Current Season

Dorothy A. Atabong

Elise Kayitesi, Rwandan Doctor


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Dorothy is an award-winning actress, screenwriter and published novelist. Born in Cameroon, she obtained an A.A and BSc. in Biochemistry from Michigan before moving on to graduate from the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre in NYC. Theatre credits include August Wilson Plays, and the US premiere of Lorena Gale’s Angelique and The Wedding Band. Film & TV credits include Mayday (Discovery Channel), Coping (Theatrical release), The Line (TMN & Movie Central) and NYPD Blue. Dorothy was featured in the BBC World Cup Magazine and was invited to Banff to participate in the Women in the Director’s Chair workshop in 2008. In 2009 she received rave reviews from the Toronto Star, was featured as an “Artist to Watch” by NOW Magazine, and won the SummerWorks Emerging Artist Award for her work in In Darfur. She co-wrote, produced, was 1st AD and played a supporting role in the short film Dreamt. Her novel, The Princess of Kaya, is now a screenplay, and she just completed the second draft of her screenplay, Daisy’s Heart. Upcoming: Volcano Theatre’s Africa Trilogy in collaboration with Luminato and the Stratford Festival, and producing and 
co-directing a short film she wrote, Sound of Tears – A case of honor killing.

Liz Campbell

Assistant Stage Manager

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens


As Apprentice Stage Manager, Liz’s credits include Mambo Italiano (Sudbury Theatre Centre/Bellweather Productions); Alias Godot, The Black Rider, Another Home Invasion (Tarragon Theatre Mainspace); Gift to Last, Wally’s Café, The Affections of May, Out of Order, Perfect Wedding, Wrong for Each Other, Cash on Delivery (Upper Canada Playhouse); Seussical (Sheraton Niagara Falls/Silvermist Productions). As Company Manager: High School Musical 2 (Niagara Centre for the Arts/Silvermist Productions).

Erika Connor

Costume Designer


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Erika is originally from Kerrobert, Saskatchewan, and is a graduate of the University of Regina. Selected costume design credits in Toronto include Assassins (Birdland/Talk Is Free Theatre); Robin Hood, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Snow White, Aladdin (Ross Petty Productions); The Odd Couple, Fool for Love, The Zoo Story, The Dumb Waiter (Soulpepper Theatre); The Rocky Horror Show, Little Shop of Horrors (Canadian Stage); The Drowsy Chaperone (Thousand Islands Playhouse); and, one of her all time favourites, Tequila Vampire Matinée (Theatre Passe Muraille).

Audrey Dwyer

Emiritha, Waitress, Market Woman

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Audrey has been acting professionally for over ten years. She was last seen in the sold-out production of The Making of St. Jerome at Factory Theatre’s Next Stage Festival. Other theatre credits include Ariel in The Tempest (Canadian Stage), Woman of Corinth in Medea (Mirvish/MTC) and Medea in Black Medea (Obsidian Theatre). She was also a Member of the Second City Touring Company. Film & TV credits include Da Kink in My Hair, The Ron James Show, The State Within, Man of the Year and Where the Truth Lies. She is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Paul Essiembre

Jean-Claude Buisson, Jan Verbeek, British Doctor, Fight Captain


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens


Paul most recently appeared in Le Dîner de Cons (Théâtre Français de Toronto). Other credits include To Kill a Mockingbird, The Odyssey, The Duchess of Malfi, Don Juan (Stratford Festival); Don Juan (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde); Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Art (Théâtre Français de Toronto); Tillsonburg (Canadian Stage); Zadie’s Shoes, OUI (Factory Theatre); Sleuth (Saidye Bronfman); Othello, The Matchmaker, Pygmalion (Atlantic Theatre Festival); Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Centaur Theatre); Goodnight Desdemona/Good Morning Juliet (Great Canadian Theatre Company). Film & TV credits include Murdoch Mysteries (CityTV); Regenesis, Blue Murder (Global); At the Hotel, The Newsroom, Freedom of the Air, A People’s History of Canada (CBC); Kevin Hill 
(UPN); Queer as Folk, Coast to Coast (Showtime); Degrassi, Plague City, Sue Thomas 
F.B.Eye (CTV). Animation credits include Silver Surfer (FOX); My Dad The Rock Star, George Shrinks, Bob and Margaret (Nelvana); Rescue Heroes (WB); The Accuser 
(Stan Lee Media).

