Chasing Champions

Jacob Sampson is a Graduate of Acadia University’s Theatre Studies program and has been working professionally in Nova Scotia for seven years. He has completed four seasons with Shakespeare by the Sea, playing such roles as Othello, Oberon/Theseus in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Borrachio in Much Ado About Nothing and Aaron in Titus Andronicus. He recently made his Neptune Theatre debut as Ned Allyein, and has also had the privilege of appearing on television shows such as Trailer Park Boys, Let’s Get Physical, SEED and Emotion Pictures’ Sex and Violence. This production of Jacob’s play Chasing Champions: The Sam Langford Story has garnered six Robert Merritt Awards. 

Ron Jenkins is an Edmonton-based freelance director and playwright, who was last at the NAC in 2014 to direct ENRON by Lucy Prebble. Selected credits include Métis Mutt (Theatre Network); The Happy Prince, Spelling Bee, Sucker, Next to Normal (Highland Arts Theatre); Playing With Fire: The Theo Fleury Story (Centaur Theatre/Citadel Theatre/Prairie Theatre Exchange/Alberta Theatre Projects); The 39 Steps, The Turn of the Screw (Vertigo Theatre); Julius Caesar, Richard III, Romeo and Juliet, Othello (The Shakespeare Company); High Life (Ground Zero Theatre); The Motherf#$#er with the Hat, The Red Priest (Eight Ways to Say Goodbye) and The Blue Light (Alberta Theatre Projects); Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet (Belfry Theatre, Saint John Theatre Company); Next to Normal (Theatre Calgary/CitadelTheatre); Chicago (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); The Forbidden Phoenix, Extinction Song (Citadel Theatre); The Trespassers (Belfry Theatre/Vancouver Playhouse); Bash’d (Off Broadway); Mary’s Wedding, Mesa (Workshop West); Respectable, Confessions of a Paper Boy (Ghost River Theatre); The Black Rider (November Theatre Co.); Steel Kiss, Eureka, and The Horror, The Horror (Skid). Ron has won ten Sterling Awards as a director and playwright and two Betty Mitchell Awards for Direction for The Black Rider and Playing With Fire: The Theo Fleury Story. In 2014, he was honoured with a Capital Critics Circle  Award in Ottawa for his direction of ENRON. Ron is also the winner of the 2004 Syncrude Award for Artistic Innovation and a Critter Award Winner for Playing With Fire: The Theo Fleury Story. Ron was shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize as a director in 2007 and 2010.

Originally from Corner Brook, Newfoundland, Marty has been working in theatre for 25 years, and is excited to be performing at the NAC for the first time. Recent credits include Henslowe in Shakespeare in Love, Mr. Gower in It’s a Wonderful Life, Joe Gargery in Great Expectations, Mr. Banks in Mary Poppins, the Baker in Into the Woods and the premiere of Daniel Macivor’s Bingo! (all Neptune Theatre ) as well as Caliban in The Tempest (Two Planks and a Passion Theatre). Marty has been working primarily in Nova Scotia for the last ten years until relocating to Toronto one year ago. 

Micha Cromwell is an actor based out of Nova Scotia. She is a Robert Merritt Award nominee for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role. Recent credits include Hook, Line and Sinner, The Mystery Play (Ship’s Company Theatre); The West Woods (Mulgrave Road Theatre); The Mother Club (San Family Productions); Studio Black! and Mr. D (CBC).

Zach Faye is an actor, theatre collaborator and baker. He has worked as both a performer and designer with many Nova Scotian theatre companies such as Zuppa Theatre, Festival Antigonish, Ship’s Company, Forerunner Playwrights’ Theatre and DaPoPo Theatre. Zach lives in Dartmouth, NS with his partner and their son. Much love to Ship’s Company and the fantastic creative team on this show!

Garrett received his BA in Scenography at Dalhousie University, and is the winner of three Robert Merritt Awards. He is excited to be part of the team bringing this show to a wider audience. Many thanks to Carri, who is his inspiration and drive, and to his parents who raised him in the theatre. Selected credits: Billy Bishop Goes to War, Spring Awakening, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Bingo!, Speed Dating for Sperm Donors (Neptune Theatre); Cradle and All, Eighteen, Tompkinsville, Half-Cracked: The Legend of Sugar Mary (Eastern Front Theatre); Habit of Murder, The Romeo Initiative, After Eepersip Disappeared, Pugwash and Hook, Line & Sinner (Ship’s Company Theatre).

Cathleen is a costume designer from Halifax, Nova Scotia. She completed a BFA in Art History at Concordia University and a Diploma in Costume Studies at Dalhousie University. Her past designs include And Then Nothing Happened (Theatre New Brunswick/Ship’s Company Theatre); Pugwash, The Romeo Initiative (Ship’s Company Theatre); FallOut (Eastern Front Theatre); Under Milk Wood (Off The Leash Theatre); The Merchant of Venice, Cinderelly, Snow White, Alice in Wonderland (2013), Titus Andronicus (Shakespeare by the Sea); and The Mother Club (One Light Theatre). Cathleen is grateful to have been given the opportunity to work with this talented team of artists once again and is excited to help bring Chasing Champions to the NAC.

