Stageworthy

Alec Toller is a playwright, actor, director, and Artistic Director of Circle Snake Productions. Circlesnake Productions uses collaborative creation to produce new work with a cinematic approach to storytelling. Circlesnake uses genres that are rarely put on stage to explore new approaches to theatre. Circlesnake grounds heightened theatricality through the understated realism of filmic performance. Circlesnake explores the intersection between theatre and film to find powerful new stories.Circlesnake presents Slip, March 23 - April 2, at the Tarragon Workspace.Slip follows Detective Lynne Barrett as she tries to piece together a mysterious death: a woman is found dead on the floor of an abandoned apartment with debris strewn everywhere, and a symbol carved into her arm. Her attempts to uncover the truth are disrupted by the overwhelming complexity of the case, and Lynne must untangle a mystery that escapes the simplicity of a single story. A play about crime, memory, and storytelling.Slip is nominated for 3

Rob Kempson is a theatre artist and educator. A graduate of queen’s university, rob works as a playwright, director, and performer. Writer/director: Mockingbird (Next Stage Theatre Festival); Shannon 10:40 (Timeshare); explicit (Rhubarb Festival); #legacy (Harbourfront Centre); in my own skin (YRDSB); the HV project (Community); intersections (TDSB Arts co-op). Director: Violet’s the pilot, Rose’s Clothes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Songs for a New World (Claude Watson). As a performer, he was most recently seen starring in his Dora-nominated musical The Way Back to Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille). He was a member of the 2014 Stratford Festival Playwrights’ Retreat, and is currently a resident artist educator at Young People’s Theatre and the Associate Artistic Director at the Thousand Islands Playhouse.http://www.robkempson.com Twitter: @rob_kempsonTrigonometryGabriella wants action. Jackson wants a scholarship. Susan wants a family. In this new play by Rob Kempson, three disparate people find themselves

Victoria Velenosi is a storyteller and tells stories to anyone who will listen. She is half of the partnership that runs Brick and Mortar, home of The Attic, The Box and The Commons. At any given time, she can be found either on stage, behind a computer, or under a pile of cats. Most impressive credits include a list of shows you’ve probably never heard of. ☺Vikki is a graduate of the University of Windsor Acting Program and Straeon Acting Studios. Vikki believes that every artist has an important voice and, with the right stage, they can change the world. #DREAMBIGGERABOUT Brick and Mortar: Brick and Mortar started independently as The Box and The Attic by Vikki Velenosi and Kasey Dunn. They came together in 2016 to form Brick and Mortar and open a third space, The Commons. Each of their studios is unique and yet they share a common principle: The belief that artists deserve clean, beautiful space to work in.Each space is well-located, non-traditional, artist run, bright, open, and alive with history and cha

Rosemary Doyle is the founding Artistic Director of the Red Sandcastle Theatre and the Wilde Festival Foundation for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario Canada. An actor, since the tender age of 8 years, she prefers to think of herself as a Theatre Person, because she acts, directs, writes plays,sings, hangs lights and builds sets or costumes on regular basis. She is a graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in NYC and is the mother of two teenaged boys.http://redsandcastletheatre.com/@rosemaryedoyleStageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

D.J. Sylvis has been involved in theatre for over 25 years as an actor, director, technician, playwright, and producer. He is a founding member and playwright-in-residence of Monkeyman Productions, Toronto’s geekiest theatre company. D.J. is inspired by monkeys, robots, cats, the Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bigfoot, that theme song from The Greatest American Hero, Arthur Kopit, 80s-era Justice League comics, various dystopias from his childhood(including Bible School), Lego spacemen, Alfred Hitchcock Presents (just the hosting segments), potato chips, Young’s Double Chocolate Stout, yellowed sci-fi paperbacks, friends, enemies, strangers in the night… and all things strange and wonderful in this world.http://www.djsylvis.com/@deejsylvisStageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

