Listening to and learning from abolition movements
Stages of Transformation is a multi-year project of research, rumination, creative exploration and conversation, bringing together theatre artists, arts workers, and creative communities from across so-called Canada. It takes up the imperatives of abolition movements and transformative justice frameworks, and investigates their applications to our work in the theatre sector.
Nikki Shaffeeullah (she/her) is a director, writer, actor, and facilitator who creates theatre, film, and poetry. Past roles include artistic director of The AMY Project, and editor-in-chief of alt.theatre magazine.
As a facilitator, Nikki supports grassroots groups to navigate collective processes and to uphold equity and accountability in all aspects of their work. An award-winning theatre and film artist, Nikki collaborates with companies and artists from across Canada. She has held residencies with organizations including Canadian Stage, Why Not Theatre, The Theatre Centre, SummerWorks, and others. She has an MFA from the University of Alberta and is a fellow in the Salzburg Global Forum for Cultural Innovators.
Nikki believes art should disrupt the status quo, centre the margins, engage with the ancient, dream of the future, and be for everyone.
Mpoe Mogale (they/them) reigns from Lebowakgomo, South Africa and splits their time between amiskwaciywâskahikan and moh’kínst’sis, in the colonial state of Canada. They hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political Science, and a wealth of expertise in community-based research, facilitation, and arts administration.
Mpoe’s primary artmaking form is dance, with a curiosity in the place of Blackness in spaces that deny it, as explored through several projects including What (Black) Life Requires (produced by Mile Zero Dance and Azimuth Theatre). Mpoe’s current artistic imaginations have centered the brilliant, mundane, and joyous aspects that foreground the lives of Black folks.
amber williams-king is a Caribbean artist and writer, currently living in Tkaronto. Her illustrative work explores various themes including collectivity, social movements, queer ecologies and the black radical tradition.
“What do abolition movements have to do with the performing arts here in so-called Canada? Like many, I believe that without the framework of abolition, all of our work in the theatre sector to achieve racial justice, gender justice, disability justice, trans justice, climate justice, and all other forms of justice, will fall short. Abolition offers a rigorous lens through which to examine these issues, and pathways toward change. Like theatre itself, abolition is about the power of human relationships, collaboration, generative conflict, and imagination.”
Nikki Shaffeeullah introduces the Stages of Transformation project, and reflects on abolition movements and what they mean for the performing arts in so-called Canada.
Perspectives on abolition and theatre
Spotlighting people, projects, and communities who are engaged in abolitionist ideas and approaches. Searching for new patterns and possibilities for the theatre sector and beyond.
Perspectives on transformation, including short films by Mpoe Mogale and Raven Davis; an interview about arts and incarceration with Amina Mohamed, Charlene Chapman, April Labine and Laverne Malcolm; and a duet of reports by Makram Ayache and Marilo Nuñez.
Audio pieces, including Transformation Talks, a series of audio interviews with theatre leaders and artist-activists including Tanisha Taitt, Yvette Nolan, Donna-Michelle St. Bernard, Ravyn Wngz and Raven Davis, on topics including conflict transformation, organizational governance, and collaboration.
In these panel discussions, leading artist-activists from across the land, including Cole Alvis, Audrey Dwyer, Kim Senklip Harvey, Taiwo Afolabi, Omari Newton, and Makambe K. Simamba, come together in longform conversations about the intersections of theatre and justice.
In three visual art series, theatre designers Rachel Forbes, Joanna Yu, and Bianca Guimarães de Manuel, and illustrator Amber Williams-King, invite us to visualize what liberated futures in the arts could look like.
The Stages of Transformation Creative Cohort is a group of artists and arts organizations who are exploring how abolition and transformative justice can impact theatre-making in process, content, form, and dissemination.