Michael Gianfrancesco

Set Designer


For Studio 180: (Sets) The Overwhelming, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, The Laramie Project (Dora Nomination) / (Sets & Costumes) Stuff Happens, Blackbird


Michael’s recent credits include In Colour (National Ballet of Canada), In Good King Charles’s Golden Days (Shaw Festival), It’s a Wonderful Life (Canadian Stage), Fiddler on the Roof – costumes (MTC), Little Shop of Horrors – set (Canadian Stage), The Miracle Worker (Neptune Theatre), The Wizard of Oz (LKTYP), The Rocky Horror Show – set 
(MTC/Canadian Stage), The Spitfire Grill – costumes (Grand Theatre) and the Canadian premiere of Kaleidoscope with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal. In 2006 Michael toured with Queen of Puddings Music Theatre to the Royal Opera House at Covent Garden to present the new Canadian opera The Midnight Court. Michael’s work at the Stratford Festival includes The Triumph of Love, Edward II and The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Studio Theatre); Much Ado About Nothing, 
An Ideal Husband (Festival Theatre); sets for The Comedy of Errors (Avon Theatre). 
He is the 2008 recipient of the Virginia & Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design (Ontario Arts Foundation).

Natalie Gisele

Apprentice Stage Manager

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming

Natalie has been working as a stage manager since her studies at Algonquin College (Ottawa) six years ago. She has recently made the move to Toronto. In Ottawa, she has stage managed productions of My Name Is Rachel Corrie (Vision Theatre), Everyman and Henry V (Third Wall), and The Rideau Project (Catapulte). She has also apprenticed at the Great Canadian Theatre Company and Factory Theatre, which is where she will be happily returning in April for a fourth production. Natalie was nominated “Most Outstanding Stage Manager” at the 2008 Rideau Awards.

Joel Greenberg

Director


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird, The Arab-Israeli Cookbook, The Laramie Project, The Passion of the Chris


Joel is an award-winning playwright and director who has directed and/or choreographed productions across Canada for the past 35 years. In addition to his work with Studio 180, directing credits include The Underdogs, What the Butler Saw (Just For Laughs – English Theatre), Taking Sides, Ain’t Misbehavin’ (Dora Award), The House of Blue Leaves, Lend Me a Tenor, Dave Broadfoot’s Comedy Crusade, Second City (Toronto and Chicago), Little Shop of Horrors (Dora Nomination), Forbidden Broadway (Dora Nomination), Side By Side By Sondheim (Winter Garden Theatre), The Rothschilds, Dames at Sea and You Can’t Take It With You. Writing credits include Drink the Mercury (Dora Award) and The Nuclear Power Show (Chalmers Award). Joel is a Professor in the Drama Department at the University of Waterloo where he teaches acting, directing, film studies and dramatic literature. He is a founding member and the Artistic Director of Studio 180.

Shari Hollett

Assistant Director


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Shari is thrilled to be part of this incredibly talented company and gives special thanks to Joel for bringing her on this journey. Shari is an actor/writer/director who co-founded the night kitchen theatre with Chris Earle in 1992 and has collaborated on all the company’s productions. This season she will direct Daniel MacIvor’s You are Here for Rep 21 at Canadore College where she previously directed Earle’s Ancaster Park, Ben Elton’s Popcorn and Nicky Silver’s The Altruists. Selected dramaturge/directing credits include Earle’s award-winning Democrats Abroad and Radio: 30 in both Toronto and New York, Sean Reycraft’s One Good Marriage for Theatre Passe Muraille, Filler Up for the Wildside Festival in Montreal, Sleepless – The Musical at the Toronto Fringe, and That Gay Guy, Posterchild and The Hurricane Project all for SummerWorks. She is an alumnus of The Second City and she has directed two mainstage revues in Detroit. As a writer-performer, credits include Expectation, Big Head Goes to Bed, The Martha Stewart Projects, I’d Never Give an Acrylic Scarf to the Man I Love and numerous shows with 
The Second City.