Dana Fradkin is an actor, comedian, writer, teacher and stunt performer based in Toronto. Selected theatre credits include; The Things We Do For Love and Smeraldina in The Servant of Two Masters (Odyssey Theatre), Dancock's Dance and Hogtown (the Campbell House/Hogtown Experience), Acrobat/Clown in La Boheme and Atom Egoyan’s Die Walkure (Canadian Opera Company), Arlecchino in Fool’s Gold (Metaphysical Theatre), AutoShow (Convergence Theatre), Macbeth and Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare in the Square), Vanishing Currents (Caravan Tallship Company), Tony N’ Tina’s Wedding (Second City Toronto) and collaborations with Theatre Gargantua, Mysteriously Yours, Against the Grain Theatre, Cirque Sublime and Circus Orange. Dana is co-founder of Keystone Theatre and co-created and performed in their three successful productions; Gold Fever, The Last Man on Earth and The Belle of Winnipeg (Dora Award musical composition). World-wide festivals include; Glastonbury Music Festival, Vancouver 2010 Cultural Olympiad, Calgary S

Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is an award-winning actor, best known for the lead role of Appa in the CBC series Kim’s Convenience, which is based on the stage play in which he also starred as Appa. Born in Korea, his family immigrated to Canada when he was still a baby. He grew up in London, Ontario then moved to Scarborough, a suburb of Toronto and later to Calgary. After he was accepted to the University of Toronto, his parents moved back to the Greater Toronto Area. He won the 2012 Toronto Theatre Critics’ Association Award for Best Actor for Kim’s Convenience and received Dora Nominations for Outstanding Performance for both Kim’s Convenience and Monster Under the Bed. While best known for the role of Appa in Kim’s Convenience, Paul has also been seen in such roles as Hong Kong Lee in Ali & Ali: The Deportation Hearings with Factory Theatre and Cahoots Theatre Company, Robert in La Ronde with Soulpepper, and Zhang Lin in Chimerica with Canadian Stage. Paul is appearing as Appa in Kim’s Convenience at the Young C

Sandra Shamas is one of Canada's most celebrated artists; she produced her first performance of My Boyfriend's Back and There's Gonna Be Laundry in 1987. Two more Laundry shows followed and the Laundry trilogy was published, shortlisted for the Governor General's Award for English-Language Drama, and nominated for the Stephen Leacock Award for Humour. Next the three-part Wit's End chronicled her divorce, her move from big city to country living and farming life, and climbing menopause mountain.Looking at life on the other side of 50 with her brilliant wit, candid insights and hilarious physicality, THE BIG ‘WHAT NOW?’ is a personal journey of discovery with universal appeal. Because it‟s . . . 2017 women are finally talking about climbing menopause mountain, living life on their own terms, and asking „just WTF is next?‟ With earnest gratitude Sandra is honest, gutsy, wistful, and very, very funnyTHE BIG ‘WHAT NOW?’ runs until February 19 at the Fleck Dance Theatre, in Toronto.www.sandrashamas.com@sandyanne57h

Eric Woolfe is an actor, playwright, puppeteer and magician, and the Artistic Director of Eldritch Theatre, a Toronto theatre company specializing in horror plays using puppetry, live actors, and parlour magic. His work for Eldritch Theatre includes The Haunted Medicine Show, Madhouse Variations, The Babysitter, The Strange & Eerie Memoirs of Billy Wuthergloom, Dear, Grendelmaus, and Sideshow of the Damned. Some of his other credits include The Comedy of Errors (Humber River Shakespeare), The Last Christmas Turkey (Touchmark Theatre), Rocket & the Queen of Dreams (Roseneath Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Canstage), Timon in Disney's The Lion King. Eric Woolfe has been nominated for over a dozen Dora Mavor Moore Awards as both an actor and playwright. He is a three time nominee for the prestigious KM Hunter Memorial Award. The World Encyclopaedia of Puppetry lists him as one of Canada’s exciting new wave of notable puppeteers. His non-creepy writing credits include Step Right Up!, and Twas, for Thea