Taiwo Afolabi, PhD., holds the Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre; and is the founder and the Director of the Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET), and an Assistant Professor at the University of Regina. He is an artist, qualitative researcher, theatre manager, applied theatre practitioner and educator with a decade of experience in a variety of creative and community contexts in over a dozen countries across four continents. He conducts research, creates works, performs, and teaches at the intersection of performance and human ecology. His research interests lie in the areas of applied theatre and policing, social justice, decolonization, art leadership and management, migration, and the ethics of conducting arts-based research. He is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa) and the founding artistic director of Theatre Emissary International.
Cole Alvis (she/her) is a 2 Spirit Michif (Métis) artist based in Tkarón:to with Chippewa, Irish and English ancestors from Turtle Mountain. She is one of the leaders of lemonTree creations, manidoons collective, and AdHoc Assembly, and is on the board of the Dancers Of Damelahamid.
Recently, Cole performed in Louis Riel (Canadian Opera Company / National Arts Centre) and directed the Dora-nominated bug by Yolanda Bonnell (manidoons collective / Luminato), Lilies by Michel Marc Bouchard (lemonTree creations / Why Not Theatre / Buddies in Bad Times Theatre) and, alongside fellow Dora-nominated Michael Greyeyes, co-directed an Indigenous opera double bill called Two Odysseys: Pimooteewin / Gállábártnit (Signal Theatre / National Sami Theatre Beaivváš / Soundstreams).
This spring, Cole co-directs, alongside Samantha Brown, White Girls in Moccasins by Yolanda Bonnell, co-produced by manidoons collective and Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, and a digital presentation of the play Toka by Indrit Kasapi, co-produced by lemonTree creations and Theatre Passe Muraille.
Keira Ash (they/she) is a proud Tłı̨chǫ Dene Indigiqueer from Somba K’e, Denendeh (Yellowknife, NT). They currently reside on the land of the lək̓ʷəŋən people (Victoria, BC) and work with W̱SÁNEĆ youth and families as an Indigenous Education Advocate.
With a variety of arts experience, including hosting two radio shows, being part of an Indigiqueer Storytelling showcase, creating a community mosaic, working with Folk on the Rocks (Yellowknife’s music festival), performing burlesque, and volunteering with community events in whatever city they’re located in, Keira thought, why not add playwriting to the mix?
Having cultivated a strong relationship with Gwaandak Theatre, Keira is looking forward to moving to the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation next fall and continuing their work with the National Arts Centre’s Stages of Transformation program there. With a strong belief in intersectionality and decolonization, Keira is excited to bring their experiences of education and arts to the stage.
Makram is a community-engaged writer, performer, director, producer, and educator living in Edmonton and Toronto. His playwriting explores queer Arab voices, and he often bridges complex, interlocking, political struggles to the very intimate and real experiences of the people impacted by them. Ayache has been nominated for four Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards and is the winner of the 2020 Playwrights’ Guild of Canada’s Emerging Playwright Award for his play Harun. He is currently developing his latest play The Hooves Belonged to the Deer and directing rochdale by David Yee at the Citadel Theatre.
My name is Charlene Chapman. I am an Indigenous woman from British Columbia and my spirit name is Red Bear. I love to bead anything. I have been a member of PASAN for many years, and have attended programs including Confluence Arts Collective’s theatre program, where we co-created the play The Countess and Me. Confluence was my first time doing theatre and it was really fun. Through The Countess and Me we became more than friends, we became one big family. I am now an Outreach Harm Reduction worker.
Raven Davis is an Anishinaabe, 2-Spirit, trans, disabled multidisciplinary artist, and educator whose mother is from Treaty Four, Manitoba. Davis was born and raised in Michi Saagiig Territory (Toronto, Ontario.) Davis resides and works as a professional artist as well as curator fluidly between Michi Saagig Territory and Kjipuktuk, (Halifax, Nova Scotia.) A parent of three sons, Davis works within the mediums of painting, performance, and media. Challenging systemic oppression, Davis fuses narratives of colonization, race, gender, disability, transformative justice, and 2-Spirit/Indigiqueer identity in their work. Davis’ performance practice bravely embodies their lived experience, their relationship to colonial systems, intergenerational histories, lands, lives, and futures.
