Joel Chico moderates with alumni panelists:
Augusto José Bitter Hurtado is a Venezuelan-born actor, mover, and writer based in Toronto. He has a Specialist in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies from the University of Toronto and was named one of NOW Magazine’s Top 10 Theatre Artists of 2017. He is currently in The Monument at Factory Theatre. Other recent credits include Lear (Groundling Theatre Co.), El Retorno/I Return (Theatre Aquarius), Rope Running Out (lemonTree creations), and Our Town (Theatre Rusticle). He is developing a solo, CHICHO, with Pencil Kit Productions in-residence at Theatre Passe Muraille.
Tom Arthur Davis is Toronto-based theatre worker. He acts as the Artistic Director for Pandemic Theatre, of which he is a co-founder. He has been a resident artist with Canadian Stage, Buddies in Bad Times, and Theatre Passe Muraille. His work has toured nationally & internationally, including: Calgary, Edmonton, Los Angeles, New York, Ottawa-Gatineau, San Francisco, Sibiu (Romania), and Vancouver. Awards & nominations include: Governor General’s Literary Award, Best of Fringe & Patron's Pick (Toronto Fringe), Encore Series & Overall Excellence in Solo Performance (FringeNYC), Outstandinf Production x3 & Outstanding Direction x2 (NOW Magazine), and an honourable mention for the SummerWorks Prize for Production. His work has also been performed for royalty.
Graham Isador is a contributing writer for VICE. His work has also appeared at the CBC, Now Magazine, and the punk rock satire site The Hard Times. Isador was a inaugural member of the Playwright unit at Soulpepper. Selected work includes: Situational Anarchy (Writer/Performer, Summerworks, 2016), Two Truths and a Lie (Writer/Performer, Next Stage Festival 2017), Explosions for the 21st Century (Director/Dramaturge, Summerworks 2017).
Lauren Gillis is a performer, creator and director. She graduated from U of T in 2011 with a double major in Drama and Neuroscience. Her major interests include ambiguity, unrecognizable dancing, an uncomfortable sense of tragi-comic teetering, and the spacetime two degrees away from explicitly erotic.
As Co-Artistic Director of Lester Trips (Theatre), she devises theatre with a bouffonesque approach to character, deliberately maddening dramaturgy, and a visceral foundation stemming from Denise Fujiwara’s butoh-based embodiment practice as well as Fides Krucker’s integrated approach to extended range voice. Lauren is also an Artistic Associate at the red light district, where she has been performing, directing, and playing relentless dramaturgical whack-a-mole with contemporary takes on classic texts since 2008 alongside collaborator ted witzel.
Select credits include: dancer/singer Moving Parts (Fujiwara Dance Inventions/Danceworks 2017), creator/performer Intangible Trappings (Lester Trips 2017), assistant director All’s Well That Ends Well (Canadian Stage 2016), co-director the marquise of O— (HATCH/SummerWorks 2015).
Lauren’s next work, Mr. Truth, will premiere in April 2018 at The Theatre Centre as part of the RISER PROJECT, a collaborative producing model presented by Why Not Theatre. In it, a demon-like entity follows people who repress their “erotic truths” and forces them to confront their desires in spectacularly painful ways.
Deborah 潔樂 Lim is a Singapore-born, California-raised, Toronto-based, freelance Production Manager, Technician, and Creator for theatre, dance, live music, and festivals. Deb is also the Designer behind Panther Daze Designs. Deb graduated from the University of Toronto with a double major in Criminology and Drama with a minor in Music History and Culture. Deb will be moving to London, England this fall to pursue an education in Media and Entertainment Law.
Jiv Parasram is multidisciplinary artist, researcher, and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. His work has played across Canada, and Internationally. He is the Artistic Producer at Pandemic Theatre and the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille. Jiv was a recipient of two Harold Awards including the Ken McDougall Award for directing. He was part of the second cohort of the Cultural Leaders Lab with the Toronto Arts Council and the Banff Centre. His writing has been published by Playwrights Canada Press, the Canadian Theatre Review, CBC.ca and The Spiderwebshow. Jiv grew up in K’jipuktuk (Halifax) and currently endeavours to split his time between T'karón:to (Toronto) and the Unceded Coast Salish Territories (Vancouver).
Select Credits: Daughter (Quiptake/Theatre Centre/Pandemic), Situational Anarchy (Pressgang/Pandemic), Sound of the Beast (TPM), They Say He Fell (Pandemic/Cahoots), The Double (Bad New Days) | Upcoming: The Only Good Indian – West Coast Tour (Pandemic/Uno/rEvolver), Victim Impact (Theatre Conspiracy)
Ana Sani is an actor and writer based in Toronto, Ontario. Current projects include voicing Piper Willowbrook in Mysticons (Corus, Nickelodeon). She voices the character Yuko in Mia and Me (Nick Jr.), which has aired in over 30 countries internationally, and The Magic School Bus (Netflix). She was featured in the film, The 7th Dwarf, by notable director, Boris Aljinovic, where she played Little Red Riding Hood. She's had the opportunity to play Brianna in Pure Pwnage: The Movie, based on the popular web series, and Annette in Odd Squad: The Movie. In Addition to acting, Ana is an inspiring TV writer with credits in multiple web series and short sketches. She is part of two sketch comedy troupes, with their videos premiering Summer 2018.