn, entitled The Weyburn Project. The company has since mounted several large-scale site-specific works, including Crossfiring / Mama Wetotan, a performance and installation which took place at the Claybank historical brick plant in southwestern Saskatchewan in 2006 and will be chronicled in a book to be published by the Canadian Plains Research Centre in the spring of 2009.
Andy is a faculty member of the Department of Drama, Speech Communication and Digital Arts at the University of Waterloo. He is a participating artist-researcher in Warmer, a multidisciplinary project examining the effects of global warming on various communities in southern Ontario, and he has recently been awarded funding from the Ontario Arts Council to pursue this research.
Gary Kirkham
Gary Kirkham is a playwright and actor. As an actor, Gary played Branislav in Yes or No (The MT Space); Gordon in Some Assembly Required and Edmund in The Lion the Witch and the Orchestra (Lost&Found Theatre); John in A Life in the Theatre (Theatre & Company); Mr. Johnston in Headache Grey and Phil in T Intersection (Record NewWorks Festival); and various roles in Asphalt Jungle Shorts.
Gary was one of the original members of Motus O Dance Theatre. He spent years as an improviser with several comedy troupes including Mental Floss, SecondCity Master Class, and, if you didn't blink, you might have seen him in several sketches on The Kids in the Hall. Gary's first full-length play, Queen Milli of Galt, was the winner of the 2005 Samuel French Playwriting Competition and has had several productions including The Blyth Festival, and The Chemainus Festival Theatre. His second play is Falling: A Wake. It was first produced by Lost&Found Theatre in 2007, had its US premičre at Stageworks/Hudson and will be going to Off Broadway. Gary is a member of Lost & Found Theatre.
Kari Kokko
Kari Kokko, Kari graduated from York University with a BFA in theatre production. She has worked in various capacities with various theatre companies, including administration for the Canadian Stage Company, stage manager for Theatre Collingwood, and lighting designer for Lost&Found Theatre.
Kari continues to work as a Lighting Designer with The MT Space. She has previously designed lighting for Seasons of Immigration, Yes or No, and Exit Strategy. Kari also works as a lighting and sound designer with the Singers' Theatre, KW Youth Theatre and many others. Kari also studies music at Wilfrid Laurier University, and she is a member of Lost&Found Theatre Ensemble.
Michael Kolodziej
Michael Kolodziej, born in 1981, is a first generation Polish-Canadian who has spent the first 19 years of his life asking a lot of questions in Hamilton, Ontario. He holds a BA degree in English Rhetoric and Professional Writing with a minor in Drama from the University of Waterloo. In the future, Michael simply aspires to maintain his wonder of the world and to share his discoveries with it.
Tatiana Kostour
Tatiana Kostour is a well-known and highly respected musician and teacher from The Ukraine. She is a graduate from the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory in Kiev (1991), and from the Chernivtsi Music College in Western Ukraine. In 1996 Tatiana received a Wilfrid Laurier University Music Faculty Scholarship to study with the Penderetzky String Quarter. She studied with Piotr Buczek and Jerzy Kaplanek, earning a three- year Diploma in Performance. In June of 1999 she was invited to serve as concertmaster of the Grand River Chorus Orchestra of the Sanderson Center in Brantford, Ontario, and in November of the same year she was a substitute concertmaster with the K-W Chamber Orchestra. From 2002 onward Tatiana has performed as a soloist as well as with chamber ensembles.
Jasminka Klacar
Jasminka Klacar came to Canada in 1994 from former Yugoslavia, Sarajevo. She had worked as a screenwriter, dramaturge, journalist and editor in TV Sarajevo and as an artistic director and dramaturge in Belgrade Drama Theatre. Also, Jasminka was a founder of the Acting School for Children and she had taught student in Academy for Theater, Film, and Television. In Canada, she worked as a dramaturge with Theatre & Company. She also wrote script reviews for Drayton Entertainment. She is the editor and host of the Serbian radio program at CKWR 98.5 fm.
Jasminka has a University degree in World Literature and Theatre and Performance studies. She teaches Serbian language and literature in the International Languages School at WRDSB. She currently works at the Catholic Family Counselling Centre.
Andrew Lakin
Andrew Lakin has been performing on stage and designing lights in the K-W region for over a decade. He is a founding member of Lost&Found Theatre, where he has performed in Twelfth Night, Vigil, and Cotton Patch Gospel, designed lights for Eleemosynary, and directed The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine. He has also recently directed a production of the Complete Works of Shakespeare (abridged), for The Essential Players.
