Board

PARC member Azal Dosanjh (he/him) is a theatre artist from India, now residing in St. John’s, Newfoundland. His recent directing credits include “The Cherry Orchard’ (Shakespeare By The Sea”, “Oddities” (Güd Productions), “Sun in an Empty Room” (GroupHug Productions, 2021), “Lights Out” (Theatre Perimetric, 2021), “Relief” (Aariz Theatre, 2021). He has also worked with Perchance Theatre as Assistant Director on projects such as “Julius Caesar” (2019), “Hamlet” (2021), and also as a curator for “Power of One 2.0 – World Classics” (2021). He has trained with mentors such as Danielle Irvine (Perchance Theatre), Jillian Keiley (Artistic Fraud), and Richard Rose (Atlantic Repertory Company). Azal is currently adapting and developing a series of political satires originally written by Gursharan Singh, in a collection entitled “Tamasha.”

Leahdawn was born and raised on the west coast of Ktaqmkuk (Newfoundland), and is trained as an actor, writer, director, and dramaturge. They hold degrees in both Theatre and Sociocultural Studies from Memorial University. Their first full-length screenplay, Ruthless, was selected for a Newfoundland Arts and Letters prize in 2020. In 2021 they directed Petrina Bromley in Elizabeth Hicks’ one-woman short play, Hearty at Eighty, for PerSIStence Theatre. In 2021 they performed in Stephenville Theatre Festival in Meghan Greeley’s To the Girls, as well as the tour production in 2023. Their play, Stolen Sisters, premiered in 2022, featuring Order of Canada member Deantha Edmunds, and is historically grounded in the colonial experiences of Beothuk and Mi’kmaw women and girls. Stolen Sisters toured across Ktaqmkuk in 2023, Labrador in January 2024, and New Brunswick in April 2024. Recently, they performed Jude Benoit’s Not Worth Caring For as part of TODOS’ Confronting Unconscious Bias film series. Their most recent theatre work, Precariously Placed: Pandemic Monologues From The Edge, was researched and created with support from PerSIStence Theatre and York University. In May 2024 they directed their first film Sandy Point Pirates, for the CNA Digital Filmmaking Program. They currently work as the artistic curator for Indigenous Performing Arts NL. L’nuit. Tleiawit Nujio’qonik. (They are L’nu. They have family roots in St George’s Bay.)

Ruth Lawrence is a theatre and filmmaker based in St. John’s, NL. Ruth’s feature films include Little Orphans (Best Canadian Feature, Whistler Film Festival 2020), Hopeless Romantic (2018), and the award-winning comedy feature, Party Pirate (2024). Her documentaries A Lot of Love in the Room (2021) and Circus by Komatik (2019) have been featured on CBC Gem. She has directed, written, and/or produced over 70 short films and webisodes. She was Artistic Director of White Rooster Theatre from 2001-2023 and served as Artistic Associate of RCA Theatre from 2005-2008.

Ruth’s honours include the Joan Orenstein Best Actress Award, the RBC Michelle Jackson Award for Emerging Filmmaker, the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council’s Artist of the Year, the Queen’s Jubilee Medal, the YWCA Woman of Distinction, a WIFT-AT WAVE Award, the national Leslie Yeo Award for Volunteerism, and the inaugural Ross Leslie Award for her contributions to film and theatre.

Natalie Meisner is a poet and playwright who was born and raised on the Mi’kma’ki / South Shore of Nova Scotia and began her work in the indie theatre and spoken word poetry scenes of Halifax. After studying literature and theatre at Kings/ Dalhousie, she trained as an actor at the National Theatre School then headed west coast for a MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, and Ph.D at the University of Calgary. She has seven full length books in various genres to her name and was Calgary/ Mohkinstsis’ 5th Poet Laureate. She is a wife, a mom to two great boys, and a full professor of creative writing at Mount Royal University where she loves helping other writers find their voice.

 Her Books  It Begins In Salt

Speed Dating For Sperm Donors

BADDIE ONE SHOE

Legislating Love: The Everett Klippert Story

My Mommy, My Mama, My Brother & Me

Double Pregnant: Two Lesbians Make a Family

Growing Up Salty

Alison Crosby (she/her) is a theatre artist originally from Unama’ki / Cape Breton and currently based in Kjipuktuk / Halifax. Alison has been a fan of PARC’s work since her days as a student at Mount Allison University, where she completed her BA in Theatre Studies and first participated in PARC’s writing retreat with her collection of short plays titled  As If You Were Normal. Alison was the inaugural participant in Neptune Theatre’s INKubator program, in partnership with PARC, through which she developed her play In Lieu of Flowers. This show premiered as a part of Neptune’s 60th season, in partnership with the Highland Arts Theatre and was nominated for a TNS Robert Merritt Award. Alison is currently developing her next play, Irrelevant, with support from the Canada Council of the Arts.

PARC member Berni Stapleton (she/her) is a Newfoundland- Labrador writer and performer of unique distinction. She was just listed on the Playwrights Guild of Canada Sure Fire List of Top 23 plays from female playwrights in Canada (for The Pope and Princess Di). Her play Woman in a Monkey Cage was also listed. She is the recipient of the 2018 Arts and Letters award for best dramatic script. She is the recipient of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts to write her book for young Selkies and other creatures called: Girly Muckle and the Queer Hands. Her new one woman show is called Late Lesbians and Other Bloomers. She is one of the featured performers in the acclaimed Artistic Fraud production of Between Breaths.

