Allen Cole has worked variously as composer, musical director, lyricist and/or book writer on musicals such as The Wrong Son (NAC), Mimi (with Rick Roberts and Melody Johnson at the Tarragon Theatre), Anything That Moves (with Ann-Marie MacDonald and Alisa Palmer), and Pélagie (NAC and CanStage). Allen has also composed music for the Shaw Festival, Stratford Festival and Soulpepper, and he's a frequent collaborator in the National Art Centre's resident acting company, under Peter Hinton. Allen has won numerous awards, including four Doras, and a Best Film Score Award from the Atlantic Film Festival. His musical Rockbound recently won five Merritt Awards in Nova Scotia, including Best New Play, Best Music and Best Production. Allen was Artistic Director of the Caravan Farm Theatre in Armstrong, B.C. from 1997-1999. He graduated from FHS in Fredericton, N.B. in 1979.
Paul Ledoux Playwright
Paul Ledoux is one of the most produced creators of musical theatre in Canada. Among his 37 plays are Dream A Little Dream (with Denny Doherty - multiple Dora Award nominations); Cheatin' Hearts (with David Smyth); Hot Flashes, (with John Roby), Judy! (Dora and Jessie nominee); Honky Tonk Angels (with Ferne Downey); Love Is Strange (with David Young), and adaptations of The Secret Garden (Chalmers Award nominee) and Anne of Green Gables. Recent work includes Tyrants, a drama about the family of John Wilkes Booth (with Jake Richmond) and Still Desire You, (with David Young, featuring the music of Melanie Doane). In development: Paris before The Crash, a musical about Canadian members of The Lost Generation (with John Roby). Here I Am, his biography of Denny Doherty is currently being broadcast on BRAVO. Other TV credits include: The Pit Pony (supervising producer), Street Legal and Freaky Stories. Radio drama credits include the series The Old Guy (Canadian Screenwriting Awards nominee), In The Blood and Booster McCrane PM. Ledoux has directed productions for Western Canada Theatre, ATP, Persephone Theatre , Neptune and The National Arts Centre. He is the past Chairman of The Playwrights Union of Canada.
Alisa Palmer Director
Alisa Palmer is an award-winning theatre director, playwright, dramaturge and theatre producer. She is one of few Canadian directors who crosses genres, directing classics, contemporary plays, creation projects, musicals and operas. As a director, recent productions include Cloud 9 for Mirvish Productions, the world premiere of Mimi, A Prisoner’s Comedy, by Rick Roberts, Melody Johnson and composer Allen Cole, and the hit revival of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, at the Shaw Festival, The Blonde, The Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead at Manitoba Theatre Centre, ‘Night Mother, for Soulpepper, and The Clean House at Canadian Stage. Her acclaimed production of Top Girls at Soulpepper was revived last fall and garnered her a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction. Her production of East of Berlin at the Tarragon Theatre has been touring Canada for two years and returned to the Tarragon for an unprecedented third time this past winter. Now in her seventh season at the Shaw Festival, Palmer directed the premiere, revival and tour of the 2005 hit Belle Moral: A Natural History by Ann-Marie MacDonald, which was also presented at the National Arts Centre. Other productions at Shaw include: the Canadian premiere of Diana of Dobson’s musical Pal Joey, and G.B. Shaw’s The Philanderer. She has directed the creation of numerous landmark plays which have toured across the country, including Diane Flacks’ Random Acts, Sibs by Richard Greenblatt and Flacks and Smudge, the first professional play by a blind playwright. As a director she has received two Dora awards- for the direction of the musical Anything That Moves, (recently revived at The Belfry Theatre,) and for outstanding direction of a play, Top Girls. As a playwright Ms Palmer has received two Dora Awards (Book collaboration with Ann-Marie MacDonald for the musical Anything That Moves and co-writer for i.d.) and two Chalmers Awards (i.d. and A Play About the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo). Ms Palmer was twice named Finalist for the prestigious Siminovitch Prize. She is the recipient of the New Brunswick Award of Excellence and also a Harold Award for her work in independent theatre. She has taught at University of Toronto, Victoria, Waterloo, Ryerson University and the National Theatre School of Canada and was Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre, Canada’s foremost feminist theatre company, 1994-2001. In 2005 she was Resident Director for the world premiere of The Lord of the Rings with Mirvish Productions. She directed the creation, premier and seven subsequent productions of The Attic, The Pearls & Three Fine Girls, (published by Scirocco Press), a collective creation to be revisited this year.
