Cast and Team

Brontae Hunter is an actor, musician, and writer based in Tiotià:ke aka. Montreal. She is most excited by work that explores the relationships between rhythm, language, and ensemble. In 2021, she released her first studio album + audio play entitled The Jubilant Opus of the Day, which is available on all streaming platforms. This year, she is looking forward to bringing the two play tour to audiences across Eastern Canada, and for her short story A Letter to my Daughter (or: God is Change) to be printed in the Encore Poetry Project. 

Gio is a theatre-maker, storyteller, writer and dedicated friend of the universe that surrounds him. Born and raised a second-generation immigrant in Montréal/Tiohtià:ke, Québec, things have never gone the way he planned them to, but kindness, patience, and forgiveness have always made it work out in the end. He is a graduate of both John Abbott College’s Professional Theatre Acting Program (acquiring the Pamela Montgomery award which recognized his dedication and love of the craft) and Concordia University’s Performance Creation program and has deepened a childhood fascination for stories and the way we tell them. He has taken a particular interest in puppetry, mask work, acrobatics and silly voices as tools that stretch and warp his shape past what seems possible. If you are curious about things he has worked on in the past, like his time as the Big Bad Wolf in Into the Woods, his work with a circus director or the other time he puppeteered a Rabbit, ask him! He loves to chat about his work. 

Jimmy is an off-reserve member of the Muskeg Lake Cree Nation, he is of Plains Cree, English and French settler heritage. Born and raised on tiohtià:ke, Jimmy is the current Artistic Director of Geordie Theatre in Montreal. Jimmy began his career as a stage and film actor and over the past 15 years has worked in collaboration with companies like Native Earth Performing Arts, The Stratford Festival, The N.A.C., The Centaur, Repercussion Theatre, Porte Parole and La Licorne. Jimmy is also a writer and director. His most recent play Feather Gardens won him the META for Outstanding New Text. Jimmy is also the host of the podcast Inside Imago.

Amy Lee Lavoie and Omari Newton are an award-winning writing team and married couple with careers spanning decades across theatre, film and television.

Omari is an actor, writer, director and Head of the Acting Department and Film Production program at Vancouver Film School. As a writer, his original Hip Hop theatre piece Sal Capone has received critical acclaim and multiple productions, including a recent presentation at Canada’s National Arts Centre.

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 recently directed a production of the critically acclaimed play Red Velvet by Lolita Chakrabarti for The Arts Club Theatre, and will direct Miracle on 34th Street to close the Arts Club 2023/2024 season.

Amy Lee Lavoie is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Playwriting Program. Her first play, Rabbit Rabbit, premiered with Infinitheatre, earning her two MECCA’s for Best Text and the Revelation Award. Rabbit Rabbit has been produced across Canada and the US. Other select plays include: Stopheart (Factory Theatre), Genetic Drift (Pi Theatre/Boca del Lupo), Scout’s Honour (Radio Play/Imago Theatre), Doubletree (Factory Theatre), C’mon, Angie! (Touchstone Theatre/Leroy Street Theatre) which was hailed as “visceral, important, life-changing theatre.”

Amy Lee was also the Head Digital Writer for the CBC drama Strange Empire, which won a Gracie Award (Women’s Alliance Media) for Best Website in recognition of its interactive Storytelling. She is currently in development on a film adaptation of Claudia Casper’s Best Selling novel, The Reconstruction.

Amy Lee and Omari began their collaborative journey with their play Redbone Coonhound which premiered in 2023 under a rolling world premiere model with The Arts Club Theatre, Tarragon Theatre and Imago Theatre. The play was named one of Toronto Star’s “Ten Best Theatre Shows in 2023” and won six METAs (Montreal English Theatre Awards), including Outstanding New Text, and was nominated for five others. Redbone Coonhound is published by Talon Books.

Since then, they have been in development on a number of projects including Little Darlin’, a Silver Commission from Arts Club Theatre, Blackfly, an adaptation of Titus Andronicus, Inferno, an adaptation of Dante’s Inferno for re:Naissance Opera and Megalodon for Geordie Theatre’s 2024/25 season.

Omari Newton is an award-winning professional actor, writer, director, and producer. As a writer, his original Hip Hop theatre piece Sal Capone has received critical acclaim and multiple productions, including a presentation at Canada’s National Arts Centre.

