Staff

Biography

Santiago Guzmán (he/they) is an award-winning playwright, dramaturge, performer, and director originally from Metepec, Mexico, now based in St. John’s, NL. He is the Artistic Director of TODOS Productions in St. John’s, NL, and the Artistic Associate for the pan-Atlantic organization Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre. He is a proud member of The Quilted Collective and Playwrights Canada Press’s inaugural editorial committee.
Santiago’s work as a writer aims to put local, under-represented narratives and characters on the frontlines, whilst inviting audiences to appreciate the vibrancy of Newfoundland and Labrador from a diverse perspective.
Their work has been supported, developed and/or produced by theatre companies and festivals such as TODOS Productions (NL), Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre Company (NL), White Rooster Theatre (NL), Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland (NL), Poverty Cove Theatre Company (NL), Rising Tide Theatre (NL), Neighbourhood Dance Works (NL), Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Eastern Front Theatre (NS), PARC (pan-Atlantic), Ship’s Company Theatre (NS), Theatre New Brunswick (NB), Boca Del Lupo (BC), Paprika Festival (ON), Banff Playwrights Lab (AB) and the National Theatre School of Canada’s Art Apart Program (QC).
Santiago’s play Urn received the Senior Dramatic Script Award of the Newfoundland and Labrador 2022 Arts and Letters Awards & was shortlisted for the NLCU Fresh Fish Award 2022. Most recently, Santiago has been short-listed for PGC’s inaugural John Palmer Award 2022.
As a dramaturge, Santiago has focused on supporting equity-seeking, emerging writers to tell their stories, as there is a need in our community to see these stories on stage. Through his theatre company, TODOS Productions, he has supported several pieces in development alongside Robert Chafe in the 2020 and 2021 TODOS’ Writing Unit. They have participated as lead and assistant dramaturge at PARC’s 2021, 2022, and 2023 Playwrights’ Retreat (pan-Atlantic), and has offered dramaturgical support through PARC’s Home Delivery program. Santiago was the dramaturge for the Fundy Fringe Festival in NB in 2020 and Plain Site Festival (NB) in 2021 and has offered dramaturgical support to Theatre New Brunswick (NB). He co-dramaturged with Natércia Napoleão CAHOOTS Theatre’s Playwrights Unit (ON), Hot House Crossing in 2022, and recently was a dramaturge of the 2023 Women’s Work Festival (NL). Santiago worked with Halifax Theatre for Young People as a dramaturge on Newcomers: Stories of Refugee and Immigrant Children.As an immigrant, queer, and artist of colour, Santiago believes that representation matters.

Santiago is thrilled to be able to continue supporting the growth of PARC moving forward and learn how can the organization best serve its membership while nurturing the voices of writers at all points in their careers.
www.sguzman.ca

Biography

Lara Lewis (she/her) is a queer Mi’kmaw theatre artist living along Kjipuktuk who works primarily as an actor, dramaturge, administrator, and occasional writer. Her relationship with PARC began in early 2020, and she has been mentored by dramaturges including prior Artistic Director Pam Halstead, Natasha MacLellan, Jenny Munday, Richie Wilcox, and Ann-Marie Kerr. Through her work as an independent dramaturge or her work with PARC, Lara has worked with dozens of writers in and from all four Atlantic provinces. You may remember her as the girl who kept asking “but where are all the Indians?” in that one Home Delivery you prefer not to think about. In addition to independent work and her work with PARC, Lara has been a dramaturge with NotaBle Acts Theatre Festival, Playwrights Workshop Montreal, Theatre New Brunswick’s Fall Festival of New Plays, and ZeeZee Theatre’s Queer and Trans Playwrights Unit.
In addition to dramatirgical work, Lara has worked as an actor or deviser with Theatre New Brunswick, Eastern Front Theatre, Nestuita’si Storytelling, Solo Chicken Productions, Villains Theatre, and Zuppa. In 2022, she was Festival Antigonish’s Emerging Indigenous Artist in Residence, and was part of the 2022/23 Nightwood Theatre Write From the Hip cohort.
Lara lives in a lovely home with some gays and her black cat named Lou.

Biography

Bruce Klinger (he/him) has been working in Atlantic Canada’s arts community for over thirty years. He worked in many capacities at Neptune Theatre before becoming that company’s General Manager in 1988.

He spent 10 years as General Manager of Neptune Theatre and saw the organization through the building of their new $13.5 million facility from the early planning stages to completion.

After leaving Neptune he opened his own business as an arts management consultant and has assisted organizations with the creation of business plans, strategic plans, and governance policies. He has also served as a management and capital project consultant as well as assisting in the creation of Theatre Nova Scotia and in the development of the Nova Scotia Theatre Sector Strategy. He was one of the three founding consultants of the Strategic Arts Management Society, a not-for-profit society with a mission to provide Nova Scotia’s artists and arts organizations top quality mentoring, management and administrative resources at affordable, subsidized rates.

From 2009-2017 he ran Valley Summer Theatre, a professional theatre company based in Wolfville, Nova Scotia that he founded that featured classic works of theatre from the Canadian and International canons.

Biography

Emily Atkinson is a professional actor and dancer from Amherst, Nova Scotia. She started her professional dance training at the age of eleven with The Royal Winnipeg Ballet School’s Professional Division. She then later joined the School of Contemporary Dancers Professional Program for post-secondary training in contemporary dance. During her time training in Winnipeg, she had the opportunity to dance with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company (RWB) in Jordan Morris’s, Défile, as well as multiple seasons of RWB’s annual outdoor production, Ballet in the Park. Emily was an original member of RWB’s contemporary dance initiative, the Summer Dance Collective, led by internationally recognized indigenous choreographer and dancer Cameron Fraser-Monroe. Emily has a BA in acting from the University of Winnipeg’s Theatre and Film program, she furthered her theatre studies with a specialization in Practical Aesthetics acting and script analysis technique from Atlantic Acting School’s two and half year conservatory program in New York City. During her time in New York City, she had the opportunity to perform at Atlantic Theatre Company’s Off-Broadway Theatre, Atlantic Stage Two as Charlotte Lucas in Pride and Prejudice by Kate Hamil and Madame Papillon in Rhinoceros by Eugene Ionesco. Since her recent return to Nova Scotia, Emily has been performing with Live Bait Theatre Company, most notably as the lead character in the world premiere of Scape by Mark Blagrave. As well as being an actor and dancer Emily freelances as a dance teacher, choreographer, and movement director and remains curious about the creative ways we can combine theatre and dance in self-expression, storytelling and collaborative exploration.

Biography

Jena McLean (she/they) is a queer playwright and dramaturge who recently lectured at St. Thomas University. Recent plays include Like Confetti, How to Give Yourself a [Redacted], and MFG (Magical Fat Girl). Recent dramaturgy credits include Hilary Wheeler’s The List, Jessie Walker’s Horse Girls, and Mara Teare’s Sad Girls Watch the Princess Bride. Jena’s work explores life’s grey areas, personalizes the political, and aims to empower people to feel seen in theatre.

Biography

Maika E. Branch (She/Her) is a writer and performer from Moncton, NB. Currently studying English literature and theatre at Mount Allison University, she loves storytelling in all shapes and forms, drawing inspiration from nature, identity, and the messy gift of human connection. In 2024 she was the overall and audience-choice winner for the PARC U-Compete Competition.