Wish

Peter Goldsworthy

Novelist

Peter divides his time equally between writing and his career in medicine.  His novels, including the much acclaimed Maestro, have sold over a quarter of a million copies in Australia alone, and have been translated into several European and Asian languages.  He has won numerous awards for his writing, including the Commonwealth Poetry Prize, and Australian Bicentennial Literary Award, and, jointly with composer Richard Mills, the 2002 Helpmann Award for Best New Australian Work for the opera Batavia.  His critically acclaimed novel Three Dog Night (Penguin) was short-listed for numerous literary prizes, receiving the prestigious Christina Stead Award.  Everything I Knew was published by Penguin in 2008, and was followed by another short story collection, Gravel. In 2010 he was awarded a Medal of Australia for services to literature. His memoir, My Stupid Boyhood, was published in 2013 (Penguin). He is currently working on a crime novel.

Humphrey Bower

Adaptation to stage

Humphrey is an actor, writer, director and dramaturg based in Perth, Western Australia. He has worked with mainstage and independent companies and artists across Australia in theatre, dance, puppetry and contemporary performance. He was a founding member of Melbourne-based collective Whistling in the Theatre in the 1980s and Perth independent company Last Seen Imagining from 2001 to 2007, and is currently artistic director of Perth-based chamber theatre company Night Train.

His plays and adaptations include: Wish (Night Train/Perth Theatre Company, Studio Underground 2014 and The Blue Room 2011), Asterion (Proximity Festival 2013, PICA), Masks (Night Train, PICA 2013), Skin (Night Train, Blue Room, 2012), Orpheus and Eurydice (Night Train, Deckchair 2010), The Kreutzer Sonata (Night Train, La Mama at The Courthouse, 2007) and Raising the Dead (Night Train, La Mama, 2007).

Awards include the 2013 WA Equity Guild Award for Best New Play (Skin); 2012 Blue Room Award for Best Production (Skin); and 2011 Blue Room Members’ Choice Award and Best Performance Award (Wish).

Trevor Schmidt

Director, Set & Costumes

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.

Christopher Schulz

J.J.

Christopher is pleased to work with NLT and the cast and crew for Wish. Previously for NLT, Some Girl(s).  Other select theatre credits include Mote (Blarney Productions), The Glass Menagerie, Equus (Citadel Theatre), Macbeth (National Arts Centre/Citadel Theatre), Alias Godot (Theatre Network), Ligature Marks (What It Is Productions), The Neo-Nancies (Guys In Disguise), Lawrence & Holloman (Image Theatre), Richard III (Centre Stage Theatre), Proof,The Shape Of Things (Ignition Theatre).

Ainsley Hillyard

Eliza

Ainsley Hillyard is an Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton)-based artist of settler descent. She is a choreographer and performer who works in contemporary dance and theatre. Ainsley was a co-founder, and a co-artistic director/general manager for the Good Women Dance Collective from its inception in 2009 to 2023. She has worked as a choreographer and performer for various theatre and dance companies in Amiskwacîwâskahikan and received numerous Sterling nominations and awards for her performances and choreographies. Select choreography credits include; Frozen the Musical (Citadel Theatre/the Grand Theatre) The Sound of Music (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre/Citadel Theatre/The Grand Theatre) Deafy by Chris Dodd (Citadel Theatre), Cardiac Shadow (Northern Light Theatre) and Mermaid Legs by Beth Graham (Skirts A Fire). She is very grateful to be back at NLT this season.

Adam Tsuyoshi Turnbull

Lighting Design & Production Manager

Adam is a multi-talented technician and theatre designer who works in set and lighting design and construction. He is sought-after as an artistic collaborator and his work has been seen on the stages for Northern Light Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Teatro la Quindicina, Fringe Theatre Adventures, L’UniThéâtre, Theatre Yes, multiple high school and performing arts groups, as well as trade shows and conventions. He has served as Production Manager and Site Technical Director for North America’s largest Fringe Festival, currently serves at the Technical Director and Production Manager at Northern Light Theatre. He is a multiple nominee for Sterling Awards.

Dave Clarke

Composer & Sound Designer / Sign Language Consultant

Dave is a musician, actor and writer. He has composed music and produced sound designs for theatre, film, dance and multi-media for three decades. Watch out for the 2024 Western Canadian tour of his family musical performed in spoken English and American Sign Language, SONGS MY MOTHER NEVER SUNG ME (Concrete Theatre).

Previous designs for Northern Light Theatre include ENOUGH, THE CARDIAC SHADOW, WISH, SPACE/SPACE, THE ECSTATICS and 6.0 – HEAP AND PEBBLE. Other recent designs include AFTER FAUST (Invisible Practice), DEAFY, THE ROYALE (Citadel Theatre), and ALL THE LITTLE ANIMALS I HAVE EATEN (Shadow Theatre).

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.