Leigh Ann is a lighting designer for theatre whose work has been seen throughout Canada and the US, as well as in Japan, New Zealand and Tasmania. Recent favourite projects include The Glace Bay Miners’ Museum (NAC/Neptune Theatre); Metamorphoses: Based on the Myths of Ovid, The Importance of Being Earnest (NAC); The Silver Arrow (Citadel Theatre); As You Like It, The Diary of Anne Frank (Stratford Festival); Between Breaths, The Colony of Unrequited Dreams (Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland); What a Young Wife Ought to Know and The God That Comes (2b theatre). Leigh Ann is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. She is the recipient of six Robert Merritt Awards for design, and has been nominated for the Siminovitch Prize. When not designing, she teaches at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Corwin works both across Canada and abroad, primarily as a video and projection designer. For his designs, he has earned a Robert Merritt Award, the Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology Technical Merit Award, and multiple other award nominations. Corwin’s professional theatrical experience also includes performance, direction, graphic design, set, props and sound design. He has studied animation, and is a co-founder/artistic associate of Awkward Stage Productions and Flip The Switch Collective, a storyteller with Forbidden Vancouver Historic Walking Tours, and an urban game designer/operator with Vancouver Mysteries. Corwin is a Studio 58 acting graduate, holds a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts from Capilano University, and is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. His work includes productions at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Alberta Theatre Projects, Atlantic Ballet, Bard on the Beach, Calgary Opera, Charlottetown Festival, Pacific Opera Victoria, Persephone Theatre, Saint John Theatre Company and Vancouver Opera. 

Joe lives in Halifax where he runs the Neptune Theatre’s sound department. His training in theatre and sound includes The Banff Centre and Sheridan College. Sound design credits include The Romeo Initiative, The Mystery Play, Habit of Murder, Diligent River Daughter, Our Eliza, After Eepersip Disappeared (Ship’s Company Theatre); It’s a Wonderful Life, Miracle on 34th Street, A Christmas Story (Neptune Theatre); Eighteen (Neptune Theatre/Eastern Front Theatre); Dracula, Fashion 47 (Neptune Theatre Youth Performance Company); and Litmus Road (Us vs Them Theatre Cooperative). Electronic music design credits Mamma Mia!, Shakespeare in Love, Shrek, The Addams Family, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol, Elf (Neptune Theatre). 

Ingrid splits her time as a Lighting Designer and Stage Manager and has received several Robert Merritt Awards for her work. Recent Lighting Design credits include Half-Cracked: The Legend of Sugar Mary (Eastern Front Theatre/Neptune Theatre); Snake in the Grass (Neptune Theatre); Lullaby: Inside the Halifax Explosion (Eastern Front Theatre); Small Things (Neptune/Mulgrave Road Theatre); The Donahue Sisters (LunaSea Theatre); Speaking in Tongues (DMV Theatre); and Watching Glory Die (Mulgrave Road Theatre). Recent stage management credits include In a World Created by a Drunken God, Snake in the Grass (Neptune Theatre); Half-Cracked: The Legend of Sugar Mary (Eastern Front Theatre/Neptune Theatre); and five seasons with Ship’s Company Theatre. 

Jess is an Ottawa-based stage manager and designer. Her work encompasses many areas, however she is primarily focussed on stage management, prop design and scenic painting. She has worked with companies all across Canada such as the Great Canadian Theatre Company, the National Arts Centre, Ship’s Company Theatre, Odyssey Theatre, A Company of Fools and Western Canada Theatre, and she is a resident stage manager at the Algonquin Commons Theatre. She studied at The Center for Opera Studies in Sulmona, Italy and Algonquin College’s Theatrical Arts program. She has worked on small stages, in found spaces, on touring shows, 30+ cast productions, intimate one-man shows, live music, stand-up comedy, award shows, and even a Grey Cup. 

Based out of Montreal, Skyler Diotte has been working professionally in the world of entertainment since 2010. While studying at John Abbott College, Skyler completed his studies in both the technical theatre program (2013) and theatre design (2015). During his time at John Abbott College, he was mentored by the former head of props of Cirque du Soleil, Patrice Jacques, in whose shop he started working as a mould maker. There, Skyler learned about different types of silicone and polyurethane products while working on film projects such as X-Men: Days of Futures Past, X-Men: Apocalypse, White House Down and Riddick, to name a few. Outside the world of film, he has mostly worked in theatre and live events. From working in English-language Montreal theatre, to performing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, to operating effects for Canadian football team the Montreal Alouettes, to being touring prop technician for Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal, to traveling to Alberta to work in the scenic department for the 25th anniversary edition of the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Skyler always loves and finds adventure in his work.