THE PINK UNICORN

Elise Forier Edie

Playwright

Elise Forier Edie is an award-winning author and playwright. Her scripts have been produced all over the US, from New York to Los Angeles, and in far flung places like Jonesboro, Arkansas and McCall, Idaho. The Pink Unicorn was her first solo show.

Thanks to Northern Light Theatre’s beautiful, award-winning production of the play in 2014, the script has become quite well-known and has since had dozens of productions all over North America, including two runs Off-Broadway. To that, Elise says, “Thank you forever, Northern Light! I love you.”

She is currently hard at work on a community engagement piece co-written with senior citizens in her home town of Spokane, Washington. You can find out more about her at her website eliseforieredie.com

Patricia Zentilli

as Trisha Lee

Patricia Zentilli (she/her) is very happy to be making her Northern Light Theatre debut with this very special show.

Patricia is an award winning performer who has worked across Canada in Film, TV, Cabaret and Theatre.

Edmonton credits include Legally Blonde, Christmas Carol, Almost A Full Moon, 9-5, Mamma Mia, Alice Through the Looking Glass, The Curious Incident of The Dog in the Nighttime, and the House Series Concerts Feels Like Home, Uptown Girls, and She Loves You ( Citadel Theatre) The Last 5 Years and The Gravitational Pull of Berenice Trimble (Theatre Network), Mack and Mabel ( Plain Jane ) Matara ( Workshop West) Little Shop of Horrors, Putnam County Spelling Bee, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, First Date and Noises Off ( Mayfield)

Patricia is also a visual artist and lives in Edmonton with her daughter Melody. This winter Patricia will be playing Morley in Citadel Theatre’s production of Vinyl Cafe The Musical.

Patricia is passionate about LGBTQIA+ rights and dispelling misinformation.

Trevor Schmidt

Director, Set, & Costume Designer

Trevor is the Artistic Director of Northern Light Theatre as well as a performer, designer of set and costume, a published playwright and a multiple award winner. He has been awarded twice for playwrighting (THE WATERMELON GIRLS, and CHANGE ROOM),for directing the Canadian premieres of Carol Anne Duffy’s THE WORLD’S WIFE and Sean Graney’s THE 4TH GRADERS PRESENT AN UNNAMED LOVE-SUICIDE and the outstanding production award for the Canadian premiere of Elise Forier Edie’s THE PINK UNICORN. For Guys In Disguise, where he is an Artistic Associate, he has also performed the one-man show COFFEE DAD, CHICKEN MOM, AND THE FABULOUS BUDDHA BOI, penned by Nick Green in New York as part of the FRIGID FESTIVAL for which he also received the award for Outstanding Performance, and the Outstanding New Fringe Play (co-written and created with Darrin Hagen) for FLORA & FAWNA’S FIELD TRIP (both at the Sterling Awards), and Outstanding Touring Production at the Critic’s Awards in Calgary. Also for Guys In Disguise, he received an Orlando Fringe award for his performance for Bette Davis in the much-lauded BITCHSLAP.

Larissa Poho

Lighting Designer

Larissa (she/her) is a queer Ukrainian artist living and creating in amiskwaciwaskahikan. A multidisciplinary performer, production designer, visual artist and tattooist (owner/artist at Folk Lore Tattoo), she is also a teaching artist with the Citadel Theatre (musical theatre/dance), and is the current Artistic Director of the Vohon Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. Select performance credits: Once, All Because I’m A Woman, Hits of Broadway (Citadel) ; Infinity (Theatre Network); Canada Rocks: The Reboot, VEGAS LIVE, Canada 151 (Mayfield); ren & the wake (Catch the Keys); 10 out of 12 (WildSide); Ordinary Days (Straight Edge); Assassins (Loose Ends); Dreamer’s Cantata (Plain Janes). Assistant Music-Direction: Jersey Boys (Citadel); Assistant Direction: Evelyn Strange (Teatro La Quindicina). Lighting Design: A Phoenix Too Frequent (Northern Light Theatre); Joni Mitchell’s Songs of a Prairie Girl, Sexual Misconduct of the Middle Classes (Network); An Homage to Billie Holiday, Les Sylphides (Ballet Edmonton); La Raccourcie, Les Neiges, Simone et le whole shebang (L’UniTheatre); Surveil (Hip.Bang!); Fusion – Harmony in Motion, At the Bazaar (Viter Ukrainian Dancers & Folk Choir). Sterling-Nominated Music Direction for the Canadian national tour of Barvinok (Pyretic Productions). You can catch her lighting up the stage again later this season with NLT’s Radiant Vermin. Thanks to everyone who continues to support Larissa on this artistic journey. Much love to Vince and Soaps.

