Parsa Hassanzadeh

Actor/Creator

Parsa Hassanzadeh is an Iranian-Canadian actor and a recent graduate of George Brown Theatre School. Over the past years at the theatre school, he had the opportunity to grow as an artist. He developed a passion for Clown, physical theatre, and Shakespeare during his time at George Brown. Credits: Touchstone in As You Like It (Bar Team Theatre/ Bygone Theatre 2026), William 3 in The Enfolded Hamlet (Port Hope Art Festival 2025), King Ignatius in Ivona Princess of Burgundy (GBTS 2025), Vilhelm in War of the Clowns (GBTS 2025), Karenin in Anna Karenina (GBTS 2024), Elias in Far Flung Peoples (Fringe 2024), King Philip in Don Carlos and Sir Lucius O’Trigger in The Rivals (GBTS Period Study 2024), Carnival of Munsch (GBTS 2023), Jim Hutton in Paris Bound (GBTS Scene Study 2023), Angelo in Measure for Measure (GBTS Shakespeare Scene Study 2023), Ensemble in 9428: The Monster I Learned To Love (Fringe 2022), Narrator in The Only Possible Way (Canadian Stage/ Nowadays Theatre Company 2019).

Aida Keykhaii

Actor/Creator

Aida Keykhaii is a Canadian Iranian Dora Award nominee actor and director, producer, theatre instructor with over a decade’s experience in the industry. She holds an M.A. in Theatre Directing and a B.A. in Acting from the University of Tehran. She is the co-founder of NOWADAYS THEATRE. Her recent credits include the stage production Earworm at Crow’s Theatre and the feature film Afterlove. Select Theatre and Film Credits: What we do in the Shadows (F.X.), Coroner (CBC), Fertility Slippers, Children of Fire, Heart of a Dog, Winter of 88, The Only Possible Way, Swim Team, The Pillowman, Iceland and we are All fine. https://www.nowadaystheatre.org/aidakeikhaii-cv2/

Aylin Oyan Salahshoor

Actor/Creator

Aylin Oyan Salahshoor is a multilingual actor and playwright based in Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies with a focus on Diaspora and Transnational studies at the University of Toronto. Aylin has received several accolades, including the first prize at the Norma Epstein Foundation Awards in Creative Writing for her play Minor Punctuations and the Meyer Greenstein Award for Writing Excellence for The Singular Subject; The “I.” Her play Far-Flung Peoples, which won Hamilton Fringe New Play Contest, was staged at Toronto Fringe Festival in July 2024. Aylin has appeared in numerous theatre productions in Toronto, including her recent performances in English (Soulpepper Theatre and Segal Centre), 9428 (Toronto Fringe Festival, July 2022), Heart of a Dog (Next Stage – Toronto Fringe Festival, January 2022), The Monster I Learned to Love (Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival, 2020), and Swim Team (Theatre Centre, November 2019).

Mohammad Yaghoubi

Actor/Creator

Born and raised in Iran, Mohammad Yaghoubi is an award-winning playwright and director whose work has been produced internationally and translated into six languages. After moving to Canada in 2015, he co-founded the Toronto-based NOWADAYS THEATRE, debuting with the English premiere of A Moment of Silence (SummerWorks, 2016). A recipient of multiple National Theatre Critics Society Awards for writing and direction in Iran, Mohammad’s Canadian honors include the Cahoots Theatre Promising Pen Prize (2021) and winning the Toronto Fringe New Play Contest (2016). Recent credits include: Earworm (Crow’s Theatre, 2024) and Winter of 88 (Next Stage Theatre Festival, 2020).

Mark McGrinder

Dramaturg/Director

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.

Toomaj Danesh-Behzadi

Actor

Toomaj Danesh Behzadi is an award-winning actor, director, and dramaturge based in Toronto. He holds an M.A. in Directing and a B.A. in Acting and was recognized as Best Actor at the Fajr Theater Festival in 2015. Over his 20-year career, Toomaj has appeared in critically acclaimed productions such as Salman, The Narrow Red Line, and Rubbers, with performances at prestigious festivals, including Venice and Fajr Film Festivals. His directing credits include Rabbit Hole (Fajr Theater Festival) and Tree, Carpet, Solid (Toronto). Toomaj’s dramaturgy highlights include The Man Outside and I’m a Woman, Do You Hear Me?! He has also performed internationally in Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, participating in celebrated festivals like Schiller Festival and Dancing on the Edge. Toomaj has been teaching Acting and Directing at Art and Culture University since 2012, continuing to inspire emerging artists.