Mariah Inger

Linda White-Keeler

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Originally from Montreal, Mariah is now based in Toronto. She has been a working actor from a very young age and has had the joy of working in both film and theatre. Film & TV credits include Murdoch Mysteries, C’est beau la ville la nuit, Housesitter, Blindness and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. Theatre credits include Under the Influence (Hudson Theatre) and Playboy of the Western World (Centaur Theatre). In 2008 Mariah had the pleasure of presenting Black Medea (Obsidian Theatre/Berkeley Street), her true Toronto theatrical debut. Now she is very excited to add The Overwhelming to the Toronto list.

Sterling Jarvis

Samuel Mizinga

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Sterling Jarvis is honoured to make his debut at the Berkeley Street Theatre. He is an accomplished actor and singer whose previous theatre credits include The Lion King (Mirvish Productions), Crowns (Canadian Stage/MTC/National Arts Centre), Of Mice and Men (Canadian Stage/Theatre Calgary) and, most recently, Britney Spears/Hillary Duff in We Will Rock You (Mirvish). Sterling has also appeared in numerous television series including Perfect Strangers (CBS), The Eleventh Hour (CTV), The West Wing (NBC), Felicity (Warner Bros.), The Sentinel (New Regency), ’Til Death Do Us Part (Global/
Court TV), The Bridge (CBS/CTV ), The Border (CBC). Sterling is a two-time Juno Award nominee. His voice has been heard on numerous radio voice-overs and commercial jingles, as well as in the television themes for Zaboomafoo and Donkey Kong Country.

Nathaniel Kennedy

Production Manager

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird, Offensive Shadows


Nathaniel has worked in theatre production across Canada and internationally. Most recently he has worked with Tarragon Theatre and Necessary Angel, and he is currently the Technical Director of the Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People.

Emma Laird

Stage Manager

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming / (Assistant Stage Manager) Stuff Happens 2009

Most recently Emma completed her fourth season with The Stratford Shakespeare Festival (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cabaret, COMPANY in Concert and Pentecost). Previous credits include Another Home Invasion (Tarragon Theatre/Alberta Theatre Projects), bedbound (MacKenzieRo), Upstaging Cancer (Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation), A Dickens of a Christmas (Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus), COMPANY in Concert (PAL Fundraiser), Everyone Jump (Children’s Hour Productions, National tour), Queen of Hearts (Les Saints Productions) and The Unfortunate Misadventures of Masha Galinski (Groundwater Productions). Emma is a graduate of York University and is the recipient of two Tyrone Guthrie Awards, the Kenneth Ford Award and the Lieutenant Governor’s Community Volunteer Award.

Michael Laird

Sound Designer

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird, Offensive Shadows


Based in Toronto, Michael’s work has been heard in theatre productions throughout North America. In addition to work with Studio 180, selected credits include Evil Dead: The Musical (Off Broadway, Toronto & Montreal); A Beautiful View (da da kamera – 2006 Dora Award Nomination); Forbidden Phoenix, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Wizard of Oz (LKTYP); Festen, Marion Bridge (Company Theatre); Noble Parasites (Theatre Passe Muraille); Tijuana Cure, Norway.Today, Tiny Dynamite (Theatre Smash).

Hardee T. Lineham

Charles Woolsey

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird

Hardee’s recent stage credits include Dying To Be Sick (Pleiades Theatre); Crave (Nightwood Theatre); Omnium Gatherum, Proof, Richard III (Dora Winner), Henry VI, Edward VI, Tempest, Spring Awakening, Summerfolk, Plenty (Canadian Stage); Streetcar Named Desire, Macbeth, School for Wives (Playhouse Theatre, Vancouver); Scary Stories, Madboy Chronicles, Six Degrees (Alberta Theatre Projects); Love and Anger, White Biting Dog, As You Like It (Stratford Festival). He also received Dora Nominations for Crackwalker, Lie of the Mind and Science Fiction. Hardee’s film & TV credits include Cary in The Jane Show, Loving Loretta, Santa Baby, Shoemaker (Genie Nomination), Top of the Food Chain, The Big Hit, The Italian Machine, Dead Zone, Puppets Who Kill, Traders, P.S.I. Factor, Twice in a Lifetime, Little Mosque on the Prairie and Murdoch Mysteries.

