A Hundred Words for Snow

Tatty Hennessy

Playwright

Tatty is an award-winning playwright, dramaturg and director. In 2019, her award-winning play A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW transferred from the Arcola Theatre to the Trafalgar Studios where it received 4 Offie nominations including Best New Play and Most Promising New Playwright. Tatty has a passion and skill for writing for young audiences and has worked extensively with the National Youth Theatre, in 2018 writing F* OFF directed by Paul Roseby, exploring the first digitally native generation (Edinburgh Fringe 2019) and later adapting Orwell’s ANIMAL FARM which premiered in 2021. In 2022 she adapted Michael Morpurgo’s beloved novel THE SLEEPING SWORD for the Watermill Theatre in a production that had creative-access at its heart and previously she adapted THE SNOW QUEEN for Theatre N16 which later played to theatre-starved audiences at Brighton Open Air Theatre in 2020. In 2022 North Carolina’s Burning Coal Theatre commissioned her to write A GREAT BIG WOOLLY MAMMOTH THAWING FROM THE ICE which premiered in October 2022. Tatty was awarded a commission under the WGGB’s New Play Commission Scheme in 2022 under which she’s writing her latest play ATTRITIONfor producer Rebecca Gwyther.

For screen, Tatty completed the prestigious Channel 4 Screenwriting Course and is working on various adaptations and commissions with independent producers. Her play SOMETHING AWFUL, inspired by the real true crime story of the Slenderman, premiered at the Vault Festival in early 2020 and Company Pictures quickly acquired the rights in a TV adaptation of the play. Tatty is also developing feature ideas alongside further exciting theatre and TV developments.

Trevor Schmidt

Director

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.

Dayna Lea Hoffmann

Rory

Dayna is a mixed-race multidisciplinary artist and recent graduate of the BFA Acting Program at the Univeristy of Alberta. Her artistic focus is on acting, clown, dancing, and juggling. She additionally holds a diploma in Theatre from Douglas College and is a former performer, student and teacher of the Vancouver Circus School. Recent credits include All The Little Animals I Have Eaten (Shadow Theatre), The Circle (University of Alberta) Dead Center of Town XIII (Catch the Keys), Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure (Freewill Players) Hamlet in Isolation (Thou Art Here), Jerusalem (United Players of Vancouver). Dayna would like to acknowledge that she is currently living and working on stolen land in Treaty 6 Territory.

Alison Yanota

Production Designer

Alison is a graduate from the Mount Royal University Diploma in Technical Theatre and the University of Alberta MFA and BFA in Theatre Design. She is an artist and educator, who believes in the performance space as a form of interactive sculpture.

Recent design credits include: FEVERLAND – Set and Lighting Design, A SIMPLE HAPPY LIFE – Lighting Design, and LOST LEMOINE – Lighting Design for Teatro la Quindicina; CRIME AND PUNISHMENT – Production Design for Cloudsway Dance; EVERY BRILLIANT THING – Production Design for The Citadel Theatre; THE WEDDING PARTY – Lighting Design, for Alberta Theatre Projects; THE COMEDY COMPANY – Set and Lighting Design, Shadow Theatre; AFTER THE FIRE – Set and Costume Design for Punctuate! Theatre; PREMIUM CONTENT – Production Design for Major Matt Mason Collective; MISS KATELYN’S GRADE THREES PREPARE FOR THE INEVITABLE – Production Design for Tiny Bear Jaws; MIXIE AND THE HALFBREDS – Set and Lighting Design for FuGEN Theatre; THE LONELY DINER – Lighting Design, and WAIT UNTIL DARK – Lighting Design for Vertigo Theatre.

Daniela Fernandez

Sound Designer

Daniela (she/her) is a Latin-Canadian actor, singer, dancer and emerging sound designer/ producer. She is a graduate of the Grant MacEwan Theatre Arts program and inaugural recipient of the RBC Horizon Emerging Artists Mentorship Program for Sound Design at the Citadel Theatre. Daniela  is ecstatic to be joining the team at NLT and is grateful for this opportunity to learn and grow as a Sound Designer. Sound credits include: Smoke (Tiny Bear Jaws), The Fiancée (Citadel Theatre), hiraeth (Bright Young Things), Run and Hide (Ghostlight Theatre Projects).

Liz Allison-Jorde

Stage Manager

Matt Schuurman

Projection Designer

Matt is thrilled to return to NLT as projection designer. He has designed video for over 50 productions across Canada and has received numerous award nominations for his work, including Edmonton’s Sterling Award for NLT’s A HUNDRED WORDS FOR SNOW.

Recent credits include Rock of Ages, First Date, Vegas: Live, Mamma Mia!, Nashville Outlaws, and Buddy – The Buddy Holly Story for Mayfield Dinner Theatre, and The Blank Who Stole Christmas for Rapid Fire Theatre, where he is also the Artistic Director. In 2019 he was named one of Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 Under 40. Enjoy the show!

Emily Randall

Production Assistant

Emily Faith Randall is a non-binary artist born and raised on Treaty 6 Land (Edmonton, Alberta).

Their artist mandate is to uplift and elevate marginalized visions and voices, bringing their eye of the world into the project they work on. Em is a multidisciplinary artist with a focus on, Scenic Painting, Festival Stage Management, Projection and Visual Art, Hand Poke tattooing, Jewellery Making as well as Props and Toy Making.