Curated and Directed by Thom Allison
THE ENDURING POWER OF MUSICAL THEATRE
What is it about musical theatre that captures the hearts of millions of fans? Through wars, disasters, heartbreaks and triumphs, musicals have been there to give us a way to understand the human experience and flourish. Has there ever been a better way to represent our inner lives than in glorious Technicolor and song? We invite you on this tune-filled ride to celebrate why musicals have always been the ultimate tonic for the soul in good or troubled times.
House Program: You Can't Stop the Beat
Runtime: One hour and 20 minutes no intermission.
Production support is generously provided by Nona Macdonald Heaslip.
Production Co-Sponsor
2021: Singer in You Can't Stop the Beat. Second season. Elsewhere: Caroline, or Change, Once on This Island, Parade (Musical Stage Company); The Mountaintop (Obsidian Theatre/Shaw Festival); Ragtime, Guys and Dolls, Major Barbara, Trouble in Tahiti (Shaw Festival); six seasons with the Charlottetown Festival, including Atlantic Blue, Anne of Green Gables, Hairspray; The Music Man, The Gamblers, Amadeus (Talk Is Free Theatre); Young People's Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Canadian Stage, among others. Training: Simon Fraser University, University of Toronto. Et cetera: I feel immensely privileged to be performing on stage and making live theatre right now. Much love to my BC fam. Endless thanks and gratitude to the essential workers getting us through this. Black Lives Matter.
2021: Singer in You Can't Stop the Beat. Third season. Stratford: Little Shop of Horrors, Billy Elliot the Musical. Elsewhere: Gary Coleman in Avenue Q (The Arts Club); The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God (Centaur Theatre/BTW/National Arts Centre); I Think I'm Fallin' - The Songs of Joni Mitchell (Belfry Theatre); Lady in Orange in for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf (Soulpepper); Fate in Hadestown (Citadel); The Secret Chord: A Leonard Cohen Experience (Soulpepper); The 27 Club (Soulpepper); The Hockey Sweater: A Musical (National Arts Centre). Film/TV: Minority Report (Fox); Heroes Reborn (NBC); Incorporated (Syfy/CBS); The Boys (Sony/Amazon). Training: Queen's University (BAH); Randolph College. Awards: Jessie Award for Avenue Q; META Award for Adventures of a Black Girl. Online: evangeliakambites.com. Twitter/Instagram: @ekambites. Other: Debut album Feel the Fall available to stream everywhere!
2021: Singer in You Can't Stop the Beat. Fourth season. You are allowed to erase the memories of the people who told you that you were a bad artist. They lied to you. They were wrong. You can help release these voices from your mind by doing exactly what they told you not to do - make Art. When you nurture your artistic interests, the possibilities of self-discovery can be exciting and endless. Sing. Dance. Paint. Play. Create. Anything. A person in our history books once told us that "comparison is the thief of joy." May these words forever wash away the voices that told us that we shouldn't, that we couldn't make Art. Whatever Art means to you, make it. Make it for no other reason than to help you to feel something. You are allowed. You are an artist. ~ Mark
2021: Music director of and Keyboard for You Can't Stop the Beat. 42nd season. Stratford: Music director (selected): Little Shop of Horrors, The Rocky Horror Show, Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, The Sound of Music. Composer of numerous productions including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Memoir and Inherit the Wind. Elsewhere: Music director: Rich and Famous (director John Rando), A Christmas Carol (director Carey Perloff) (ACT San Francisco); Oliver!, The Music Man (Citadel Theatre, director Robin Phillips); Brent Carver in Concert (Soulpepper). Composer: I Am My Own Wife (NAC); Don Carlos (Soulpepper); Cyrano (Citadel Theatre); A Streetcar Named Desire (Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia). Awards: 2014 Tyrone Award and five Guthrie Awards (Stratford Festival), two Sterling Awards (Citadel) and nominated for Music Direction (San Francisco Bay Awards).
2021: Drum Kit for You Can't Stop the Beat and Finally There's Sun. 39th season. Stratford: As a drummer and percussionist, David has performed in over 100 productions at the Stratford Festival. Elsewhere: David can be heard on dozens of recording projects playing in all kinds of styles and genres. He's been timpanist for Tafelmusik, Canada's Juno Award-winning and internationally acclaimed period-instrument orchestra, for almost 40 years. He teaches percussion at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo and is a regular performer with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony and local jazz groups. Et cetera: David has his morning coffee in Stratford at the fabulous revel with Anne, whom he loves and cherishes so very much, and often also with his daughter, Arielle, and son, Dylan, and spouses, Dave and Julie.
2021: Cello, Guitars for You Can't Stop the Beat. Eighth season. Stratford: Shakespeare in Love, The Taming of the Shrew, The Pirates of Penzance, The Grapes of Wrath, Jacques Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris, As You Like It. Elsewhere (selected): The Winter's Tale, Measure for Measure, Lear (Groundling); Once (Neptune); Lombardo, The Pigeon King (Blyth Festival). Recordings: Another Street, Late, The Easy Straight.Previously:Quartetto Gelato (1996 NPR Performance Today Debut Artist of the Year). Online: meanwell.ca; @gmeanwell. Et cetera: "The next best time to plant a tree is now."
2021: Lighting designer of Why We Tell the Story, You Can't Stop the Beat, Play On!, Freedom and Finally There's Sun. Ninth season. Stratford: Lighting designer, Othello, The Comedy of Errors. Assistant lighting designer, six seasons (2011-2016). Selected credits: A Chorus Line, Tommy, A Word or Two, Jesus Christ Superstar. Studio Theatre technical director, 2013. Elsewhere: Honour Beat (Grand), After the Fire, The Particulars (Punctuate, The Theatre Centre); Kinky Boots, Newsies (Drayton Entertainment); Salt-Water Moon (Mirvish, Factory, Why Not); Wildfire (RARE, Soulpepper); The Emancipation of Ms. Lovely, The Breath in Between (Crow's); Superior Donuts (Coal Mine); Laurier (Charlottetown Festival, TNB); Beaver (Storefront); Noises Off (Soulpepper); A Line in the Sand, The Crackwalker (Factory Theatre); Hana Hashimoto (Carousel Players). Training: National Theatre School of Canada. Et cetera: Course Lecturer at Ryerson University, Instructor at the NTSC, General Manager of Lights On Stratford, a two-time Dora nominee and a 2020 Pauline McGibbon Award nominee.
2021: Production stage manager of the Festival Theatre Canopy and Studio Theatre. 25th season. Stratford: Shows include Chicago (interrupted by COVID), Billy Elliot, A Chorus Line, Crazy for You, Fiddler on the Roof, Camelot, Oklahoma!, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Man of La Mancha, Hello, Dolly!, The King and I and others. Elsewhere: Over 40 years as a stage manager in live entertainment including gala events, music concerts, opening ceremonies and fundraising events including A Christmas Carol for the Stratford Hospice. Over 25 years with the Canadian Opera Company as a stage manager; production stage manager and resident director of Jersey Boys, Toronto; 25 years as a singer/dancer and choreographer in Canadian theatre; associate director/choreographer to her mentor, Alan Lund. Et cetera: Love to Paul, daughters Stephanie and Jennifer, son-in-law Andrew, and her grandchildren, Kennedy, Koston and Connor. I am so grateful to be back at work.
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