Bianca Guimarães de Manuel is in-between Brazil and Canada, an arts administrator, scenographer and costume designer interested in how creation happens between people, things, and the organizing needed to bring work to life.
She follows her curiosity, allowing the art form to take different mediums to better embody her affections. Bianca centers care in her work: designing processes, materials, or frames aligning with her values/ethics of anti-oppressive and anti-racist ways of relating and working with one another.
Theatre credits at Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre include, as Director: The Mountaintop, Women of the Fur Trade; as Intimacy Director: Orlando, Fun Home; as Consulting Director: Bang Bang (with Belfry Theatre); as Actor: Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (with Mirvish Productions), Good People, Medea (with Mirvish Productions).
Theatre credits elsewhere include, as Actor: thirsty (NAC); The Crucible, Theory (Tarragon Theatre), Clybourne Park and The Overwhelming (Studio 180 with Mirvish Productions), The Tempest (Canadian Stage, Dream in High Park), Black Medea (Obsidian Theatre); as Director: Blink (University of Winnipeg); Prairie Nurse (Lighthouse Theatre); Calpurnia (Nightwood Theatre/Sulong Theatre); The Apology (Rabiayshna Productions).
Audrey is Royal MTC’s Associate Artistic Director. She has won three Dora Mavor Moore Awards and the Cayle Chernin Award for Theatre. She was nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Award for Direction twice. Audrey co-wrote The D-Cut, a six-episode series produced by Shaftesbury Films. The multiple award-winning series is on Crave (Canada) and Shaftesbury’s KindaTV channel. She wrote the libretto for Backstage at Carnegie Hall (Bradyworks), which will open in Montreal in 2022. She was commissioned to write The Legend of Daddy Hall for the Tarragon Theatre, which was part of their Acoustic Season (2020/2021). She has been commissioned by Nightswimming Theatre to write The Generations, an epic five-hour drama about the legacy of a Black family over eons of time. She was a recipient of CBC’s Creative Relief Fund for her television pilot called The Gordons. She has been a writer-in-residence at Obsidian Theatre and the Tarragon Theatre, where she was also the Urjo Kareda Artist-in-Residence and the Assistant Artistic Director. Audrey graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 2001.
Yasmine Espert is Assistant Professor in the Department of Visual Art & Art History at York University and an editor for Seen, a journal published by BlackStar Projects. Her publications on film, photography and the African Diaspora include “Listening to Revolution” for Artpress, “Can Photography Be Decolonial?” for Public Books, as well as a creative essay on sovereignty for Spectator, and an article on Black British film for Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art. Other work is published by the Studio Museum in Harlem and Oxford University Press. Her research is supported by ACLS, Union Theological Seminary, the University of Michigan, Fulbright, and others. She was a research associate at the University of Michigan Museum of Art and the University of Illinois, Chicago (Bridge to Faculty). She received a doctorate in art history from Columbia University.
Rachel Forbes is an award-winning set and costume designer creating for theatre, dance and film. Her work has been seen across the country at the Shaw Festival, Buddies in Bad Times, Obsidian Theatre, Neptune Theatre, YPT, Centaur Theatre and many more. She has designed, mentored and taught at Ryerson University and is currently serving on the board of directors of the Associated Designers of Canada. Rachel received a Dora Mavor Moore award for her costume design for The Brothers Size (Soulpepper 2019) and a Merrit Award for her set design for The Bridge (2B/Neptune 2019).
She is particularly interested in the development of new works through experimentation and exploration as well as interdisciplinary projects, especially those at the intersection of the visual arts and installation world with that of theatre and live performance. Rachel has been experimenting with designer-led performance projects and is keen to integrate design into the creation process.
