God of Carnage

Yasmina Reza

Playwright

For Studio 180: debut. Yasmina Reza is a French playwright and novelist based in Paris, whose works have all been multi-award-winning, critical and popular international successes, and translated into 35 languages. In addition to God of Carnage, she has written seven plays: Conversations après un enterrement (Conversations After a Burial), La Traversée de l’hiver (The Passage of Winter), Art, L’Homme du hasard (The Unexpected Man), Trois versions de la vie (Life x 3), Une pièce espagnole (A Spanish Play) and Comment vous racontez la partie (How You Talk the Game). She is the author of six novels: Hammerklavier, Une désolation (Desolation), Adam Haberberg, Dans la luge d’Arthur Schopenhauer (On Arthur Schopenhauer’s Sledge), Nulle part and L’Aube le soir ou la nuit (Dawn Dusk or Night). Films include Le pique-nique de Lulu Kreutz (Lula Kreutz’s Picnic), directed by Didier Martiny, and Chicas (based on Une pièce espagnole), written and directed by the author.

Christopher Hampton

Translator

For Studio 180: debut. Christopher Hampton’s theatrical work has garnered three Tony Awards, two Olivier Awards, four Evening Standard Awards and the New York Theatre Critics Circle Award. Prizes for his film and television work include an Academy Award, two baftas, a Writer’s Guild of America Award, the Prix Italian and a Special Jury Award at the Cannes Film Festival. His plays for the Royal Court include Treats, Savages, The Philanthropist, Uncle Vanya, Total Eclipse, Marya and When Did You Last See My Mother? Other plays include Embers, Three Sisters, Art, Sunset Boulevard, The Talking Cure, Alice’s Adventures Under Ground, White Chameleon, Tales from Hollywood, Don Juan Comes Back from the War, Tales from the Vienna Woods, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler, Life x 3, Tartuffe, Les liaisons dangereuses, The Unexpected Man and Conversations After a Burial. Hampton’s plays have been performed at the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Almeida, the Royal National Theatre, and both London’s West End and Broadway. His television credits include The Ginger Tree, Hotel du Lac, The History Man and Able’s Will. He has written the screenplays for Atonement, Imagining Argentina, The Quiet American, The Secret Agent, Mary Reilly, Carrington, Total Eclipse, Dangerous Liaisons, Wolf at the Door, The Good Father, The Honorary Consul, Tales from the Vienna Woods and A Doll’s House.

Joel Greenberg

Director

For Studio 180: Cock, Clybourne Park, The Normal Heart, Our Class,  Parade, The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, The Passion of the Chris & The Laramie Project. A co-founder of Studio 180, Joel is a Chalmers and Dora award–winning playwright and director who has directed productions across Canada. Elsewhere: Ain’t Misbevain‘, What the Butler Saw, Taking Sides, Vanities, Bells Are Ringing, Second City (Toronto and Chicago), Dames at Sea (too many times), Tonight at 8:00…8:30 in Newfoundland (all three editions), The Foreigner, Alice, Drink the Mercury and The Nuclear Power Play. Joel taught at Humber College Theatre School from 1984 to 1989 and the Drama Department at the University of Waterloo from 1991 to 2014, also serving as the Chair of each department.

Mark McGrinder

Associate Director

For Studio 180: As Assistant Director – Blackbird; As a performer – Clybourne Park, The Normal Heart, Our Class, Parade, Stuff Happens, Offensive Shadows, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, The Passion of the Chris & The Laramie Project. Mark is the Artistic Director of Studio 180 Theatre. His Studio 180 performing credits include Oslo, The Nether, You Will Remember Me, Clybourne Park and Stuff Happens. He has been a director and/or dramaturg(e) for many of Studio 180’s IN DEVELOPMENT projects and, as the program’s coordinator, has worked to connect creators with the appropriate collaborators required to bring their visions to the stage. He adapted and directed Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish for PANAMANIA, directed Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays and worked as Associate Director for Blackbird, God of Carnage and Studio 180’s 10th Anniversary reading of The Laramie Project. Mark was a member of the acting ensemble at the Shaw Festival for five seasons and he performed in several reviews with The Second City’s National touring company. He has been head or co-writer on several collective creations (Single and Sexy, That Artz Show and The Berlin Show) and his play MacHamlet was presented as part of the Alumnae Theatre’s New Ideas Festival. As an artist educator he has worked with high school, college and university students in and beyond the GTA and is continually inspired by the passion and vision of the young artists he has had the good fortune to connect with.

