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Biographies of Participants

Esther Farmer is on the staff of the East Side Institute for Group and Short term Psychotherapy where she has contributed to the development of a performance-based approach to human development. She has long been associated with the New York City based All Stars Project which utilizes this community building approach in their many youth development programs. She has also been a New York City public housing Manager and staff developer where she achieved national recognition for her creative public housing management work, transforming some of the largest and most challenging housing projects in New York City. For five years she was the Ombudsman for the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) where she developed the first public housing Ombudsman program in the US. Her articles have appeared in Progressive Planning Magazine and the Journal of the Community Development Society.

Dr. Dan Friedman is the artistic director of Youth Onstage (YO!) and a founder and resident dramaturge of Castillo Theatre on 42nd Street in Manhattan’s theatre district. He has directed in a number of other venues, including La Mama E.T.C. and the Nuyorican Poets Café. Dan, who holds a doctorate in theatre history from the University of Wisconsin, has written about Castillo's particular brand of political theatre in numerous scholarly and professional journals and is the co-editor of Theatre for Working Class Audiences in the United States, 1830-1980.

Dale Hamilton, Artistic Director, Everybody’s Theatre Co., Eden Mills, Ontario. Dale has been writing, producing and directing theatre for over 25 years and has been instrumental in the “Collaborative Community Theatre” movement in Canada, following an apprenticeship in the late 1980’s with England’s Colway Theatre Trust (now Claque Theatre). Dale approaches playmaking from a community and individual spirit-building perspective, having witnessed the power of theatre as a catalyst for community enhancement and personal growth. Her process features non-competitive casting, resulting in large casts of volunteers collectively telling their community’s story. Another hallmark of her work is the use of promenade outdoor theatre, with the audience moving from scene to scene, defying the line between audience and performers and using landscapes and streetscapes as ready-made backdrops, with nature “employed” as the technical director.

Ruth Howard has been instrumental in the Collaborative Community Play movement in Canada and is the Founder/Artistic Director of Jumblies Theatre, based in Toronto. She has designed and/or directed community-based projects in the Davenport/Perth, Lawrence Heights and South Riverdale neighbourhoods in Toronto and also in Manchester, UK; Enderby, BC; Camp Naivelt, Ont; Rockwood/ Guelph, Ont; Torquay, Devon, U.K; Blyth, Ont; Fort Quappelle, Sask; Eramosa Township, Ont. and Springhill, Nova Scotia. Ruth has also directed site installations and pageantry for Urban Village Festival & International Milk Festival at Harbourfront in Toronto and was the Design Facilitator for 9 productions of the Kensington Youth Theatre and Employment Skills (KYTES). Ruth has taught theatre design at Mount Allison, Brock, Guelph, Queens and Concordia Universities plus Sheridan, George Brown Colleges. She has also led workshops at international conferences and in many diverse community settings in Canada and U.K. Ruth is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (Design), the University of Toronto (BA Honours), and Eastbourne College of Art, U.K.

Dr. Edward (Ted) Little is an associate professor in the Department of Theatre at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada where he co-ordinates the specialization in Theatre and Development – Canada’s first undergraduate program focusing on the theory and practice of theatre for social change. Dr. Little is also Associate Artistic Director of Teesri Duniya Theatre and Editor in Chief of the quarterly magazine, alt.theatre: Cultural Diversity and the Stage. Teesri Duniya is a cMontreal-based company with a mandate to forward socially significant intercultural theatre through four inter-connected activities: mainstage equity productions; community-based projects; new play/new form development; and the publication of alt.theatre

Simon Malbogat is a co-founder of Mixed Company and its Artistic Director. A Forum Theatre specialist, he has been acting and directing for over 25 years. Simon has studied with theatre icons Augusto Boal, Jerzy Grotowski and Eugenio Barba. His teaching highlights include the University of Toronto, Humber College and Theatre Ontario Summer Programmes at Brock University and Queen's University. In addition to having directed across Canada (from the Belfry in Victoria, B.C. to the Centaur in Montreal, Quebec), he has taken Mixed Company to Helsinki, Kiev, Istanbul and Rio de Janiero. Simon has taught workshops in schools, community and the workplace internationally and directed over100 Forum Plays including Mixed Company’s Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated plays, SHOWDOWN and HIV/AIDS Toolbox.