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Theatre credits include Set and Costume Design for Home for the Holidays (Grand Theatre); Serving Elizabeth (Western Canada Theatre); A Million Billion Pieces, Risky Phil (Young People’s Theatre); Victory, 1837: The Farmers’ Revolt (Shaw Festival); The Bridge (Neptune Theatre/2b Theatre); Choir Boy (Centaur Theatre). Costume Design for White Girls in Moccasins (Manidoons/Buddies in Bad Times); Toka (LemonTree/TPM); The Mountaintop (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre); A Streetcar Named Desire, The Brothers Size (Soulpepper); Fences (Grand Theatre). Set Design for Trouble in Mind (Shaw Festival); School Girls (Obsidian Theatre); In The Abyss (Political Movement).
Film/TV credits include: 1851 Spirit & Voice (Myseum/Soulpepper); New Monuments (Canadian Stage/Luminato); 21 Black Futures (Obsidian Theatre/ CBC); A Revolution of Love (Toronto History Museums/Awakenings); Body So Fluorescent (Madonnanera/lnside Out). Rachel received a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her costume design on The Brothers Size and a Merritt Award for her set design on The Bridge.
Santiago Guzmán (he/they) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge, performer, and director originally from Metepec, Mexico, now based in St. John’s, NL. He is the Artistic Director of TODOS Productions in St. John’s, NL, and the Artistic Associate for the pan-Atlantic organization Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre. He is a proud member of The Quilted Collective.
Their work has been supported, developed and/or produced by theatre companies and festivals such as TODOS Productions (NL), Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company (NL), White Rooster Theatre (NL), Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland (NL), Poverty Cove Theatre Company (NL), Rising Tide Theatre (NL), Neighbourhood Dance Works (NL), Eastern Front Theatre (NS), PARC (pan-Atlantic), Ship's Company Theatre (NS), Theatre New Brunswick (NB), Boca Del Lupo (BC), Paprika Festival (ON), Banff Playwrights Lab (AB) and the National Theatre School of Canada’s Art Apart Program (QC).
Most recently, Santiago has been awarded the inaugural John Palmer Award 2022 through the PGC for being a change-maker in the theatre industry with their advocacy in the arts regarding equity, diversity, and anti-racism. He is a member of Playwrights Canada Press’s inaugural editorial committee.
Raven John, artist, involuntary comedian and two-spirit activist, is of Coast Salish and Stolo Nation descent. This Two-spirit Trickster is a BFA graduate from Emily Carr University of Art and Design, with a major in visual art and minor in social practice and community engagement, as well as a graduate of the North West Coast Jewelry Arts program at the Native Education College. Raven is a visual artist, cultural consultant, mediator, storyteller, photographer and sculptor. A jack-of-all-trades (and master of a few), their practice covers a wide array of mediums from provocation and humor, puppet making, ceramics, dressmaking, interactive electronics and Indigenous technologies.
Should you wish to participate in direct action regarding Truth and Reconciliation and/or the ongoing colonization/genocide of the Indigenous peoples of Canada, feel free to visit their website to directly wire them money for coffee, comic books and/or art supplies.
My name is April Labine. I am a proud Indigenous woman, born March 29, 1972. My childhood was surrounded with abuse, which developed into anger issues and addiction as I grew older. I supported my addiction through prostitution and crime and spent many years behind provincial jails and federal prisons. In 2004, I got involved with Harm Reduction, which began the process of healing.
Through PASAN, I met and signed up for Confluence Arts Collective’s theatre group, which completely changed my life forever. In our first theatre project The Countess and Me we were many strong and resilient women standing together as one, coming together to eventually perform at the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre here in Toronto. Today I have been sober for four years, and am happily married. I work at Consumption Treatment Services at Fred Victor – this job has become my passion, being able to help other addicts. I had to find my purpose through my journey. Only l could have walked in my shoes, with no regrets.
My name is Laverne Malcolm. I have been a client of PASAN since 2010, and a member of the Confluence Arts Collective theatre group since 2019. I have participated in many activities and programs around HIV/AIDS, and done many presentations around Visioning Health. I’ve faced many battles with plenty of addictions, which I have managed to control. I am proud of myself for the battles I’ve managed to conquer, and I have become a big supporter around Outreach plus Harm Reduction. As of May 2022, I am now employed, sober, and proud of what I’ve conquered and accomplished. I can stand alone and be strong for myself.