Good Old Neon is a theatre and performance company committed to interrogating moral, social, and political paradoxes by integrating avant-garde aesthetics with traditional storytelling. Since its founding in 2013, Good Old Neon has mounted four productions, each of which has received universal critical acclaim, but then of course what do critics know anyway? Good Old Neon Presents Dennis Potter's Blue Remembered Hills February 13-24th at Artscape Youngplace. http://goodoldneon.ca/ Twitter: @gontheatre Instagram: gontheatre Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/goodoldneontheatre/ Alexander Offord Alexander Offord is a writer, director, performer, &c. His written work includes the plays The Hystericon, Potosí, and the upcoming Donald Trump-inspired Willy Loman's America, as well as numerous essays and articles for publications as diverse as #CdnCult Times, BlogTO, The Literary Review of Canada, and his own blog, alexanderofford.com. He is periodically involved with various kinds of political agitation. He was

Cate (aka Cathy) McKim studied visual arts at York University and acting at George Brown Theatre School. By day, she works as a consultant at words with cowbell (website to come), providing copy editing, writing and voice-over services. After hours, she writes, acts, sings, and works on visual arts projects and stand-up comedy.A published short story and creative non-fiction writer, Cate has also contributed theatre and arts posts to Lipstik Indie Reviews, appears (credited as Cathy) in DJ Paul V’s Born This Way Blog and is a featured contributer in a Glamour Magazine piece about the 2012 launch of the book version Born This Way: Real Stories of Growing Up Gay.Prior to starting life with more cowbell, she worked (volunteer) with Toronto’s Alumnae Theatre Company as an actor, singer, playwright, scenic artist, bartender, newsletter columnist, company blogger and general go-to gal.www.lifewithmorecowbell.com Twitter: @lifemorecowbell Instagram: lifewithmorecowbell Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cowbellcate/

Phil is an actor and playwright, and a founding a member of Keystone Theatre, a Toronto company that creates plays inspired by silent film. You may have seen him as Gormless Joe in Keystone Theatre’s The Belle of Winnipeg, The Last Man on Earth, and Gold Fever, as well as in the films Abolition, The Dragon and the Unicorn and So You’ve Decided to be Attacked by Zombies. Phil is also the host of the Canadian theatre podcast, Stageworthy.www.philrickaby.com Twitter: @philrickaby Instagram: philrickaby Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PhiRickaby/Stageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

A boxing day message.

Sara Meurling is the Executive Director of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres and has had a thirty year career in theatre with management roles at the Theatre Centre, the Young Centre for the Performing Arts, and Managing Director of Factory Theatre (as well as independent producing). Her community work has included: juror, advisor and committee member, and as Member of the Board of a number of organizations including STAF, Theatre Gargantua, the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (and it predecessor, the TTA), and as a member of the Toronto Arts Council Theatre Committee. Sara has been PACT’s Executive Director since September 2014.@smeurling231http://www.pact.ca Twitter: @PACTtweets Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pactpageStageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

Filipina-Canadian playwright, director, dramaturge, actor, and Artistic Director of Factory Theatre. Nina Lee Aquino completed a Bachelor of Arts in drama at the University of Guelph and a Master of Arts in theatre at the Drama Centre, University of Toronto. She was a founding member and Artistic Director of fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company (2002-10), and Associate Artistic Director of Factory Theatre, as well as the Artistic Producer of the CrossCurrents Festival at Factory Theatre. She has also worked for Native Earth Performing Arts. From 2009 to 2013 she was Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre Projects. In September 2012, she was appointed a member of an interim artistic team with Nigel Shawn Williams at Factory Theatre.With Nadine Villasin, she co-wrote Miss Orient(ed) ( Carlos Bulosan Theatre 2003, directed by Guillermo Verdecchia) a comedy about a beauty pageant set in the Philippines, which satirizes the idealization of Western standards of attractiveness. In January 2013, her examination of her

