David Gagnon Walker – Playwright/Performer/Co-Producer
David is an award-winning writer, performer, and theatre translator living on Treaty 6 territory in Edmonton, AB. His work has been performed and developed in cities across Canada, and through residencies in Sweden, Finland, France, Australia, and the USA. Recent projects include The Last Children (Curtain Razors 2021), 366 Days (Major Matt Mason Collective 2021), Premium Content (High Performance Rodeo 2020), and Everybody’s Everybody’s Autobiography (Verb Theatre 2020). David was the 2019-2020 Emerging Artist-in-Residence with 2b theatre company, and the winner of the 2018 Playwrights Guild of Canada Emerging Playwright Award. He is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting program. www.davidgagnonwalker.com
Tori Morrison – Multimedia Designer/Stage Manager/Co-Producer
Tori is a designer, producer, and production manager from amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton, AB) on Treaty 6. She is the Executive Director and Artistic Producer of Tiny Bear Jaws and she co-produces work with writer David Gagnon Walker as Strange Victory Performance. Recent credits include sound/video design for This Is the Story of the Child Ruled by Fear at SummerWorks (Toronto, 2022), High Performance Rodeo (Calgary, 2022) and Pi Theatre (Vancouver, 2022), sound design and producing for Gender? I Hardly Know Them at the rEvolver Festival (Vancouver, 2022), and sound design and production management for Pyretic Theatre’s premiere of Michael Mysterious (Edmonton, 2021). Find out more about what she does at her website torigmorrison.com.
Christian Barry – Co-Director/Dramaturg
Christian Barry is a multi-award winning director and theatre-maker from Kjipuktuk (Halifax, NS). Christian is a co-founder and artistic director of 2b theatre company. He has directed shows at festivals and theatres around the world, and was the first theatre artist to win the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award – the highest honour for the arts in the province. Directing credits for 2b theatre company include Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story, The God that Comes, Revisited, The Russian Play, and East of Berlin. Christian’s productions have played at renowned venues and festivals including Bristol Old Vic, Edinburgh Fringe, Sydney Festival, Tarragon Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Magnetic North Festival, PuSh, Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, Noorderzon, Aarhus Festival, Theaterformen Hanover, Luminato, World Stage, and 59E59 (Off-Broadway in New York City). www.2btheatre.com
Judy Wensel – Co-Director
Judy is a director, creator, and teaching artist based in Regina on Treaty 4 Territory. Her work emphasizes connection to place and community and through her deep interest in collaboration, she has conceived and directed numerous interdisciplinary creation-works and community art initiatives with Sask-based organizations and artists including FadaDance, Wolf Willow Band, Swamp Fest, Common Weal Community Arts, and the Cathedral Village Arts Festival. Her theatre directing work includes productions of contemporary Canadian work, ensemble-based devised creations, and new play premieres. Judy has a BFA in Acting from the University of Regina and is a graduate of the directing program at National Theatre School of Canada. She has been an Artistic Associate with Curtain Razors Theatre (Regina) since 2015 and an Associate Artist with Sum Theatre (Saskatoon) since 2019.
Morgan Melenka – Physical Designer
Morgan is a visual artist based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary). She engages with sculpture and printmaking as she reproduces, modifies, and misuses familiar architectural forms and materials to engage with the world of architecture. She holds an MFA from NSCAD University and has exhibited in Canada and the US; most recently her 2021 exhibitions include: The Scene at the Art Gallery of Alberta, The Works Art & Design festival, moveObjects On at the Plumb in Toronto, and There are no walls, only shimmering membranes as part of SAAG Art Library Project. As an educator she has taught visual art sessionally at NSCAD University, University of Alberta and MacEwan University. Additionally she was SNAP’s Seminar Series Coordinator 2020-2022 and between other contracts paints sets for film.
Lauren Acheson – Technical Associate
Lauren is a trans and queer set/lighting designer and technician living in Mohkinstsis (Calgary, AB). Recent credits include: technical direction for I Don’t Even Miss you (Tiny Bear Jaws), lighting design for Circus Mirandus (Alberta Dance Theatre), and set/lighting design for 366 Days (Major Matt Mason Collective). Previously for HPR: production assistance for Gold Rush: Redux, and associate production design for Premium Content (MMMC). They can usually be found making live events happen in venues around town, or zipping around on their bike, or yelling about Star Trek… and sometimes all three at once.
Patricia Vinluan – Design Associate
Patricia is a stage and production manager based out of Kjipuktuk (Halifax, NS). She has enjoyed many roles within live event production, including; arts admin, festival coordination, production design, and technical direction. In her career, Patricia has been involved in the development of over a dozen world premieres, has collaborated on a multitude of projects presented across Canada, and has toured internationally. In her work, Patricia is dedicated to implementing sustainable and ethical production practices and is motivated by a desire to establish safe and socially responsible workspaces for all community members. She grew up on the west coast but has happily lived in Nova Scotia for eight years.
