Eliot Britton is a multi-award winning composer, artist and researcher specialized in the analysis, documentation and integration of instrumental composition, media production and live electronics performance systems. Britton’s research pushes beyond the lab by transforming proof of concept projects into impactful live performances. Britton’s love of rhythm, texture, post-digital materials and culture inform his work across a variety of performance contexts and creative communities. Recent research creation projects include: ADIZOKAN, a Canada 150 commission from the Toronto Symphony Orchestra bridging orchestration, video, music and dance; Quigital AI a interdisciplinary collaboration that coopts the tools and media language of data driven corporations, and transforming them into a framework for interactive performance art; Oxblood Diamine for digital microscope, live animation and percussion. Currently Britton is cross appointed between Music Technology & Digital Media and Composition at the University of Toronto Faculty of Music. There he is building a media research-creation facility (Centre BPMC) and renovating the historical U of T Electronic Music Studios (EMS). He is the composer in residence at RedSky performance and codirector of Manitoba’s Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival. As an independent music producer Britton continues to produce events and music in a variety of contexts.
Ryan Cunningham is Nēhiyawi/Cree/ᓀ ᐦᐃᔭᐃ from Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). His family is from The Michel Band First Nation. Ryan has worked as an actor, producer, director, manager and event creator for over 25 years. His company, Cunning Concepts & Creations, produces and tours the award-winning production, HUFF, written and performed by Cliff Cardinal and originally produced by Native Earth Performing Arts under the Artistic Direction of Ryan Cunningham. Most recently Ryan has performed with Crows Theatre (Julius Caesar), The Shaw Festival (AN OCTOROON) and can be seen playing the role of Darcy Douglas in all 5 seasons of the award winning APTN series, BLACKSTONE. An alumni of the RBC Director Development Residency at Canadian Stage, he has been nominated for the KLM Hunter Artist Award and the inaugural Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize.
Teodora Djuric is a fourth-year student in University of Toronto’s Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies program, and she recently performed in the university’s Mainstage productions of Midsummer Night’s Dream (Helena), and TomorrowLove (Shannon). The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui is her debut at Canadian Stage. Teodora wants to thank her family for their undying support.
Darcy Gerhart is a theatre artist from Toronto, who has performed on stages across the country. Darcy graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada, and trained in ballet and contemporary dance. She is currently working towards a BA in Drama, Literature and Critical theory, at the University of Toronto. Credits include: The Divine, Lady from the Sea, Lithuania, The Philadelphia Story, The Charity that Began at Home (Shaw Festival); The Philadelphia Story (Theatre Calgary); We Are Proud to Present…(WhyNot Theatre -Dora nomination: Best Ensemble); Raging Dreams (Theatre Gargantua); A Splinter in the Heart (Festival Players of PEC). Darcy directed Harold Pinter’s Silence at U of T in 2021, and is currently developing her first play, Jane on the Run.
Valerio Greganti is an Italian national in his 4th year at U of T. He is double majoring in Drama and International Relations, and he has performed in multiple productions in Europe, the US, and Canada. He is fluent in Italian, English, and French and he hopes that his international experience will contribute to his performance’s success. He has performed in plays the likes of Radium Girls, Julius Caesar, Moby Dick, as well as musicals like Oklahoma, Damn Yankees, and 18 Palace Rd. Valerio is a multi-faceted actor with a particular interest in comedic and satirical theatre. As he is passionate about history and politics, Valerio finds that humor is essential for tackling our time’s major themes, as well as criticizing those responsible for injustices of all kinds.
Sébastien Heins is a Canadian-born, Jamaican-German actor, writer, producer, and emerging director. He is the Associate Artistic Director of Outside the March, and a performing resident at the Canadian Stage U of T BMO Lab, researching AI, Motion Capture, and Motion Sensors. His credits include 3 seasons at the Stratford Festival (The Tempest, Comedy of Errors, School for Scandal, Breath of Kings), 10+years of immersive theatre with OtM, and Canadian / US / Indian tours of his award-winning solo show, Brotherhood: The Hip Hopera. In 2020 he made his directing debut with David Yee’s Good White Men. He trained at the National Theatre School of Canada and The School at Steppenwolf in Chicago.
James Hyett is a British-Canadian actor and linguist. In 2021 he produced and performed in a fantasy audio drama for children, Through the Fairy Circle, as well as creating a hybrid D&D live-stream / horror piece for the University of Toronto Alumni Incubator Project, Friendship & Fantasy. Other stage credits include Lusty Juventus (Poculi Ludique Societas); Goldilocks and the Three Canadian Bears / Boucle d’or et les trois ours canadiens (Little Red Theatre); and Hamlet (LAMDA). He is currently producing an audio drama for children with First Ditch Collective which will premiere at the Shortwave Theatre Festival in November 2022.
Seren Brooke Lannon is so happy to be back in a Theatre again! Previous Credits include: Little Menace:Pinter Plays, The Black Drum, La Bête, A Christmas Carol (Soulpepper Theatre Company); Girl From The North Country (Mirvish Productions); Bar Mitzvah Boy, The Times, They Are a Changin’, 25 Questions for a Jewish Mother (Harold Green Jewish Theatre); The Little Mermaid (Capitol Theatre); Bang Bang (Factory Theatre); Morro and Jasp in Stupefaction (Kabin/U.N.I.T Productions); Mamma Mia, The Voices of Canada, We Are Canadian (Charlottetown Festival). When not in a Theatre, Seren can be found wandering a book store with the largest cup of tea available. Enjoy the show!
