Cast & Creative

Dust Peddling: Part II

Scott Dermody – Writer / Performer
Born in Markham, Ontario, Scott is now a Toronto-based theatre artist. He is a founding member and a creative core member of Soup Can Theatre. He is also the Youth Outreach Coordinator for the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts, for which he runs the hipTIX and citySPECIAL programs. Scott’s career in theatre thus far encompasses on and off stage roles. He has been a Producer for most Soup Can Theatre shows, as well as having a crack at Directing (for Soup Can Theatre and VDAY Toronto) and Production Managing (Soup Can Theatre and Single Thread Theatre). As an actor, Scott has played in classics, avant-garde multidisciplinary work, clown turns, children’s theatre, murder mysteries and a few short films. He has taught introductory theatre courses in GTA-area schools, and ran a theatre camp in Vaughan for two years. Scott holds a BA in theatre from Queen’s University.

Joanne Williams – Director
Joanne Williams is a theatre director and arts administrator who specializes in new work. She studied Drama and English at Queen’s University and is now the Artistic & Company Manager at Canadian Stage and Vice President of Theatre Ontario’s Board of Directors. Credits include Savannah Bay and Le Shaga by Marguerite Duras (Spiel Players), Rose by Jake Pascoe (staged reading, 2014 SummerWorks), Wild Dogs on the Moscow Trains by Anthony MacMahon (2013 SummerWorks), THEORY by Norman Yeung (2013 Alumnae Fireworks, 2010 SummerWorks), My Friend’s Best Friend’s Boyfriend by Wesley J. Colford (2013 Alumnae New Ideas Festival), Then He Wakes Up by Matt Sarookanian (2012 Toronto Fringe), and Finally: An Epic Cycle by Sarah Cody (2011 Toronto Fringe).

Lisa Hamalainen – Performer
Most Recently: B (Le Shaga) & Young Woman (Savannah Bay, SideMart, Joanne Williams); Anna (Lady With a Lap Dog, Spiel Players, Robert Winslow); Rosalind (As You Like It, Humber River Shakespeare); Desdemona (Othello, Mysterious Entity); Anna (Lady With a Lap Dog, Toronto Fringe 2012); Sonya (The Russian Play, Spiel Players); Ann Maguire (Cavan Blazers, 4th Line Theatre); Tatyana (Pis’ma Pamyati, Teatre Na Strastnom). TELEVISION: CBC Cold War Series. TRAINING: University of Windsor BFA, Moscow Art Theatre School, Международная Летняя Театральная Школа. С Богом!!

Sex and This

Wesley J. Colford – Writer
Wesley J. Colford is an actor, playwright, director, and producer from Cape Breton Island. In 2010 he graduated from the Musical Theatre Performance Program at Sheridan College and then went on to study Classical Acting at George Brown College. He currently splits his time between Sydney and Toronto, where he works as Artistic Director of both Aim for the Tangent and the new Highland Arts Theatre. His plays have won national contests, sold out runs, and in 2011 his play Mature Young Adults was published in the new play anthology “Out on a Limb” (Signature Editions). The same script was awarded a Bravo Fact production grant to create a short film which will premiere in 2015. In the past year alone he has produced nine independent productions in Ontario and Nova Scotia and will likely continue to make cool things in both provinces in 2015.

Jakob Ehman – Director
Jakob is a Toronto based Actor/Director/Playwright and the founder of HUMANZOO. He is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School. His most recent acting credits include: Skriker (Red One), Much Ado About Nothing (Single Thread), Cockfight (Theatre Brouhaha), Minotaur* (YPT), Firebrand (Single Thread), Donors* (safeword) Blue Planet (YPT), turtleneck (safeword), HATCHED (Triangle-Pi). His directing credits include: 911 by Jakob Ehman (HUMANZOO), Normal** by Anthony Neilson (HUMANZOO/ Hamilton Fringe).*Dora Award Nominated-Outstanding Performance. **Critics Choice Award-Hamilton Fringe

Tiffany Deobald – Performer
Tiffany Deobald is a recent graduate from the George Brown Acting program. Her most recent credit this summer was in Single Thread’s production of Much Ado About Nothing. Her favourite school credits include: The Gut Girls and The Rose Tattoo both directed by Todd Hammond, The Country Wife directed by Alan Dilworth, and An Ideal Husband directed by James Simon. Her film credits include Cody Fitz (Yellow Umbrella Productions), directed by Kurt Harder, and Flash, (Toronto Film School), directed by Daniel MacIndoe. Tiffany’s very excited to be working on this project, she hopes you all enjoy!