Caleb holds a BFA Honours Acting degree from York University (Toronto); MFA with Distinction in Theatre Directing from Middlesex University (London UK). He served as an Education Practitioner at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as well as resident director for their UK/European tour of Romeo & Juliet. He also trained at the Stratford Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training, Shakespeare’s Globe’s International Artist’s Fellowship, and at Moscow’s GITIS Academy. Caleb has premiered roles for the National Arts Centre, Can Stage, The Blyth Festival, The Stratford Festival and the Old Vic in London. He was awarded the 2007 Christopher Plummer Fellowship Award and was named the 2007 Emerging Artist of the Year by the New Brunswick Arts Board.
TNB credits: Hockey Dreams (Co-adaptor, Director), Treasure Island (Director), Feelgood (Director), The Truth is a Hard Flat Surface (Director), Skin Flick (Director), Bad Water (Director), The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged (Director); It’s a Wonderful Life (Director); Doubt, A Parable (Director); LaTour (Director); Tuesdays With Morrie (Actor); Cricket on the Hearth (Actor, Assistant Director). Caleb has had a twenty-year association with Theatre New Brunswick, beginning as an usher and later as an actor, assistant director, and guest instructor. He returned to Theatre New Brunswick in 2009 as Artistic Producer.
Select writing and directing credits: Christmas @theplayhouse: Hope in Every Home, Christmas @theplayhouse: The Christmas Show of Christmas Shows (Fredericton Playhouse); Nights Below Station Street (NBActs, Eliot Haze Playwright Development Award, Herman Voaden National Playwriting Competition Honourable Mention), Somme Letters Home (Atlantic Fringe/George Brown Theatre School/YPT).
Select acting credits: Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare’s Globe Touring); On the Middle Day (Old Vic); Lifedream, Lutz (NBActs); Twelfth Night, Tempest Tost, Inherit the Wind, Romeo & Juliet, Richard III, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Love’s Labour’s Lost, The Taming of the Shrew, Pericles, King John, Timon of Athens, Cymbeline (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Anne, Stolen Lives (The Blyth Festival); Claptrap (CanStage/NAC).
Tim Yerxa (Executive Director, Fredericton Playhouse) Executive Co-Producer
Tim Yerxa is the Executive Director of the Fredericton Playhouse (NB), where he is responsible for the overall operation and development of Fredericton’s premiere performance venue. He programs an annual multidisciplinary presentation series of 40+ performances as well as an extensive education and outreach program. He has also produced several projects for the Playhouse including eight editions of Christmas @theplayhouse. Under his leadership, the 709-seat venue was named Organization of the Year (2003) by the Canadian Arts Presenting Association (CAPACOA), the Fredericton Chamber of Commerce’s Business Excellence Award – Community Impact winner (2008), and Venue of the Year (2006, 2007, & 2009) by the East Coast Music Association. He was the first recipient of the New Brunswick Foundation for the Arts’ Caisses populaires acadiennes Arts and Cultural Management Award in 2009. Tim has volunteered with a number of organizations including serving as chairman of Fredericton’s prestigious Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival from 1997 until 2000. Tim currently serves on the boards of the Atlantic Presenters Association (APA), and the Canadian Arts Presenters Association (CAPACOA) where he served as President from 2007 to 2009.
