2008 SEASON    

THE COMPANY - 2008 YORK SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL

ASHLIE CORCORAN

British Columbia native Ashlie Corcoran is the Co-Artistic Producer of Theatre Smash, for which she directed Tiny Dynamite and The Bus and will produce Norway.Today. She is a former Canadian Opera Company (COC) Ensemble Studio Intern Director, and directed The Bear for the COC. Other directing credits include: Tijuana Cure for Summerworks Festival, Luminato Festival’s Luna, A Boy Called Newfoundland with Gateway Theatre, and The Play About the Baby at the Battersea Arts Centre. She has a MA from the University of London and is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab. She recently participated in a directing internship at the Maxim Gorki Theater in Berlin and is a British Council Chevening Scholar. [ The Secret Garden Director's Notes ]

DEREK BOYES - as Lord Craven, Dr. Craven

Derek Boyes has just completed his fifth season with Soulpepper Theatre where he was seen in As You Like It and The Odd Couple. Past seasons include: Our Town, The Government Inspector, Olympia, The Wild Duck, Nathan the Wise, Hamlet, King Lear, Mary Stuart and Time of Your Life. As an associate artist with the Toronto Masque Theatre, he has performed in Masques for a Reany Day and directed and performed in Commedia, Dioclesian, Fairy Queen, Venus and Adonis, and directed their double bill of Aeneas and Dido and Dido and Aeneas, and this season’s Indian Queen. Derek lives in Toronto with Arlene Mazerolle and their 10 year-old son Bobby.

LARA JEAN CHOROSTECKI - as Mary Lennox

Lara Jean Chorostecki is thrilled to be a part of Resurgence this summer at Fairy Lake. Selected credits include: Quiet in the Land, The Swanne, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, The Threepenny Opera, The Tempest, The Lark (Stratford Festival), Homechild (CanStage). Film and television: When You Listen, Loving Loretta, Degrassi: TNG, 72 hours, Roxy Hunter and the Case of the Moody Ghost. Lara has just returned from the UK where she was completing her Masters at the Central School of Speech and Drama. ‘Much love to my friends and family for their incredible support of all my adventures.

DAN DANSON - Playwright

From 2001 to 2007, Dan Danson was the Artistic Director of the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol. He led its transformation from a disused industrial space to a full-time contemporary performing arts space, with a national reputation as one of the UK’s most unique and exciting theatres. Whilst there, he also produced a number of fresh but faithful adaptations of children’s’ classics. His adaptations include The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Secret Garden. Co-adaptations include: Treasure Island, The Jungle Book and The Adventures of Robin Hood. He is currently the Programme Director of the North Wall Theatre in Oxford, and continues to work as a freelance director, writer and independent producer.

IAN DEAKIN - as Ben Weatherstaff

Ian Deakin was last seen as Carney in A Man of No Importance for Toronto’s Acting Upstage Theatre Company. A member of the Stratford Festival for many years, he has appeared in over two dozen Shakespeare plays including: The Tempest, Coriolanus, Anthony and Cleopatra, Henry IV and Troilus and Cressida. He appeared as the Duke of Albany in New York’s Lincoln Centre production of King Lear and off Broadway in Much Ado About Nothing and The Miser, and has also appeared from coast to coast in many regional theatre productions. His musical theatre credits include Cabaret, West Side Story, Oliver and The Sound of Music for Neptune Theatre. He is the recipient of the William Needles Award for mentoring and a Tyrone Guthrie Award. Ian is delighted to be making his Resurgence Theatre Company debut.

ALISON DEON - as Martha, Ghost of Lilias, Mourner, various puppets (Mary, Mrs. Lennox, fox)

Alison Deon is thrilled to be a part of Resurgence Theatre’s tenth season. Recent theatre credits include: Shakespeare’s Youth (Theatre By The Bay), The Finger (Theatre PANIK), Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, and London Assurance (Stratford Festival), Miranda in The Tempest (Canopy Theatre) and Nightwood Theatre’s Emerging Actor Program. Film and television: The Wilkinsons (CMT), Sell (20th Century Fox) and the animated series Got2Go. Alison is a 2005 graduate of the George Brown Theatre School. "This one’s for Alice."

SHAUN McCOMB - as Dickon, Mourner, Puppet Barker

Shaun McComb is pleased to be joining Resurgence Theatre for the summer. He is a Guelph native, and a graduate of Humber College’s Theatre Performance program. Shaun is also a founding member of the Toronto-based Praxis Theatre, and is currently co-writing an adaptation of L’entranger by Albert Camus with Praxis Co-Artistic Director Simon Rice. Stranger was presented as a workshop in the spring of 2008 and will see full production in the late fall or early winter, in which Shaun also plays Raymond and Salamano. As an actor, Shaun has worked with CanStage, Buddies in Bad Times, Topological Theatre, Saidye Bronfman, Praxis Theatre and the Stratford Festival where he also completed the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training under principal David Latham.

NATHALIE TORIEL - as Mrs. Medlock

Nathalie Toriel has appeared as Jocasta in Oedipus for Equity Showcase Theatre, Raul Julia’s Romero and Shooting Penguins with the Summerworks Festival and co-wrote and performed as Frida Kahlo in Frida and Herself for the New York City Fringe Festival and Artword. She has also appeared in Girl Mom for the Hysteria Festival at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre; Tough, The Contract, Maya and From Mint Condition to Badly Used at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Selected film and television credits include: Flashpoint, Finn’s Girl, Mayday, Ambulance Girl directed by and starring Kathy Bates, This is Wonderland, recurring role as Pim on Train 48, Bliss, recurring role of Fern on Our Hero, The Associates, Télé-Litté, Leap Years, Twice in a Lifetime, and Below the Belt, which was nominated for a Genie and won the Inside Out Festival in 2000).