She is a recipient of The Rhonda Payne award from Arts NL. She is a past recipient of the WANL award for best work in non-fiction for her contribution to the book They Let Down Baskets.(Published by Creative Book Publishing and co-created with the esteemed Chris Brookes and Jamie Lewis.) Her short stories and essays have appeared in Riddle Fence and The Newfoundland Quarterly. She is a recipient of the Ambassador of Tourism award from Hospitality NL. Berni was the Artistic Director of the Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival for 11 years. She has been a playwright-in- residence with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, Alberta Theatre Projects, CanStage, PARC, and other national companies. Her plays are regularly produced nationally and internationally. They include Offensive To Some, Brazil Square, The Haunting of Margaret Duley and Our Frances. Berni’s other books include This is the Cat and Rants, Riffs and Roars (Creative Publishing) and new works include Love, Life. Berni was dramaturge for and helped devise transVersing. Find out more by checking out latest projects, blogs, and the online shop at www.bernistapleton.com

Benton Hartley is the Artistic Director and Founder of Desert Island Theatre Company. Benton calls Charlottetown home, having been a part of the Island arts scene since arriving in 2009, as an actor, director, playwright, and – at times – improv comedian. Best known to audiences as a member of Popalopalots, Benton has also appeared as an actor in works as part of Vagabond Productions and Victoria Playhouse. A Graduate of George Brown Theatre School in April of 2019, Benton has since turned his attention to producing work through the Desert Island Theatre Company brand since August of 2019, most recently How It Happened, a play he co-wrote with Candace Hagen that premiered at the 2024 Island Fringe Festival in Charlottetown.

Plays by Catherine Banks (she/her) have been performed across Canada, Scotland, the US and Catalonia and include: Miss N’ Me; It Is Solved By Walking; Bone Cage; Three Storey, Ocean View; and Bitter Rose, which aired on Bravo! Canada. Her work has been described as poetic, darkly humorous, courageous, and beautifully theatrical. Bone Cage premiered in 2007, and went on to win the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama in 2008. It Is Solved By Walking won the Governor General’s Literary Award in 2012, was translated into Catalan by Tant per Tant, and was one of three Canadian plays to tour Catalonia in 2012. Catherine has adapted Ernest Buckler’s novel The Mountain and the Valley for the stage. Her play Downed Hearts is set to premiere in 2021 and she is working on a new play The King of Days. A film adaptation of Bone Cage directed by Taylor Olson was the reciept of four audience awards at FIN including Best Screenplay. Catherine has led playwriting classes at Dalhousie University and Sage Hill.

Alex Rioux is an emerging non-binary theatre artist, improviser, and educator based in Fredericton, New Brunswick. Their work focuses on using physical theatre to enhance traditional narratives to create rich and unique theatre experiences.

Most recently Alex was brought on as assistant director for Theatre New Brunswick’s 2021 Christmas production Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and directed the premiere production of Kaitlyn Adair’s I Hope You Can See the Birds with the Notable Acts Theatre Festival. Their debut creation piece Fruit Machine chronicles Canada’s gay military purge and utilizes physical theatre as the catalyst to examine this oppressive time in Canadian history, this piece was named one of Fredericton’s Best Productions of 2019 by Grid City Magazine

Alex also continues to spearhead The Plain Site Theatre Festival, New Brunswick’s first and only queer-centered theatre festival. This festival provides emerging artists and students the chance to have their scripts developed and be mentored by other queer artists at the top of their field.

Catherine O’Brien (she/her) is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Young at Heart Theatre. She served as Artistic Director for the Harbourfront Theatre Summer Festival for three seasons, and most recently, Interim Executive Director at the Kings Playhouse in Georgetown. She is an actor, director, writer and producer. Catherine has worked in theatres across Canada and spent several seasons performing in the Charlottetown Festival, most recently playing Rachel Lynde in Anne of Green Gables.
Young at Heart Theatre continues to support playwrights and works with PARC on the Fresh From the Island New Works Festival on PEI.

Hannah Lucas (she/they) is a multidisciplinary theatre creator based in Mi’kma’ki, and a human being who tries their best. Hannah has been involved with PARC for five years, and has loved every second of it. She worked as an intern from 2019 to 2022, as an actor for their 2023 Playwright’s Retreat, and has been a part of the PARC Board since 2023. Outside of the PARC, you can find Hannah performing with Festival by the Marsh, McSweeney’s Dinner Theatre and more. Hannah’s first (and only fully complete)
… for now!) play, The Wonderful Wanderer of Wenderville, premiered as a staged reading at the 2022 New Works Festival through Live Bait Theatre, and had it’s first production in the 2024 season of Festival by the Marsh. When she’s not onstage, Hannah teaches theatre for youth and plays Dungeons and Dragons – a magical theatresport in and of itself.

Melissa Mullen is a Nova Scotia born, PEI based playwright and actor. Her produced
plays Still Dancing (Ship’s Company Theatre) and Rough Waters (Neptune Theatre and Theatre PEI) were developed with assistance of PARC. She and husband Rob MacLean have co-written several plays, including Dear Mr. Keith (Theatre Yes and Magnetic
North), an adaptation of Sir Andrew Macphail’s The Master’s Wife, (PEI Heritage award winner), and The Man Who Saved the Songs. They were co-recipients of the 2020 PEI Distinguished Contribution to the Literary Arts award. She is a graduate of the National
Theatre School’s Acting Program.