Other favourite productions include The Foreigner, Cherry Docs, Three in the Back...Two in the Head, Waiting for Godot, and Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, all at Theatre & Co. Other lighting designs there include Red Lips, A Walk in the Woods, Proof, and Mary's Wedding. In his spare time, Andrew spends time with his wonderful wife Joanne, their toddler son, Atticus, and their Yellow Lab Lucy.
Eva Labadi
Bio currently missing.
Edwin Laryea
Edwin Laryea BA, B Ed., MA, Diploma (Policy and Diversity Management) is originally from Ghana, West Africa. He is a long-time resident of Kitchener-Waterloo and a former Lecturer at University of Toronto, a former Department Head of Languages at Bluevale Collegiate, former Vice-Principal and Assistant Supervisor/Principal of International Languages for the Waterloo Region District School Board.
He is a social activist with a strong belief in social justice for all. He is the former Program Director for the National African Canadian Initiative on Capacity Building and Full Participation of all African Canadians in our Canadian society. He has participated in three elections at the municipal and at the Federal levels.
His areas of expertise are social inclusion, capacity building, youth leadership, anti-racism and democratic citizenship. He has worked with various African Canadian communities across Canada to promote good policy responses for the inclusion of marginalized groups.
Edwin is a community advocate with several years of community leadership and service in the community. He was Chair of the Waterloo Region Youth Action Committee, Board member of K-W United Way and member of several other community groups, including the African Canadian and Caribbean Canadian Associations and the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Air Quality (Waterloo Region). He is a former Chair of From The Ground Up Steering Committee and former Board member for K-W Multicultural Center, Social Planning Council, and the K-W Record's Community Editorial Board. Currently, he is the President of the African Canadian Association of Waterloo Region and Area.
He is also the President and owner of Communication First, an Advanced English Language Training organization, located in Waterloo. He is fluent in four different languages, English, French, Spanish and Ga. He has three lovely daughters.
Nicole Lee Quesnel
Nicole Lee Quesnel has been working backstage and as a stage manager for several years in the Waterloo Region and beyond.
Selected credits: Exit Strategy, Yes or No, Seasons of Immigration (the MT Space);The Ticker's Wedding, The Lion, the Witch and the Orchestra, Falling: A Wake, Cotton Patch Gospel, Vigil (Lost & Found Theatre); Wunderkabinet (2007 Open Ears Festival); Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad (Showboat Festival Theatre); Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Perimeter Institute); Fire, Crossing Delancey, Queen Milli of Galt, Shadowlands, Waiting for Godot (Theatre & Company). Nicole is a founding member of Lost & Found Theatre (www.lostandfoundtheatre.ca), with whom she serves as a director, actor, teacher and producer.
Coleen MacPherson
Coleen MacPherson holds a BA Honours in Drama and English from the University of Toronto's University College Drama Program. Seasons of Immigrations was Coleen's first professional theatre experience. Growing up in Canada involves many people with various backgrounds. Whether one is Estonian, Serbian, Irish or Chinese, the need to invest and understand each other's histories is an important aspect of our "Canadianness."
Coleen herself is a mix of many cultures; a little bit of this and that, and is proud to be a Canadian. Credits include productions such as Grease, with the Galt Little Theatre, Plaza Suite, Romeo and Juliet, Oresteia, Vassa Zheleznova, the Toronto Fringe, and the U of T Drama festival.
Diana Manole
Diana Manole is a Romanian-born writer, director, TV producer, and scholar. She has published four books of poems and three books of plays, and contributed to several anthologies and magazines. Her work has been awarded fourteen literary prizes, and reviewed in The History of Romanian Literature: Drama (2008) and The History of Romanian Contemporary Literature 1941-2000 (2005), among others.
Diana is currently a PhD Candidate at Graduate Centre for Study of Drama, University of Toronto, where she is finishing her dissertation on post-colonial and post-communist dramas, focusing on the representation of national identity. She has taught theatre history at Queen's University, McMaster University, and University College, University of Toronto, and is currently teaching Introduction to Film Analysis at McMaster University. She is working with Adam Sorkin on translating her poetry book "Prayer to a Landed-Immigrant God" into English. After being involved as a playwright in Me Here, Me Happy in 2006, Diana is very happy to be back at the MT Space!