Carys Lewis – Performer
Carys Lewis is a Welsh-born Toronto based actor and emerging director. Some recent credits include: Now What? (Humber Film), What Makes A Man (Assistant Director / Necessary Angel Theatre Co.), Nine Mile Portage (Theatre by the Bay), Venus in Fur (Assistant Director/Canadian Stage), Airport Tale (Director/ New Ideas Festival), When The Ice Breaks (Down n’ Out Productions), The Corpse Bride (TheatrePANIK), The Trojan Women (Alumnae Theatre). Upcoming: Hansel & Gretel (Cow Over Moon Theatre). Carys is the host and producer of Straight From The Hip, an interview series that features conversations with revolutionary Canadian women. She is a proud graduate of George Brown Theatre School. www.caryslewis.ca

Maypole Rose

Brandon Crone – Writer

Playwriting Credits: Nature of the Beast (Upcoming March 2015 – safeword); Donors (Dora Nomination for Outstanding Male Performance – Jakob Ehman, My Entertainment World Award for Best New Work of 2013 – safeword) Turtleneck (safeword). Selected Acting credits: The Prince of Homburg (Talk Is Free); A Christmas Carol (Theatre New Brunswick); The Team on the Hill (Theatre Orangeville); Crazy for You, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Man of La Mancha, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre by the Bay); The Campbell House Story, Much Ado about Nothing (Single Thread); Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Macbeth, Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre Project); Oliver! (Princess of Wales). Brandon is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and is Artistic Director of safeword (www.safeword.ca).

Alexander Plouffe – Performer
Alexander feels truly #blessed to be working with the sublime members of Circle Jerk. Previous credits include As You Like It, Titus Andronicus (Canadian Stage SiHP), Prayers for the New World (Glasswater Theatre), The Life of Jude (Falling Hammer/Summerworks), Offers of Home (Panfish Productions), True Love Lies (Alberta Theatre Projects), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, A Streetcar Named Desire, As You Like It (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre), Pornography (Theatre Inconnu), Inside, Yerma, Romeo and Juliet, Wreckage (Phoenix Theatres). Thank you to everyone at Soup Can, safeword, Aim for the Tangent, and especially to BC and GKS who drive me bananas.

G. Kyle Shields – Performer
G. Kyle Shields: Hey there, I’m thrilled that you’ve got your butt in that seat. Thanks for coming out! If you like our work, use the hashtag #CircleJerkTO. It’ll really throw people off. Also, make sure to tell everyone tomorrow what you went to yesterday. Then enjoy their faces twist and curl as they process the words you’ve just said. And now I present a few of my credits. Theatre: 911 (HUMANZOO); The Unseen Hand, Sucker (Theatre Brouhaha); The Man of Mode, Happy End (George Brown Theatre School); The Rocky Horror Show (Port Mansion); The Diary of Anne Frank (Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects Young Company) Film: Other Men, Happy Birthday Chad! Upcoming: Outside, a new play by Paul Dunn (Roseneath) Twitter: @gkyleshields

The Session

Justin Haigh – Writer / Director
Justin is a graduate of York University’s Film Production and Screenwriting program but has found a happy home in the world of independent theatre. Justin is proud to be one of the founding members of Soup Can Theatre; his credits include Soup Can Theatre’s previous five productions, Love is a Poverty You Can Sell (Writer/Emcee segment Co-Director/Co-Producer), Marat/Sade (Sound Designer/Set Co-Designer/Co-Producer), Antigone (Co-Producer), A Hand of Bridge / No Exit (Co-Producer, No Exit Dramaturge, Sound Designer, Set Co-Designer), and Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2: Kisses for a Pfennig (Writer/Emcee segment Co-Director/Co-Producer). Justin in excited to be working with so many friends – both old and new!

Allan Michael Brunet – Performer
Allan Michael Brunet is a versatile theatre artist who has contributed to the creation of over a hundred productions in the past twenty years. As well as acting, Mr. Brunet is also a director, lighting designer, translator and puppeteer. Selected acting credits: Marat / Sade (Soup Can Theatre), Trudeautopia (Banquo’s Banquet), Apricots (QuipTake), A Girl and A Gun (Reality Check Productions), Richard III (a Company of Fools), The Collected Works of Billy the Kid (Great Canadian Theatre Company), The Heretics of Bohemia (Scapegoat Carnivale), Turandot (Odyssey Theatre), A Tale of Woe and Mustard (National Arts Centre).

