Clybourne Park

Bruce Norris

Playwright

Bruce Norris is the author of Clybourne Park, which premiered in 2010 at Playwrights Horizons, New York and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, as well as the Olivier, Evening Standard, and Tony Awards for productions at Playwrights Horizons, West End and Broadway.  In 2018-2019, his play Downstate was seen at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago and subsequently at the National Theatre, London.  Other plays include The Low Road, (Royal Court Theatre, Public Theatre), an adaptation of Bertolt Brecht’s The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse) as well as The Qualms, A Parallelogram, The Unmentionables, The Pain and the Itch, and Purple Heart, all of which premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, where he is an ensemble member.  He lives in New York.

Joel Greenberg

Director

For Studio 180: 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.

Ray Strachan

Assistant Director

For Studio 180: debut. Recent directing credits include Oleanna and Caesar and Cleopatra (Nomadic Players), and Through my Father’s Eyes (Anansi School of Art). Ray has also served as Assistant/Apprentice Director on Bad Dates, The Drowsy Chaperone and Grumpy Old Men: The Musical (MTC). Ray has recently been seen on stage in Romeo and Juliet (MTC), One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (MTC/Theatre Calgary), Remember the Night (Moving Target) and The Paper Bag Princess & More (Prairie Theatre Exchange).

Audrey Dwyer

Francine/Lena

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming
. Other credits include thirsty (NAC), The Penelopiad (Nightwood Theatre), The Tempest (Canadian Stage), Medea (Mirvish/MTC) and Black Medea (Obsidian Theatre). Film and TV credits include Da Kink in My Hair, The Ron James Show, The State Within, Man of the Year and Where the Truth Lies. Audrey has been a member of the Second City Touring Company, was the Associate Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre (2008-2009), is a Dora-Nominated director for The Apology, was recently Assistant Director for Nightwood’s The Penelopiad (by Margaret Atwood), starred in the Dora Award–winning Patty’s Cake and is a graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada. She is also writing Calpurnia, her first full-length play, with the Obsidian Development series.

Michael Healey

Russ/Dan

For Studio 180: Stuff Happens. Most recent acting credits: Proud (Proud Productions), Are You Okay (Peggy Baker Dance Projects/Necessary Angel), Radio Play (Peggy Baker Dance Projects), Them and Us (Theatre Passe Muraille), Frost/Nixon (Canadian Stage/Vancouver Playhouse), and The Pessimist and The Optimists (Tarragon Theatre). Other acting credits include The End of Civilization (Factory Theatre), Marie and Bruce (SummerWorks Festival), Ballad for a Rumrunner’s Daughter (Blyth Festival) and Kicked (Toronto Fringe). Since 1996, Michael has also had a career as a playwright.

Sterling Jarvis

Albert/Kevin

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming
. Selected credits include The Lion King, We Will Rock You, Ruined (2011 Dora Award Nomination), Caroline, or Change (2012 Dora Award for Best Actor in a Principle Role) and The Whipping Man (2013 Dora Award Nomination). Some of his television and film appearances include The West Wing, Felicity, The Sentinel, Life With Boys, Lost Girls, Nikita, Rookie Blue, Suits and most recently Aaliyah: Princess of R&B. Sterling is a two-time Juno Award nominee and has sung anthems for the Blue Jays, the Raptors and the Toronto Maple Leafs. He can also be heard singing the themes for the popular kid’s shows Zaboomafoo, Donkey Kong Country and Wild Kratts. Sterling appeared on stage most recently in Driving Miss Daisy, The Wild Party and Helen Lawrence, which will be touring again to Europe and New York this fall.

Jeff Lillico

Jim/Tom/Kenneth

For Studio 180: debut. Theatre credits include Michael Healey’s Proud (Proud Productions/Berkeley St. Theatre); Cruel & Tender (Canadian Stage); Romeo & Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); The Glass Menagerie (Dora Nomination), Our Town (Dora Nomination), The Time of Your Life, The Fantasticks, Parfumerie, Of the Fields Lately, Salt-Water Moon, Leaving Home, Antigone, A Month in the Country, American Buffalo, The Real Thing, King Lear and others (Soulpepper); The Light in the Piazza (Dora Award, Acting Up Stage); Journey’s End, Gypsy, Floyd Collins, Three Men on a Horse, The Coronation Voyage, Happy End and others (Shaw Festival); All’s Well That Ends Well, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet (Stratford Festival); All Clear, Down the Main Drag (Alberta Theatre Projects); Little Mercy’s First Murder (Tarragon Theatre); A Christmas Carol (Geva Theatre); and Somewhere in the World (Charlottetown Festival Young Company). TV: Flashpoint and Murdoch Mysteries.

Mark McGrinder

Karl/Steve

For Studio 180: 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.

Kimwun Perehinec

Betsy/Lindsey

For Studio 180: Our Class, Offensive Shadows, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, The Passion of the Chris & The Laramie Project. Kimwun is a co-founder, artist educator and member of the Core Artistic Team for Studio 180. Other selected credits include Frankenstein’s Boy, Madhouse Variations, Sideshow of the Damned (Eldritch Theatre); Chasing Margaret Flatwood (Theatre Awakening); Like Wolves (GCTC); Wrecked (Roseneath Theatre); This Is About the Push (Seventh Stage); Mourning Dove (Ark Collective); Vanities (Theatre in Port); Spain (Absit Omen); Phae (Collective Architecture); High-Gravel-Blind, Shadows, Walk Right Up (Stratford Festival). Film and TV credits include recurring roles on the TMN series The Line and the web series B.J. Fletcher: Private Eye; and Puppets Who Kill, Nikita and Thieves. Kimwun has been nominated for two Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Ensemble) and is a graduate of the actor training program at George Brown College.

