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Playwright Bios- FemFest 2011
Shannon Bramer (Playwright MonaRita)
Shannon was born in Hamilton and lives in Toronto with her husband and two daughters. She is the author of three books of poetry, most recently The Refrigerator Memory (2005) with Coach House Books. Shannon studied Theatre at York University and completed an Honours Degree program in 1997. Her plays, MONARITA and The Collectors have both been dramaturged at the Women’s Work Festival in St. John’s, Newfoundland with Robert Chafe and Andy Jones. She is now writing plays, poems, essays and short fiction.
Kelley Jo Burke (Playwright/Performer Ducks on the Moon)
Kelley Jo Burke is a Winnipeg-raised, Regina-based award-winning playwright , director, storyteller, documentarian, broadcaster, and mother of three. Her plays have been produced and published in Canada, and around the world, including: Ducks on the Moon (Hagios), The Selkie Wife (Scirocco), Jane’s Thumb (Signature), and Charming and Rose: True Love (Blizzard). She dramaturges, directs and produces for stage and radio and is the host/producer of CBC Saskatchewan’s radio arts performance hour SoundXchange. She was 2009 winner of the Saskatchewan Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Leadership in the Arts, the 2009 City of Regina Writing Award, and the 2008 Saskatoon and Area Theatre Award for Playwriting.
Ginny Collins (Playwright One Night Stand)
Ginny Collins works in communications by day and writes plays by night. Originally from Winnipeg, she has lived and worked for several years in Africa and Latin America. Ginny’s play The Good Daughter was published in the Breakout Anthology by Scirocco Drama and enjoyed a sold-out run at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Her scene Terroristas appeared in the book Generation Nexxt and was presented at FemFest in 2010. Ginny has most recently been commissioned by Winnipeg Jewish Theatre.
Rose Condo (Playwright (africanada): a love story)
Rose has worked extensively as a theatre artist and educator. She has taught with PTE, MTYP, the Youth Peacebuilding Project, and the University of Winnipeg’s Department of Theatre and Film. While earning her MA in Theatre and Development at England’s University of Leeds, Rose worked with several community arts initiatives, including Tales in Transit – a company devoted to offering arts engagement for refugees. She has participated in multiple Theatre-in-Education projects in Manitoba, England, Scotland, and Kenya. In 2004 her one-woman play, PYG, was published in an anthology by Scirocco Drama, and was produced by Hamilton’s Black Box Fire Theatre in 2009. Rose has directed many theatre productions, including the Canadian premiere of Schools, by East African playwright Troy Howe for the 2009 Winnipeg Fringe. Rose currently works with MTYP’s Aboriginal Arts Program.
Zena Edwards (Playwright Travelling Light; Artist in Residence)
East London born Poet Zena Edwards graduated in Drama, Media and Communications and studied performance at the London International school Performing Arts. Her poetic collaborations include working with dancers, photographers, choirs and musicians from all over the world and nourish her devising and performance processes. Security, her previous one woman show was the first piece of UK theatre to be invited to the renowned Shizuoka Theatre Festival – Japan in 2010 and toured for a year internationally. Her work is published in several anthologies and she performs in music and literary scenes with her unique weaving of poetry and storytelling, singing and vocal sound scaping. She is committed to Arts and Activism and facilitates workshops and master classes in creative writing and performance to promote Art for Change. More Details of Zena’s work – http://goodnewzee.wordpress.com/
Nan Fewchuk (Co-Creator Jail Baby)
Nan is an actor, director and educator. Recent acting adventures include touring with Green Kids Inc., stepping in to perform the role of Mistress Ford in “The Merry Wives of Windsor” with SIR, and playing Aphra Behn in the comedy Or, at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Nan has co-directed over 20 of Garden City Collegiate’s theatre productions, winning the “Rainbow Stage High School Musical Award” four times. Nan is honoured to be a part of the exciting collaborative project with Sarasvati Productions and the Elizabeth Fry Society working with incarcerated women.
Marsha Knight (Co-Creator Jail Baby)
Marsha has been working in the industry for over 15 yrs. Her recent highlights include Eden by Hope McIntytre, for Sarasvati Productions; Kiss the Moon, Kiss the Sun by Norm Foster, for Theatre Northwest; and the independent film Billy, with Ernesto Griffith. This project is another example of what theatre is all about. It’s about storytelling. And just as I was an audience member to hear the women, you are welcome to now be an audience member to hear this compilation/work in progress.
Katherine Koller (Playwright Magpie)
Katherine Koller lives in Edmonton. Her most recent play, The Seed Savers, was produced at Workshop West Theatre in Edmonton and at Station Arts Centre in Rosthern, Saskatchewan. Two of her one-act plays, Cowboy Boots and a Corsage and Abby’s Place, were presented at earlier FemFests. Coal Valley: the Making of a Miner was commissioned and produced in Drumheller, Alberta, in 2005 and published in The Alberta Advantage: An Anthology of Plays by Playwrights Canada Press. Magpie was first broadcast by CBC radio and later produced by Jagged Edge Theatre in Edmonton.