Born and raised in Calgary, Alberta, Alyssa Maturino (she/her) is an emerging dance artist with a passion in choreography, film, and performance. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Calgary where she has trained in ballet, jazz, and contemporary dance. Her passion for dance is ignited within the creative community as she seeks to explore interdisciplinary methods of presentation through collaboration and dance on film. As a film creator, Maturino desires to capture the essence of choreography and showcase the internalized voice of the moving body. She has recently completed film projects for Meghann Michalsky, Jason Owin F. Galeos, and Mpoe Mogale, and is currently an Artistic Associate under W&M Dance Projects.
Mpoe Mogale (they/them) reigns from Lebowakgomo, South Africa and splits their time between amiskwaciywâskahikan and moh’kínst’sis, in the colonial state of Canada. They hold a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Political Science, and a wealth of expertise in community-based research, facilitation, and arts administration.
Mpoe’s primary artmaking form is dance, with a curiosity in the place of Blackness in spaces that deny it, as explored through several projects including What (Black) Life Requires (produced by Mile Zero Dance and Azimuth Theatre). Mpoe’s current artistic imaginations have centered the brilliant, mundane, and joyous aspects that foreground the lives of Black folks.
Amina Mohamed is the Women’s Community Program Coordinator at PASAN. She provides education, advocacy, programming and case management to incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women living with HIV. In addition, she is a lead artist-facilitator with Confluence Arts Collective. With Confluence, Amina facilitates artistic creation programs in prisons and transitional residences. She is the co-founder of Sqwish, a weekly queer drop-in basketball night, and Hunhouse, a collective that curates dance parties for queer woman, trans and non-binary people.
Omari Newton is an award-winning professional actor, writer, director and producer. As a writer, his original Hip Hop theater piece Sal Capone has received critical acclaim and multiple productions, including a recent presentation at Canada’s National Arts Center. He has been commissioned by Black Theater Workshop (BTW) in Montreal to write a companion piece to Sal Capone entitled Black & Blue Matters. Omari and his wife, fellow professional playwright Amy Lee Lavoie, have received commissions from The Arts Club Theatre to co-write a new play: Redbone Coonhound. A bold and innovative satirical comedy that confronts instances of systemic racism in the past, present and future. Omari is co-directing the first in a series of rolling world premiere at The Arts Club Theatre in October of 2022. The play will then open in Montreal (Imago Theatre) & then Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. The husband and wife duo also just completed "Black Fly," a satirical adaptation of Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus that centers on Aaron and Lavinia. Newton’s work in Speakeasy Theatre's production of Young Jean Lee's The Shipment earned him a 2017-2018 Jessie Richardson Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor, as well as a nomination for Best Direction. He has recently completed directing critically acclaimed productions of "The Mountaintop" by Katori Hall, and "Pass Over" by Antoinette Nwandu. Notable film & TV credits include: Lucas Ingram on Showcase’s Continuum, Larry Summers on Blue Mountain State and lending his voice to the Black Panther in multiple animated projects (Marvel). Most recently, Omari has a recurring role as Nate on Corner Gas (the animated series) and a recurring role as Corvus of Netflix’s hit new animated series The Dragon Prince.
Marilo Nuñez is a Chilean Canadian playwright, director, actor and academic. She was the 2018 recipient of the Hamilton Arts Awards for Established Theatre Artist and was recently nominated for the Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize. She is the 2021-22 Playwright in Residence at Aluna Theatre (Toronto) and was a member of Natural Resources, Factory Theatre’s playwright’s unit for established writers in 2019. She was Playwright-in-Residence at Aluna Theatre in 2016 and was McMaster University’s first Playwright-in-Residence in 2018.
She is the only Canadian workshop facilitator using the Fornes Method to teach playwriting at theatres and universities across the country. She was founding Artistic Director of Alameda Theatre Company, a company dedicated to developing the new work of Latinx Canadian playwrights. She has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and is currently obtaining her Ph D. in Theatre & Performance Studies at York University.