Brendan McMurtry-Howlett

Geoffrey Exley


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Born and raised in Toronto, Brendan has performed as an actor throughout the East Coast, Quebec, Ontario and New York. Theatre credits include the one-man show 
…and stockings for the ladies (Gesumtkunstwerk Project), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Classical Theatre Project), Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Rose Theatre), Wayne Gretzky in John: Sudden Death (National Theatre School) and Josh in Guns & Roses (The Original Norwegian). Brendan directed and co-wrote the play Honey in the Lion’s Head, which premiered at the Edmonton Fringe Festival. Film & TV credits include Degrassi: The Next Generation (CTV), Valemont (MTV) and Peripheral (Talon). Brendan is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.

Karim Morgan

Gerard

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


Karim takes great pleasure in bringing new work to the stage. Including numerous development readings and workshops, favourite productions include the world premiere of In the Freedom of Dreams: The Story of Nelson Mandela (LKTYP), Brindley Town (Theatre North West), Little Shop of Horrors (The Grand Theatre), Macbeth (Modern Times Stage Co.) and Merrily We Roll Along (Shaw Festival). He was featured in the English premiere of The Sheep and the Whale (Cahoots/Modern Times/Theatre Passe Muraille), The 60s Prime Time Variety Show (Stirling Festival), Anne Of Green Gables (The Grand Theatre) and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (LKTYP). Karim’s voice-over credits include Resident Evil Zero (Adventure Games), Wonderfalls (Fox TV), Puppets Who Kill (Comedy Network) and Sunday Showcase (CBC Radio). Karim is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School.

Kimberly Purtell

Lighting Designer


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens, Blackbird


Selected credits include The Drowsy Chaperone (MTC/Theatre Calgary); Rock ‘n’ Roll (Canadian Stage/Citadel); It’s a Wonderful Life, Palace of the End, A Number (Canadian Stage); The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead (Stratford Festival); Tono (Luminato/2010 Vancouver Cultural Olympiad); Stitch (World Stage); Glengarry Glen Ross (Soulpepper); Opera To Go (Tapestry); Ines (Queen of Puddings); How It Works, The Fall (Tarragon Theatre); That Face, Wild Dogs, Crave, Age of Arousal (Nightwood Theatre); El Numero Uno, Love You Forever… and More Munsch, Bird Brain, Dead Ahead (LKTYP); Marion Bridge (Company Theatre); In On It, Cul-de-sac, A Beautiful View, House (da da kamera); Mansfield, Chekhov’s Heartache, Dr. Chekhov: Ward 6, Chekhov Longs… In the Ravine, Chekhov’s Shorts (Theatre Smith-Gilmour); Beyond Mozambique, Apple, Escape from Happiness, Better Living, The Leisure Society (Factory Theatre); Them & Us, Noble Parasites (Theatre Passe Muraille); The Russian Play (Harbourfront Centre). Kimberly’s designs have been critically acclaimed on both the national and international stage. They have been seen across Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Prague, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Russia. Kimberly has received ten Dora Award nominations, winning once, and was the 2005 recipient of the Pauline McGibbon Award.

Dylan Roberts

Fight Choreographer


For Studio 180: (Fight Choreographer) The Overwhelming, Blackbird /
(Actor) The Laramie Project


Dylan is proud to be part of a vibrant Canadian theatre community. Recent credits include Zadie’s Shoes (Great Canadian Theatre Company), Laurier (VideoCabaret), Whistle in the Dark (Company Theatre) and The Lord of the Rings (Mirvish). Dylan can 
be seen in VideoCabaret’s upcoming production, The Great War.

J.T. Rogers

Playwright


J.T. Rogers’ plays include The Overwhelming (National Theatre, London; UK tour with the Out of Joint Theatre Company; BBC radio; Off Broadway at the Roundabout Theatre), Madagascar (Off Broadway Summer Play Festival and throughout the US), and White People (Philadelphia Theatre Company and throughout the US). Recent awards include a National Endowment for the Arts/Theatre Communications Group Theatre Residency and a New York Foundation for the Arts fellowship, the Pinter Review Prize for Drama, the American Theatre Critics Association’s Osborne Award and the William Inge Center for the Arts’ New Voices Award. His works are published by Faber and Faber and Dramatists Play Service, and he is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and member of the Dramatists Guild.