Aida Keykhaii

Actor

Aida Keykhaii is a Canadian Iranian Dora Award nominee actor and director, producer, theatre instructor with over a decade’s experience in the industry. She holds an M.A. in Theatre Directing and a B.A. in Acting from the University of Tehran. She is the co-founder of NOWADAYS THEATRE. Her recent credits include the stage production Earworm at Crow’s Theatre and the feature film Afterlove. Select Theatre and Film Credits: What we do in the Shadows (F.X.), Coroner (CBC), Fertility Slippers, Children of Fire, Heart of a Dog, Winter of 88, The Only Possible Way, Swim Team, The Pillowman, Iceland and we are All fine. https://www.nowadaystheatre.org/aidakeikhaii-cv2/

Sepehr Reybod

Actor

Sepehr Reybod (he/him) is an Iranian-Canadian actor, playwright, and creator based in Toronto. Select stage credits include ENGLISH (Soulpepper & Segal Centre), R+J (WhyNot Theatre & Stratford Festival), Richard III (Stratford Festival). He is a Factory Theatre Mechanical (2018-2019) and Foundry playwright (2019-2020).

Aylin Oyan Salahshoor

Actor

Aylin Oyan Salahshoor is a multilingual actor and playwright based in Toronto. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies with a focus on Diaspora and Transnational studies at the University of Toronto. Aylin has received several accolades, including the first prize at the Norma Epstein Foundation Awards in Creative Writing for her play Minor Punctuations and the Meyer Greenstein Award for Writing Excellence for The Singular Subject; The “I.” Her play Far-Flung Peoples, which won Hamilton Fringe New Play Contest, was staged at Toronto Fringe Festival in July 2024. Aylin has appeared in numerous theatre productions in Toronto, including her recent performances in English (Soulpepper Theatre and Segal Centre), 9428 (Toronto Fringe Festival, July 2022), Heart of a Dog (Next Stage – Toronto Fringe Festival, January 2022), The Monster I Learned to Love (Toronto Fringe Theatre Festival, 2020), and Swim Team (Theatre Centre, November 2019).

郝邦宇 Steven Hao

Director & Dramaturge

Selected Credits for Directing: Director, A Perfect Bowl of Pho, Toronto Fringe 2022; Director, I and You, Precipice Productions; Director, Constellations, Precipice Productions. Selected Credits for Acting: Cockroach, Cockroach, Tarragon Theatre; Duke of Burgundy/Gentlemen, The Tragedy of King Lear, Shakespeare Bash’d. Upcoming: Puck, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Shakespeare in High Park 2023. @steven_haoby

Maev Beaty

Charity

Maev has originated roles in over two dozen Canadian premieres (including Hannah Moscovitch’s Bunny, Michael Healey’s Proud, Kate Hennig’s The Last Wife, Judith Thompson’s Palace of the End and Sharon Pollock’s Angel’s Trumpet); She has co-created and starred in the award-winning Secret Life of a Mother and Montparnasse; played contemporary and classic lead roles at the Stratford Festival for eight seasons and in theatres across Turtle Island including Soulpepper, Tarragon, the Globe, Canadian Stage, and La Mama in NYC. Film/TV: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC); Nurses (Global); Mouthpiece (Dir. Patricia Rozema) and was recently featured in Ari Aster’s Beau is Afraid and Kristoffer Borgli’s Dream Scenario. She is a TTCA winner, multiple Dora Award winner and fourteen-time Dora nominee in performance and writing. She has been making theatre (most recently The Great Fire and Letters From Max) and a family with Alan Dilworth since 1999. www.maevbeaty.com

Alison Beckwith

Hannah

Alison Beckwith (she/her) is an actor and musician based in the west end of Toronto. Some favourite credits include: Appropriate (Coal Mine Theatre), And So the Siren Sings (workshop, Tarragon Theatre), A (musical) Midsummer Night’s Dream, Trafalgar 24 (Driftwood Theatre), Taking Liberties (Taking Liberties Collective), and As You Like It (Bard in the Park). Alison works as a teacher with Little Rebels Music and Development and sings with many musical groups around Toronto, including the Tafelmusik Chamber Choir. She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School.

