The Darkest Dark
Cast & Creative Team
CAST
HANNAH FOREST BRIAND as Jane
Hannah Forest Briand is a queer film and theatre actress with training from George Brown Theatre School, along with an extensive dance and movement background. Her on-screen credits include a leading role in The Dangerous Liaisons (TFT); a recurring role in Échec & Moi (TFO); and the lead in the feature Camping Trip (Fuica Productions). Hannah is fresh off closing the plays Zinspiré.e.s; Dix-joncté.e.s. and Flush (Théâtre Français de Toronto). Being a Québécois artist, she is proud to represent French Canadian works on stage and screen while also enjoying an expansive career in English. She is excited to share the magical world of Space in The Darkest Dark!
AURORA BROWNE as Mom
Aurora Browne is proud to be one of the co-creators, writers, executive producers, directors and stars of CBC’s multiple Canadian Screen Award-winning Baroness von Sketch Show. In 2019, Aurora appeared as the co-host of CBC’s The Great Canadian Baking Show Season 3. In addition, she has appeared on Run the Burbs, Nurses, The Writer’s Block, Man Seeking Woman, Orphan Black, The Gavin Crawford Show, InSecurity, and Corner Gas among others. Aurora was also a co-creator, co-writer, executive producer and co-star of the hit web series Newborn Moms, which appeared both on CBC’s and ABC’s digital channels. An alumni of The Second City Toronto Main Stage, Aurora has been nominated for many Canadian Comedy Awards for her work in Toronto’s red hot live sketch and improv scene. She was a nominee for the 2000 Tim Sims Encouragement Fund Award and in 2008 won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Female Improviser. Aurora is a long-time member of the award-winning Toronto theatre company VideoCabaret. Aurora recently directed YPT’s holiday production of Snow White.
CRAIG LAUZON as Dad
Originally from Ottawa, Craig is of mixed settler and Anishinaabe descent. Craig is a member of the sketch troupe Tonto’s Nephews, and is the former Artistic Associate of Native Earth Performing Arts. Theatre credits include: Where the Blood Mixes (Soulpepper); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Festival); The Drawer Boy (Theatre Passe Muraille); Thunderstick (Persephone Theatre); King Lear (National Arts Centre); and Trudeau and Levesque (VideoCabaret).
XAVIER LOPEZ as Herbie
Originally from Vancouver, Xavier completed his BFA at the University of Victoria in 2012 and quickly made his way to Toronto. His work can be seen in Y: The Last Man (FX); Sort Of (CBC); Blue’s Clues & You (Nickelodeon); Titans (Netflix); and Pretty Hard Cases (CBC). Xavier also lent his voice and performance to ‘Paolo’ in the video game Far Cry 6 (Ubisoft). Theatre credits include For Both Resting and Breeding (Talk Is Free Theatre); No Clowns Allowed (Blood Pact Theatre); and Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train (Soulpepper), where he was nominated for a Dora Award in the category of outstanding performance in a lead role.
ZISKA LOUIS as Chris
Ziska is an actor, musician and physical theatre performer born in Switzerland, raised in Wales. From a young age they began performing in the National Youth Theatre of Wales, going on to graduate from Manchester School of Theatre. Ziska is delighted to be working with Young Peoples Theatre again and looks forward to sharing this story. Select credits include: Russell’s World (YPT); Back to the Future (Secret Cinema Presents); dead born grow (Frantic Assembly); Kindertransport (Capitol Theatre); Little Gem (Theatre Clwyd).
SHAQUILLE POTTINGER as Keith
Shaquille is a graduate from the University of Toronto, Sheridan College, and the Soulpepper Academy. He hails from the various plots of suburbia North America has to offer, but distinctly caught the acting bug in Barrie, Ontario. When he isn’t acting, Shaquille also enjoys writing for stage and screen. And when he isn’t writing, he’s probably catching Pokémon. Selected credits: Peggy Pickit Sees the Face of God, Negro, Drowning, King Lear (Soulpepper); Ragtime: A Concert Performance (Theatre Calgary/Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra); The Lost Heroes of Oro (Theatre by the Bay); and There is No Word for Wilderness (Animacy Theatre Collective).