Her play El Retorno/I Return has been turned into a podcast for Radio Aluna Theatre which will be released in May 2021.
Jivesh Parasram (He/Him/His) is an award winning multidisciplinary artist, community activator, and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. His work has played across Canada, and Internationally.
Jiv grew up in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) and endeavours to split his time between T’karón:to (Toronto) and the Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver). In 2009 he co-founded the award winning collective Pandemic Theatre, and currently holds the position of Artistic Director for Rumble Theatre.
Parasram is a “Dora Mavor Moore” award nominated artist, and the recipient of two “Harold Awards” for his contributions to the Independent Theatre Community of Toronto, including the Ken McDougall Award for Direction.
Internationally he has received a “Herald Angel” from the Edinburgh Fringe for his contributions to the 2018 CanadaHub programming. Jiv was a member of the second cohort of the Cultural Leaders Lab with the Toronto Arts Council and the Banff Centre and was the recipient of the 2018 Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Artist Award. His play “Take d Milk, nah?” was recently nominated for the Governor General's literary awards.
Kim Senklip Harvey is a proud Syilx and Tsilhqot’in award-winning director, writer and actor who is known for her ability to craft stories that inspire, nourish and delight.
Kim was the first Indigenous woman to win the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 2020 with her play Kamloopa. She is the host and lead creative producer of the podcast The Indigenous Cultural Evolutionist which is streamed in over 20 countries.
Kim is currently developing three TV series, writing her first book of prose and is in pre-production for her next play Break Horizons: A Rocking Indigenous Justice Story. Kim has her Masters in Creative Writing and is currently getting her PhD in Law. Harvey believes that storytelling is the most compelling medium to move us to a place where everyone is provided the opportunity to live peacefully.
Nikki Shaffeeullah (she/her) is a director, writer, actor, and facilitator who creates theatre, film, and poetry. Past roles include artistic director of The AMY Project, and editor-in-chief of alt.theatre magazine.
As a facilitator, Nikki supports grassroots groups to navigate collective processes and to uphold equity and accountability in all aspects of their work. An award-winning theatre and film artist, Nikki collaborates with companies and artists from across Canada. She has held residencies with organizations including Canadian Stage, Why Not Theatre, The Theatre Centre, SummerWorks, and others. She has an MFA from the University of Alberta and is a fellow in the Salzburg Global Forum for Cultural Innovators.
Nikki believes art should disrupt the status quo, centre the margins, engage with the ancient, dream of the future, and be for everyone.
Sobia Shaheen Shaikh (she/her) is a mother, writer, activist, social work professor and engaged community member from St. John’s, NL. She has deep community ties with anti-racist, feminist, arts, women’s, disability, youth, student and environmental justice organizations. Sobia is a founding member of the Anti-Racism Coalition NL, The Quilted Collective of Racialized NL Writers and the Creators’ Collective NL: Indigenous, Racialized and Migrant Artists and Arts Workers. She recently co-edited a textbook called Critical Social Work Praxis (Fernwood, 2022).
Sobia’s creative work is grounded in anti-racist feminist praxis. Two of her short stories, “softly, with niyyat” and “You-See,” are published in anthologies (Us, Now: Stories from The Quilted Collective, 2021; Hard Ticket, 2022). Sobia’s short monologue called “Rage and Release” which was produced for The Imaginary Real: The Secret Landscape of Stories project (Artistic Fraud NL, 2022). She is currently involved with other writing projects, including a co-written radio play called (Un)Boarding. Sobia also participated in the TODOS Productions’ 2021 Writing Unit, and is continuing her work on a play about disability and mothering.
Makambe K Simamba is a Dora Award-winning playwright and actor for her solo work, Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers. Select stage acting credits include Serving Elizabeth (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Winners and Losers (Chromatic Theatre); A Chitenge Story (Handsome Alice); GIANT (Ghost River Theatre); Bea (Sage Theatre); SIA (Pyretic Productions); and inVISIBLE (Handsome Alice).