Maria Ricossa

Bev/Kathy

For Studio 180: The Arab-Iraeli Cookbook. For over 30 years Maria has worked in Film, Television, Radio and Theatre in both the US and Canada. As a member of the Stratford Festival for 5 Seasons she played leading roles in King Lear, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Much Ado About Nothing, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure and Hamlet. Other theatre work includes roles at the Tarragon Theatre, Canadian Stage, Necessary Angel, Nightwood Theatre, The Storefront Theatre, The Manitoba Theatre Center, The Harold Green Jewish Theatre and Studio 180. Maria has been a series lead, guest star and recurring character on TV series including Ransom, The Strain, Flashpoint, The Good Witch and CTV’s Designated Survivor. Leading roles in feature films include The Inlaws, Some Things That Stay and The Space Between. Maria teaches Acting for Film and TV at Humber College and currently is an on-set Acting coach for the Netflix series Tiny Pretty Things. Maria is also a street photographer whose photographs have been featured in photo publications and in the Contact Photography Festival.

Robert Harding

Stage Manager

For Studio 180: The Normal Heart, Our Class, Parade, Stuff Happens & Blackbird. Credits elsewhere include Divisidero: A Performance, This Is What Happens Next (Necessary Angel); Side by Side by Sondheim (The Grand Theatre); “Master Harold”…and the boys (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Happy Days (Theatre Columbus); Another Home Invasion, Communion, A Beautiful View, How It Works, Past Perfect (Tarragon Theatre); Festen, Marion Bridge, A Whistle in the Dark (Company Theatre); British Invasion!, British Invasion 2: America Strikes Back! (Charlottetown Festival); Seussical (YPT); Carmela’s Table (Centaur Theatre); and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Resurgence Theatre).

Laura Baxter

Assistant Stage Manager

For Studio 180: debut. 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.

David Boechler

Original Set and Costumer Designer

For Studio 180: debut. David has designed sets and costumes for most major Canadian theatres. Credits include set and costume designs for Red (Canadian Stage/Playhouse Theatre/Citadel Theatre), Julius Caesar (Stratford Festival), Side by Side by Sondheim (The Grand Theatre) and The Devil’s Disciple (Neptune). Set designs include The Wizard of Oz (Ross Petty Productions), La Traviata (Pacific Opera Victoria), Glorious! (Canadian Stage/Theatre Calgary and Belfry/Arts Club co-productions), The Red Priest (Tarragon Theatre) and Tiger of Malaya (NAC/Factory Theatre). Costume designs include Cabaret, My One and Only, South Pacific (Stratford Festival); quondam (Royal Swedish Ballet); Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Theatre Calgary); Fire, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night (Canadian Stage); Equus (Citadel Theatre); The Importance of Being Earnest (Soulpepper); and three seasons at ATP’s playRites Festival. Production designs: Cinderella (National Ballet of Canada/Boston Ballet/American Ballet Theatre), The Innocent Eye Test (Mirvish/MTC), Trying and Macbeth (Theatre Calgary), Rock and Roll (The Grand Theatre) and The Goat (Citadel Theatre). Eight seasons at the Shaw Festival: The Man Who Came to Dinner, The Old Ladies and Diana of Dobson’s. Awards: one Sterling Award, two Betty Mitchells and a Dora.

Michelle Bailey

Costume Designer

For Studio 180: The Normal Heart, Our Class & Parade. Michelle lives and works in Toronto as a professional costumer for theatre, primarily as Head of Wardrobe for Tarragon Theatre. Her Tarragon work includes Mimi, If We Were Birds, Forests, After Akhmatova and The Misanthrope. Select design credits include The Red Queen Effect (Dora Nomination, Seventh Stage Theatre) and King Lear, Comedy of Errors, Twelfth Night, Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Driftwood Theatre).

Jung-Hye Kim

Set Designer

For Studio 180: debut. Jung-Hye is a Toronto-based set and costume designer. Her other credits include The Great Mountain (Red Sky Performance/YPT), The Washing Machine (2012 Next Stage Festival), Pub Opera (Tapestry New Opera), After Akmatova (Tarragon Theatre), Montparnasse (Theatre Passe Muraille/Groundwater Theatre – Dora Nomination for outstanding costume design), The Middle Place (Canadian Stage/Project Humanity/ Belfry Theatre/GCTC), The Big League (YPT), The Great Mountain (Red Sky), Radiance (b current), Iphigenia at Aulis (Festival of Ideas and Creation at Canadian Stage), Sia (Pyretic Productions at 2010 Toronto Fringe), If We Were Birds (Tarragon/Groundwater Theatre), Ten Green Bottles (Te-Amim Theatre) and Offensive Fouls (Theatre Direct – Dora Nomination for outstanding TYA production). As a new young designer, she received an honourable mention for the Siminovitch Prize in 2006.

Kimberly Purtell

Lighting Designer

For Studio 180: 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.

Sound Designer

Mary Spyrakis

Props

Head of Props for the Canadian Stage Company.

Vanessa Janiszewski

Props

Nathaniel Kennedy

Production Manager

For Studio 180: The Normal Heart, Our Class, Parade, The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird & Offensive Shadows. Nathaniel has worked in theatre production across Canada and internationally. Most recently he has worked with Tarragon Theatre, Necessary Angel and Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People. Nathaniel is currently a Special Events Supervisor for the City of Toronto.