Phil

#346 – Stevie Baker

Stevie Baker is a producer, director and costume designer based in Severn, Ontario. A prolific theatre creator and artist, she has been a part of over 30 productions in Toronto’s vibrant theatre community over the past 15 years. Stevie has been the Head of Production at Dauntless City Theatre since its inception in 2007 (originally Urban Bard). Her work with Dauntless is rooted in queering, subverting and modernizing Shakespeare to better reflect the dynamic people of Ontario. She is a director on the boards of both Arts Orillia and Mariposa Arts Theatre.
She centers queer joy, anti-racism and anti-poverty in her work, life and the raising of her two children. Stevie has worked internationally with Kansas City’s MET and served as Artistic Director of The Daegu Theatre Troupe in Daegu, South Korea. She orchestrated the DTT’s first touring show and directed South Korea’s first English language production of A Streetcar Named Desire in 2011.
Stevie is dedicated to the art of theatre and expression and is enjoying bringing her expertise, experience and methods back home to Severn since relocating in late 2020.

www.dauntlesscitytheatre.com
Instagram: @tristevietops

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#345 – Rob Kempson

Rob Kempson is a theatre artist and educator, working primarily as a director and playwright, and the Artistic Director of the Capitol Theatre in Port Hope. Selected Writer/Director: Trigonometry (timeshare/Factory); Mockingbird (Next Stage Theatre Festival); SHANNON 10:40 (timeshare/Videofag); explicit (Rhubarb Festival); #legacy (Harbourfront Centre); The HV Project (Community). Selected Director: Box 4901 (timeshare/Buddies), The Places We Are (Theatre Erindale), The Snow Queen (Canadian Children’s Opera Company), Electric Messiah (Soundstreams), The Little Mermaid (St. Lawrence College), 9 to 5: The Musical (Randolph College), The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom (Sudbury Theatre Centre), Box 4901 (SummerWorks, foldA Festival); The Canadian, Maggie and Pierre, Million Dollar Quartet, Daisy Amazed Me, Violet’s the Pilot, Rose’s Clothes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Robert (co-directed with Briana Brown, Toronto Fringe); Songs for a New World (Claude Watson). Writer/Composer/Performer: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille/Touchstone Theatre – Dora Nomination: Outstanding New Musical). Rob has been a member of the Stratford Festival Playwrights’ Retreat, a Resident Artist Educator at Young People’s Theatre, and the RBC Intern Director for The Musical Stage Co. He is the past Artistic Producer of the Paprika Festival, the past Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille, and the past Associate Artistic Director at the Thousand Islands Playhouse. Rob is also the Co-Artistic Director of ARC, a Toronto-based company.

www.robkempson.com
Twitter: @rob_kempson
Instagram: @rob_kempson

Tickets to ARC’s Martyr: https://www.nativeearth.ca/shows/martyr/

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#344 – Yulissa Campos

Yulissa Campos (she/her) is an Ecuadorian theatre artist and founding artistic director of Ay, Caramba! Theatre, the first Latin American theatre in Saskatchewan. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the University of Saskatchewan and works with the Newcomer and Indigenous community when she is not writing, acting, or producing. Yulissa has been invited to be part of the CBC’s Q with Tom Power to talk about diversity in the prairies. She celebrates her Latin American heritage in her plays and her work has been presented internationally such as at the M1 Singapore Fringe Festival and across Canada. Yulissa is now debuting in the biggest role in her life: motherhood.

aycarambatheatre.com
Instagram: @yuliecampos

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#342 – James and Jamesy

Aaron Malkin and Alastair Knowles are better known as James and Jamesy.

The James & Jamesy Performance Society creates multi-award winning theatrical performances typified by extended characters, rich emotion, and fantastical trips of the imagination. Their shows are investigations in participatory theatre that merge physical comedy, clown, and dance to create theatrical environments where audiences feel invited and compelled to participate.

Since 2012, James & Jamesy shows have sold over 80,000 tickets and been performed over 750 times across Canada, the United States, and the UK. Their accessibility and wide appeal is evident by numerous 5-Star reviews and 20 Best-of-Fest awards. Regarded as “Fringe legends” (Montreal Gazette), “Fringe stalwarts” (Winnipeg Free Press) and “One of the most popular fringe duos ever” (CBC), James & Jamesy have firmly claimed a place in the ranks of contemporary Canadian theatre.

www.jamesandjamesy.com
Twitter: @jamesandjamesy
Instagram: @jamesandjamesy

O Christmas Tea tickets and more at ochristmastea.com

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#341 – Matthew Romantini

Matthew Romantini is a multi-disciplinary artist, the artistic director of Omnivore Performance, and works in dance, theatre, and with orchestral ensembles across the continent. He is also teaches and coaches performance, directs and choreographs as part of his performance work. He has been lucky to direct Unity (1918) and Gogol’s The Government Inspector at Randolph College, and is gearing up to direct another production at the college in January. He has been nominated for 5 Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the CTC Award (winning best production for The Boys In The Band), the KM Hunter Award, the Total Theatre Award, and has received two Chalmers Professional Development Grants. Notable credits include Kokoro Dance’s epic Sunyata, Gorey Story (as performer and Artistic Director, nominated for 5 Dora Awards), Theatre Rusticle’s signature April 14, 1912, PNME’s Just Out of Reach (which toured to the Edinburgh Fringe), co-creating Tomoe Arts’ Weaver Woman, and PNME’s “heart-rending” Psappho’s Sparrows/In The Wake concert cycle.

www.matthewromantini.com

Omnivore Performance and the Deanne Taylor New Works Festival Present
Waiting for the Dawn
By Erika Batdorf
Performed by Matthew Romantini
November 30 – December 4 2022