Carolina Miranda
Carolina Miranda is a performer from Brazil, where she was part of AGORA - CDT, a very active theatre company in her country. She holds a B.A. in Portuguese and English Language and Literature from the Universidade de Sao Paulo.
Carolina moved to Canada in August 2003, and has since studied with a number of eminent teachers such as Sue Morrison, Mike Kennard and David Smukler. She joined The MT Space for Nijinsky: through a window in October 2004, and co-created and performed in Seasons of Immigration in 2005. She had her debut on Canadian screens playing the leading role in the short film Moving by Ian Kennedy. She also appeared in Baby by Tijuana Lane.
Terrance Odette
Terrance Odette, an Award Winning Filmmaker, dropped out of high school at 16 and spent the next 18 years working in various jobs from Printer to Hospital Orderly. In 1994, with a critically acclaimed music television series "Listen UP", Odette began producing and directing music specials, including over 100 music videos.
Writing and directing his first feature film Heater in 1999 to great critical acclaim, (Variety, Village Voice, MacLean's, voted Top-Ten All-Time Canadian Films Vancouver Sun), the film garnered 9 awards, 3 for writing and directing and festival achievement: Sundance, Vancouver, London. Odette's 2nd feature, Saint Monica (2002) again played successfully to international festivals (Toronto, Berlin, Vancouver) and won multiple awards, including "Best film" at the Sarasota Int'l Film Festival.
Most recently Saint Monica was selected to play the 2005 Hampton Int'l Film Festival in a special screening of "Best of Berlin's Kinderfest". Sleeping Dogs is his 3rd feature. Odette continues to write and direct and lives with his wife and their daughter in Hamilton, Ontario.
Pam Patel
Pam Patel is a graduate of Wilfred Laurier University's music program where she studied voice under Laura Pudwell and Marianne Bindig. In June 2007, Pam performed at the Distillery District in Toronto in the premiere of "Tonhenge", an opera by Canadian composer, Renee Walrafen. Pam also participated in Nuit Blanche in downtown Toronto singing works by local composers.
Pam performed at the Vancouver Creative Music Institute as part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Her involvement with The MT Space includes The Last 15 Seconds, Across the Veil and the Other End of the Line.
Amanda Paixão
Amanda Paixão has given her life over to dance, as a performer, choreographer, teacher and researcher. She holds a BA in Dance from UNICAMP in Brazil where she also received a second undergraduate degree in Arts in Elementary and Secondary schools.
As a choreographer and performer Amanda has presented her stage work in Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Canada. Her artistic interests are situated in translating one's life experience into performance helping the audience reflect on their own. She is fascinated by the creative power within marginal cultures. For this reason, she has lead workshops, performed and choreographed in a variety of contexts in Brazil, from a NGO combating poverty to a native community, psychiatric hospital, disability center, elderly institution, and recycling association. After taking specialization courses in Modern Educational Dance at Federal University of Viēosa in Brazil, Amanda was a contract professor at two Post-Secondary institutions in Brazil. In Canada since 2005, Amanda has been working with Newton Moraes as a performer and teaching assistant.
At the present, she is pursuing an MA in Dance at York University in Toronto where she is also working as a Graduate Assistant. Amanda's research questions investigate how bodily memory and the experience of absence converge in Canadian performers with Diaspora connections.
Rob Ring
Rob Ring is a Video Artist currently living & working in Kitchener. Rob was born & raised in Kitchener & holds an MFA degree from the University of Guelph. He has been actively exhibiting for over 10 years & his work has been featured in the Images Festival, Optic Nerve Festival, and countless group & solo exhibitions nationally & abroad.
Ring's performance-based work employs a not-necessarily-funny sort of humour, and has earned him the reputation as "everybody's (second) favourite video artist". No longer using his own body as a creative instrument, Ring's current practice often integrates video projection into live performances by theatre groups, symphonies, and other special events. Rob is the Artistic Director of CAFKA - Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area.
Alan K. Sapp
Alan K. Sapp moved to Kitchener in 1992 with his family, and became a vital part of the artistic ensemble at Theatre & Company for 12 years. In 2004, the members of the ensemble left Theatre & Company, and formed Lost&Found Theatre, where Alan originated the role of Harold in Falling: A Wake by Gray Kirkham. Other favourite roles include Jem in Saucy Jack, Henry in The Lion in Winter, Donald Jackson in Three in the Back, Two in the Head and Caliban in The Tempest. Alan took part in several film projects, including Terrance Odette's Sleeping Dogs, which was a part of the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. The Last 15 Seconds was Alan's first show with The MT Space.
