THE COMPANY

Anne Meighan Artistic Director, Co-Founder, Ensemble Anne holds an Honours BFA in Theatre Ensemble from York University. Selected NovaStage Directing credits: Harris Superman, Whispering Lodge, Rapunzel, CHALLENGER, Desperate Housepets and most recently, Wickedly Wonderful. NovaStage acting credits: title role in Medusa/Medea, Mary in The Last Lunch 2006, Cinderella in After Ever After: A Charming Affair. Other roles of note include Vladimir in Waiting for Godot (Studio 142), Lady Macbeth (SPT), and Mistress Capulet in Romeo and Juliet with Stratford Festival's Shakespeare ... on Wheels. As assistant director: Communion, written and directed by Daniel MacIvor, Tarragon Theatre. As producer: Last Dog of War, written and performed by Linda Griffiths (Duchess Productions). Click here to visit Anne's website.

Lori Distel Co-Founder, Ensemble An actor and professional jazz singer for many years, Lori has accumulated impressive stage credits in many high-profile roles, including Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, Mae Peterson in Bye Bye Birdie, Mollie Ralston in The Mousetrap, and the title role in Sylvia. NovaStage credits include Laura Secord in Whispering Lodge, Christa McAuliffe in CHALLENGER, and Fifi in Desperate Housepets. Lori also directed After Ever After: A Charming Affair, A Brief Message from Amelia Earhart and The Last Lunch 2006 for NovaStage. Lori's other current creative pursuit is The Lori D Trio, which performs regularly in and around the tri-city area.

Sean Williamson Ensemble, Production Sean is very excited to continue working with NovaStage. Sean started in the performing arts at the age of 10 in music. After 7 years of that, he moved to acting and performed in high school, as well as with GLT, KWLT, UWO's Summer Shakespeare and NovaStage. This is Sean's fourth season with NovaStage, so far performing in: Harris Superman as Harris, which included the May 2007 show as well as a tour to Philadelphia in January '08; Whispering Lodge as Peter; After Ever After: A Charming Affair as Prince Charming. Other favorite roles for Sean include: Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (UWO's Summer Shakespeare), Detective Trotter in The Mousetrap (GLT) and Dr. Zubrisky in Fools (GPSS Drama).

Ken Chamberland Ensemble Ken Chamberland has played The Stranger in both NovaStage's incarnations of Anne Meighan's The Last Lunch. A graduate of Sheridan College's Musical Theatre Program, Ken has performed extensively across Canada in musical theatre. Notable roles include Riff Raff in Rocky Horror Picture Show (Oh Canada Eh Productions), Frankie in Plaid Tidings (Neptune Theatre), Jack Scott in High School Musical (Drayton Entertainment) and Matthew in Altar Boyz (Angelwalk Theatre and Victoria Playhouse). Click here to visit Ken's website.

Jacqueline Jones Stage Management, Ensemble Jacqueline has a diverse arts background which includes singing, dance and acting. Credits include The Morning Minstrel(GPSS) which earned her a best supporting actor award, Choreographer & Performer in The Rock 'n' Roll Revival for three years with the Kinsmen Club of Preston, earning her an honorary member award, and at 16 years of age she won the Cambridge Fall Fair singing competition. More recently she was a featured performer and vocalist in GLT's Oliver!. In 2006, she played Maybel Winters in Whispering Lodge, NovaStage's first two-act production. In 2007 she returned to NovaStage as stage manager for Harris Superman and head technician on feMAELSTROM. Jacqueline is also a publicist and collaborative songwriter for Nicholas Keagan, an up & coming musician from Ajax.

FEATURED PERFORMERS - PAST SEASONS

Jaimie Birnbaum Rosemary Chatterson Nicholas Cumming Piper Distel Hayley Gratto

Carly Heffernan Stevie Jay Jeff Lefebvre Sharon Marquez Jennifer McNaughton

Glenn Purchase Henry Shields Courtney Smith

PLAYWRIGHTS

Heidi M. Hayward '05, '08 Seasons Heidi is a teacher whose interest in fairy/folk tales from around the world inspired her After Ever After stories. Heidi was most impressed with NovaStage's performance of an excerpt from her After Ever After: A Charming Affair during their inaugural season. She is looking forward to seeing them bring After Ever After: Wickedly Wonderful to life.

Jenny Kreyl '07 Season Jenny is extremely proud to make her international and Canadian playwrighting debut with NovaStage. Harris Superman has previously been produced by Gettysburg College Theater Department and the Star Theater in Mercersburg, Pennsylvania. Her other play, Crystal Weeds, was a finalist in the American Theatre Co-Op National Playwrighting Contest and has been produced at Wilson College, Coatesville Cultural Society, and the Adrienne Theatre in Philadelphia. Jenny has an extensive acting and directing background with regional and college credits and Off-Broadway in New York City, and her adaptation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night received publication with Plays Magazine. She holds a BA in Theater from Temple University and a Master's Degree in Education from Arcadia University. Click here to visit Jenny's website.

Sabrina Noble '06 Season Sabrina attended the University of Western Ontario where she earned her degree in English Studies and Film. Her play The New Madonna graced the London stage before she went on to produce the one-act festival Purple Shorts. Whispering Lodge is her first published work which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2005 by her theatre company Savage/Noble Productions.

Emily Schwartz '07 Season Emily Schwartz lives in Chicago, IL. where she is the Artistic Director of The Strange Tree Group as well as an Artistic Associate of Collaboraction. Her full length pieces and one acts have been seen at The Chopin Theatre, The Steppenwolf Garage, Gallery 37, the Athenaeum, the Side Project, The Metropolis Performing Arts Centre, Interact Theatre Los Angeles and several other locals across the states. Her longer works include The Dastardly Ficus and Other Comedic Tales of Woe and Misery, Funeral Wedding (The Alvin Play), and Mr. Spacky the Man Who Was Continuously Followed by Wolves. She is very happy to be making her Canadian debut with NovaStage.

Robert Watson '08 Season Born in St John's and raised in Victoria, Robert has made Toronto his home for the past seven years. A graduate of The George Brown Theatre School, he divides his creative energies between acting, writing and makeup artistry. His first produced play, Desperate Housepets, was the audience and media favourite of the 2006 Toronto Fringe Festival, and was followed up by subsequent successes The Balloon Tree and Just So Stories, both in the Theatre for Young Audiences category. You can expect to see his latest work, The Ladies Room (inspired by Arthur Schnitzler's La Ronde and David Hare's The Blue Room), in one of Toronto's summer theatre festivals in 2008. Robert gives many thanks to everyone at NovaStage for their energy and support.

Miriam Weisfeld '05, '07 Seasons Miriam Weisfeld is a freelance dramaturg/ educator in New York, most recently for New York Theatre Workshop. She holds an MFA from the American Repertory Theatre/Moscow Art Theatre Institute at Harvard University. At the A.R.T., she dramaturged projects headed by Robert Woodruff, Anne Bogart, and Paula Vogel. She has lectured on theatre at Harvard, MIT, Suffolk University, Northwestern University, and the Moscow Art Theatre School. Regional credits include work with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Steppenwolf, Lookingglass, and the Chicago Academy for the Arts. CHALLENGER and A BRIEF MESSAGE FROM AMELIA EARHART are in memory of Rebecca Branch.