Board of Directors
The members of our 2011-2012 Board of Directors are:
Julianne Snepsts, President (Toronto) has been a member of Theatre Ontario since she was a teenager when she was a member of the Belleville Theatre Guild, and participant in Youth Courses. She is a graduate of the U of T Arts Management program and for nearly a decade, Julianne has been an arts worker at some great cultural organizations including The Canadian Stage Company, Crow’s Theatre, the Ontario Science Centre, Theatre Direct Canada and The Second City. A passionate advocate for the Toronto comedy community, Julianne is especially proud of her successes as Co-Artistic Producer of the Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
Cam Lund, Vice President (Newmarket) has been involved in community theatre for 23 years starting off at The Curtain Club theatre in Richmond Hill back in 1987. He first worked in the booth operating lights and sound and immediately found a connection with theatre and the people involved. Since then, he has been very actively involved in a number of community theatres in Central Ontario in various roles from acting and directing to being on the executive committee and assisting with box office. Community theatre is a place where people can come and be creative in their area(s) of interest/expertise and what is really fascinating is the diversity of people that you work with in partnership to create a common goal. He loves the “family” aspect of community theatre and always promotes the sharing of ideas and resources within community groups and regions.
John Goddard, Treasurer (Toronto) has been associated with the Ontario Theatre scene for most of his adult life, either as a professional; administrator or an amateur actor/director. John first became involved with Theatre Ontario in the early seventies when he and his wife Susan worked with Maggie Bassett on the membership committee. Then again in the nineties, he was fortunate enough to receive a PTTP grant to work with Mallory Gilbert at Tarragon Theatre. Finally, for the last five years he served as Executive Director. John wants to continue his association with this vital and worthwhile organization to help ensure its continued existence and relevance. John is married with two grown children and one grandchild.
Mark Mooney, Secretary (London) has had an active interest in developing talent in high school and community theatre for much of his career. As a teacher for 28 years, he and his students have developed touring plays for elementary school dealing with a variety of social issues, as well at the “usual” musicals and major plays. He has also directed two Shakespeare plays, including a “Dream” with original music and design by students. He has served on the boards of Theatre Kent, London Community Players, the Western Ontario Drama League, the Stratford Festival Teacher Liaison Committee and the Grand Theatre (London)’s Education committee. He has worked in every facet of theatre production, preferring directing, especially mentoring new directors. In 2006, he won WODL’s best director award for Ethan Claymore which went on to the Theatre Ontario Festival in Newmarket. He has participated in several Theatre Ontario summer courses and recently completed the Theatre Ontario Adjudicators Course in Richmond Hill.
Michael Grit, Member-at-Large (Richmond Hill) has been actively involved in theatre most of his life, starting in high school, then with Bramalea Little Theatre after college. In addition to the occasional performance on stage, Michael was also found working as a member of the backstage crew and producing. Since then, Michael has embarked on a career in the theatre that has brought him to the Elora Festival, the Sanderson Centre in Brantford, and currently with the Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts where he participated in the design and construction of the new venue.
Brenda Barr-Worsnop (Cobourg) discovered the stage at 7 in Cornwall, and rediscovered it as an adult with the Brockville Theatre Guild in 1975. Now, after more than thirty-five active years in community and professional theatre she is well known as a director, actor, stage manager and teacher/mentor across southern Ontario. She was co-creator/owner of a murder mystery company, Games Up; has worked professionally in ASTRO theatres as an actress and stage manager; has served on community theatre boards in all positions for over thirty years, and she even managed to combine her administrative and theatre skills at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga in her job as Executive Administrator. She has taken many theatre Ontario summer courses and is currently VP of Northumberland Players and board member of the Eastern Ontario Drama League.
Dr. Barry Freeman (Toronto) is an Assistant Professor in Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto—Scarborough whose research involves Canadian theatre, drama-in-education, and ethics and interculturalism. Barry is a regular contributor to national and international theatre journals and is the Executive Editor of Theatre Research in Canada, Canada’s only peer-reviewed theatre journal. Barry is a member of the Board of Directors of the Paprika Festival and has worked for Theatre Ontario in the past, as Summer Courses Youth Counsellor in 1999 and as Summer Courses Coordinator in 2000.
