Kathryn Smyth - Lighting Designer
Kathryn (she/her/they/them) is a designer, director, and creator who has worked across western Canada in puppetry, music, and clown. They are an Artistic Associate at Vertigo Theatre, and are currently invested in projects for social change within the community. Select design/directing credits: inVISIBLE, A Chitenge Story, Between Us (Handsome Alice Theatre);Benefit, Safe Site Sessions, Bottle Picker Monologues (Downstage Theatre); A Beautiful View (Sage Theatre); Brave Girl, Care Takers, Pink Unicorn, In Flanders Fields (Lunchbox Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet, Hit Parade, Divine (New West Theatre); Amahl & the Night Visitors (Calgary Opera); Secret Garden(Theatre Calgary: Design Mentee); The Democratic Set (Inside Out Theatre); GIANT (Ghost River Theatre). Apart from theatre, they are also an award winning singer songwriter under the name KP Smith. Many thanks to the amazing team of artists at Western Canada High School. They are a force.
Eric Olivier - Movement Coach
Eric Ollivier is a creator and performer. He grew up in Calgary and acknowledges Mohkinstsis, as well as its First Nation bands and Métis Nation Region Three. He acknowledges the Blackfoot confederacy: Siksika, Kainai, Piikani as well as the Stoney-Nakoda and Tsuut'ina nations. He is a second generation Canadian of French, Slovak and Irish-Scottish descent. Eric has had the pleasure of performing across the country - in Cape Breton, Prince Edward Island, Toronto and Calgary. He is a recent graduate of George Brown Theatre School in Toronto.
Angela Cavar - Music Coach
Angela Cavar is a Calgary pianist and vocalist with an eclectic music career. Currently she collaborates with Allen Reiser on various projects including their most recent, “Chopin in Song and Dance”. She is also a member of Theatre Lyra, a brand new music theatre collective who’s debut was at a recent Pro Arts concert. Angela sang with the salsa band “Banda Brava for 8 years. In 2011 she made her debut in Prague singing with a local orchestra. She is currently music director of “A Christmas Carol” with Theatre Calgary, and is collaborating with soprano Michelle Sinclair and pianist Eleanor May on a house concert series which began on July 6 in the Crowsnest Pass. Angela is also busy as a voice teacher and accompanist.
Kyrsten Blair - Movement Coach
Kyrsten Blair holds a BFA in Drama and Dance from the University of Calgary, and is a prominent member of Calgary’s Arts community. She has filled the roles of performer, educator, choreographer, staging director, producer, coordinator, and yoga studio owner. Having trained and performed across Canada, the USA, Cuba, and Indonesia, movement traditions rooted in Contemporary, Jazz, Improvisation, Body Percussion, Traditional Javanese, and Musical Theatre, are constant companions. Her classes welcome students ranging in age from 4 weeks old to 92 years young, and embrace newcomers, emerging artists, late bloomers, and seasoned professionals. Recent presenters of her work include Calgary Opera, Calgary Girls Choir, Decidedly Jazz Danceworks, Revv52 - Calgary’s Vocal Energy, The School of Creative and Performing Arts and the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University of Calgary, Free House Dance Plus, and Crossings Youth Dance Company.
Denise Clarke - Movement Coach
Denise Clarke is an Associate Artist with One Yellow Rabbit and is the Director of the OYR Summer Lab Intensive. She has created or co-created several shows for OYR including The Erotic Irony of Old Glory, Touch, Breeder, So Low, Featherland, Sign Language, A Fabulous Disaster, Smash, Cut, Freeze and wag. In 2013, Denise was awarded an honourary doctorate from the University of Calgary and made a Member of the Order of Canada.
Blake Brooker - Writing Coach
Blake Brooker is an award-winning writer and director. He has created or collaborated on such productions as The Erotic Irony of Old Glory, Tears of a Dinosaur, Serpent Kills, The Land The Animals, Dance Freak, Breeder, Permission, Alien Bait, The Ugly Man, Conniption Cabaret, Mata Hari: Tigress at the City Gates, and many others, which have been presented throughout Canada, and in Europe, Australia and Asia. In 2015, Blake was made a Member of the Order of Canada.