2021/22 MENTORS
Thom Allison
ROYAL MTC My Fair Lady, Evita (with TC), The Drowsy Chaperone.
OTHER THEATRE Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (Broadway); Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Hello, Dolly, The King and I, Into The Woods (Stratford); A Little Night Music, Wonderful Town, His Girl Friday, Ragtime (Shaw); Outrageous, Take Me Out (CS); Cabaret, The Louder We Get (TC); The Party/The Candidate (Citadel); Annie, Dreamgirls (Grand); Joni Mitchell: River, Side By Side By Sondheim (PTE).
FILM/TV I Me Wed; Leaving Metropolis; Over The Rainbow; Private Eyes; Murdoch Mysteries; Killjoys.
ET CETERA Thom won a Canadian Screen Award (Canada's Emmys/Oscars) for Best Supporting Actor in a drama series for Killjoys. You can follow his goings on at: www.thomallison.com. Instagram: thom_allison Twitter: @thomallison.
Catherine Banks
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE (selected premieres) Three Storey, Ocean View (Mulgrave RoadTheatre); Bone Cage (Forerunner); It is Solved by Walking(Urban Curvz); Miss N Me (Sarasvàti); In This Light (Two Planks and a Passion).
TV Bitter Rose (Bravo Canada); Bone Cage (Afro Viking Pictures/Bone Cage Productions).
TEACHING Sage Hill Playwright's Lab, Dalhousie University Fountain School Playwriting Course, Master Classes etc.
ET CETERA Nominations: Best New Play Merritt Awards (five), Nova Scotia MasterWorks, Carol Bolt (two). Awards: Governor General's Literary Awards; 2008, Bone Cage; 2012, It Is Solved by Walking; Nova Scotia Established Artist's Award, Bone Cage (film) 10+ screenplay/best narrative awards various festivals.
Romeo Candido
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
TV Romeo Candido is an award-winning Filipino-Canadian Writer, Director and Composer who straddles both comedy and drama for all platforms. He made his television directing debut serving as the series director on the first two seasons of the CityTV Family Comedy Second Jen, which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Comedy Series. Romeo won multiple Canadian Screen Awards for his work on the acclaimed series Canada’s a Drag. He served as a staff writer on both seasons of the Netflix sci-fi series Another Life and wrote on the upcoming CBC comedy series Son of a Critch. He is currently directing on an upcoming Apple+ series. His musical Prison Dancer is an award-winning digital series and stage show currently in development with the Citadel Theatre. Most recently, Romeo directed on the 29th season of This Hour Has 22 Minutes for CBC. He is currently in post-production on his musical youth series Topline for Shaftesbury and CBC Gem that he created, directed and composed for.
ET CETERA A proud member of the Filipino Canadian community, Romeo has been instrumental in bringing to light the Filipino experience either as the Senior Producer of CBC Arts or his over twenty years of mentoring, collaborating and documenting his community.
Jessica Carmichael
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE Selected Directing: The Rez Sisters (Stratford Festival of Canada); Embodying Power and Place: Medicine Wheel, Dream Girl, Across This Body, Dark Matters (Native Earth Performing Arts/Nightwood Theatre/New Harlem Productions); Boys, Girls, And Other Mythological Creatures (HarbourFront Centre/Carouse Players); Apathy (Concordia Theatre Department); Tick (Carousel Players); Two Indians (Summerworks).
TRAINING/TEACHING Graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada Acting Program, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art/King’s College London’s MA in Text & Performance Studies, and the MFA Directing Program with the University of Alberta. Teaching: Assistant Professor tenure-track in Theatre at Concordia University.
ET CETERA Jessica is of mixed Abénaki and Euro heritage. She lives in Tiohtià:ke/Molian/Montréal with her daughter.
Marjorie Chan
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
ET CETERA Marjorie was born in Tkaronto (Toronto) to Hong Kong immigrants who settled in Canada in the late ‘60s. She is currently the Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille, where she places access, community, innovation and collaboration at the forefront of the company’s approach. As a theatre and opera artist, she works variously as writer, director and dramaturge as well as in the intersection of these forms and roles. Her work has been seen and performed in the United States, Scotland, Hong Kong, Russia and across Canada.
Mitchell Cushman
ROYAL MTC Hand to God.