Matjash Mrozewski Choreographer
Matjash Mrozewski graduated from The National Ballet School in 1993 and danced with The National Ballet of Canada, Le Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Mrozewski began to devote himself exclusively to choreography in 2001. Since that time he has created works for, among others, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Toronto Dance Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Milwaukee Ballet, National Ballet School, West Australian Ballet, Houston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, Washington Ballet, The Royal Ballet and most recently, The Australian Ballet, Tulsa Ballet and Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. In 2003 Matjash created his first full-evening work, Break Open Play, for the National Arts Centre's Youth Commission for Dance. He has choreographed or adapted dance for numerous Canadian dance films as well as Dancers for Life, The Canada Dance Festival, fFIDA, Dusk Dances, Fashion Cares, A Celebration of the Works of Canadian Artists for HRH the Prince of Wales, the opening ceremonies of the XVI International AIDS Conference, and corporate events for MAC Cosmetics and the luxury brand Hermes.
After five years away from the stage, Matjash returned to perform in his own work for ProArteDanza in 2007, and appeared with The National Ballet of Canada as a guest artist in Marie Chouinard's 24 Preludes by Chopin. He subsequently performed with Chouinard's company in the choreographer's Orpheus and Euridyce.
New works for 2009 included My Love for Tulsa Ballet, 30-Minute Beauty Makeover for The National Ballet School and Pavillon d’Armide for Les Ballets de Monte Carlo. Dénouement (a duet for Elena Lobsanova and Noah Long of The National Ballet of Canada) won the inaugural Choreographic Award at the Eighth Annual Competition for the Erik Bruhn Prize.
Matjash was also commissioned to create a piece for The National Arts Centre’s 40th Anniversary gala, which he performed with Jesse Robb, joined onstage by cellist Amanda Forsyth and the NAC Orchestra, under the baton of Pinchas Zuckerman. He also choreographed the film Nureyev (directed by Moze Mossanen and starring Nico Archambault) as well as Tarragon Theatre's new musical Mimi (or A Poisoner's Comedy). Matjash has also received two Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations for Best Choreography.
Patrick Clark Set and Costume Designer
Patrick Clark has worked in theatres and taught in schools across Canada for the past twenty years. Recent shows for TNB include Hockey Dreams, Treasure Island, Feelgood, Skin Flick, It’s a Wonderful Life, and Doubt, A Parable. Other recent productions include: Music Man, Krapp’s Last Tape and Hughie, Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, Anything Goes, The Taming of The Shrew, Romeo and Juliet, and King Lear (Stratford Festival of Canada); Doubt, A Few Good Men, The Price, To Kill a Mockingbird, The Diary of Anne Frank (Neptune Theatre); Hit The Deck and She Loves Me (Shaw Festival); Shadowlands , Jane Eyre, and Amadeus as well as The Invention of Love and The Three Sisters (Guthrie Theatre, Minnesota); Much Ado About Nothing and Othello (Chicago Shakespeare Theatre). Patrick has won four Nova Scotia Merritt Awards for Set and Costume Design. He is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada and The Royal Canadian Academy of Arts.
Leigh Ann Vardy Lighting Designer
Leigh Ann is based in Halifax and designs lights for theatres across Canada. She has received four Merritt Awards (Nova Scotia Theatre) for design and was nominated for the Siminovitch Prize. She is an instructor and coach at the National Theatre School of Canada, and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada.
TNB credits: Treasure Island, It’s a Wonderful Life, The Hobbitt, Oh Coward!
Select theatre credits: Three Sisters (Stratford Shakespeare Festival); Age of Arousal (Centaur Theatre); Doubt (Neptune Theatre); The Way of the World (National Arts Centre and Soulpepper); The Syringa Tree (Manitoba Theatre Centre). Upcoming projects include Copenhagen at the Globe Theatre, and the world premiere of Oil and Water with Artistic Fraud Theatre in Newfoundland.