Omari and his wife, fellow professional playwright Amy Lee Lavoie, recently received a generous grant from the Canada Council to co-write a new play: Redbone Coonhound which has won numerous awards including Best New Play at the Montreal English Theatre Association (META) Awards and have toured Canada. Their latest collaboration is a bold and innovative satirical comedy that confronts instances of systemic racism in the past, present and future. 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.

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 Emmy Award winning The Dragon Prince.’s hit new animated series The Dragon Prince.

James has been active in the local theatre scene for almost 40 years. He had been a continuous presence with Geordie Theatre and done quite a bit of time touring with Geordie’s two play tour as tour manager. Also acting and directing with Teesri Duniya Theatre, and has sat in their board of directors for the past 10 years. Was awarded the META’S “unsung Hero of Theatre” award  for doing crazy things behind the scenes. Has done many shows and contributions with many of Montreal’s best known theatre groups, some including Black Theatre Workshop, Theatre Ouest End, Mainline theatre and with the Montreal Clown Festival. 

James also loves to sing his heart out with The People’s Gospel Choir of montreal in his free time. An avid photographer and theatre nerd. Keep reaching, keep creating!

Mélanie has various credits as an Assistant Stage Manager and Stage Manager. Some of them include Assistant Stage Manager for Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, directed by Gorden Greenberg; Fifteen Dogs, directed by Marie Farsi; and Stage Manager on Prayer for the French Republic, directed by Lisa Rubin. She also worked on many other shows at The Segal Centre for Performing Arts, Centaur Theatre, Théâtre du Rideau Vert, Teesri Duniya, Youth Theater, Theatre Lac Brome and l’Université de Montréal. Mélanie’s parcour with Geordie started in 2012 as an apprentice and since has been a part of the Geordie Family as an Assistant Stage Manager, Stage Manger, Tour Manager and Production Manager. She also has many other areas of expertise, she is a trained dancer and dance teacher, and in a very different range of skills, she can do everything around a pool. It is very important for her to love what she does and to keep a young soul.

Annalise Peterson-Perry is a Montreal-based theatre practitioner and graduate of Concordia University’s Theatre and Development program. Annalise is interested in multiple avenues of creating and supporting great storytelling. Recent credits include: Production Manager for Cymbeline (Repercussion Theatre 2023), Stage Manager for Where You Are (Hudson Village Theatre), Apprentice Stage Manager for Beautiful, The Carol King Musical (Segal Centre for the Performing Arts), ), Stage Manager The Flick (Persephone Theatre), Apprentice Stage Manager for Sir John A McDonald; Acts of A Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion (Globe Theatre Regina), etc. Annalise grew up playing soccer and is excited to help bring it to the stage with this great group of people. Enjoy!

potatoCakes_digital is the award winning production design, digital arts, and technical services company of Emily Soussana and Andrew Scriver, incorporated in 2021. Formed as a collective in 2018 with a video design at Osheaga Music Festival for John Jacob Magistery, they have been unofficially working together for over seven years as an all-encompassing artistic and technical team offering digital dramaturgical support, production management, and technical direction, as well as designing video, lighting, sound, set, and costumes for live performance, installation, and digital art, with productions and companies in Tiohtià:ke and across Canada. 

The company’s main artistic mandate is to technically helm and forge singularly cohesive designs for productions from conception to performance. Though, they are known to focus on one or two particular elements of a production, zeroing in on their complexity and delving into the heart of the story. Some of potatoCakes_digital’s main interests in the performing arts involve the integration and interrelation of technology and traditional art forms, and the exploration of how visual and digital art can help facilitate and elevate the telling of a story. Their philosophy of creation is story and character based, and in such intent, all design elements become characters in their own rights. Their work is to create worlds, and to see them through to the end. 