OTHER THEATRE Founding Artistic Director of Outside the March immersive theatre company, where his directing credits include Lessons in Temperament (also now a feature film), The Ministry of Mundane Mysteries, The Flick, The Tape Escape, Dr. Silver, Jerusalem, TomorrowLoveTM, Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, Vitals, Passion Play, Terminus, Mr. Marmalade. Five seasons at the Stratford Festival, where he has directed Breath of Kings, Possible Worlds and Treasure Island. Other favourite credits: BRANTWOOD (Sheridan College); The Golem's Mighty Swing (OtM/WJT); The Aliens (Coal Mine); Merrily We Roll Along (YES); The Ex-Boyfriend Yardsale, I’m Doing This For You, Oh My Irma (Haley McGee); The Curious Voyage, I, Claudia, The Last of Romeo and Juliet (TiFT).
TRAINING MFA in Directing, University of Alberta.
ET CETERA Siminovitch Protégé Award; Dora Award for Outstanding Direction; three Dora Awards for Outstanding Production; Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Director; Ken McDougal Award.
Ma-Anne Dionisio
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE Philippine-born Canadian actress, Ma-Anne Dionisio, is best known for her role as Kim in the Canadian Premiere production of Miss Saigon (Mirvish) for which Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre was built. She has since reprised the role in Sydney’s Capitol Theatre, London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. The three-time Dora Mavor Moore Award-Nominee for Best Actress in a Musical, garnered her most recent nomination for her role as Grizabella in Cats (Panasonic Theatre). Additional theatre credits include: Eponine in Les Misérables (International/US National Tour); Little Girl/Meili cover in Flower Drum Song (Broadway revival); Bertrande in Martin Guerre (London’s Prince Edward Theatre); Maria in West Side Story (Stratford Festival).
FILM/TV Credits include Schitts Creek, Coroner and will next be seen recurring on the series Astrid & Lilly Save The World for Blue Ice Pictures.
Véronique dussault
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE Véronique’s creations are various in different fields. Her background is in event and big scale shows. Opening and closing ceremony for World Francophone Games (Abidjan); Universiade’s Signature show (Kazan); Cirque du Soleil 30th Anniversary Concert - live and TV (Montréal).
TRAINING/TEACHING Working as a show director naturally leads Véronique to the role of creative director for multiple creative projects. She follows many formations in creative and brainstorm processes and storytelling.
ET CETERA After training in the arts, Véronique Dussault realized that her biggest strength was to make artists shine by putting them on stage. For more than a decade, she worked in shows and event production, covering all aspects of the business, before focusing on content creation and creative management of major events. She makes her focus of creating ephemeral moments that stays in memory forever. Having worked in the literary and cultural fields from 2000 to 2003, she then lent her considerable talents to event marketing projects with companies such as Circo de Bakuza and Cirque du Soleil. Recognized for their unique artistic signatures, both companies enable Véronique to take part in a great number of events around the world, working with the biggest names in the business.
She had been in charge of many project of Corporate alliances where she developed her straight to artistically express brand’s DNA and find commune values when it’s time to bring brands together and share their message through events, show and artistic installations.
It is this expertise and passion that she brings in partnering with various production companies as Circo de Bakuza, Efactor, Filmaster, MBAM, Ville de Montreal, Digital District, telefilm Canada, Moment Factory in Montreal and throughout the world, bringing to life the most ambitious projects.
Marci T. House
ROYAL MTC In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play (with Tarragon).
OTHER THEATRE SWEAT, Clybourne Park, Disgraced, Intimate Apparel (Arts Club); Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Lysistrata(Bard on the Beach); The Madness of George III, Dracula (Shaw); You Will Remember Me (Ruby Slippers Theatre/Gateway Theatre); Glengarry Glen Ross (Classic Chic Theatre); The Ladies Foursome (Grand); Who’s Life Is It Anyway (Real Wheel Theatre); Doubt (Rose Theatre); Eating Pomegranates Naked (Summerworks); The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot (Pound of Flesh Theatre); RUINED (Obsidian Theatre/Nightwood Theatre); Hamlet (Honest Fishmonger’s CO-OP); A Streetcar Named Desire (Blue Bridge Theatre Company); The Miracle Worker (VP).
FILM/TV Monster High, Devil In Ohio, IVY & BEAN, LOU, KUNG FU, TRIBAL, MAHALIA, MOTHERLAND: Fort Salem, One of Us Is Lying, Day of The Dead, Julie and The Phantoms, Picture Perfect Mysteries, The Twilight Zone, Riverdale, Cranberry Christmas, Christmas in Evergreen: Bells Are Ringing, 50 States of Fright, Amish Abduction, Mystery 101, Wedding March, Chesapeake Shores, Timeless, Tin Star, The Bad Seed, The Mountain Between Us, Fifty Shades Darker, Godzilla, The Big Year, Charlie St. Cloud, Life Sentence, The Expanse, Van Helsing, Imaginary Mary, Motive, iZombie, The X Files, Garage Sale Mysteries, The Girlfriend’s Guide To Divorce, Signed Sealed Delivered, Strange Empire, Lost Girl, Saving Hope, Rookie Blue, Emily Owens, M.D., Fringe, ‘V’, Supernatural, Vampire Diaries, Caprica, Battlestar Galactica, Reaper, The L Word, Bionic Woman, Smallville, Jake In Progress, The District.