Marika Shwandt
Marika Schwandt is an actor, dancer, and playwright from Winnipeg, based in Toronto. She works hard to channel the love, strength, and sillyness within and around her into original collaborations. Marika is co-artistic director of The Movement Project, a multi-arts company which she co-founded in 2007. Marika is a member of b current theatre company's raiz'n ensemble, and also performs regularly with Les Coquettes Nouveau and Stand Up Dance. Marika works as an artist/facilitator with Jumblies Theatre Company, and is associate director of Nightwood Theatre's Busting Out girls' program. Recent work: Wise.Woman (b current), Forbidden Science (HBO), Breakout (CBC), How We Forgot Here (The Movement Project), King Kaboom (TVO). Marika is proud to join MT Space for this production.
Adriano Sobretodo Jr.
Adriano Sobretodo Jr. is a Toronto based actor, physical performer, and acting instructor.
He has appeared in theatre productions spanning Australia, the USA, and Canada including: Angelo in Measure for Measure, Commodore Perry in Pacific Overtures, Caliban in The Tempest, Major Ross in Our Country's Good, and Tamora in Titus Andronicus. He has worked with The MT Space for several years, debuting with the company in their 2008 production of Across the Veil.
Adriano studied at the Australian National Theatre Drama School before entering York University's MFA Acting conservatory program. Adriano also teaches acting to first year students at York University.
Priyanka Sinha
Priyanka Sinha is a classical Indian and contemporary singer. Priyanka's interest in the improvisational/experimental aspect of western music comes from the realization that at the heart of each classical composition is a "Raga", a continually evolving melodic basis established by the rich musical tradition of India.
She achieved her BMus in North Indian Classical Vocal Music under the guidance of renowned musicians in the art form. She attended training sessions in Britain in conducting interactive music workshops. Currently Priyanka is a student of Social Work at University of Waterloo and she teaches harmonic meditation for children in her vicinity.
Frank Spezzano
Frank Spezzano is an actor, director and drama teacher. His career began many years ago with St. Thomas More Players in Hamilton. He studied Commedia dell'Arte at the Piccolo Teatro of Toronto, attended Glendon College,York University, where he excelled in Shakespearean plays.
He also appeared as The Apothecary, in The Imaginary Invalid; Francois, in The Trial of Louis Riel and The Father, in Six Characters in Search of An Author. He continued his studies in Drama at The University of Toronto, Mc Master University, University of Guelph, Yormouth Playhouse in Massachusetts and at Niagara University in the U.S. where he received his Master of Science in Education.
Nick Storring
Nick Storring, a very eclectic musician, is constantly engaging with new projects. He is a member of bands Picastro, I Have Eaten the City, the Knot, and performs with vocalist Saidah Baba Taliba. He has shared the stage with various others including Damo Suzuki, Eddie Prevost, Rhys Chatham, Sandro Perri, Bob Wiseman, Ann Bourne and Daniel Johnston.
His compositions have been featured at the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony's New Orchestra Series, the Open Ears Festival, the 25th Anniversary of the Maison De Culture NDG in Montreal, Concordia University's EUCUE series, and on CBC's Brave New Waves. An active interest in cross-disciplinary projects has led Nick to compositional and performative collaborations with various theatres in Waterloo Region including Theatre and Company (with Jascha Narveson), The MT Space, director Andy Houston, and Poor Tom productions. He also collaborated with visual artists Isabella Stefanescu, creating interactive sound and music for The Notebook Project, which was first mounted at KWAG in 2006.
Nick also curates the MP3 blog End of World Music (http://endofworldmusic.blogspot.com) which features/ discusses different music from around the world. Nick is currently pursuing an MFA at York University.
Sheree Tams
Sheree Tams is both an artist and theatre designer. She has exhibited photography, video, performance installations and exhibit design as a solo artist and collaborator in both North American and the UK. She specializes in telling complex stories through colour, scope and detail of her theatrical and site specific creations.
Anastaziya Tataryn
Anastaziya Tataryn has lived, trained and performed in various Canadian cities. Before moving to Kitchener-Waterloo, Anastaziya trained at the Ottawa School of Dance professional modern dance program. Past theatre projects include Romeo and Juliet with Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, work with 25th Street Theatre, Free Flow Dance Theatre and the University of Saskatchewan Vagina Monolouges in Saskatoon.