Hope McIntyre (Co-Creator Jail Baby)
Hope McIntyre has a BFA in theatre performance (University of Saskatchewan), an MFA in directing (University of Victoria), and completed a performance apprenticeship in England. Hope is the founding Artistic Director of Sarasvàti Productions. She is a published playwright, and has received awards and productions across Canada, the U.S., and Australia. In 2006 she won the YWCA Women of Distinction Award for Arts and Culture and in 2008 the Bra D’Or Award for supporting women playwrights. She currently teaches at the University of Winnipeg and Prairie Theatre Exchange’s Theatre School. She is a former President of the Playwrights Guild of Canada.
Cairn Moore (Co-Creator Jail Baby)
Cairn is a director and playwright. She also teaches performance at the University of Winnipeg. Under the expert mentorship of Governor General Award winning playwright Vern Thiessen, Cairn’s third play SHIKSA was featured in FemFest 2010. Cairn also edited Generation NeXXt, a scene book anthology for young female actors, published by SCIRROCCO DRAMA. Over the last year, Cairn and a team of artists have been going inside women’s prisons in Manitoba and Edmonton. Jail Baby, co-written with Hope McIntyre, is currently in development. Cairn continues to embrace her duties as Associate Artistic Director of FemFest.
Talia Pura (Playwright One Night Stand)
Talia’s plays have had many performances, several publications and a C.B.C. radio commission. Part of the Canadian Forces Artists Program, 2010, she went to Afghanistan to research her latest play. She has written/produced/directed three short dramatic films and held a film commission from CODE – the Vancouver Olympics, 2010. Aside from appearing in many feature films, television shows and independent shorts, she has performed on stages in Winnipeg, Toronto, Minneapolis and New York City. Talia’s performances in aerial dance have included solos with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, in theatrical pieces and at festivals and gala fundraising events.
Janice Salkeld (Playwright TopDog)
Janice’s plays have appeared across Western Canada in community theatre, schools, at the Fringe, and at Sarasvati Theatre, where her play StreetZone (2005) was first performed. She is delighted to have TopDog make its first appearance here as well. Janice’s play Learning the Game was published in the anthology Things That Go Bump I (Signature Editions, 2009.) Janice is a member of the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre, the Saskatchewan Writers Guild and the Saskatoon Writers Coop. She lives and works in Saskatoon, where she may be found digging through dandelions to put her flowerbed to sleep this summer.
Alissa Schacter (Playwright One Night Stand)
After careers in law and economic development and policy, Alissa is now exploring her passion for writing. Paying Treaty is her first play. She also writes short stories and poetry. Her theatre and book reviews and articles have appeared in Prairie Fire magazine and the Winnipeg Jewish Review. Alissa has taken acting classes at Prairie Theatre Exchange and also enjoys many forms of dance and yoga. She is a voracious reader and loves being active outdoors. She seizes any chance she gets to cycle, kayak or snowshoe. Alissa lives in Winnipeg with her very supportive husband, Michael and their two wonderful children.
Kerri Twigg (Playwright One Night Stand)
Kerri Twigg is an arts educator that creates drama adventures inside and out with children (and the adults that work with them). She has a B.A in Drama in Education from U of W, and a M.Ed in Humane Education from Cambridge College. She loves making up stories, creating experiences and working with her hands. She lives Winnipeg with her two daughters, husband, three cats and a dog.
Veenesh Dubois (Playwright/Performer, Under the Mango Tree)
As a young girl Veenesh Dubois grew up in a dirt floor hut in Ba, Fiji. Her Father in 1971 immigrated to Canada to seek fame and fortune. In 1973 Veenesh’s father sent for her and the rest of the family and their family’s Canadian story began. Much of the Under The Mango Tree Story comes direct from Veenesh’s experiences, including her arranged marriage at the age of 16 and having had two children before the age of 23. Veenesh has since gone onto to study theatre and has acted professionally in film, TV and on stage for more than 15 years.
Tyler White (Playwright Bear and Blue’s Adventures through the Whispering Woods)
Tyler is thrilled that Bear and Blue’s Adventures through the Whispering Woods is having a reading at FemFest. Like many children, she suffered from anxiety as a child. Her goal in writing this play was to help children learn to overcome worry thoughts and feel good about themselves while also having the best time ever! As she got to know Bear and Blue she fell in love with these characters, and she hopes that you will love them too. Tyler wants to thank everyone at FemFest for this wonderful opportunity.
Stefanie Wiens (Playwright, One Night Stand)
As a playwright, Stefanie is best known for Max and Mirabelle, which won the Harry Rintoul Memorial Award for best new play (script) at the 2006 Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and Saying Goodbye to the Goodwing (Winnipeg Fringe, 2007). Her scene “Winning” was included in Generation NeXXt: Contemporary Scenes for Young Women, published by Scirocco drama. The Uninvited Guest will be her first full-length play for adults. Stefanie is also an actor, director and a part time occupational therapist, mainly working with children and their families.