Jaelynn Thora Brooks

Zinnie

Sepehr Reybod

Yannis

Sepehr Reybod (he/him) is an Iranian-Canadian actor, playwright, and creator based in Toronto. Select stage credits include ENGLISH (Soulpepper & Segal Centre), R+J (WhyNot Theatre & Stratford Festival), Richard III (Stratford Festival). He is a Factory Theatre Mechanical (2018-2019) and Foundry playwright (2019-2020).

Merlin Simard

Thea

Merlin Simard (she/they/iel/elle) is a performer, playwright, dramaturge, and screenwriter originally from Tiohtiá:ke (Montréal), now based in Tkarón:to (Toronto). As a performer, Merlin has worked with Factory Theatre, Stratford, Crow’s, Outside The March, Buddies In Bad Times, Talk is Free, Toronto Dance Theatre, Théâtre Français de Toronto, and many other theatre companies across Canada. She has also acted on Grand Army (Netflix) and This Life (CBC), as well as in the short film Poils Anyways (Fittonia Inc.), which she also wrote. Merlin is currently the facilitator for Paprika’s Playwright’s Unit and is developing several projects spanning across theatre, TV, and VR in both English and French. Her practice focuses on themes of access, gender euphoria, technology, and multilingual performance. @hussy4hussy | merlinsimard.com

Ethan Zuchkan

John

Ethan Zuchkan is an actor, writer and recent student of Theatre Performance Studies at Toronto Metropolitan University. Originally from Oakville, Ontario, he has been based in Toronto ever since graduating. While he has a passion for all forms of Theatre, he is mostly drawn to new work. There’s something magical about the creation of a new story; learning about the first seedlings of an idea and how it grows into a fully staged production. He also firmly believes that new stories have the potential of being the most powerful as they will reflect on the current state of our world and communities. He’s extremely grateful to be working alongside such talented individuals!

Aviva Armour-Ostroff

Director

Aviva works as an actor, director, writer, dramaturge and producer. She has been developing new Canadian work for over twenty years, most significantly by founding The Lab Cab Festival, a multi-disciplinary arts festival which she ran for thirteen years. Aviva is the co-director of the film adaptation of The Drawer Boy. She wrote, co-directed, and starred in the feature film, Lune, which gained her a Canadian Screen Award nomination for her performance, and honoured her as the first Canadian to win The Micki Moore Award for Best Feature at TJFF. @lunethefilm

Karl Ang

Actor

Karl Ang is always game to knock some words off a page and into the lively air. He has spoken words in several places, including the Shaw and Stratford festivals, and that one time up in the Yukon. He looks forward to the resurgence of live theatre and shared presence. May art offer us reflection and succour in a tumultuous time!

Paul Dunn

Actor

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.

Jordan Pettle

Actor

Jordan has been working across the country on both classical and contemporary plays, and in television, film and radio for over 25 years.  He has spent four seasons with the Stratford Festival and has worked extensively with Soulpepper Theatre (credits include: A Christmas Carol, Picture This, The Heidi Chronicles, Twelve Angry Men, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Speed the Plow). He has worked for Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Nightwood Theatre and YPT. T.V and film credits include: American Woman; Suits; Titans; The Strain; Designated Survivor; Saving Hope; Rookie Blue; Lost Girl; Murdoch Mysteries; Fugitive Pieces; Lost in Wonderland. Jordan was a regular on the CBC radio drama Afghanada (ACTRA nomination for voice performance).  He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. Upcoming credits include: Betrayal (Soulpepper); directing Metapmorphoses for George Brown Theatre, A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper).

Sepehr Reybod

Actor

Sepehr Reybod (he/him) is an Iranian-Canadian actor, playwright, and creator based in Toronto. Select stage credits include ENGLISH (Soulpepper & Segal Centre), R+J (WhyNot Theatre & Stratford Festival), Richard III (Stratford Festival). He is a Factory Theatre Mechanical (2018-2019) and Foundry playwright (2019-2020).