EVELYN WIEBE as Cindy
A recent graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (Montreal), Evelyn has had the pleasure of working with a number of directors and coaches, including Philip Akin in his production of 7 Stories, and David Latham in his production of Macbeth, in which Evelyn played the role of Lady Macbeth. Evelyn has appeared in CBC’s Murdoch Mysteries, and is the lead in the short film I Wanna Be Famous (Humber Film School). Recent theatre credits include The Judas Kiss (Talk Is Free Theatre).
CREATIVE TEAM
CHRIS HADFIELD, Co-Author
A heavily decorated astronaut, engineer, and pilot, Colonel Hadfield’s many awards include the Order of Canada, the Meritorious Service Cross and the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He was named the Top Test Pilot in both the US Air Force and the US Navy and was inducted into Canada’s Aviation Hall of Fame. He has flown three space missions, building two space stations, performing two spacewalks (EVAs), crewing the Shuttle and Soyuz and commanding the International Space Station. Colonel Hadfield is the author of three international bestsellers: An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here, and The Darkest Dark, plus a new thriller novel, The Apollo Murders. He released a music album, Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can, and his version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity has been seen by 100s of millions. His TED talk on fear has been watched 11 million times. Colonel Hadfield is the co-creator/host of the internationally acclaimed BBC series Astronauts, and helped create/host, with actor Will Smith, the National Geographic series One Strange Rock. Colonel Hadfield is the producer of the celebrated Rare Earth series on YouTube and the creator of the on-stage celebration Generator, which combines science, comedy, and music for sold-out audiences. Additionally, Colonel Hadfield is an adjunct professor at the University of Waterloo, an advisor to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, and Board Chair of the Open Lunar Foundation.
KATE FILLION, Co-Author
Kate Fillion is a bestselling author and journalist who lives in Irvington, New York.
JIM MILLAN, Director & Co-Writer
Jim Millan has a long series of innovative creations in theatre, comedy, magic and variety that has taken him from Canada to the West End, Radio City Music Hall, Broadway, Las Vegas and beyond. After founding Crow’s Theatre in Toronto it quickly became one of Canada’s new play innovators and incubators. Jim began a decades-long collaboration directing The Kids in the Hall comedy group for all of their live shows since 2000. Jim most recently directed Bruce McCulloch in his new one-man play, Tales of Bravery and Stupidity. Among his more explosive creations, Jim co-created Mythbusters Live, which sold out across North America and toured Australia and New Zealand; and served as the original Creative Director for The Illusionists, which set an all-time record for a magic show on Broadway. He has also been a creative producer of the Governor General’s Awards Gala in Ottawa, creating original stage tributes for entertainers such Michael J. Fox, Martin Short, Sandra Oh, Andrew Alexander, Catherine O’Hara and Ryan Reynolds. Throughout his career, Jim has directed comedy, dramas, magic and musicals on five continents in 38 countries and 17 languages, and has premiered over 185 new works.
IAN MACINTYRE, Co-Writer
Ian MacIntyre is a Toronto-based television writer and video game narrative designer. He wrote on four seasons of the Netflix original Degrassi: Next Class, for which he won a Writers Guild of Canada award, and has also written for animated shows including Inspector Gadget, D.N. Ace, 3 Amigonauts, and finally the satirical news comedy The Beaverton. Ian has developed series for Nickelodeon as well as CBC television. Ian is originally from Nova Scotia and is currently thinking about donairs.
DAVID BEN, Magic Consultant
David Ben was bitten by the magic bug at the age of 12 and now, 50 years later, he is still smitten with the craft. David has performed across Canada, the United States and numerous venues around the globe. His shows include The Conjuror (Shaw Festival, Theatre ROM, Soulpepper); The Conjuror’s Suite (ROM, Charlottetown Festival); Tricks (Artworld, Soulpepper); Natural Magick (Luminato); Card Table Artifice (Luminato); and Hocus Pocus (Soulpepper). As a magic consultant, David has worked with the Shaw Festival; Soulpepper Theatre; and the Stratford Festival. David has also been the magic consultant on a variety of films, television shows, novels and museum exhibitions including Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, Murdoch Mysteries, Michael Ondaatje’s novel Divisidaro, and Grand Illusions – The Art of Magic (McCord Museum, Art Gallery of Ontario). He is also author of several books including the biographies of Dai Vernon, and Canadian media mogul (and amateur magician) Allan Slaight. David is the co-founder and current artistic director of Magicana, an organization devoted to the advancement of magic as a performing art.