Andre Sills

Man at French Embassy Party, UN Major, Market Man, Policeman, 
Man at Nightclub

For Studio 180: The Overwhelming


André has spent the past four seasons working at The Stratford Shakespeare Festival acting in the following shows: Macbeth, Julius Caesar, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Caesar & Cleopatra, Henry IV, Part 1, The Duchess of Malfi and Pentecost. (Caesar & Cleopatra was also filmed for the Bravo Network.) André is a graduate of the 05/06 Birmingham Conservatory under David Latham. He made his American theatre debut recently playing the title role in Othello, and the lead Harmond Wilks in Radio Golf at the St. Louis Black Rep. Other theatre credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Canadian Stage), As You Like It, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre By The Bay) and Titus Andronicus (Canopy Theatre). André is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School.

David Storch

Jack Exley


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming

David is a director, a teacher and an actor. He is a former Artistic Director of The Canadian Stage Company. His premiere productions of Judith Thompson’s The Palace of the End and Adam Pettle’s Sunday Father, both here at Berkeley Street, are among his proudest accomplishments. His production of Glengarry Glen Ross at Soulpepper last season was one of that company’s most successful, and is to be remounted this year. He has acted on the Berkeley stage in Angels in America (Canadian Stage) and in What Lies Before Us (Crow’s Theatre). For Canadian Stage he has directed A Number, Omnium Gatherum, Misery, Take Me Out (with Morris Panych), The Beard of Avon and Twelfth Night, and acted in Frost/Nixon, Doubt, Amadeus, Habeas Corpus, Hysteria and Patience. Soulpepper audiences have seen him in Antigone, Travesties, Mary Stuart, King Lear, The Importance of Being Earnest, Translations, The Winter’s Tale and A Chorus of Disapproval.

Nigel Shawn Williams

Joseph Gasana, Orderly, Waiter, Servant


For Studio 180: The Overwhelming, Stuff Happens


Nigel’s selected theatre credits as an actor include Palmer Park, Fuente Ovejuna, Odyssey, Harlem Duet, Our Town, Twelfth Night, Treasure Island (Stratford Festival); The Ventriloquist (Factory Theatre); Salieri in Amadeus (Alberta Theatre Projects – Betty Mitchell Award Nomination); Hedda Gabler, Varieté (Dora Nomination), Two Words For Snow (Dora Award for Best Actor) (Volcano); Wade in the Water (Centaur Theatre); Love’s Labour’s Lost (National Arts Centre); Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Consecrated Ground (Obsidian Theatre); Belle (Factory Theatre); Six Characters in Search of an Author, The Millionairess, Rashomon, Simpleton of the Unexpected Isle, Petrified Forest (Shaw Festival); Harlem Duet (world premiere – Nightwood/Canadian Stage); Angels in America (Canadian premiere – Manitoba Theatre Centre); Othello (Ford Centre for the Performing Arts); Six Degrees of Separation (Canadian premiere – Alberta Theatre Projects/Canadian Stage – Dora Award for Best Actor); Omnium Gatherum, Henry VI, Edward IV, Richard III (Canadian Stage). Directing credits include Shakespeare’s Dog (Alberta Theatre Projects), The Bewitched (York University), Home (playRites Festival ATP), Laius: City of Wine (Nightswimming/York University), Falling in Time (CrossCurrents Festival/Factory Theatre), Blacks Don’t Bowl (Black Theatre Workshop – Mecca and Masque Nominations), The Monument (Obsidian Theatre – Dora Award for Best Director) and Simple, Celibate, Sober (Toronto Fringe). Film & TV credits include XIII, Phantom Punch, Odyssey V, John Q, Vendetta, Down in the Delta, series regular for the Jane Show (Global), The City (CTV) and The Famous Jett Jackson (Disney Channel). Nigel is currently an Artistic Associate at the Factory Theatre.