Tim Walker

Actor

Tim was born in Peterborough Ontario. He is a two-time Dora nominee, the recipient of the Tim Sims award for comedy (George Brown) and the Hollywood North Film Fest Best Actor award (I lost my mind). He has been working in film, television and theatre since 2007. He trained at the George Brown Theatre School & the international school for comic acting in Italy. Recent: Crazy Dave goes to town (CIT) Mules (Hit and Myth/BYgone theatre), White Heat (Cue6/Presgang/English Theatre Berlin).

Lisa Karen Cox

Director

A graduate of Concordia University’s Interdisciplinary Studies program, Lisa Karen Cox relishes work that combines music, movement and heightened language. Often playing men and other mythical creatures, theatre credits include: Director for 1851: Spirit and Voice (Soulpepper/Myseum), Beyere (CBC Gem/Obsidian Theatre), Anna Karenina for UTM/Sheridan, and Untamed (TMU). Assistant Director for We Are Proud to Present a Presentation about the Herero of Namibia…(Theatre Centre), Salt-Water Moon (Factory Theatre), The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God, and Associate Director for Why Not Theatre’s Toronto productions of Like Mother, Like Daughter. In addition to performance and direction, Lisa has explored playwriting, dramaturgy during the creation of Now You See Her and enjoys working with emerging playwrights. Lisa Karen Cox is an Assistant Professor of Acting at Toronto Metropolitan. She completed a Master of Science in Education (M.S. Ed.) and spent over a decade working in the performing arts with the Toronto District School Board.

daniel jelani ellis

Performer

daniel jelani ellis is a multidisciplinary artist from Jamaica working in performance-installation creation, playwriting, dub poetry, and acting. His artistic practice is Afrocentric and celebratory, he is especially passionate about arts-based community organizing for social justice. As a Black queer immigrant, he is committed to celebrating those of us who live within the margins.

Andrew Johnson

Sound Designer

Andrew (he/him) is a broadcaster, sound engineer and voice talent. Working for 106.5 Elmnt Fm, Andrew Johnson is currently one of the only black station managers in Canada. He was named as one of Radio INK Magazine’s, 2021 recipients of Radio’s Future African American Leaders. Graduating in 2008, Andrew has since contributed to the growth, and sonic development of several major market stations. Starting as a board operator, he worked his way through various station roles, before finding a passion for production. Andrew’ s work experience has allowed him to develop a strong understanding of the fundamentals of Radio. Andrew Johnson is also a national voice talent who has voiced commercials across North America for clients like Honda, Lexus, Universal Music Canada and Spotify. A current member of Advance, Canada’s Black Music Business Collective, Andrew is passionate about inclusion and showcasing Toronto’s diversity.

Britta B.

Spoken Word Consultant

Britta B. is an award-winning artist, spoken word poet, and professor of Spoken Word Performance at Seneca College. She holds an MFA in creative writing from University of Guelph and lives in Toronto.

Karl Ang

Performer

Karl Ang is always game to knock some words off a page and into the lively air. He has spoken words in several places, including the Shaw and Stratford festivals, and that one time up in the Yukon. He looks forward to the resurgence of live theatre and shared presence. May art offer us reflection and succour in a tumultuous time!

Amelia Sargisson

Performer

Amelia Sargisson is a bilingual theatre-maker from Montréal. Upcoming: Sue in Ann-Marie MacDonald’s Hamlet-911 at Stratford. Recently: Ginger in Rebecca Northan’s All I Want For Christmas at Centaur. Other faves: Eve in Paradise Lost, Luciana in The Comedy of Errors, & Peggy in The Front Page (Stratford); Paradise Lost, The 39 Steps, & The Madonna Painter (Centaur); Amadeus (TIFT); Twelfth Night/King Lear (Canadian Stage); The Watershed & Seeds (Crow’s/Porte Parole); The Millennial Malcontent (Tarragon); If We Were Birds & down from heaven (Cartes Premières Award for Best Actress) (Imago); Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare BASH’d – My Theatre Award for Best Actress); The Art of Catching Pigeons by Torchlight (SummerWorks – Spotlight Award); and seven seasons of Shakespeare-in-the-Park (Repercussion). Recent TV credits: See (Apple TV+) & Murdoch Mysteries (CBC). Amelia has narrated several audiobooks for Penguin Random House. She is co-creating, through Talk Is Free Theatre, two programs for fostering more communicative and compassionate collaborative spaces, ARCS and 2-Way Mentorship, and is working on her first ever solo show, Fer Shame.