Matt Pilipiak – Performer
Matt is thrilled to be a part of this exciting new project alongside such talented people. Born and raised in Saskatoon met left the prairies 5 years ago in pursuit of his theatrical training, which he completed, graduating from George Brown’s Classical Acting Conservatory. Since then, he has had the great privilege to work with both indie and professional theatre groups. Recent Credits: War of Roses: The Game of Kings (Theatre Aquarius), Three Men in a Boat (Pea Green Theatre), A One Night Stand with Shaw (Never Wrestle With Pigs), The Wedding Singer (Hart House) Comedy of Errors, Macbeth (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan). Other: Matt has recently returned from Mumbai where he performed Three Men in a Boat as part of the TATA International English Literature Festival.

Samantha Lewis – Assistant Stage Manager
Samantha is in her final year at the University of Toronto studying theatre and technical production and has been happily working in many aspects of Toronto theatre including producing, prop construction, front of house, and stage management for the past four years. SM credits include U of T Scarborough’s productions of Arthur Miller’s The Crucible, Don Taylor’s The Women of Troy and Eugene Ionesco’s Rhinoceros. Credits in Toronto’s indie theatre scene include Qui Nguyen’s She Kills Monsters (And Then Shawn Died), Love Is A Poverty You Can Sell II (Soup Can Theatre), The Bone House (Red One Theatre Collective), among others. Samantha is excited to be working with Soup Can again!

Music

Pratik Gandhi – Music Director / Composer
Pratik, an alumnus of Markham District H.S. and the University of Western Ontario, maintains a very busy schedule conducting, playing drums and percussion, and composing and arranging. Not one to pick favourites, he has conducted orchestras, wind bands, chamber works, musicals, operas, and choirs. He is currently the music director of the UTSC Community Concert Band, a conductor of the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra, and assistant conductor of Symphony on the Bay. Pratik’s music director credits with Soup Can Theatre include Love is a Poverty You Can Sell and Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2, Marat/Sade, and A Hand of Bridge (which he also directed). www.pratikgandhi.ca

Marla Kishimoto – Composer
Marla graduated from the Theory and Composition department of Western University in 2008. Since then, she has enjoyed composing for a variety of media and occasions, such as commercials, TV shorts, pieces for her a cappella group Countermeasure, and sometimes just for fun. Marla and Soup Can Theatre go way back: she was the pianist for their very first production, Love is a Poverty You Can Sell, as well as for its sequel, and was thrilled to be asked to write original music for Circle Jerk!

Peter Cavell – Composer
Peter is a composer/lyricist, pianist, writer, and thereminist. He holds degrees in composition from the University of Western Ontario and the University of Victoria, where his lack of reverence reportedly made his straight-laced professors “uncomfortable”. Since then, his compositions have been performed throughout Canada, the US, the UK, Holland, Bosnia, Singapore, and Japan. Peter is a Musical Director at the Second City Training Centre, where he teaches musical improv and has composed or improvised music for hundreds of performances. You might have also heard Peter’s music in the Maude-Lynne plays (Nobody’s Business Theatre), the 2014 Fringe hit Amusement, or The Soaps! – currently running at the Bad Dog Theatre. www.petercavell.com

Katie Saunoris – Musician (Flute)
Katie is a UWO music grad and a Toronto-based theatre publicist who picks up the flute for special occasions. She returns to Soup Can after a wunderbar time playing in last year’s Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2.

Subrina Sookram – Musician (Flute)
Subrina is a graduate from York University’s Music program and Education programs. She is currently volunteering with the Canadian Flute Association in planning the 2^nd 2015 Bi-Annual Flute Convention. She currently studies under Samantha Chang. Subrina often describes her style as “New Classical,” and is thrilled to be performing with Soup Can for her very first time. Apart from playing and performing, Subrina can be found reading, cracking a joke about awkward encounters and developing her portfolio to become a teacher.

Ainsley Lawson – Musician (Clarinet)

Ainsley is a clarinet player and PhD student in Psychology at the University of Toronto. She is the Executive Director of the UTSC Community Concert Band, and plays with the Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra and Pickering Concert Band.