As digital dramaturgs, Emily and Andrew have helped push the boundaries of the Canadian performance digital landscape, through their work with Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal’s Digital Dramaturgy Integration Strategy, Digital Dramaturgy Initiative, Digital Clinics, and Experimentation in Digital Creation residencies, and in curating and administrating 2021’s highly successful Level UP symposium, and Live Virtual Experiments 2021-2022 with the Associated Designers of Canada. With these and other consultation work they are able to offer technical and digital assistance for others’ creations, to help artists realize their digital dreams. 

potatocakesdigital.ca

Credits Include: Echoes:Vibrations from Japan to Canada – Projection Design (Takako Segawa, 2024); Megalodon and The Velveteen Rabbit – Projection Design (Geordie Productions, 2024) Everything Has Disappeared – Set, Lighting, and Video Design (Mammalian Diving Reflex, 2024); Universal Child Care – Video Design (Quote Unquote Collective, 2024 ) QUEERasure Sex Garage – Visual Design (Ragtag Collective, 2023); What Rough Beast – Set, Lighting and Video Design (Theatre Ouest End and Tantalus Theatre, 2023); Making The Mystics – Stage Production Design (Kim Senklip Productions, 2022); Kamloopa – Lighting and Video Design (Soulpepper Theatre Co. 2022) Pipeline – Video Design (Black Theatre Workshop, 2022), Antioch – Visual Design, Videography and Editing (Talisman Theatre, 2021); Tuning In – Visual Design and Streaming Support (Imago Theatre, 2021); Break Horizon : A Rocking Concert Documentary – Lighting and Video Design (Kim Senklip Productions, 2021); Behaviour – Production Design (Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal and The Segal Centre, 2021); SKIN – Video Design and Technology (The Bakery, 2021); Seven Deadly Sins and Lucrezia – Video and Projection Design (The Glenn Gould School – RCM, 2020); Skyborn: A Land Reclamation Odyssey – Projection Design (Savage Society, 2020)

Troy Slocum is a sound designer and electronic music composer. He recently served as sound designer and music supervisor for CBC Gem’s The Bannocking and designed sound and produced beats for the upcoming audio play and animated feature Black Fly by Amy Lee Lavoie & Omari Newton, featuring Toronto emcee Dan.E.O. His work has also been featured at the Shaw Festival for Blithe Spirit and on the ongoing tour of Kevin Loring’s Little Red Warrior and His Lawyer (NAC).

Troy’s extensive career spans theatre, film, and installation. Theatre highlights include Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy Of (NAC), The Rez Sisters (Belfry), and Buried Child (NAC/Segal Centre). His film/TV credits include sound design for Grey Roads (HotDocs 2021), MIA (Salmon) (TIFF, VIFF), Skoden (upcoming), The Track (upcoming), and Looking at Edward Curtis (Knowledge Network).

Troy won the Jessie Richardson Award for The Pipeline Project (Savage Society/It’saZoo) and has received multiple nominations for Mecca, META, and Masques Awards. He is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada (IATSE Local ADC659) and APASQ.

Diana is a Colombian theatre designer, plastic artist, interior designer and an eternal child. She had worked for over 30 years in design and arts. In 2005, Diana moved to Canada and found a second home; She graduated in 2011 from the Theatre Design program at The National Theater School of Canada. Diana is interested in the way that theatre reaches people, in the world of possibilities, dreams and change that are inherent to the theatre practice. Her passion for space and its relationship to humans, and how this affects the body and mind have inspired her work, creating spaces and costumes that evoke a metaphor of our environment. As an artist and a human, she is aware of the imprint that we leave and the importance to engage in the exploration of ecological materials and renewed theatrical practices.

Julian Smith is a META Nominated Sound Designer and Manager from Trinity Bay Newfoundland now residing in Montreal—a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Production Design and Technical Arts Program. Select credits include Sound Designer –How to Survive in the Wild – Persephone Productions. Assistant Sound Designer / Composer – Thy Woman’s Weed’s – Repercussion Theatre, Centaur Theatre, Tableau d’Hote. Julian is also a co-producer in his company *This Might Be Satire Productions* shared with his fellow friends and collaborators Azal Dosanjh and Lucas Ings-Simms. Their first play Tamasha O’ Tamasha a collection of plays written by Punjab theatre Legend Gursharan Singh Bhaji translated and renditioned by Azal Dosanjh has now had two productions in Newfoundland. Julian is the composer, PSM, and Producer of the show

Caite Clark (she/her) is a theatre artist and educator based in Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. She is honoured to be Geordie’s Schools Engagement Associate, connecting young people and educators to the world of theatre. Recent lighting projects include Cymbeline (Repercussion Theatre), Playbright Staged Readings (National Theatre School/UBC/McGill), Illumine La Nuit (Orchestre Symphonique de Drummondville), as well as What If, Poof, Perfect Storm, and Instant (Geordie Theatre). Caite is also the resident lighting designer and mentors the student stage crew at St. George’s School of Montreal.