Emma Mackenzie Hillier (Toronto) is an emerging theatre artist, practitioner and administrator living in Toronto who originally hails from Niagara-on-the-Lake. Since graduating the University of Windsor’s BFA—Acting program in 2008 she has been quite busy establishing herself as an actor. On the other side of the “table”, Emma has been quite busy assistant directing, her favourite credit so far has been in assisting Ted Dykstra on the acclaimed Soulpepper production of Jitters, however she has also traveled out of Toronto to St. Catharines to assist for Lyndesfarne Theatre Projects on both Shakespeare’s Villains and Sexy Laundry. She is also interning with Iris Turcott at Factory Theatre and spends part of her days working for STAF (Small Theatre Administration Facility) where she both writes grants and helps with publicity.
Tabitha Keast (Toronto) is an actor, an experienced copy editor and a very inexperienced writer. Onstage, she has worked with The Driftwood Theatre Group and Alchemy Theatre while on-camera she was featured in the series The Kennedys, the short films Book Club and The Tenant, and many, many commercials. She has spent twelve years as a volunteer with Alumnae Theatre, Toronto’s oldest theatre company where she has acted, directed, produced, sat on the Board of Directors and – most recently – climbed a sixteen-foot ladder to strike the lights from the grid (she continues to have a great deal of respect for theatre technicians.)
Helen Landry (Sudbury) has been involved with theatre most of her life, starting with having to baby-sit her younger brother while her parents were at rehearsal for Espanola Little Theatre (ELT). Her on-stage career began in high school. When her children were older she became re-acquainted with the stage in 1996, as well as operating lights, sound, producing and stage management. On the business side of things she started as Secretary, and then President of ELT, Third-Vice and President of the Quonta Drama Region. After a six-year hiatus, she is now back on stage, on the executive of ELT and on the Quonta Board. She enjoys the relationships that she has built over the years and the sense of family it brings.
Debra McLauchlan (St. Catharines) teaches pre-service drama education at Brock University. She has also worked in secondary schools, as well as teaching undergraduate, graduate and in-service drama education courses. She has extensive experience in creating and directing original collaborative theatre in various settings. As a researcher, Debra has presented at numerous international conferences and published in several drama education scholarly journals. With Laura McCammon, she co-edited The Universal Mosaic of Drama and Theatre: The IDEA 2004 Dialogues. For five years, she wrote the classroom applications section of the Shaw Festival teacher study guides. Debra is currently Chair of Carousel Player’s board of directors. For Theatre Ontario, Debra has been an active member of the Youth Theatre Training Committee, and also facilitated the initial By George! adult theatre immersion experience at Shaw Festival.
Deb Sholdice (Blyth) spent “many happy years in my youth” as a volunteer usher at the Blyth Festival. In 2000, she went with her son to a volunteer orientation session and became fixtures ever since, first as a member of the community company for all three productions of The Outdoor Donnellys and as a member of the Board of Directors. In 2007, the organization was searching for a General Manager and Deb was ultimately selected for the position. Since that time, she has worked closely with many organizations and businesses to promote arts and culture in their rural region.
Ken Stephen (Woodstock) grew up in Toronto and settled in Elliot Lake in 1978 to teach high school. He became involved in the local Ptarmigan Players group as an actor, lighting operator, stage manager, director, and served on the Executive, and later joined the new Elliot Lake Amateur Theatre Ensemble (ELATE). He was a delegate to the QUONTA Drama Region and served as President and Treasurer, and was Festival Chairman for three QUONTA Festivals held in Elliot Lake in 1999, 2004, and 2008. The first of these was a co-production with the Elliot Lake Entertainment Series, a producing organization for which Ken held a board position for over 10 years. For over 25 years he adjudicated semi-annual presentations of original one-act plays at ELSS. In 2007 Ken received the Michael Spence 35th Anniversary Award from Theatre Ontario, upon the nomination of QUONTA, for “a sustained contribution to theatre in Ontario.”
Brian Van Norman (Waterloo) has been employed over 35 years in a variety of venues within the theatre community. As well as being an educator, he has worked with school, university, amateur and professional companies serving variously as director, writer, producer and designer. A popular and experienced adjudicator due to his constructive, positive style, Brian has adjudicated literally hundreds of plays through the past ten years. Brian is a member of Theatre Ontario's Talent Bank, and taught at the Summer Courses. Brian has also acted...once. He played the dead guy.