ANNA TREUSCH, Set & Costume Designer
Anna is a Set and Costume Designer for Theatre, Opera and Musical Theatre. Her education is in Theatre Production and Visual Arts. A few recent design credits for Young People’s Theatre include: Russell’s World (set and costumes), Under the Stairs (costumes), The Secret Garden (costumes). Other select credits: A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline (set and costumes, Capitol Theatre); Miss Caledonia (Set, Thousand Islands Playhouse); Sweat (Costumes, Canadian Stage); Between Riverside and Crazy (Set, Coal Mine Theatre); Figaro’s Wedding (Against the Grain); Tiny Treasures (Manitoba Theatre for Young People); Much Ado About Nothing (Costumes, Canadian Stage); The Father (Coal Mine Theatre); The Magic Flute (Set, Glenn Gould Opera School); Mamma Mia (Theatre St. Johns); The Canadian (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Trigonometry (Timeshare); Sir John A: Acts of A Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion (National Arts Centre); Calpurnia (Set, Nightwood and Sulong Theatre); Up the Garden Path (Obsidian Theatre). Anna is a recipient of two Dora Awards and is the recipient of the 2022 Virginia Myrtle Cooper Award for Costume Design, She is a proud member of Associated Designers of Canada, IATSE local 659 and 828. Anna is a proud new mother to baby Nova.
BONNIE BEECHER, Lighting Designer
onnie is a lighting designer from Toronto, Canada. She has designed the lighting for over 400 productions for theatre, opera and dance. Her work has been seen in most theatres in Canada including The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, The Canadian Opera Company, Opera Atelier, Soulpepper Theatre, The National Arts Centre, The National Ballet of Canada, Tarragon Theatre, The Segal, The Citadel and Ballet British Columbia. International work includes lighting designs for Dutch National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Glimmerglass Opera, The Versailles Royal Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Royal Shakespeare Company, New Zealand Opera, Ballett Dortmund, Royal Ballet of Flanders, The Opéra national du Rhin Ballet in Mulhouse, The State Ballet of Georgia, and Ballet Im Revier in Germany. Bonnie also designed the lights for seven world premieres for The Stuttgart Ballet, and collaborated with the Kevin O’Day Ballet in Mannheim, Germany for 14 seasons from 2002 to 2016 where she designed the lighting for more than 25 world premieres for the company. Bonnie has received 15 Dora Award nominations and has won the award twice.
DEANNA H. CHOI, Sound Designer & Composer
Deanna is a Composer & Sound Designer. Her theatre credits include: Selfie (YPT); Cockroach, Three Women of Swatow, Light (Tarragon); Bad Parent (Soulpepper/VACT/PTE); Things I Know To Be True (Company Theatre/Mirvish). Deanna has written original music and created sound designs for plays, musicals, and dance with companies across Turtle Island including Soulpepper, Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Blyth, Neptune, Theatre Calgary, Theatre New Brunswick, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Coal Mine Theatre, Canadian Stage, Crow’s Theatre, Nightwood, Theatre Passe Muraille, Necessary Angel and many others. Selected Film and Television credits: original scores for Relax, I’m From the Future (Universal); and Last of the Right Whales (CBC). Upcoming: A Wrinkle in Time (Stratford Festival). Deanna received the 2020 Pauline McGibbon Award for Design. “The darkness out there is really just things we don’t know about yet.” @deanna.h.choi
DANIELE GUEVARA, Video Designer
Daniele Guevara is an award-nominated lighting designer and video designer. Credits for Young People’s Theatre include: Hana’s Suitcase. Recent credits include Guided by Starlight (Luminato Festival 2021); and working with Mulvey & Banani on the exhibit lighting for Little Canada. From 2015-2022, Daniele was the Lighting Supervisor for the Canadian Opera Company. She has worked with companies including Rubberband Dance, Wayne McGregor Random Dance, Theatre Gorlitz, The Royal Opera House, The Shaw Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and The Blue Man Group. In 2020, Daniele’s lighting installation Surround was selected for the Winter Lighting Exhibition.