Starting December 9, Toronto’s Soulpepper presents the cherished holiday classic It’s a Wonderful Life, reimagined as a 1940s live-radio broadcast. Directed by Soulpepper Artistic Director Albert Schultz and designed by Lorenzo Sovoini. Albert Schultz Albert Schultz was born 1963 in Port Hope, Ontario and was drawn to acting through his mother's community theatre work. He trained at York University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before joining the Stratford Festival Young Company under Robin Phillips where he played several leading roles including a lauded turn as Romeo. Beginning in 1992, Albert spent three years on CBC's hit television series Street Legal, followed by two seasons as the lead in the series Side Effects. His feature film work includes Beautiful Dreamers, I Love a Man in Uniform, Maximum Risk, Balls Up, Under My Skin, and most recently the lead in CTV's made for TV film Shades of Black (a biography of Conrad Black) which aired in December 2006. Albert is the Founding Artistic

Risha Nanda is a graduate from the Randolph Academy for the Performing Arts in Toronto, Ontario. Recent credits include; Skin (Magnus Theatre), Rocky Horror Picture Show (Lower Ossington Theatre), Hair (Randolph Theatre), Giovanni D’Arco (Carnegie Hall).Twitter: @rishneee Instagram: rishneeehttp://herstorycounts.com Twitter: @herstorycounts Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HERstoryCounts/Stageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

Diana Tso graduated from the University of Toronto with Honors BA in English Literature & from Ecole Internationale de Théâtre de Jacques Lecoq, in Paris, France. She has worked with diverse theatres internationally for over 18 years. Her favorite theatre co-creations/ performances include: Dante’s Inferno and Chekhov Shorts, both with Theatre Smith-Gilmour, and by the way, Miss… with Urge/Theatre Direct, for which she shares the Dora Mavor Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Her Monkey Queen, Journey to the East, a one-woman performance creation inspired by the Monkey King stories in Wu Cheng-En’s 16th century Chinese novel, Journey to the West premiered at the 2010 Toronto Festival of Storytelling & continues to tour it. http://redsnowcollective.ca Twitter: @diana_tso Stageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod

Allec Toller and Joshua Browne are the playwrights of The Queen’s Conjurer from Cirnclesnake productions, playing now until November 20th, 2016.John Dee was a 16th century adviser to Queen Elizabeth, and a scientist and magician when those two professions were indistinguishable. The Queen's Conjuror follows John Dee as he tries to decipher an enticing but ominous vision which he hopes will provide critical information that will impress the QueenElizabeth enough to gain her patronage. To do this, Dee enlists the help of Edward Kelley, a scryer, medium, and possible charlatan. Kelley proves to be as brilliant as he is disturbed, and Dee must work through the wretchedness of Kelley's soul and his erratic behaviour to access his revelatory visions and gain the Queen's support. The show explores the complexity of intimacy, the dangers of vulnerability, and the necessities of both for the alchemical transformation of the soul.Joshua Browne Twitter: @joshu_ashuaAlec Toller Twitter: @alec_tollerCirclesnake Production

Victoria Laberge is an arts administrator with her fingers in many pies. Originally from Montreal, she worked with the St-Ambroise Montreal FRINGE Festival and Centaur Theatre for several years in addition to running the arts and culture blog Bloody Underrated. Since moving to Toronto in 2015, she has taken on the roles of Director of Development for Nightwood Theatre, Canada’s flagship feminist theatre; Co-Producer for the monthly storytelling series Confabulation; and Publicist for the award-winning comedy troupe Sex T-Rex.Twitter: @victorialabergeStageworthy:http://www.stageworthypodcast.com Twitter @stageworthyPod Facebook: http://facebook.com/stageworthyPod