FireWorks Festival 2019 - Alumnae Theatre Company - 2

FireWorks Festival 2022

Three New Plays

Producers: Helena Raposo and Mary Barnes Amoroso
Associate Producer: Anna Tharyan

November 9-27, 2022
in the Studio Theatre

Championing women writers, the Alumnae’s celebrated three-week festival enters its ninth year with the premieres of three original, full-length plays. With provocative writing and inventive staging, FireWorks is an incubator for new works and up-and-coming artists. Playwright/director talkbacks spark fresh insights into what it takes to make theatre.

2022-23 Alumnae Seasona

Mainstage:
- The Female of the Species
- Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike
- String of Pearls

FireWorks 2022

New Ideas 2023

Alumnae Theatre play - Belle Darling Klondike Queen

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FIREWORKS FESTIVAL 2022 TEAM

CASSIDY SADLER/
FIREWORKS FESTIVAL
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

A director, actor and producer, Cassidy began working with Alumnae Theatre at age 17 in the 2012 New Ideas Festival. She is passionate about new works, immersive experiences, and experimental theatrical forms. She has performed in London, New York, and across the Canadian Prairies. She is a permanent company member of Live History, whose site-specific work can be seen internationally. Cassidy is currently the Production Manager at Roseneath Theatre. Additional credits include: A Tonic for Desperate Times (Theatre Gargantua); The Curious Voyage (DopoLavoro Teatrale/Talk is Free Theatre); The Pride of Life and Mankind (Poculi Ludique Societas/Stan’s Cafe/Metropolitan Museum of Art).

MARY BARNES
AMOROSO/
PRODUCER

Mary has long pursued her love of theatre. As a teacher and educator, she co-founded and ran Eclat School of Performing Arts. As an active member of Alumnae Theatre, she served as chair of the New Play Development group, stage manager, Mainstage Programming Committee member, and producer. Producing credits include Thirteen Hands (2017), Impressionism (2019), and FireWorks Festival (2022). She is proud of the role of FireWorks in promoting new plays by Canadian women.

HELENA RAPOSO/
PRODUCER

Helena works for the CBC as a Rights Coordinator and has been an active member of Alumnae Theatre’s New Play Development group since 2018. Her short play The Unholy Estate of Matrimony was featured on the National Arts Centre website #CanadaPerforms. She is a first-time producer and thanks Mary for her steadfastness (and humour!), Anna for her “musings,” and Molly for her mentorship. Helena acknowledges and thanks the over 70 people involved in making FireWorks happen: "It started with three scripts and took a creative, hardworking village to get it off the ground. Three cheers for us!"

ANNA THARYAN/
ASSOCIATE PRODUCER

Former librarian for Toronto Public Library, a specialist in adult programming, Anna is also a member of Act2 at the Metropolitan Toronto University. At Alumnae Theatre, she directed three ten-minute plays in 2021 and produced Considering Drama (a series of talks on impactful plays), Hamlet, This Is How We Got Here, and Antigone. Acting experience: The Unholy Estate of Matrimony (screened/National Arts Centre), A Sigh or a Wish, I’m Still Here (video vignettes about seniors’ concerns), and scene studies in Uncle Vanya, Angels in America, and Henry VIII. Anna also sings alto with an auditioned classical choir.

MOLLY THOM/
PRODUCTION ADVISOR

Toronto director, dramaturge, writer and sometime actor, Molly Thom is best known as the author/director/producer of The Bush-Ladies (NAC, Tarragon Theatre, Ontario tour, Artword Theatre). She has directed many plays for Alumnae, most recently Shirley Barrie’s I Am Marguerite in 2015, and she last appeared on stage as Hecuba in The Trojan Women in 2012. She is the co-founder of Alumnae’s New Ideas Festival and the resident director of Shoestring Opera.

SUZANNE COURTNEY/
GRAPHICS

Suzanne is an artist with over 30 years experience in design, illustration and website creation. She also an actor (Pride & Prejudice, A Lie of the Mind and The Pear is Ripe for Alumnae) and playwright. Her current obsession is creating a collage comic book The Plague Doctor Diaries.