KEVIN WALKER - as Colin, Priest, various puppets (Officer, Captain, Servant, Robin)

Last summer, Kevin Walker appeared in Factory Theatre's production of George F. Walker's TOUGH!, which has just been nominated for two Dora Awards - one for Outstanding Production and the other for Best Performance Ensemble. Kevin is co-founder of The Bleecker Theatre Company and just recently played Richard in their production of Harold Pinter's The Lover. He has also directed several shows for the company, including Sam Shepard's The Unseen Hand, and Finer Noble Gases at SummerWorks in 2007, for which he was given a nod for Outstanding Direction. Kevin is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School.

LESLEY ABARQUEZ-BRADLEY - Stage Manager

Lesley Abarquez-Bradley is pleased to be returning for a second season with Resurgence. She has been a stage manager at the Canadian Opera Company (COC) for 12 years. Recent credits with the COC include: Stage Manager for Don Giovanni, Renard, The Bear / Swoon, Die Walkure and The Magic Flute. Assistant Stage Manager for The Barber of Seville, Tosca, Don Carlos, La Traviata and Faust. Lesley has also had the pleasure of stage managing productions for the University of Toronto Opera School, the Canadian Children’s Opera Chorus, Summer at the Roxy (Owen Sound), the Banff Centre for the Arts and the Queen of Puddings Music Theatre Company. Lesley is a graduate of the University of Toronto.

MICHAEL BERNARD - Sound Designer

Michael Bernard is pleased to bring to life the sounds of the secret garden! What better setting to do it than outside! Currently Michael is working as the SFX operator on Evil Dead: The Musical. As well he is a musician and singer and currently is enjoying a residency at the Cornerstone on College. Previous projects include various recording projects and performance work across the country. Enjoy the show!

RUSSELL FERRIE - Technical Assistant

JONATHAN ROOKE - Production Manager

Jonathan Rooke is thrilled to be back for a third fun-filled season with Resurgence in this beautiful setting. He has production managed for many companies over the years, most recently for Humber College's Theatre Program last year. He has been with Theatre Passe Muraille for four years as Technical Director and five as Production Manager. Other production management credits include: 36 Views (Actors Repertory Theatre), Science Fiction (River/Marquis), Muscle Memory (Theatre Viscera), Simon Heath’s 1002 Nights (The Shed Co.) and one fantastic season at the Regent Theatre in Picton, Ontario.

TIMUR SAKLICA - Assistant Technical Director

GRAEME SOMERVILLE - Puppet Designer

Graeme Somerville is delighted to be working once again with Resurgence, where he was last Assistant and then Associate Director for their productions of As You Like It, Romeo and Juliet, and The Tempest. He has spent the last six seasons as an actor in the ensemble of the Shaw Festival and has performed in theatres across Canada. Puppet-making for The Secret Garden is an excavation of skills dormant since his university days in Victoria, where he studied Stage Design and Directing, before transitioning to an acting focus at the National Theatre School of Canada.

ADRIENNE VRANCKAERT - Wardrobe Designer

Adrienne is pleased to be part of the design team for Resurgence’s 10th season. Her previous theatre credits include set and costume designer for Extremities (Surface Underground Theatre), Assistant Costume Designer for Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare in the Rough), Aladdin Jr. (Silvermist Productions), Crazy for You and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (Drayton Entertainment). Film and television credits include: art direction for A Taste of Shakespeare: Othello (Eugenia Educational Foundation) and Back in ’93 (Polenta Productions, BravoFact short film). Assistant Costume Designer for T.V. series Paradise Lost and Urban Legends (Nextfilm). Adrienne would like to thank her family and Rachel for their support.

LINDSAY C. WALKER - Set and Prop Designer

Originally from British Columbia, Lindsay Walker has been working as a set and costume designer in Ontario for the past six years. This is her first season with Resurgence Theatre Company. Lindsay’s recent credits include Winners; Cart/Horse Theatre, Macbeth; The Classical Theatre Project, The Drawer Boy, Animal Magnetism; The Georgian Theatre Festival. Upcoming projects include Twelfth Night; Resurgence Theatre, The Crackwalker; Staged and Confused Productions, South of China; George Brown College. Lindsay spent two seasons as Design Assistant at the Shaw Festival and was the Assistant Designer for both Into the Woods and South Pacific at the Stratford Festival. Lindsay was a recipient of a Tyrone Guthrie Award from the Stratford Festival in both 2005 and 2006. Her production of Macbeth (CTP) was nominated for a Best Production Dora in the Theatre for Young Audiences category.

MICHAEL WALTON - Lighting Designer

Recent design credits include: Hamlet (Stratford), ‘Night, Mother (Soulpepper), East of Berlin, Generous (Tarragon), The Full Monty (Rainbow), Sexy Laundry, Moonlight and Magnolias, Over the River and Through the Woods (Grand), Oliver!, This is How it Goes (Neptune), A Christmas Story (Theatre & Company), Blood Brothers, Opening Night (Theatre Aquarius), Tiny Dynamite (Theatre Smash), The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?, The Last Five Years (MTC), Hay Fever (Theatre Calgary), Perfect Pie (GCTC), The Lord of the Rings (Kevin Wallace/Mirvish Inc. - Associate Special Effects Designer, Toronto & London). Michael is originally from Winnipeg and is now living in Toronto.

2008 SEASON