TRAINING Louisiana Tech University (B. Of Arch.); University of Illinois – Chicago (MUPP); Lyric School of Acting; Susan Batson Studios/BLACK NEXXUS STUDIOS.
Krystal Kiran
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE Bombay Dreams (Original Broadway Cast); AR Rahman’s Jai Ho World Tour (Stadiums); Lord of the Rings(Mirvish); Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol (Arts Club); Monsoon Wedding (Berkeley Rep); Bend It Like Beckham (Starvox); West Side Story (Citadel); How He Lied To Her Husband, The Orchard (After Chekhov), Brigadoon, The Horse and His Boy (Shaw).
FILM/TV Tokens on Call (Web-Series), Private Eyes, Workin’ Moms, Suicide Squad, Minority Report, Hemlock Grove, Hairspray, The Love Guru, Hellcats, Thy Beauty’s Doom (short film available on YouTube).
TEACHING Sheridan College, Joffrey Ballet, Steps on Broadway, Musical Stage Company.
ET CETERA 2022 Branscombe House Artist-In-Residence (City of Richmond). Founded the ‘Maple Batalia Memorial Scholarship for the Arts’ at Emily Carr University. Founder/Designer/Curator: www.houseofkiran.com. More info at www.krystalkiran.com.
Kim Senklip Harvey
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
ET CETERA Kim Senklip Harvey is a proud Syilx and Tsilhqot’in Nation member with Ancestral ties to the Dakelh, Secwepemc and Ktunaxa communities. She is an Indigenous Theorist, Cultural Evolutionist and storyteller whose work focuses on the ignition of Indigenous power and innovating methodological processes with artistic sovereignty to create narratives that nourish the spirits of peoples oppressed by the imperial state. Kim is currently working on a tv adaptation of her award-winning play Kamloopa, she is completing her first prose and poetry book entitled Interiors: Love Stories from a Salish Plateau Dirtbag, she is developing an Indigenous love tv series On The Plateau and is in pre-production for her next artistic ceremony Break Horizons: A Rocking Indigenous Justice Ceremony. Kim completed her Masters in Creative Writing at the University of Victoria and is currently doing her PhD in Law. All of her work is with respect to her Ancestors and for the future generations, to whom we owe so much.
Sarah Garton Stanley
ROYAL MTC Fun Home, Kill Me Now (With NAC). Upcoming: Calpurnia (with NAC/Black Theatre Workshop).
OTHER THEATRE Director: Everybody Just C@lm the F#ck Down (Artistic Fraud) carried away on the crest of a wave (Arts Club) Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (Tarragon) The Big House (Toronto Fringe); We Keep Coming Back (WJT, English Theatre Berlin, Factory Theatre); Unsafe (Canadian Stage); Out The Window (Luminato and Theatre Centre); Bunny (Stratford and Tarragon Theatre).
ET CETERA Former Associate Artistic Director, English Theatre at Canada’s National Arts Centre where she created The Cycles. Founder Emeritus SpiderWebShow Performance and FOLDA. PhD Candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen’s University.
Michaela Washburn
ROYAL MTC First engagement.
OTHER THEATRE This is How We Got Here (Native Earth Performing Arts); Almighty Voice and His Wife, La Bete, Animal Farm (Soulpepper); Guarded Girls (Tarragon/Green Light Arts); Grace (Nightwood); Confederation and Riel(VideoCabaret/Soulpepper; Dora Award).
FILM/TV Skymed (CBC/CBS/Paramount); Burden of Truth (CBC); Baroness Von Sketch (CBC/IFC); Just One Word (Paper Canoe Projects); The River You Step In (Marjory Avenue Productions and Film Coop).
TEACHING Honoured to be a mentor with Royal MTC’s National Mentorship Program, as well as Industry Theatre's The Garden Project.
ET CETERA Associate Artist with The Stratford Festival. Artist in Residence with Necessary Angel. Washburn’s award winning play, Frozen River, which she co-wrote with Carrie Costello and Joelle Peters, will premiere at Manitoba Theatre for Young People February of 2022.