TEODORO DRAGONIERI/
LEAD SET DESIGNER

BIO TO COME

SARA AHMADIEH/
SET DESIGNER

BIO TO COME

HIYAM MAHRAT/
SET BUILDER AND PAINTER

Originally Syrian, born and raised in the United Arab Emirates, Hiyam came to Canada in 2018 and studied Performing Arts at Sheridan College. Besides her passion and work in the medical and administrative fields, she is a growing artist in theatre, film, and music. She is interested in contemporary Canadian theatre, experimental short film, and traditional performing arts, and she is currently a choir member with the Canadian Arabic Orchestra. Her art focuses on issues of belonging, identity diffusion, and cultural erosion. Hiyam is also interested in theatrical set design, voice acting, and directing. She joined Alumnae Theatre this year.

MARGARITA POPOVA/
SET BUILDER AND PAINTER

Margarita is a new member of Alumnae Theatre. She came to Canada in 2021 from Western Siberia, Russia. Besides her work in geographic information systems analysis, she has additional education and experience in graphic design. Margarita is passionate about painting, drawing, and the history of arts and culture. Moreover, she plays drums in a small band. She is grateful to Teodoro for his energy and creativity and takes pleasure from being a part of his team of set designers. She also thanks the producers of the Fireworks Festival for the opportunity to be a part of the theatre world.

AMY REUBEN/
LIGHTING DESIGNER

Amy Reuben has an extensive career in technical and production theatre in Ontario and Louisiana. She has been freelancing since 1982 as a Lighting Electrician & Designer, Lighting Director, Technical Director, Assistant Stage Manager and Stage Manager for Theatre, Dance, Literary & Theatre Festivals, LIve Music and Opera. Amy has been a self producing playwright since1991, founding District Productions NOLA. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild. Her plays can be found on NPX. As a new member of The Alumnae Theatre, Amy is glad to support the Fireworks Festival.

LUCA PERLMAN/
LIGHTING ASSISTANT

Luca's first involvement in theatre was in the 1990s, at age 6, in Ida Carnivale's production of Tennesee Williams' "The Rose Tattoo" where he missed an entire scene one night because someone let him play tetris on a game boy in the dressing room. He then moved on to a varied career in the arts ranging from touring commissioned opera through europe, to being almost drowned by Charlie Sheen, to being a Sunlight Soap Scratch-n-Sniff, to having a Mars Supreme(tm) bar wrapper thrown at him by NHL not-hall-of-famer Keith Primeau. He went to a prestigious theatre program for four years, finished it, and then promptly became a chef and DJ for over a decade. At some point in the past, he was the voice of Bear, on Franklin the Turtle, for four seasons and two films.

JOHN CORCELLI/
SOUND EFFECTS

John Corcelli was born and raised in Toronto. He’s a musician, actor, radio producer and writer. A TMU (Ryerson) grad from 1984, he was happy to bring his broadcasting experience to the FireWorks Festival. After a long career at the CBC, John retired to write books. His biography of comedian George Carlin comes out in December.

ELAINE FREEDMAN/
PROGRAM AND MARKETING

Elaine has been an active member of the Alumnae Theatre since 2019. Pre-Covid, Elaine designed
projections for Heidi Chronicles and Trip to Bountiful. She is, for her sins, ATC Communications
Coordinator, but she prefers writing plays and is an active member of the New Play Development
group. Calling on her varied talents, she is both designing projections and creating marketing materials
for FireWorks 2022.

Elaine has been an active member of the Alumnae Theatre since 2019. Pre-Covid, Elaine designed projections for "Heidi Chronicles" and "Trip to Bountiful". She is, for her sins, ATC Communications Coordinator, but she prefers writing plays and is an active member of the New Play Development group. Calling on her varied talents, she is both designing projections and creating marketing materials for FireWorks 2022.

KRISTINE GREENAWAY/
MARKETING

BIO TO COME

JENN GROSE/
MARKETING

BIO TO COME

MELODY SCHALL/
MARKETING

BIO TO COME

NICOLAS PORTEOUS/
VIDEOGRAPHER AND STILLS

BIO TO COME