Anastaziya also teaches Ukrainian folk dance in Kitchener. Anastaziya holds an Honours BA in contemporary History of the Americas from the University of Saskatchewan and is currently pursuing her graduate studies.
Miroki Tong
Miroki Tong is soon to graduate from the University of Waterloo with a BA Arts and Business, Drama Major, English Minor. She spent the previous year schooling in Northern Ireland where she had the opportunity to perform pantomime on a national tour with Sole Purpose Productions.
Whether it is the theatre, music (mezzo voice and piano) or fine arts, Miroki always tries to embrace all aspects of the artistic world that continues to offer her fascinating new perspectives and challenges.
Recent performances include: The Other End of the Line (MT Space), Mad Forest (dir. Andy Houston), Surface Tension (Upstart Festival) and Snow White the Remix (Sole Purpose).
John Trinh
Johnny Trinh a graduate from the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts, and soon to be graduate from the University of Waterloo with an Honours Degree in Drama. "Briefs From The Closet" is his first step into the world of producing, and an inaugural step for his company, Sepia Productions. Sepia is like a memory that still dreams. We never forget what happened, and strive for what could have been. What we choose to remember, how we choose to remember washes our perceptions of life.
Johnny has returned home to the Kitchener-Waterloo Area in hopes to strive for more "what could have beens". He is very grateful to the support offered by mentors and peers throughout the community and in his life. He hopes this festival will show those who see it "another way". He dedicates this festival to teachers, those immense people who have taught him that "Breath is Life, and every eternal moment you can change a life." With the deepest thanks and most profound love.
Johnny was the Artistic Director of Briefs from the Closet, a festival of queer theatre.
Julia Turzanski
Julia Turzanski is a high school Musical Theatre, Dance and Photography teacher in the Waterloo Separate School Board. She began dance lessons at the age of nine. This led to an interest and eventually a passion for all areas of theatre.
While both performing and working backstage, she earned an Honours BA in Drama and the Fine and Performing Arts from the University of Waterloo and a Bachelor of Education in Drama and Computer Science from the University of Western Ontario.
Stella Umeh
Stella Umeh, a native of Mississauga, is no stranger to the stage. She started competitive dance at the age of four and gymnastics at six. In her seventeen-year long career as an elite athlete, Stella has been named the most prolific gymnast in Canadian history. She appeared several times at the Commonwealth Games and World Championships. Stella represented Canada at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, where she placed an undisputed 16th All-Around.
Stella made her Cirque du Soleil debut in the Las Vegas production of Mystere, and followed that up with a two-year North American tour with Cirque's Varekai as a trapeze artist. During a five-year run with the company, Stella was a featured principle in the Emmy and Gemini Award Winning reality series Cirque Du Soleil's: Fire Within. 2007 has brought starring roles in two short films scheduled to be screened at festivals sometime during the summer. Stella holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California at Los Angeles ("UCLA").
Phil Wang
Tanya Williams
Tanya Williams is a graduate of the Environmental Studies program at the University of Waterloo. She has a passion for consciously creating spaces with others that inspire our learning together through awareness and dialogue. She has been facilitating and performing dance and theatre for over 16 years.
Tanya draws on her experience in physical theatre, forum and environmental theatre, movement and sound improvisation, choreography, modern dance, aikido, contact improvisation and Alexander Technique. Her adventures have found her creating environmental dance film on the shores of Ireland and in the canyons of Utah, facilitating theatre workshops with women in Guyana, South America, and creating collaborative community theatre in school buses, ruined mills, malls, and the inner city alleyways of south-western Ontario. She has performed and created dance in such venues as the Toronto Fringe Festival of Independent Dance Artists and the Festival of Interactive Physics (Toronto) and with the Friends of the Floor as part of CAFKA, (Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener and Area), and the Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival.
Tanya has performed with The MT Space, and Flush Ink Productions. She is also in collaboration with James Gordon, Andrew Houston, and an inspiring group of people from the community, on the integrated arts project WARMER that explores our responses to climate change.
Iva Zendelska
Iva Zendelska is a graduate from the National Academy for Theatre and Film Arts in Bulgaria with a BA in Acting. She brings an extensive on-stage experience, having played a wide range of characters in classics - The Importance of Being Ernest, The Home of Bernarda Alba, Don Qihote as well as some of the most provocative and inovative plays like Roberto Zucco and contemporary macedonian texts. Past projects include musicals and challenging movement pieces, combining two of her greatest passions - physical theatre and singing.