Janus McBride was originally trained in jazz and ballet traditions but adapted her repertoire to include interactive, modern, contact, and conceptual performance art. She is also an accomplished visual artist having exhibited her sculptures and paintings in Canada, New York and Denmark. She draws some of the inspiration for her art from the Ojibwa part of her eclectic heritage. Janus teaches visual art and creative movement at Lawrence College in Hamilton and the Dundas Valley School of Art. In the past she has taught through both the City of Dundas and The City of Hamilton's Culture and Recreation Depts. She lives in Eden Mills and is the mother of a 15 year old son and an 8 year old daughter.

Jon Oram is recognized as one of England’s top directors, particularly in the field of Collaborative Community Theatre. In the early 1980's Jon was hired as the British Arts Council’s first-ever Community Arts Animator. In 1986 he was asked by renowned British playwright Anne Jellicoe to take over from her as Artistic Director of the Colway Theatre Trust, a company devoted to the production of large-scale original plays which engage entire communities in telling their collective stories. Since that time Jon has been instrumental in the production of well over two dozen such productions in many locations in England, as well as Canada, The United States, France and Denmark. In addition to directing, Jon is a talented playwright, actor, mime artist and theatre designer; and, beyond his community-based worked, has directed plays at the National Theatre in London. He has just completed a manual on Collaborative Community Theatre which will be published later this year. He is presently writing “The Social Actor: A Community Approach To Acting.” Most recently he has been commissioned to undertake a community play called “Nelson’s Tour”, to be produced aboard a tall ship touring the coast of Britain.

Fredrick Ouko is a youth development specialist aged 23 years; he is a paraplegic who founded Kibera Community Youth Programme (KCYP) and currently serving as the Director. He is also a Co-Director of Creative Art Promotions, an arts agency of KCYP. He is a gifted social activist who is also pioneering the establishment of International Disabled Youth Initiative; a rights based organization for youth living with disabilities. His work is focused on grassroots community empowerment for sustainable livelihoods. He spends his spare time writing about issues related to youth development and disability. He lives in Nairobo, Kenya.

Rachael Van Fossen is the Artistic Director of Black Theatre Workshop (BTW) and teaches part-time in the Theatre and Development program at Concordia University in Montreal. On behalf of BTW, she is a member of Quebec Stand Firm, a group of Montreal arts companies devoted to cultural diversity. Prior to her move from Saskatchewan to Montreal, Rachel was the founder and director of Common Weal, a Saskatchewan-based organization devoted to the pursuit of community-based arts. In 1992 Rachel produced, co-wrote and co-directed “The Gathering”, a collaborative community play involving over a hundred cast members from the Qu’Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan. This project won a national race relations award for the bridges it was able to build between the Native and non-Native residents of the valley. In 1990 Rachel co-directed, with Jon Oram of England’s Colway Theatre Trust, “The Spirit of Shivaree: The Eramosa Community Play” near Guelph, Ontario.

Savannah Walling, Vancouver Moving Theatre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Savannah Walling is the Artistic Director of Vancouver Moving Theatre, a professional company she co-founded in 1983. Active in the performing arts for over 20 years as a writer, director, choreographer, interdisciplinary performer, stilt dancer, musician, lecturer and teacher, she has created over forty original works. She collaborates with performing and visual artists of many genres, techniques and traditions to create accessible interdisciplinary theatre influenced by Vancouver’s Pacific Rim culture - over 2000 performances presented to over half a million audience members in Canada, the USA, Asia, Europe and Australia. In her role as Artistic Director of VMT, Ms Walling has written, directed or co-developed community based artistic projects tailored for Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Community – her inner city home for over 30 years. She co-founded the Strathcona Artist at Home Festival (1999-2004); oversaw artistic development of The Downtown Eastside Community Play (2003) – an epic year-long cultural development project that involved over 2,000 volunteers and 25 professional artists; she helped organize the 1st and 2nd annual Down Eastside Heart of the City Festivals (VMT/Carnegie, 2004-2005), organized Breaking into the Biz Forum workshops for community artists (2004-2005) and oversaw artistic development of Though the People’s Voice – showcasing three new one-act plays by local writers (2004). Currently, she oversees artistic development of The Shadows Project, a community shadow play with images and puppets about addiction for families (2005-2006). These projects create shared experiences that bridge diverse cultural traditions, socio-economic groups, and artistic disciplines.