Offensive Shadows

Paul Dunn

Playwright

Paul’s plays include Offensive Shadows (winner of the NOW Magazine Audience Choice Award at the Toronto SummerWorks Festival 2007), High-–Gravel-–Blind (which opened the Stratford Festival’s Studio Theatre in 2002 and was recorded for CBC Radio), and BOYS (a one-man show which he performed as part of the Buncha Young Artists Festival at Theatre Direct in 2001). His work has been published in the anthologies “5 Hot Plays,”, “Acting Out”, and “Gay Monologues and Scenes” (Playwrights Canada Press) and in “Canadian Theatre Review.”. He is a member of the 2008 Tarragon Theatre’s Playwrights Unit and a guest instructor at the National Theatre School of Canada. As an actor, he has performed at the Stratford Festival, the National Arts Centre, The Canadian Stage Company, Tarragon Theatre, Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Citadel Theatre and Theatre New Brunswick. Paul is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Michael Shamata

Director

For Studio 180: debut. Michael Shamata is the Artistic Director of Victoria’s Belfry Theatre. His past Artistic Director posts have included the Grand Theatre in London, and Theatre New Brunswick. Michael has directed at most of the major theatres across the country, including the Vancouver Playhouse, Theatre Calgary, The Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, Soulpepper, Canadian Stage and the Stratford Festival. His productions have received numerous awards, including a Jessie Award in Vancouver for Outstanding Production (Fiddler on the Roof), a Capital City Critics’ Award in Ottawa for Outstanding Production (Kilt), and a Dora Award for Outstanding Production of a Musical (A Little Night Music). A three-time Jessie Award nominee for Outstanding Director, he is also a writer, having been produced in many theatres across Canada, including the Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Young People’s Theatre in Toronto, and the Globe Theatre in Regina, plus Seattle Children’s Theatre, and, upcoming, the East-West Theatre in Shanghai.

Jessica Greenberg

Helena

For Studio 180: Offensive Shadows (2007) & The Passion of the Chris. Jessica (she/her) is Studio 180’s Director of Youth and Community Engagement, a co-creator of the IN CLASS program, and a core member of the company since 2004. She is a Dora-nominated actor and a leader in drama education with a passion for promoting youth empowerment and building community through theatre. As an actor she has performed on stages across Canada and the US, including Studio 180, Canadian Stage, Crow’s Theatre, Mirvish Productions, Project: Humanity, Magnus Theatre, YPT, The Citadel, MTYP, Passe Muraille, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Theatre New Brunswick, Willow Cabin Theatre and Theatreworks/USA. She has appeared on The Handmaid’s Tale, Murdoch Mysteries and Being Erica as well as the animated series Fish ‘n Chips. At Studio 180 Jessica oversees all education and Beyond the Stage programming including the creation of study guide resources and the curation of lobby exhibits, chats, panels, talkbacks and other special events. She worked as Education Coordinator for ARCfest: Toronto’s Human Rights Arts Festival, as the Director of Child Engagement for the Child-ish Collective, and is an NTS Drama Festival adjudicator and an instructor at Centennial College’s Theatre Performance program. Jessica holds an Honours BA in political science and women’s studies from McGill University and completed her classical acting training at Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and as an apprentice at the Actors Theatre of Louisville in Kentucky.

Mark McGrinder

Lysander

For Studio 180: Offensive Shadows (2007), Stuff Happens, 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.

Jason Mitchell

Demetrius

For Studio 180: debut. Originally from British Columbia, Jason is an actor and writer who now makes his home in Toronto. Selected theatre credits include ‘Mr. Lawson’ in Not Now Darling at the Drayton Festival Theatre and King’s Wharf Theatre; ‘Theseus’ in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Festival of Classics in Oakville; and three seasons at the Stratford Festival, where favourites included ‘Charles the Dauphin’ in Henry VI Part 1, ‘King Louis XI’ in Henry VI Part 2 and ‘Menno Miller’ in Quiet in the Land, as well as roles in The Birds, Two Noble Kinsmen, Henry V, Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice. He was also a member of the 2000  Stratford Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training. Other credits include A  Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth, and All’s Well That Ends Well (Bard on the Beach), Two Ships Passing (Western Canada Theatre), and Rumours of Our Death (Epicentre Theatre). Jason holds a BFA with distinction in Theatre from the University of  Victoria.

Kimwun Perehinec

Hermia

For Studio 180: Offensive Shadows (2007), 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.