Michael Doherty Sound Designer/Associate Musical Director
Michael Doherty is the Resident Composer and Sound Designer for Theatre New Brunswick, providing the score for countless productions in each division of the provincial theatre company. Doherty is a prominent Fredericton-based Composer, Sound Designer, Producer, and Musical Director who works across Atlantic Canada’s music and theatre scenes. His musical contributions have garnered attention both nationally and internationally. He was the recipient of two ECMA Musician’s Achievement Awards, his recording studio was nominated for Studio of the Year, and his capacity as producer and engineer for roots and blues group Hot Toddy earned them the Blues Recording of the Year Award in 2005.
TNB credits: Hockey Dreams, Treasure Island/The Marketeer, Feelgood/The Truth is a Hard Flat Surface, Skin Flick/Bad Water, The Sword in the Stone, The complete works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), It’s a Wonderful Life, Doubt/LaTour, Tuesdays with Morrie, The Boy’s Own Jedi Handbook, Charlotte’s Web, Narnia, The Rocky Horror Show, Beauty and the Beast, The Love List, Chasing the Money, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, A Christmas Carol, The Graduate, The Sound of Music, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, For Art’s Sake, Smokescreen, Cats, Passing Through, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, Pinocchio, Chairmaker, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Dear Santa, The Hobbit, Thirteen Hands, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Misery, The Winter’s Tale.
Other theatre credits include: Homage (2b Theatre); God’s Middle Name (In Good Co.); Nomentacke, On and Off the Shelf, Chapel Arm, Lifedream, Lutz, Nights Below Station St. (Notable Acts Theatre Festival) Bump, The Parrsboro Boxing Club (Ship’s Co. Theatre) The Mystery of Maddy Heisler (Centaur) Medea, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Marathon ‘33, A History of the American Film, Pride and Prejudice (Dalhousie University Theatre) Vimy, In the Backseat (Eastern Front) Cloud 9, The Threepenny Opera, Translations, Godspell, Our Town, The Rimers of Eldritch (Theatre St. Thomas).
Mike Johnston Production Manager
Previous credits include Treasure Island, Feelgood/The Truth is a Hard Flat Surface, Skin Flick/Bad Water (Production Manager, Theatre New Brunswick); It’s a Wonderful Life (Production Manager, Theatre New Brunswick); Nomentacke (Set and Projection Designer, NotaBle Acts Theatre Co.); Christmas @theplayhouse 2008 (Set and Projection Designer, The Fredericton Playhouse); Carthaginians, Knight of the Burning Pestle (Lighting and Set Designer, Theatre UNB). Mike is the Technical Director for the drama program at the University of New Brunswick.
Judy Joe Stage Manager
Judy is on hiatus from her Head Technician duties at the Playhouse to happily join The Bricklin company as Stage Manager. Favourite stage management credits include: Christmas @theplayhouse, working with Tania Breen and Michael Doherty; The Secret Garden for Neptune Theatre, starring Shawn Wright; Anne, written by Paul Ledoux for Neptune Theatre; Nights Below Station Street for NotaBle Acts, directed by Caleb Marshall; and Marion Bridge for Mulgrave Road Co-op Theatre with lighting designed by Leigh Ann Vardy. Judy has also been the Production Manager for Theatre New Brunswick and the Harvest Jazz and Blues Festival. Enjoy the show!
Tammy Faulkner Assistant Stage Manager
Select theatre credits include: For TNB: Treasure Island/The Marketeer, The Bricklin, It’s a Wonderful Life, Doubt/LaTour, Tuesdays With Morrie, Vinci, For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, The Love List (ASM) A Christmas Carol (ASM & Production Manager) Forever Plaid (Production Manager).
Select theatre credits: Billy Bishop Goes to War, The Fourposter (Stage Manager, Montgomery Theatre); Private Lives (ASM, Montgomery Theatre); Leonard Cohen World Tour 2008 (Wardrobe Assistant); Share, MacGregors Hard Ice Cream and Gas (Stage Manager, Ship’s Company Theatre); Swimmy, Frederick & Inch By Inch (Stage Manager, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia).