Makambe is a national award-winning playwright whose work includes Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers, A Chitenge Story, Makambe Speaks, MUD and The Drum Major Instinct. She was the 2020/21 Urjo Kareda Artist in Residence at Tarragon Theatre, as well as co-host of the Blackstage Pass podcast at Cahoots theatre.
Makambe is a proud Zambian whose intention is to be of service through her ability to tell stories.
Donna-Michelle St. Bernard aka Belladonna the Blest is an emcee, playwright and agitator. Her main body of work, the 54ology, includes Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, Salome’s Clothes, Gas Girls, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses and The First Stone. DM is currently the emcee in residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, associate artist at lemonTree Creations and coordinator of the AD HOC Assembly.
In addition to her role as Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre, Tanisha is a director/actor/playwright, musical artist, theatre & anti-racism educator, accidental essayist, and audiobook director for Penguin Random House Canada. A former preschool teacher, her journey includes encounters with numerous arts organizations. She has been nominated for the Pauline McGibbon Award for Unique Talents, and her plays Admissions and Keeper are published by Scirocco Drama. Tanisha is a recipient of the Canadian Music Publishers Association Award & Scholarship for distinction in songwriting, and was a 2021 finalist for the Gina Wilkinson Prize honouring female theatremakers who centre community in their leadership. She is part-time faculty at Sheridan College's Music Theatre Performance program, where she teaches Acting Through Song, and George Brown Theatre School, where she teaches Contemporary and Canadian Scene Study. Tanisha is a two-time YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for her commitment to artistic excellence and social justice.
Pam Tzeng 曾小桐 (she/her) is a second-generation Taiwanese-Canadian choreographer, performer, arts worker, and movement educator. She was born, raised and is based in Mohkínstsis / Calgary Treaty 7 Territory. Pam takes pleasure in extremes to craft honest, visceral and animated performances about the politics of the body with objects. Led by her embodied curiosities, she graciously traverses charged thematic territories to reveal and empower unseen truths. Pam's creative heart is currently invested in: nurturing her trauma-informed facilitation and conflict transformation practice; touring her work SHED | knowing each other as different and the same; and supporting equity and anti-racism change in the arts through grassroots initiatives, organizing with the Cultural Instigators, and consultation work.
Miki Wabisca (Wolf) is a Southern Tutchone, Tlingit, and Cree multi-disciplinary performer and facilitator, proudly from the Champagne and Aishihik Nation in the Yukon. Miki holds a BFA from SFU School for the Contemporary Arts, and has studied embodied experimental acting, contemporary dance and movement, and voice extensively outside of the institution for the past decade.
Miki is actively pursuing research in new praxis methodologies for Indigenous performers that exist within and through colonial modalities of teaching. She is always interested in decolonization of accepted theatre-making practices through relationality, and cultivating a supportive internal partner for self and others via abundance mentality and gentle abolitionist viewpoints in creative spaces. She is currently dividing her time between her homeland in the Yukon, and Treaty 6 Territory (Saskatoon).
Olivia Wheeler is a mixed-race, Chinese Canadian sound designer, composer, and multi-disciplinary artist. She is a recent graduate of the University of Victoria with a degree in theatre and minor in music. Her work specializes in sound design, composition, technical theatre, immersive performance design and puppetry.
Recent theatre design credits include associate sound design for The Three Women of Swatow (Tarragon Theatre), sound design for It’ll Come to Me (Theatre SKAM), and production design for The Fates, End of Term and Backliners (Theatre SKAM). Audio credits include sound design for Liberated Feminist Futures (Nightwood Theatre), Ganga’s Ganja (Red Betty Theatre), and Knife Skills (Blue Jaye Productions), and composition and sound editing for the podcasts A Slice of PI and Patchworks. Her upcoming work includes assistant sound design for Every Little Nookie, Hamlet-911, 1939 (Stratford Festival).
amber williams-king is a Caribbean artist and writer, currently living in Tkaronto. Her illustrative work explores various themes including collectivity, social movements, queer ecologies and the black radical tradition.
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