Tickets: https://matthewromantini.as.me/schedule.php?appointmentType=38114518

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#340 – Indrit Kasapi

Born in Albania, Indrit has made Tkarón:to his home since 2000. He is the Founding Artistic Producer for lemonTree creations and Artistic Producer for Theatre Passe Muraille. lemonTree creations focuses on queer works, and Indrit has produced, acted in, choreographed and directed several critically acclaimed and award winning productions, including a national tour for MSM [men seeking men]. As the Artistic Producer of Canada’s original alternative theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Indrit continues to develop exciting new theatrical voices while also focusing on national and international touring for the company. As a performer, Indrit has had the privilege to work with many talented writers, directors, designers and companies in a myriad of projects that more often than not are interdisciplinary in nature making use of both his ability with movement and text. Most notably he is a company member of the award winning dance theatre company CORPUS. Through Corpus he has helped develop and premiere two new works (Machina Nuptialis, House Guests) and continued touring other repertoire to North America, Europe and Asia. He’s an Acting graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, a 2018 Harold Award Winner and a 2020 Dora Nominated performer.

Twitter: @indritk
Instagram: @indritk

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#339 – Joseph Zita

Joseph Zita (he/him) is a Toronto based actor, singer, and theatre artist. He was born in Guatemala City, Guatemala, and grew up in Mississauga, ON. Select Theatre Credits include: The Antipodes (Coal Mine Theatre), Peter Pan (Neptune Theatre, Halifax), Lilies; Or, the Revival of a Romantic Drama (lemonTree Creations/Why Not Theatre/Buddies in Bad Times), Picture This (Soulpepper), Richard III (Shakespeare BASH’d), Kitsault: A New Canadian Musical (Staged Reading – Al Green Theatre), In the Heights: In Concert (We Are Here Productions), Beauty and the Beast: In Concert (Angelwalk Theatre), and several new works for the Toronto and Hamilton Fringe Festivals. Film/Television: Locke and Key, Firehouse Dog, Mayday. When not on stage, Joseph is quite active behind the scenes, and is currently serving his fifth term on the Board of Directors for Shakespeare in the Ruff. He holds BFA in Acting from the University of Windsor, and has also studied at the Stella Adler Studio in New York City.

Twitter: @josephzita
Instagram: @josephzita

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#338 – Curtis Campbell

Curtis Campbell is a writer and theatre artist. Some previous credits as a writer and director include Katherine Is Not A Communist, Imp, BETR With Bevan and Color Me Pablo. His novel Dragging Mason County will be published by Annick Press in the fall of 2023.

Check out Gay for Pay, co-written by Curtis and Daniel Krolik at Streetcar Crowsnest, Nov. 16-27.

Twitter: @Alanis_Percocet
Instagram: @gayforpayproductions

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#337 – Dauntless City Theatre’s This Earth of Majesty

On this episode of Stageworthy, joining host Phil Rickaby, are Kate Werneburg, Suchiththa Wickremesooriya, Eric Benson and Chi-Chi Onuah from Dauntless City Theatre.

Dauntless City Theatre is dedicated to bringing site-specific performances to non-traditional spaces. This summer, Dauntless presents This Earth of Majesty an adaptation of Richard II by William Shakespeare, directed by Kate Werneburg.

www.dauntlesscitytheatre.com
Instagram: @dauntlessto

Kate Werneburg is originally from Ottawa, ON, which is on the unceded and traditional territory of the Algonquin Nation. Niagara-based, she is a queer settler. She brings social justice work along with artistic and administrative experience to her work with Dauntless. Highlights in theatre: Carousel Players, Dauntless City Theatre, Theatre New Brunswick, The Nearly-World Famous Dufflebag Theatre (bilingual troupe), Ergo Arts Theatre, A Company of Fools, The Great Canadian Theatre Company, Elizabeth – Darcy. Journalism: She Does The City, Intermission Magazine. Poetry: The Quilliad.

Twitter: @KateWburg
Instagram: @katewburg

Suchiththa Wickremesooriya is a multi-disciplinary Sri Lankan actor and educator who has recently been drawn to multi-sensory theatre as well as physical theatre. As an educator, he holds a M.A in Musical Theatre Performance and is the Associate Producer, Education for Shakespeare in Action. He was most recently seen in Bend it Like Beckham in its North American premiere in Toronto and in a Summerworks presentation of Deaf-integrated Theatre techniques. Other Select Credits include Ariel in The Tempest (Citadel Theatre), Fakir in The Secret Garden (Theatre Calgary) and Ifty in Pocket Rocket (Lost and Found Theatre). Since Covid19 hit, he’s been involved in several Workshops both on and off Zoom including Sweeter, Sister Warriors, Leopards and Peacocks, Off the Beaten Path, and many other new works in progress.

Twitter: @SuchiththaW
Instagram: @SuchiththaW

Eric Benson is a Toronto-based actor. He was a core member of Halifax’s DaPoPo Theatre from 2005 – 2013, and was part of the Stratford Festival’s director mentorship programme in 2011 and 2012.

Chi-Chi Onuah is a Canadian-Nigerian actor, mover, and singer. She studied Devised Theatre (B.A.) at York University in Toronto.
Some of Chi-Chi’s notable credits include: Bianca (Othello) and the Ensemble (Coriolanus) for the 2x OnComm and special OneOff award-winning web series, The Show Must Go Online (Rob Myles).

Most recently, Chi-Chi Onuah was featured in CBC Arts about Netflix & Shondaland’s “The Queen’s Ball: A Bridgerton Experience” in Montréal.

chichionuah.com
Twitter: @chichionuah
Instagram: @chichi.onuah

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