John Bourgeois

Alan

For Studio 180: The Normal Heart. Selected theatre: The Tempest (Prospero), The Price, The Goat, Lost in Yonkers, Oleanna, Cherry Docs, Frankie & Johnny (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Tamara (Off-Broadway); Gaslight (Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia); Troilus and Cressida (Stratford Festival); and M. Butterfly (Theatre Aquarius). Selected directing: After Miss Julie (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre), Decadence (Ziggurat Theatre – Dora Nomination), Taming of the Shrew (Skylight Theatre – Dora Nomination), Rough Crossing (Centaur Theatre) and Bag Babies (Theatre Passe Muraille). Writing: Tansey’s Brag (Ziggurat Theatre, Toronto Fringe, Bravo TV & CBC Radio), Walking on Crimson (Ziggurat Theatre). Teaching: U of T, George Brown, York. Faculty at Humber College. Director of Screen Acting program at Humber College. Recent TV credits: Day Late, Dollar Short, Copper, Covert Affairs and The Firm. Other: produced and directed the original short feature film, Jimmy Pacheco (Best Comedy at Mill Valley Festival and Yorktown Film Festival). In production: After Lola (feature length project with graduates of the Acting for Film and TV program at Humber).

Linda Kash

Veronica

For Studio 180: debut. Selected theatre credits: The Sisters Rosensweig; Love, Loss, and What I Wore; The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (The Imperial Theatre – played all seven roles); Lost in Yonkers. Linda Kash began her professional life at the Second City in Toronto and has appeared in a number of plays for Canadian Stage.Selected film and TV: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, Cinderella Man, Titanic (ABC miniseries), Servitude, Running Mates (with Henry Winkler); series regular for The Ron James Show, The Comedy Mill, Max Glick, Variety Tonight, She TV, Minor Adjustments, Style and Substance; guest appearances on Seinfeld, Third Rock from the Sun, Cybill, Everybody Loves Raymond, Ellen, Sabrina, Ken Finkleman’s Newsroom, Foolish Hearts, Good Dog, At The Hotel (Gemini Award) and King. Linda has co-created several shows for TV including My Talk Show, Go Girl! and The Joe Blow Show, which she also directed. As a point of interest, she voices Tony Nappo’s daughter, Gina Falcone, for Fugget About It (Teletoon). Other: Linda co-hosts a morning show for radio station Magic 96.7 fm and runs the Peterborough Academy of Performing Arts, which she co-founded in 2009 with her late “great” husband, actor Paul O’Sullivan. She also teaches improv to children and adults throughout Ontario through corporate workshops as well as community outreach programs. Linda is best known as The Philadelphia Cream Cheese Angel.

Tony Nappo

Michael

For Studio 180: debut. Selected credits: Murderers Confess at Christmastime (Outside the March); Sudden Death (Next Stage); The Real World, The Golden Dragon, Alias Godot, Little Mercy’s First Murder, Sideman, Motel Helene (Tarragon Theatre); Another Africa, The Cosmonauts Last Message…, Wild Dogs (Canadian Stage); The Dirty Beautiful, Unidentified Human Remains (Crow’s Theatre); Home is My Road, The Gwendolyn Poems, Problem Child (Factory Theatre); Hosanna (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre); Streetcar Named Desire (Theatre Calgary); Paradise by the River (Centaur); Au Country Road (SummerWorks); Betrayal (Soulpepper). Film and TV highlights include Saw 2, Four Brothers, Land of The Dead, Murder at 1600, Hank and Mike, Stag, Beat Down, The Resurrection of Tony Gitone, DaVinci’s Inquest, Intelligence, Slings and Arrows, Played, Saving Hope, Breakout Kings, This Beautiful City, Baby How’d We Get This Way, Defendor, You Might As Well Live, Flashpoint, This Is Wonderland and voicing the lead character, Jimmy Falcone, on Teletoon’s hit adult animated show Fugget About It.

Sarah Orenstein

Annette

For Studio 180: The Normal Heart & Stuff Happens. Sarah has appeared on stages across Canada, from her hometown of Halifax to the Queen Charlotte Islands, winning multiple awards in her career. Some of her many Film and T.V. credits include the film Albatross and the series Station Eleven and Less than Kosher. Selected theatre credits: 13 seasons at Shaw Festival, including Millionairess, Blithe Spirit , Councillor at Law and Heartbreak House, Tarragon Theatre including Patience, Collected Works of Billy The Kid, Scorched (Canadian tour) and The Message, 5 seasons at Stratford Festival, including Shakespeare in Love, Birds of a Kind and Nathan the Wise. She Is strongly committed to new play development and mentoring the next generation of actors and directors.