Cory Latkovich – Musician (Cello)
Cory Latkovich is a cellist, composer. Cory graduated from York University with an Honors BFA in Music in 2011. Classically trained but not classically minded, Cory enjoys exploring the grey areas of music. His ensemble Clarinet Panic Deluxx bends easily between contemporary classical, free improv and punk rock music and will be featured in the upcoming Emergents series at the Music Gallery in December. Cory is also busy creating interactive performance software for a series of pieces that explore the implications of autonomous digital presences in performance settings, the first of these pieces set to premiere later this year.

Rachel Gauntlett – Musician (Cello)
Toronto native Rachel Gauntlett is a cellist, music teacher, and avid arts enthusiast. Most recently, Rachel performed as a full time member of the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra for their past three consecutive seasons, from 2011 to 2014. She is a certified Suzuki music teacher and currently holds an active private studio in Toronto. Rachel holds an undergraduate degree in music from Western University and a Master’s degree in Music from Memorial University. She was a part of Soup Can Theatre’s inaugural production of Love is a Poverty You Can Sell in 2009 and in the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2010.

Suzan Kim – Musician (Keyboard)

Suzan has a B.A. in piano performance and is excited to be part of the upcoming show. She was in Marat/Sade, LIAPYCS 2, A Hand of Bridge with Soup Can Theatre and loves being part of live theatre. She spends most of her time at work with her best friend, Excel, working on event logistics and in her free time, she plays video games and cooks Korean food.

Matteo Ferrero-Wong – Musician (Bass)
Matteo is a double bass player currently earning his Bachelor of Music Education and Bachelor of Education at the University of Toronto. He enjoys listening to and playing different styles of music. Primarily a classical player, Matteo is excited to be playing the fun new music in Circle Jerk. Outside of performing, Matteo teaches the double bass privately and works annually at the National Music Camp of Canada.

Brandon Sked – Musician (Bass)
Brandon Sked is an electric and double bass player currently working towards a Bachelor of Music and Education at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music. While primarily studying classical music, he also studies jazz and is always eager to play new music when the opportunity arises. Besides teaching and performing, he also enjoys reading literature and writing. He has worked at the National Music Camp of Canada for the past two years and is excited to continue growing as a music educator.

Production Team

Sarah Thorpe – Producer
Actor/award-nominated theatre practitioner/co-founder and creative core member of Soup Can Theatre. Holds a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in theatre from York University. Select acting credits: Henry Boulton in The Loyalists, Anna in Much Ado About Nothing (Single Thread), Jenny in The Threepenny Opera (UC Follies), You Should Have Stayed Home (Praxis/Summerworks), Bare (Canadian premiere; WatersEdge), The Nightwood (BackBurner/Luminato), Pimooteewin: The Journey (world premiere; Soundstreams), Camoes: The One-Eyed Poet of Portugal (Clay & Paper Theatre), commercials for CAMH and OLG, and many-a-student film. For Soup Can: directed No Exit (nominee – Best Director of an Independent/Regional production, My Entertainment World Awards 2013), Marat/Sade (nominee – Best Direction of a Musical, Broadway World Toronto Awards 2011), three versions of Love is a Poverty You Can Sell, and co-produced A Hand of Bridge and Antigone. More info: sarahthorpe.net.

Katherine Belyea – Stage Manager
Katherine is a stage manager who is delighted to be working on this intriguing show. Thanks to everyone for their hard work and inspiration. Previously with Soup Can: Love is a Poverty 2, A Hand of Bridge/No Exit. Other credits include X, Transgender Seeking… (Sunny Drake); Brundibar (Toronto Concert Orchestra); The Barber of Seville, Il trovatore (Opera York); Nightmare Dream (IFT, Obsidian); tick, tick … BOOM! (Angelwalk); Wild Dogs on the Moscow Trains (SummerWorks); 5 seasons at the Toronto Fringe; sketch comedy; Renaissance plays and Medieval pageants (Poculi Ludique Societas, U of T).

Randy Lee – Technical Director / Lighting Designer
Randy Lee is a York University graduate, majoring in Theatre Production. Previous collaborations with Soup Can Theatre include Love is a Poverty You Can Sell 2, A Hand of Bridge/No Exit, Antigone and Marat/Sade. Also a founding member of Fly By Night Theatre Company. Genuinely excited to be working with this group of (circle) jerks again.

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