JOYCE PADUA, Associate Set & Costume Designer
Joyce Padua is a Toronto-based set and costume designer, cutter, and head of wardrobe. A BFA graduate of York University, her work as a designer and assistant has been featured in several productions including shows with the Shaw Festival, the Stratford Festival, and Factory Theatre. In 2021, Joyce was nominated as a Siminovitch Prize Protegée under designer Gillian Gallow. Previous theatre credits include costume design for: Back in ‘59 (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Too True to Be Good (Shaw Festival); Year of the Rat (Factory Theatre); Desire Under the Elms (Shaw Festival); The Life and Death of Fred Herko (Rendezvous With Madness Festival); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (Crescent School); Orlando (Theatre@York). Assistant Costume Design credits: The Rez Sisters, I Am William, Serving Elizabeth (Stratford Festival); Much Ado About Nothing, Sweat (Canadian Stage). Head of Wardrobe credits: TOKA (Theatre Passe Muraille); Trout Stanley, Lady Sunrise (Factory Theatre); Marjorie Prime (Coal Mine Theatre).
RIVER OLIVEIRA, Assistant Sound Designer
River Cecil Oliveira (they/he) is a queer, trans and disabled multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. Over the past year and a half, he has had the privilege and the pleasure of working as a designer, playwright, and performer on projects that have centered, uplifted, and amplified queer and trans voices. River contributed sound design to YPT’s 2021 production of rihannaboi95. River has most recently worked as assistant sound designer for Cockroach 曱甴 (Tarragon Theatre); and associate sound designer on The First Stone (New Harlem Productions/Great Canadian Theatre Company). Along with Max Cameron Fearon, they are also co-creating How the Wolf Says Goodnight with generous support from the Ontario Arts Council’s Recommender Grant for Theatre Creators Program. For more information on what River is up to, visit riveroliveira.com.
HERBIE BARNES, Dramaturgy
Herbie Barnes is an accomplished playwright, performer, director and arts educator whose 30-year-career spans stages across North America. Herbie officially began his tenure as Artistic Director at YPT in October 2021. An Anishinaabe theatre artist from Aundeck Omni Kaning First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Herbie was among the generation of young Indigenous artists in the 1990s breaking down barriers to forge professional careers in Canadian theatre. Barnes was raised in Toronto. His theatre career began in 1989 with Debajehmujig Theatre Group, touring Ontario with the first run of Drew Hayden Taylor’s Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock. Since then he has collaborated with some of North America’s largest theatre companies and was nominated for a John Hirsch Director’s Award. His new play, Bentboy, was shortlisted for the Sharon Enkin Plays for Young People Award in 2020. It had its world premiere at YPT in October 2022.
STEPHEN COLELLA, Dramaturgy
Stephen is the Associate Artistic Director & Literary Manager at YPT. Past projects here include: Director/Dramaturg for Selfie (Dora Award – Outstanding TYA Play, PGC TYA Award) and Co-Director/Dramaturg for Antigone: 方; Dramaturgy for over two dozen world premieres including: Hana’s Suitcase, i think i can (Dora Award – Outstanding New Musical), Scarberia, Sultans of the Street (Dora Award – Outstanding TYA Play) and Minotaur (YPT/Polka Theatre/Theatr Clwyd); Co adapter of Love You Forever…And More Munsch (Dora Award – Outstanding TYA Production/Canada Council TYA Prize) and Munschtime!. Other work includes: Director – Tiny Treasures (Manitoba Theatre For Young People); Dramaturgy – Alameda Theatre, Marionetas de la Esquina/Kennedy Center, fu-Gen Theatre, Theatre Direct and The Paprika Festival. He has served on the boards of LMDA, LMDA Canada and ASSITEJ Canada, where he was president for five years.