@poho.art – Instagram
@poho.art – Facebook
www.larissapoho.com

Darrin Hagen

Sound Designer

Darrin is an award-winning playwright, composer and queer historian. He is the author of THE EDMONTON QUEEN, which won a Sterling Award and was published in book form by Brindle & Glass Publishing. Darrin is the Artistic Director of Guys In Disguise, marking over 30 years of creating drag comedies that have toured across North America. He has received 7 Sterling awards and over 40 nominations for his work in Edmonton theatre. Other plays by Darrin include BITCHSLAP!: THE NEO-NANCIES: HITLER’S KICKLINE; TORNADO MAGNET: A SALUTE TO TRAILER COURT WOMEN (published by Brindle & Glass), WITCH HUNT AT THE STRAND; BUDDY; WITH BELLS ON; and THE EMPRESS & THE PRIME MINISTER (all nominated for the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding New Play).

Darrin has also teamed up with Trevor Schmidt to create the award-winning FLORA & FLORA’S FIELD TRIP (WITH FLEURETTE) and FLORA & FAWNA HAVE BEAVER FEAVER (AND SO DOES FLEURETTE), the hit musical KLONDYKES, DRAGULA (now available as a radio play through Bandcamp), PSYCHOBABBLE, 2 QUEENS & A JOKER, PREPARE FOR THE WORST!, PUCK BUNNIES, DON’T FROWN AT THE GOWN and the upcoming CRACK IN THE MIRROR.

Darrin has created sound and sometimes performed for many Northern Light Theatre productions going back 31 years, including CINDERELLA (THE REAL STORY), DOG’S TEMPER, METASTASIS, SPEECH AND DEBATE, 3 DIFFERENT HEAVENS, I GOOGLE MYSELF, BIFURIOUS, MOTEL HELL, MERCY OF A STORM, THE PASSION OF NARCISSE MONDOUX, CHRISTINA/PHILIPPE, DO THIS IN MEMORY OF ME, BARONESS BIANKA’S BLOODSONGS, and most recently THE LOOK.

In 2005, Darrin was named one of 100 Edmontonians of the Century. To the best of his knowledge, he’s the only Drag Queen on that list. In 2017 he was named one of the most influential Alberta artists of the past 25 years.

Jenn Best

Stage Manager

Jenn has recently relocated to Red Deer so she could spend more time on Highway 2 and share a mortgage with her husband. She is thrilled that Northern Light Theatre gave her an opportunity to visit her friends in Edmonton. Her other Stage Management credits include:  THE TESTAMENT OF MARY, SISTER SISTER, and WISH (Northern Light Theatre), SOLICITING TEMPTATION, FLIGHT OF THE VISCOUNT, JACK GOES BOATING, FOOL FOR LOVE, LITTLE ELEPHANTS, and GRACE (Shadow Theatre), BURNING BLUEBEARD (Edmonton Actors’ Theatre), 10 OUT OF 12 and THE REALISTIC JONESES (Wild Side Productions, IN THE NEXT ROOM, THE CLEAN HOUSE, DAYS OF WINE AND ROSES, and 4:48 PSYCHOSIS (Trunk Theatre).

She has lived out of her suitcase for several seasons, touring the gay hip-hopera BASH’d, running up and down hills for the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, and snake wrangling for the good people at the Rosebud Centre for the Arts.