Andrew Kushnir

Puck

For Studio 180: debut. Andrew is an actor, playwright and creative director of Project: Humanity (projecthumanity.ca). As a performer, he has worked with companies that include Canadian Stage (The Middle Place, Sweeney Todd, Hair, A Midsummer Night’s Dream), Catalyst Theatre (Frankenstein), Theatre Calgary (Beyond Eden) and Outside The March/Convergence/Sheep No Wool (Passion Play). He is a co-creator of The Gay Heritage Project, which premiered at Buddies in Bad Times in November 2013. Andrew is playwright-in-residence at Tarragon Theatre and in residency at The Theatre Centre, developing a new verbatim piece called Small Axe. His award-winning play about youth homelessness, The Middle Place, premiered in 2011 and was then toured nationally by Project: Humanity. He is a graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting program and a 2013 recipient of their Alumni Horizon Award.

Michael Haltrecht

Stage Manager

For Studio 180: Offensive Shadows (2007) & The Laramie Project (2004). Michael’s recent theatre credits include Offensive Shadows (Summerworks/O7), Welcome to Eden: Population 2 (Toronto Fringe/06, SM); Hair (CanStageCanadian Stage Company, Apprentice SM); Storm Warning (Out of the Norm, SM); Gypsy, Journey’s End, and Pasque Flower (Shaw Festival, Apprentice SM); The Laramie Project (Studio 180, SM); Unbecoming (SummerWorks, SM); La Fille du Regiment, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, and Otello (Opera Ontario, Apprentice SM). Michael has worked for the Toronto, Dubai, Sundance, and HotDocs Film Festivals and develops Stage Management computer software. He is a graduate of the University of Waterloo Michael (Psychology and Drama).

John Ferguson

Set and Costume Designer

For Studio 180: debut. John is a set and costume designer, who designed for many of the major companies across Canada. He studied at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, and went on to be Resident Designer for Theatre Calgary, Neptune Theatre, the National Arts Centre and Canadian Stage. He also designed for the Grand Theatre, London, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Centaur Theatre, and Belfry Theatre. Between 1976 and 2004, Ferguson designed twenty productions for the Stratford Festival (including Sharon Pollock’s One Tiger to a Hill and Walsh, and Anne Chislett’s Quiet in the Land). For the Shaw Festival he designed the production of War and Peace; for the Edwin Mirvish company he designed the set for Tomson Highway’s Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing; for the National Arts Centre in collaboration with NAC English Theatre artistic director John Wood he designed opulent sets and costumes for Camino Real (1978) and for Hamlet (1979), which toured across Canada; and set designs for A History of the American Film (1979) and The Oresteia (1983). In 2001, he designed Soulpepper Theatre Company’s production of A Christmas Carol. He was the recipient of two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Montreal’s Masques Award, Vancouver’s Jessie Richardson Award and Stratford’s Tyrone Guthrie Award.

Michael Walton

Lighting Designer

For Studio 180: debut. Michael Walton is a lighting designer currently based in Stratford, Ontario. Michael’s design work is heavily inspired by the unseen. What is the imagined world in the theatre trying to convey? How does light enhance, excite and support the event? “Event” can be translated into many forms including plays, musical scores, librettos, products, songs, or presentations. The function is the same and what is important is that the audience feels the message. Michael’s draws inspiration from many of the elements that surround us. The reflected light off a pond, the smell of freshly cut grass, the sound of fingers on a fret board, or the feel of a cool breeze on a sun burn. Each has the power to inform and inspire imagery and atmosphere. Many artist inspirations include Newfoundland painter Christopher Pratt and his use of simple lines and restrained colour, Pink Floyd’s multi layered sound and provocative poetry, and architect Frank Lloyd Wright and his focus on simplicity, strength and rhythm. Michael was born in Winnipeg, MB and moved to Toronto in 2005 and then to Stratford in 2009. He lives with his wife Tara and their dogs Murphy and Oscar.

Michael Laird

Sound Designer

For Studio 180: Stuff Happens. 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).

Joel Harris

Fight Director

For Studio 180: Offensive Shadows (2007). Joel is a University of Waterloo graduate who has worked for the past ten years as a fight choreographer and professional stuntman. He has worked in such theatres as The Stratford Festival, The Shaw Festival, Guthrie Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Tarragon, YPT, Factory Theatre, Opera Ontario and the Canadian Opera Company. Film and Television credits include Bulletproof Monk, The Recruit, Crime Spree, Against the Ropes, Resident Evil, Mutant X, Tarzan, Dawn of the Dead, The Red Green Show and Incredible Hulk.

Nathaniel Kennedy

Production Manager

For Studio 180: debut. 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.

Kesta Graham

Education/Outreach Coordinator

Gillian Lewis

Apprentice Stage Manager

Kathleen Johnston

Wardrobe Coordinator