ALLEN MACINNIS, Dramaturgy
Allen has been directing for over 30 years at theatres from coast to coast across Canada, including: Belfry Theatre, Victoria; Globe Theatre, Regina; Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary; Shaw Festival, Ontario; Centaur Theatre, Montreal; and Neptune Theatre, Halifax. Past productions include: The Secret Garden, Beauty and the Beast, To Kill a Mockingbird, Annie (TYA), Blue Planet, Cinderella – a RATical retelling (2013 Dora Award for Outstanding Direction), A Year With Frog and Toad, Touch the Sky, The Wizard of Oz, Seussical (2007 Dora Award for Outstanding Direction), Bunnicula, Hana’s Suitcase, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and The Princess & the Handmaiden, all for Young People’s Theatre (YPT). Other favourite productions include In Good King Charles’s Golden Days (Shaw Festival); The Stone Angel (Centaur Theatre, Montreal); A Doll’s House, Walking on Water, fareWell, Crackpot and Joni Mitchell: River (Prairie Theatre Exchange). Allen spent eight years as Artistic Director of Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange. He was the Artistic Director of Young People’s Theatre from 2002 to 2021.
KELLY BROWNBILL, Auntie-in-Residence
Kelly Brownbill’s spirit name, Wabunnoongakekwe, means Woman Who Comes from the East and she is proud to be Waabizhashi Dodem, Marten Clan. She is a member of the Flat Bay community of the Mi’kmaq Nation in Newfoundland, and of the Three Fires Midewiwin Lodge. As an educator on Indigenous issues, she has conducted countless cultural awareness training sessions across a broad range of service sectors including key staff from both the provincial and federal governments. She guides organizations in forging more respectful and equitable relationships with Indigenous communities and agencies. For 10 years she filled the role of peer referral agent for Canada’s largest single site employer of Indigenous people. She has also worked with Indigenous communities, both on and off reserve, to develop healthy agency models and to further develop counselling skills with Indigenous clients. Kelly has twice published Indigenous perspectives in peer-reviewed publications on workplace wellness and addiction and for 7 years was the Senior Editor and Cultural Advisor for 4 Canoes, a periodical series of books showcasing individual Nations around Turtle Island and Canoe Kids, a series of culturally inspired children’s books. She is also proud to be the Auntie-in-Residence for Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. For more information, please visit www.kellybrownbill.com.
LAURA BAXTER, Stage Manager
Laura’s selected theatre credits include: Black Boys, The 20th of November, Arigato Tokyo, Obaaberima, The Maids, The Silicone Diaries, Breakfast, (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre); nowhen, Sweat, Love and Information, nine seasons at Dream in High Park (Canadian Stage); Indecent, Oslo, My Name is Asher Lev, My Night With Reg, You Will Remember Me, NSFW, God of Carnage, Clybourne Park (Studio 180); Pipeline (Soulpepper); Actually (Obsidian/Harold Green); The Story, Tails From the City, Happy Days (Common Boots Theatre); Trout Stanley, Little Pretty and the Exceptional, Age of Arousal (Factory Theatre); 11:11, Elle (Theatre Passe Muraille); Soliciting Temptation, More Fine Girls (Tarragon Theatre); The Berlin Blues, Ipperwash (Blyth Festival); Speaking in Tongues, Festen (The Company Theatre); A Christmas Carol, The Story, Macbeth (Caravan Farm Theatre). Laura is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, 2005. Thank you to my amazing wife Shawn and our baby Amari for your unconditional love and support.
TROY TAYLOR, Assistant Stage Manager
Troy Taylor is excited to join Young People’s Theatre on this incredible production of The Darkest Dark, and hopes you enjoy it too! Troy works as a Stage Manager in Toronto and Southern Ontario for dance, theatre and live events. He has worked for the National Ballet of Canada, Fall for Dance North, Canadian Stage, Ross Petty Productions, The Shaw Festival, Dance Ontario, Nightwood Theatre, Tarragon Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Factory Theatre, Mirvish, Human Body Expression, Stratford Festival and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra. When not at the theatre, Troy likes to spend his time at the dog park with his dog Jupiter, and his partner Craig. Much love to friends and family.