Origin of the Species

Byrony Lavery

Playwright

Playwright Bryony Lavery (born 1947) is a British dramatist, known for her successful and award-winning 1998 play Frozen. In addition to her work in theatre, she has also written for television and radio. She has written books including the biography Tallulah Bankhead and The Woman Writer’s Handbook, and taught playwriting at Birmingham University.

Having begun her career as an actress, she decided that she was fed up with playing poor parts in plays, such as the left arm of a sofa, and decided to write plays with better parts for women. Early in her career she founded a theatre company called Les Oeufs Malades with actor Gerard Bell, she also founded Female Trouble, More Female Trouble and served as artistic director of Gay Sweatshop.
Her plays have a feminist undertone in them and she has even written plays (like More Light which has only one male speaking role) with almost entirely female casts. She has written more than twenty plays since 1976.

Her play Frozen won the TMA best play award, the Eileen Anderson central Television award, was produced at Birmingham Rep, then the National Theatre, then on Broadway where it was nominated for four Tony awards. Stockholm, for Frantic Assembly, won the Wolff-Whiting award for Best Play of 2008.  Beautiful Burnout for The National Theatre of Scotland and Frantic Assembly received a Fringe First at Edinburgh, before productions in the UK, New York, Australia and New Zealand.Dirt was nominated for the Charles McArthur award for most outstanding play or musical of 2013, Washington DC]
Recent work includes: The Believers[Frantic Assembly] Queen Coal [Sheffield Crucible] Treasure Island [National Theatre] 101 Dalmatians[Chichester Festival Theatre] Brideshead Revisited[York Theatre Royal/ETT] Our Mutual Friend[Hull Truck/City of Culture 2017] and Balls [One Year Lease/Stages Theatre- Houston and NYC.

She is a Fellow of The Royal Society of Literature, an honorary Doctor of Arts at De Montford University and an Associate Artist at Birmingham Repertory Theatre

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.

Anne Marie Szucs

Assistant Director

Anne Marie is a local director, actor, producer, and writer.  She is co-founder of Finally Sauces (Edmonton International Fringe Festival:  FROM SOMETHING, CRACK, LITTLE MONSTERS, DOUBLE DOUBLE: THE MUSICAL) and was Artistic Director of Walterdale Theatre from 2015-2017.  She is thrilled to be assistant directing for Trevor this fall in Origin of the Species for NLT.

Holly Turner

Molly

Holly trained at the Neighborhood Playhouse and performed in New York and regional theatres before moving to Edmonton. After a career in law, Holly has performed with Northern Light Theatre, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, L’Uni Théâtre, the Citadel, and Wishbone Theatre. Her Fringe performances in The Year of Magical Thinking and Love Letters were particularly well received. She received a Sterling nomination for her performance in the NLT production of Testament of Mary. Thanks to Don for his unfailing support.

Kristin Johnston

Victoria

Kristin is an Edmonton based performer and instructor, and a graduate of the Theatre Arts Program at Red Deer College and the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, BC.  Her local credits include A Christmas Carol,  9 to 5, and Sense and Sensibility at the Citadel, the latter as part of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Training Program. Kristin has appeared in MOB at Workshop West, Helen with Trunk Theatre and Pith, Deathtrap and The Odd Couple at Teatro Live. She’s also appeared regularly with Northern Light Theatre, where her credits include Enough (Sterling Award Nomination), We Had a Girl Before You, Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs (Sterling Award Nomination) and Origin of the Species. Kristin’s many Fringe credits include The Black Widow Gun Club, Destination Wedding and Destination Vegas with Whizzgiggling Productions, Mass Debating and Carole Of The Belles with 100% More Girls, Rivercity the Musical and The Unsynchables with Dammittammy Productions and Release the McCrakkin for Accidental Humour Co. Kristin can be seen next in The Vinyl Cafe at the Citadel.

Elise Jason

Lighting

Elise CM Jason (they/them/theirs pronouns) is a queer, mixed-race, multi-discinplinary artist living and creating in amiskawaciy (Edmonton, Alberta). In their practice, they are particularly interested in the intersection of visual art, installation in theatre, and creating devised performances. Select design credits include Boy Trouble (Vena Amoris, Nextfest), Lungs (Shadow Theatre), KaldrSaga (Cardiac Theatre), Origin of the Species (Northern Lights Theatre). Elise also holds a BFA (Theatre Design) from the University of Alberta.

Kiidra Duhault

Composer & Sound Design

Kiidra is an Edmonton based sound designer. She received her degree in stage management from the University of Alberta in 2014, and has been working in the independent theatre scene ever since. Recent sound design credits include; LES NEIGES (L’Unithéâtre), A DOLL’S HOUSE (Walterdale Theatre), L’ODYSSÉE and LE DRAGON (Théâtre à l’Ouest). She is known for her sound work with Marv n’ Berry sketch comedy and at the Edmonton International Fringe Festival (2016-18) RIVERCITY THE MUSICAL and THE UNSYNCABLES (Dammitammy Productions). She was also co-nominated at the 2017 Sterling Awards for the sound design of PETER FECHTER: 59 MINUTES.

Liz Allison-Jorde

Stage Manager

Tyler Herman

Production Manager

Tyler is thrilled to be a part of the new NLT season! Tyler is an Edmonton based theatre and festival technician with experience in sound, set building, technical direction and lighting. He is also a ticketed electrician. Recent projects include: INFINITY (Audio technician, Theatre Network), SLUT (Production manager/technical director, Northern Light Theatre), and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S FRINGE 2017 (Site technical director, Fringe Theatre Adventures). Tyler wishes to thank his partner for her patience and support, as well as Trevor Schmidt, Gina Moe, and Adam Turnbull for the chance to be a part of a great team.

Jake Tkaczyk

Artist Associate

Jake is an Edmonton-based theatre artist with a passion for creating new and engaging work collaboratively. He graduated from the BFA Acting program at the University of Alberta and is currently in the midst of his PhD in Creative Practice from the Transart Institute and Liverpool John Moores’ University. Also a graduate of Red Deer College’s Theatre Performance and Creation program, Jake has worked as an actor, director, creator, and educator in central Alberta. Jake had the extreme pleasure of working as an Artist Intern at Northern Light Theatre for a few years and he Assistant Directed NLT’s production of THE TESTAMENT OF MARY. His selected acting credits include: FLORA AND FAUNA HAVE BEAVER FEVER (and so does Fleurette!) (Lunchbox Theatre), MR BURNS, a post-electric play (Blarney Productions/You are Here), 10 FUNERALS, LUNGS (Shadow Theatre), THAT’S DANGER! (Alberta Workers’ Health Centre), CRACK IN THE MIRROR, WITH BELLS ON, DON’T FROWN AT THE GOWN (Guys in Disguise), URINETOWN (Grindstone Theatre), YOU’RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN! (Opera Nuova). Directing and creating credits include: WHITE GUY ON STAGE TALKING, BEDEUTUNG KRANKENWAGEN, POST, LIKE, SHARE – BEWARE!, THE BIG FAT SURPRISE, ALL PROCEEDS GO TO:, and PRIDE AND PRE-JEU-DICE (Innocent Operations), THE LAND THAT ART FORGOT, and DEVOUR CONTENT HERE: OF LOVE AND WHEAT (Kristine Nutting). Jake has taught workshops for The Citadel Theatre’s Foote Theatre School and Grindstone Theatre, as well as guest instructing at Augustana University. Jake was previously employed as Theatre Alberta’s Program Coordinator and the Program Manager at the Banff Centre for the Arts and Creativity. Jake recently received the AFA Young Artist Prize and is the current General Manager at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre.