For TIP: Debut

Bryce Kulak is a Toronto-based actor, singer, pianist, and composer; award-winning projects include stage works Nami Namersson, Bears, and La Casati, and the movie-musical The Man That Got Away, in which Bryce also starred. The film won the only monied prize for shorts at the Berlin International Film Festival and went on to screen and win awards at festivals worldwide. As a performer, Bryce has been seen across Canada for 25 years, including productions at Mirvish (The Lord of the Rings), Marquis Entertainment (2 Pianos 4 Hands), Theatre Aquarius (Billy Bishop Goes to War), The Citadel (Oliver!, The Music Man), and Theatre Calgary (Camelot). Bryce co-created and tours with Tom Allen’s chamber-musicals Bohemians in Brooklyn, The Judgment of Paris, From Weimar to Vaudeville, and The Missing Pages. Most recently he was pianist, composer, and music consultant for the English world premiere of To The Light at Alberta Theatre Projects, and for A Christmas Carol at Western Canada Theatre. As a young composer, Bryce was mentored by John Estacio. He made his debut as a singer-songwriter with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and has sung with the orchestra of the Banff Centre and the Kingston Symphony Orchestra. Bryce has played a series of sold-out cabarets at Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre; highlights are on their podcast. His albums Welcome, Tin Can Telephone, and The Man That Got Away are on iTunes. brycekulak.com

For TIP: Debut

Max Roll is a New York based actor born in the UK to International Concert Pianists Michael Roll and Juliana Markova. Max attended the Royal College of Music Junior Department studying Piano and Clarinet. After spending a year in Berlin, he eventually moved to the United States to study music at Queens College. After switching majors, Max was accepted to the Yale School of Drama from which he graduated in 2013. Since graduating Yale, Max has played Benedick in Much Ado About Nothing and Orsino in Twelfth Night both for RBL Theatre. Max toured the UK for Blackeyed Theatre Company as Jay Gatsby in a new adaptation of The Great Gatsby by Stephen Sharkey. This is Max’s second series of performances as Ted in 2 Pianos 4 Hands, having made his debut in the role at the Chemainus Theatre Festival last year. Max continues to workshop REDRUM: The Musical Parody of The Shining. Thank you to Dale Brown casting, Colin Rivers, my amazing wife Sarah, my parents, Bryce, and last but definitely not least, Richard and Ted for the magic.

For TIP:  2 Pianos 4 Hands (2001)

Richard was born in Montréal and received his acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. He has performed in theatres across Canada and abroad, as well as in feature films, television and radio. He has directed well over 120 productions for theatres across the country; the vast majority being original and/or Canadian works. As a writer, he wrote or co-wrote: 2 Pianos 4 Hands, Sibs (also made into a TV movie for the CBC), The Theory of Relatives, i.d., Letters from Lehrer, Care, and Soft Pedaling. 2 Pianos 4 Hands has played on five continents and in over 150 cities since it opened in 1996. Greenblatt himself has performed the play over 900 times across Canada, and in New York City, Washington D.C., London and Tokyo. His newest play is called Athabasca, co-written with David S. Craig, about Big Oil and climate change. He has taught acting, directing, and play creation at most of the theatre training institutions in Canada. He has also directed the premieres of many ground-breaking and award-winning plays for young audiences. Upcoming, he will be performing in Jani Lauzon’s play I Call Myself Princess at the Aki Studio, directing and dramaturging Hook Up, a new opera for Tapestry Opera, and directing Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle with the graduating students of George Brown College.

He has received numerous nominations for his work, and has won seven Dora Awards and two Chalmers Awards. He lives in Toronto with partner Tanya Greve and their daughter, Amelia, and is the proud father of Natasha, Will, and the dearly missed Luke Greenblatt.

For TIP: 2 Pianos 4 Hands (2001)

Ted has played leading roles on every major stage in Canada, and has directed dozens of award winning productions as well. His new musical, the smash hit Evangeline, was recently produced in Charlottetown PEI for a second season as well the Citadel Theatre in 2015/16. He is the Artistic Curator of Toronto’s hottest new indie theatre The Coal Mine, and a founding member of Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto where he has directed, acted, composed, and written for dozens of productions. He has received five Dora Awards, as well as Gemini, Merritt, Sterling, and Chalmers Awards, and has oodles of award nominations for acting, directing, composing, writing, and producing. Currently, he is the voice of Dad Tiger on Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood (PBS), and he will appear as Van Gogh in HBO’s upcoming Fahrenheit 451. He loves tennis, soccer, the Oilers (he accepts your sympathy) and being a dad to Rosie and Theo.

For TIP: Test Drive set lights and projection design; The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom Set and Lighting design; Assorted Candies lighting design; Old Love Set and Lighting Design; The Drowsy Chaperone Set and Lighting Design; The Drowning Girls Set and Lighting Design; and 2 Pianos 4 Hands (2001).

For 30 years Steve has designed award winning sets and lighting for more than 400 productions of theatre, dance and performance art. His work has been seen all across Canada, the United States, the UK, Europe and Scandinavia, as well as Russia, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. He has been nominated for several of Canada’s most prestigious awards including the Simonvitch Prize in Theatre and thirty-one Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, which he has won 4 times.

For TIP: Debut

Andrea Baggs is a Toronto based freelance stage manager, raised in London, Ontario. Baggs moved to Toronto to complete her BFA from the Ryerson Theatre School in Performance Production and has taken to calling Toronto her home ever since. Recent Theatre Credits: Stage Manager: The Drawer Boy (Theatre Passe Muraille), Rumpsringa Break! (Marigon Productions: Next Stage Theatre Festival); Freedom Singer (West Coast National Tour), Weekend Comedy (Orillia Opera House); Charlotte: A Tri-coloured Play With Music (Toronto; Taiwan, Taipei Tour); Banana Boys (Factory Theatre); The Sound of Music (Opera on the Avalon); Assistant Stage Manager: Constellations, Hamlet/All’s Well That End’s Way, Botticelli in the Fire/ Sunday in Sodom, Domesticated, Tragedy of Caesar/Comedy of Errors (Canadian Stage Company); 2 Pianos 4 Hands (Marquis Entertainment)

For TIP: Debut

This is Alysse’s first production with TIP and Marquis Entertainment. She is a Bachelor of Music graduate from the Queen’s School of Music. Since graduating, she has been involved in the theatre community in Kingston, notable projects including Chicago with Blue Canoe (Stage Manager), Venus and Fur with Theatre Kingston (Apprentice Stage Manager), Cloudburst with the Reelout Film Festival (Stage Manager) and UNFAMILIAR with the Juvenis Festival (Stage Manager). Alysse would like to thank TIP and Marquis Entertainment for this exciting and challenging opportunity.