Steven McCarthy

Performer

Steven McCarthy is an award-winning actor, director, and musician. In 2018, McCarthy was awarded a Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best Guest Performance in a dramatic series for his portrayal of a dying rock singer in the first season of Mary Kills People. His recent acting credits include recurring roles in The Expanse (Amazon), Barkskins (NatGeo)  the Stephen King adaptation Chapelwaite (Epix), V/H/S 94 and in the upcoming Imagine Entertainment/FX limited series Under the Banner of Heaven based on Jon Krakauer’s bestselling book.

McCarthy made his directorial debut with the short film, O Negative, an unsettling fable about the lengths one will go to keep their love alive. The film had its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and subsequently played festivals the world over before being named one of Canada’s Top Ten shorts of the year. His second directorial effort, From Across the Street and Through Two Sets of Windows, written by Rayisa Kondracki, premiered at the 2018 Vancouver International Film Festival.

McCarthy holds two diplomas, one for acting and one for directing, from Montreal’s prestigious National Theatre School of Canada. He is also the lead singer and manager of the ten-piece epic funk band The ElastoCitizens.

Jonathan Goad

Performer

Jonathan spent fifteen years with the Stratford Festival: Henry VIII, To Kill a Mockingbird, Hamlet, The Alchemist, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Pentecost, Phèdre, The Music Man, King John, Pericles, Orpheus Descending, Henry Iv, Henry VI, Fiddler of the Roof, As You Like It, Fuente Ovejuna, Julius Caesar, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Bartholomew Fair, The Brothers Karamazov. Elsewhere: A Whistle in the Dark, Speaking in Tongues, (Company Theatre); Our Class, the Laramie Project (Studio 180); King Lear (Soulpepper); Arcadia (Theatre Junction). Directing: The Crucible by Arthur Miller (Stratford festival); John by Annie Baker (Company Theatre). Film/TV: Reign, Alias Grace, Dark Matter, Dorsal, Nikita, Republic of Doyle, Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries, Unnatural History, Othello, Rookie Blue. Training: NTS, Birmingham Conservatory, University of Waterloo, Banff Centre. Teaching: NTS, Fanshawe College

James Wallis

Performer

James is the Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Shakespeare BASH’d. For BASH’d, James has played the title roles in Hamlet, Richard III, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing. With BASH’d, James directed over twelve productions and staged readings.

James has spent three seasons at the Stratford Festival. He was a member of the Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Directing in 2016/2017 assistant directing Macbeth with director Antoni Cimolino (2016), the world premiere of Bunny by Hannah Moscovitch, directed by Sarah Stanley (2016), Romeo and Juliet (2017) and Julius Caesar (2018) directed by Scott Wentworth.

His other directing credits include: As You Like It (Theatre by the Bay), Titus Andronicus (Hart House Theatre), Antony and Cleopatra (Secret Shakespeare Project), Scenes from The Tempest (Playing for Free), Henry IV Part 1 and 2 (Theatre Erindale), Romeo and Juliet and Joni (Workshop Production)

Antoine Yared

Performer

Antoine Yared was born in Lebanon and raised in Montreal. He’s worked in theatres across the country; and in the US. He most recently appeared in a production of Cipher at Vertigo Theatre in Calgary. Prior to that, he performed in A Thousand Splendid Suns at Arena Stage in DC after having spent 5 wonderful seasons at the Stratford Festival.

Cherish Violet Blood

Perfomer

Cherish Violet Blood is an actor, storyteller,activist and Blackfoot woman hailing from the Blood Reserve. Based in Toronto, Cherish is a professionally trained and seasoned performer with active followings in the national Indigenous and international theatre community. Cherish  has performed all over North America. Select credits include creator/performer in Material Witness (Spiderwoman Theatre La Mama,NYC), creator/performer in Making Treaty 7 directed by Michelle Thrush in Calgary, AB. The lead role in Deer Woman, a new play that has been touring internationally by Tara Beagan. As a natural comedian Cherish has hosted album release parties as well as community events and fundraisers.