Adrian Pavone is a multi-ethnic, non-binary performer, Adrian strives to push the boundaries of ethnicity and gender on-stage and on-screen. Through the University of Toronto’s performance program they learned examine the mold and break it, which is why they are thrilled for Brecht’s Arturo Ui to be their Canadian Stage debut! Selected credits: Last Supper, Cosmic Hero Productions (2022); Pink Tax, Blonde Mamba Productions (2021); Netflix’s Grand Army (2020); CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery (2020); Flood, Canadian Film Centre (2019, TIFF, VIFF, FNC, Inside Out). Thank you to Johanna and Pia for your tutelage and for bringing me on board, to my coaches for continuing to push me, and to my agent for your constant faith and encouragement. (he/they).
Snezana Pesic is a performance designer and educator. She has collaborated with companies such as Banff Centre, Confederation Centre of the Arts, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre New Brunswick, Against the Grain, Ghost River, Obsidian, Odyssey, Native Earth, and Cahoots. Snezana’s work has been presented in numerous international exhibitions, including World Stage Design in (2009, Seoul; 2013, Cardiff) and the Prague Quadrennial (2007, 2015). In 2019, she designed and curated the Canadian National Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial, where designer Michael Levine received Canada’s first-ever PQ Award for Excellence in Performance Design. She won the Betty Mitchell Award for outstanding lighting design and production, and was nominated for a Prix Rideau and Pauline McGibbon Awards.
Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah is a Surinamese born, Toronto based actor, writer, director, and producer with a background in theatre, film, television, audio, and visual art. As an artist, Khadijah is drawn to work that reflects the many intersections of her own identity and the culture at large. Notable acting credits include; The Last of Us, American Gods, WhatWe Do In The Shadows, Workin Moms, Slo-Pitch, and Body so Fluorescent. As a filmmaker, Khadijah has written, produced, and starred in her own independently created works. Her first short film, P!GS, a satirical comedy about a cater-waiter that loses her cool after a series of microaggressions premiered at the 15th annual Caribbean Tales Film Festival and is available for streaming on CBC Gem. Her second short film, DEFUND, a social commentary on the Black Lives Matter movements during the summer of 2020, which she co-wrote/directed/produced and starred in premiered at TIFF 2021 before going on to a robust festival circuit. Checkout what Khadijah is up to next or look at pictures of what she’s eating on Instagram and Twitter @djpaulydij
David Rokeby is a Toronto artist who works with digital media to critically explore their impact on contemporary life. He has exhibited extensively internationally and has received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, a Prix Ars Electronica Golden Nica for Interactive Art, and a BAFTA award. He is the Director of the BMO Lab for AI and emerging technologies at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies at U of T.
Sina Sasanifard is a bi-lingual artist and has been pursuing his theatre passion since he was twelve. Some theatre credits include: Birthday Present, 9428, Winter of ’88 (Toronto Fringe Festival); Salt-Water Moon (U of T); and Heart of a Dog (Tirgan Festival). Sina is currently in his fourth year of Drama Specialist at the University of Toronto and is actively working on Metamorphoses – an ensemble – as the final project of his program. Sina gives thanks to his professor, Pia Kleber, and the director, Johanna Schall, for providing him the opportunity to learn, grow, and be among the best.
Johanna Schall is a freelance director living in Berlin. Before starting her directing career, she was an actor at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin for 15 years, working there with a wide range of directors like Thomas Langhoff, Frank Castorf, Alexander Lang and Heiner Mueller. In the mid 90s she directed her first play, Strindberg’s The Pelican, and from 2002 to 2008 Johanna acted as the artistic director of the Volkstheater in Rostock, Germany, where she directed more than 50 productions. Her stagings were produced all over Germany and in Canada, where she taught as guest professor at the University of Toronto for one year.
Bronwen Sharp draws on her background as a visual artist working with multimedia creating live art immersive performances and installations. Bronwen has directed theatre in Toronto, London and Rome and has an MA in Theatre Arts from Middlesex University London. She has worked for National Ballet of Canada, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Canadian Opera Company, Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto and Shakespeare Globe, National Theatre, Royal Court, Donmar Warehouse and Young Vic theatre in London. Her recent exhibitions include Portraits of American Playwrights at the Lincoln Centre in New York City, Playwrights in Focus at the Southwark Playhouse in London, Generate at Theatre Centre in Toronto. Her work has been exhibited at The Tower of London and V&A Museum.
Carly Street is a graduate of National Theatre School and an award-winning actress, with numerous appearances at the Stratford Festival, Canadian Stage, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre and other stages across Canada, the US, and on Broadway. You can also catch Carly on tv + film screens across Canada.
Aidan Ware hails from Calgary, Alberta, and is a graduate of the BFA Technical Theatre program at the University of Alberta. Upon completing an 18-month lighting practicum program at the Banff Centre, Aidan moved to Toronto where he is currently the Assistant Technical Director at Canadian Stage. Aidan’s creativity and passion for bringing new technologies to live performance have led him to work with creatives houses such as Moment Factory, Solotech, Fall for Dance North, and most recently as Lighting Designer / Technical Director for Rick Miller’s BOOM YZ. Aidan is excited to add his creativity to the human–and artificial–intelligence at the BMO Lab.
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