MARTHA ROSS, playwright / performer

Martha Ross trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq and has been writing, performing, teaching, directing and creating original theatre ever since. With Theatre Columbus, the company she co-founded in 1983 with Leah Cherniak, Martha collectively created numerous award-winning plays: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine; Paranoia; The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girl, to name just a few. Their distinctive theatre style,which was physical, comic, serious, anarchic, quickly earned them a national reputation. 

For the past decade Martha has devoted herself to teaching the Lecoq method of creation at universities and private studios across Canada.  She also has received numerous grants and awards for her creative projects, which include a Chalmers Fellowship grant; a CCA New Chapters Grant to write and produce a cabaret theatre piece called The Cave with John Millard and Tomson Highway; and a Creative Accelerator Grant to work with the animator, Bruce Alcock of Global Mechanic. The Cave will be part of the Luminato/ Theatre Passe Muraille 2022 season and will tour BC in the fall of 2022. And for the last few years Martha has joined Coleen MacPherson in their shared passion for women artists, creating the Wild Women podcasts series for Open Heart Surgery Theatre.

COLEEN MACPHERSON, playwright / performer

Coleen is an international theatre artist, playwright and director based in Toronto and trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Her company, Open Heart Surgery Theatre, creates new work that is multidisciplinary, cross-cultural and often experiments with multiple languages and forms.  Her most recent play, This Is Why We Live held its U.S. premiere at La MaMa in NYC as part of their 58th Season to rave reviews.  She is Playwright in Residence at Cahoots Theatre (Toronto);  Bedrock Creators' Initiative with Factory Theatre (Toronto) and developing the next five episodes of an audio-fiction podcast - a sonic theatre - called Wild Women with playwright, Martha Ross (Digital Originals/CBC; Digital Now, Canada Council).  Her work has toured to Egypt, Poland, France, UK, U.S.A and China; she has worked with companies across Canada, in the UK, Northern Ireland and France.   She is currently developing her play, Erased, a new work in collaboration with Theatre Passe Muraille and York University.   She has taught devising and writing for theatre internationally and delights in bridging the Lecoq pedagogy with the writer's practice. Her workshop, Playwriting in Movement, has inspired writers in film, TV and theatre to develop work that is physical and original.  She currently is a Lecturer of Playwriting I as part of the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Toronto.  

Coleen is currently Assistant Director at the Stratford Festival to Antoni Cimolino's Richard III in the 2022 season.

AMY NOSTBAKKEN, composer for episode 2

Amy Nostbakken is an award-winning director, writer, performer and composer. She is co-artistic director of the theatre company Quote Unquote Collective in Toronto and core member of Theatre Ad Infinitum in the UK. She has created and composed numerous productions including The Big Smoke (2011) Ballad Of the Burning Star (2013), Bucket List (2016) Mouthpiece (2015) and Now You See Her (2018) – Both Mouthpiece and Now You See Her she directed, co-wrote, composed and performs, both have been published by Coach House Press and Oberon UK. Mouthpiece continues to tour internationally and was been adapted into a multi-award winning feature film directed by Patricia Rozema which premiered at TIFF 2018. Amy is currently creating QUC’s next production Universal Child Care - a Quote Unquote "concert" set to premiere in 2022. A graduate of Concordia University and École Internationale de Théatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, Amy teaches theatre and voice for both adults and young people. She lives in Toronto.

MITCHELL AKIYAMA, composer for episode 1 

Mitchell Akiyama is a Toronto-based scholar, composer, and artist. His eclectic body of work includes writings about sound, metaphors, animals, and media technologies; scores for film and dance; and objects and installations that trouble received ideas about history, perception, and sensory experience. He holds a PhD in communications from McGill University and an MFA from Concordia University and is Assistant Professor of Visual Studies in the Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto. www.mitchellakiyama.com

CHRIS ROSS-EWART, sound design / editing 

CHRIS ROSS-EWART (he/him) is a sound designer, composer, and performer based in Vancouver, Canada. Learning the cello at an early age, his musical experience ranges from orchestral and chamber music to experimental electronic composition. Studying theatre at the University of Toronto introduced him to composition and sound design for theatre. He developed his practice further at the MFA program in Sound Design at Yale School of Drama. Now working across the US, Canada, and the world, his experience ranges from performer to composer to designer, in theatre, musical theatre, dance, film, podcasts and installation. He also works as a mental health worker at Insite, a safe injection site, and would love to talk to you about ending the war on drug users. https://www.chrisross-ewart.com