Andrea Schurman

Stage Manager

For Studio 180: debut. Recent credits include Stage Manager of The Mountaintop (Obsidian), A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline (Globe/Persephone), 2 Pianos 4 Hands (Marquis), Other Desert Cities (The Grand Theatre), Venus in Fur (Canadian Stage), Sister Mary’s a Dyke?! (Cahoots) and Blue Planet (YPT). Other credits include over 70 productions with many wonderful companies such as Obsidian Theatre, Soulpepper, Citadel Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, Opera Lyra Ottawa, Theatre Passe Muraille, Nightwood, Factory Theatre, Ross Petty Productions, Tarragon Theatre, Project: Humanity, Alameda Theatre, Mirvish, Theatre New Brunswick, Tapestry New Opera, Opera Ontario, ShakespeareWorks, Resurgence, Toronto Operetta Theatre, AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival, b Current and the Stratford Festival.

Laura Baxter

Assistant Stage Manager

For Studio 180: Clybourne Park (2012). Other selected theatre credits: Black Boys, The 20th of November, Arigato Tokyo, Obaaberima, The Maids, The Silicone Diaries, Breakfast, (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), Actually (Obsidian/ Harold Green), The Story, Tails From the City, Happy Days (Common Boots Theatre), Trout Stanley, Little Pretty and the Exceptional, Age of Arousal (Factory Theatre), Elle (Theatre Passe Muraille), I Call myself Princess (Cahoots/Paper Canoe/Native Earth), Sweat, Love and Information, Venus in Fur, 7 seasons of Shakespeare in High Park (CanadianStage), Soliciting Temptation, More Fine Girls (Tarragon Theatre), The Berlin Blues, Ipperwash (Blyth Festival), Speaking in Tongues, Festen (The Company Theatre), A Christmas Carol, The Story, Macbeth (Caravan Farm Theatre). Laura is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, 2005.  Thank you to my amazing wife Shawn for all your love and support.

Michael Laird

Sound Designer

For Studio 180: Clybourne Park (2013), Our Class, The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird & Offensive Shadows. Selected Sound Design credits: Annie, Cinderella, A Year with Frog and Toad, The Princess and the Handmaiden, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Wizard of Oz (YPT); Seussical (YPT/Citadel Theatre); Spamalot!, Sound of Music, Little Women (Citadel Theatre); Great Expectations, Barber of Seville (Soulpepper); 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Legally Blonde (Neptune Theatre); Speaking in Tongues, Through the Leaves, Festen, Marion Bridge (Company Theatre); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Canadian Stage); A Synonym for Love (Volcano Theatre); Evil Dead: The Musical (Off B’way); and A Beautiful View (da da kamera).

Kimberly Purtell

Lighting Designer

For Studio 180: Cock, Clybourne Park, The Normal Heart, Our Class, Parade, The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens & Blackbird. Kimberly is a Toronto based lighting designer for theatre, opera and dance and is thrilled to be working with Studio 180 once again. Her designs have been critically acclaimed across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Prague, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Moscow and Mongolia. She has designed for the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Canadian Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre, Mirvish Productions, National Arts Centre and the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria, Opera Philadelphia, Arena Stage in Washington DC, Tapestry Opera, Hamilton Opera, Edmonton Opera, Theatre Calgary, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre, Place des Arts, among many others. She has also designed productions for the Pan Am Games and the Vancouver and Beijing Cultural Olympiads. Kimberly has received three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the Pauline McGibbon Award, a Sterling Award, and a Montreal English Theatre Award. She is the Vice President of the Associated Designers of Canada and IATSE ADC659.

John Thompson

Set and Costume Designer

For Studio 180: Cock, The Normal Heart & Our Class. Other theatre credits: Speaking in Tongues, The Test, Through the Leaves (Dora Award), Festen, A Whistle in the Dark, Marion Bridge (Company Theatre); Divisadero (Necessary Angel); The Retreat from Moscow, The Tempest, The Clean House, A Christmas Carol, Humble Boy, The Shape of Things (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); Waiting for Godot, No Man’s Land, The Mill on the Floss, Betrayal, Twelfth Night, Don Carlos, The Misanthrope (Soulpepper); The Trials of Ezra Pound (Stratford Festival); The Pessimist, Care, Alice’s Affair, Helen’s Necklace, Russell Hill, Little Mercy’s First Murder, The Good Life, Skylight, Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Earshot, The Road to Hell (Tarragon Theatre); Eternal Hydra (Crow’s Theatre – Dora Award); Caught, Unity (1918), Blood (Theatre Passe Muraille). John teaches design at the University of Toronto Drama Centre.