In this article Co-Founder and Director of Soma Integrative Wellness, nisha ahuja, shares the connection in her work as an Ayurvedic Medicine and Registered Naturotherapy Practitioner, with her theatre career that included being an actor with the National Arts Centre Resident Acting Company, a published playwright, a physical theatre creator, and educator having performed and created classical, contemporary, and original work and facilitated trainings across Canada, the USA, the Netherlands, and India. Her plays include Yoga Cannibal, Un-Settling (Canadian Theatre Review, January 2016), and Cycle of a Sari (excerpt in Refractions: Solo, Playwright Canada Press, 2014), and 30 People Watching co-written with Amelia Sargisson (ReView: an anthology of plays committed to social justice, Autumn 2016).
Category Archives: Alumni
4 Questions: Andrew Gaboury
Andrew Gaboury works as an artist, educator and artistic director and is based in Port Credit, Ontario. His work includes devised theatre, durational performance, physical improvisation, and clown. He is one of four co-Artistic Directors of hub14 art & performance works, a studio and artist residency in Toronto. He is also the Director of a field of crowns, a performance-based company with an interest in collaboration and community arts. In September 2018, he joined nine other students students in North America’s first Therapeutic Clowning Certificate program at George Brown College
Spotlight on Faculty: Anita La Selva
Anita La Selva is a contract faculty member in the Department of Theatre, where she teaches Acting for theatre and on-camera.
4 Questions: Gillian Gallow
GIllian Gallow (BFA Theatre: Production & Design 2004) is a Toronto-based Set and Costume designer for theatre and opera. SHe has designed at theatres across Canada, including Shaw Festival, Stratford Festival, Citadel, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Calgary, National Arts Centre, COC and Soulpepper. In 2018, she was awarded The Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award for Costume Design.
4 Questions: Jim Millan
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 to Radio City Music Hall, Las Vegas, Broadway and beyond. He has directed comedy, dramas, spectacles, magic and musicals on 5 continents in 35 countries in 17 languages and premiered over 170 new works in his career seen by tens of millions of people
4 Questions: Emilio Vieira
Emilio Vieira has been part of the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival since 2015. He has appeared on stage in three seasons at the Festival, this year in The Tempest, Coriolanus, and Napoli Milionaria! He will also appear in Tartuffe at Canadian Stage and Towards Youth at The Crow’s Theatre in early 2019.
4 Questions: Lilie Zendel
Lilie Zendel’s career post-Theatre Department (Acting 1980) has taken her from Harbourfront Centre’s Performing Arts programmer to Artistic Director of the International Children’s Festival, and Founding Artistic Director of the du Maurier World Stage and Quay Works, a multi-disciplinary arts festival of innovative works and artists from around the world, to Executive Director of The Playwrights Union of Canada, to leading the Cultural Affairs section at the Canadian Consulate in NYC, to Toronto’s Cultural Services, to joining the Public Realm Section of Transportation where she launched StreetARToronto (StART), to her current position as an arts consultant .
4 Questions: Allyson McMackon
Acclaimed theatre creator and Artistic Director of Theatre Rusticle, multi-talented artist Allyson McMackon [MFA Acting 1992] chronicles her journey from actor to theatre-maker and educator.
4 Questions: Jeff Churchill
Jeff Churchill is the owner and creator of Jitterbug Boy Original Footwear, a custom shoemaking company supplying specialized footwear for theatre, film, television and circus all over the world. He traces the fascinating career trajectory that got him there with stops in Stratford, Cirque de Soleil, and Las Vegas.
4 Questions: Andy Cheng
Andy Cheng is a Toronto based dramaturg, actor, writer, and comedian. He was nominated for the 2014 Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Comedy for the CBC comedy special Gavin Crawford’s Wild West (2013). He currently serves as Associate Dramaturg for fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company.