Shandra Spears Bombay

Performer

Selected Theatre Credits: If This is The End (Windsor High School Social Justice Forum/ Native Earth Weesageechak Festival/ SummerWorks Festival Lab/ Caminos Cabaret at Rutas Panamericanos Festival); The Rez Sisters (Magnus Theatre); The Berlin Blues (Magnus Theatre); Bidaasige Kwe-Sunlight Woman (Debajehmujig Theatre Group); Please Do Not Touch The Indians (Debajehmujig Theatre Group). Selected Film and Television: Paranormal Witness; Just Another Dead Indian; Forensic Factor 5: Eclectic; Mystery in Paradise; Vegas 911; Fear Thy Neighbour; Dual Suspects 2; Motives & Murders III; Brian Orser Blame It On The Blues. Upcoming: If This Is The End (commission Blyth Festival Theatre); Ganawenjigaazo (Native Earth’s 40 Seeds For 40 Seasons program). Awards: Blame it On The Blues won the Gemini Award for “Best Music, Variety Program Or Series.” Bidaasige Kwe-Sunlight Woman won the Critics’ Choice Award for the Atlantic Fringe Festival. Other: I’m Anishinaabe from Rainy River First Nations. I’m so grateful to be part of telling Yolanda’s amazing story, and to be part of this group of story-tellers who bring love and strength to every day. Miigwetch to everyone for making this possible.

Samantha Brown

Performer

Samantha Brown is an Anishinaabe and European settler actor currently living in Tkaronto. Coming from Northern Ontario to study and graduate from the York University Acting Conservatory. Selected Theatre Credits: Kamloopa (Soulpepper production); Around the World in 80 Plays: Moonlodge (Soulpepper); Oil (Arc theatre); Two Odesseys: Gállábártnit/Pimooteewin (Soundstreams and Signal Theatre); August: Osage County (Soulpepper); The Scavenger’s Daughter (Paradigm Productions); among more.

Theresa Cutknife

Performer

Selected Theatre Credits: The House of Bernarda Alba (Modern Times Theatre & Aluna Theatre). Selected Film and Television: Diggstown. Other: Theresa Cutknife is a queer Nehiyaw and Puerto Rican actor, writer, curator, storyteller, and producer from Maskwacîs, Alberta located on Treaty 6 Territory and is a member of the Samson Cree Nation. She is an alumnus of The Centre for Indigenous Theatre and past participant of the Indigenous Arts Program with the Paprika Festival. Theresa has gone on to continue honing her skills as a performer, playwright, storyteller, and producer and has had the pleasure of working with companies such as Native Earth Performing Arts, The Theatre Centre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, and various Theatres in Tkaronto. I feel so lucky to have been entrusted with the telling of this story. Kinanâskomitin to Yolanda, Tarragon, and the whole team.

Ange Loft

Performer

Selected Theatre Credits: For Zitkála-Šá (Raven Chacon/Whitney Museum of American Art); Electric Prop and Hum Freestyle Variations (Maria Hupfield/National Gallery of Canada); Material Witness (Spiderwoman Theatre/Aanmitaagzi); Hoofs (Buddies/Rhubarb); The River Speaks (Thinking Rock Community Arts); After the Fire: Based on Interviews about Idle No More (ATF Collective); Opera 33 (Yamantaka//Sonic Titan); Hansel and Gretel: A Case Study (Shadowland Theatre); Circus of Dark and Light (Clay and Paper Theatre). As Associate Artistic Director: countless community creations (Jumblies Theatre). Upcoming: Stone and Bone Spectacular (Centaur Theatre) Awards: Toronto Biennial of Art’s Programs Prize for Talking Treaties’ Dish Dances Movement Workshop, inaugural Indigenous Artist Residency recipient at Centaur Theatre, inaugural Indigenous Research Fellow Centre for Canadian Architecture. Nominee for Polaris Prize and Juno Award with Yamantaka//Sonic Titan.

Monique Mojica

Performer

Selected Theatre Credits: The Unnatural and Accidental Women (NAC), Izzie M.: The Alchemy of Enfreakment, Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way (Chocolate Woman Collective); I Lost My Talk; King Lear (NAC) As Dramaturg: The triptych, Re-Quickening/Blood Tides/SKEN:n’en (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre); for Ayita (Skirts Afire Festival). Selected Film and Television: Grandma Builds the Fire in Smoke Signals. Upcoming: 2023 book publication of Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way: Mapping Embodied Indigenous Performance co-written with Brenda Farnell and Staging Coyote’s Dream, Vol. 3 co-edited with Lindsay Lachance. A member of the newly formed Indigenous Dramaturgy Circle at Tarragon. Dramaturg for several emerging Indigenous playwrights. Inaugural Wurlitzer Visiting Professor for 2022-23 in the Department of Theatre in the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Victoria.

Allyson Pratt

Performer

Allyson Pratt studied at the Randolph Academy (RAPA), and received the Triple Threat Award her graduating year. Allyson has performed memorable roles across the country, including Kawânihot Iskwew for Akpik Theatre, and Anne Shirley for The Charlottetown Festival. Allyson can be seen in the CSA nominated series Mohawk Girls in her recurring role as Iostha, and the award-winning web series Teenagers. Allyson starred in and co-created the short film Stephanie’s Room, which screened at the 2016 Cannes Festival. Allyson continually studies her craft in classes and intensives, including work with John Riven, John Boylan, and Angela Besharah.

Tyler J Sloane

Performer

Selected Theatre Credits: Crystalize (Caminos Festival 2019 – Aluna Theatre); Switch the Village (the Switch Collective); Youth/Elder’s Project (Buddies in Bad Times). As a playwright: Hummingbird (In Development – previously; Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity – Indigenous Playwrights Nest, Native Earth – Weesageechak Begins to Dance 31-32 – Annual Development Festival of Indigenous Work); Mx. (Radio Play – Alberta Queer Calendar Project). Selected Film and Television Credits: 1 Queen 5 Queers – Season 2: Episode 7, Season 1: Episode 5 and Episode 8 (Crave); Exploring the Mental Health Journeys of Young Asian-Canadians – Episode 3: ‘Tyler J Sloane – Surviving to Thriving’ (VICE). Other: Tyler J Sloane – They/Them. As an Anishinaabe (Oji-cree), Chinese, White mixed race Non-binary artist, my work emphasizes marginalized voices with an intrinsic intersectional lens and artistic framework. As a trans racial adoptee growing up in a predominantly white community, my desire to represent the beauty of experiencing racialization and queerness to translate it through stories and artistry is inherent. They are also engaged in Why Not Theatre’s ThisGen: PROVOKE Producing Fellowship. Beyond Theatre, Tyler is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus in Media Arts (Photography and Videography), Visual Arts (Mural Art, Watercolour, Mixed Media), and Performance (Burlesque, Drag, Performance Art). Ty is so honoured, humbled, and blessed to be cultivating such a healing storytelling space with such prolific Kwe, Chi-miigwech. To heal and share stories is to thrive for your ancestors and descendants.

Natasha Mumba

Director

Natasha Mumba is a Zambian artist currently based in Toronto. She is a graduate of the Acting program at The National Theatre School of Canada and a Dora Nominated actress whose recent credits include: Canadian Stage: ​Measure for Measure;​ Shaw Festival: ​Henry V​, ​The Adventures of the Black Girl;​ Obsidian Theatre: ​School Girls; Or the African Mean Girls Play​; Factory Theatre: ​Trout Stanley, Acts of Faith​. She also recently served as the Apprentice Artistic Director at Factory Theatre with the generous support of the Metcalf Foundation. Her directing credits include; Driftwood Trafalgar: ​Balance​; Factory Theatre: ​Lady Sunrise​ (Assistant Director); YPT: ​The Water Gun Song​; she is also Nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Emerging Director Award.

Andrew Johnson

Sound Designer

Andrew (he/him) is a broadcaster, sound engineer and voice talent. Working for 106.5 Elmnt Fm, Andrew Johnson is currently one of the only black station managers in Canada. He was named as one of Radio INK Magazine’s, 2021 recipients of Radio’s Future African American Leaders. Graduating in 2008, Andrew has since contributed to the growth, and sonic development of several major market stations. Starting as a board operator, he worked his way through various station roles, before finding a passion for production. Andrew’ s work experience has allowed him to develop a strong understanding of the fundamentals of Radio. Andrew Johnson is also a national voice talent who has voiced commercials across North America for clients like Honda, Lexus, Universal Music Canada and Spotify. A current member of Advance, Canada’s Black Music Business Collective, Andrew is passionate about inclusion and showcasing Toronto’s diversity.

Britta B.

Spoken Word Consultant

Britta B. is an award-winning artist, spoken word poet, and professor of Spoken Word Performance at Seneca College. She holds an MFA in creative writing from University of Guelph and lives in Toronto.