Cast

• Julia Nish-LapidusCo-Artistic Director, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare BASH’d
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Julia Nish-Lapidus

Co-Artistic Director, St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Shakespeare BASH’d

Julia Nish-Lapidus is a director, Dora-nominated actor, educator, and producer, as well as Co-Artistic Director of both the St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival and Toronto’s award-winning Shakespeare BASH’d. This summer she’ll be directing R&J and Joni, a musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s play featuring the music of Canadian icon Joni Mitchell.

• Jay HavensAssistant Professor, University of Waterloo
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Jay Havens

Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo

Jay Havens (he/him/they) is a multi-media 2Spirit artist, educator, and collaborator of Kanien’keha:ka and Scottish ancestry. They are a research-practitioner working in scenography for set, costume and site-specific design for performance, murals, projection mapping, gallery, installation and public artwork. They are a tenure-track professor in the Department of Communication Arts at UW and a proud citizen of the Mohawk, Bear Clan from Six Nations of the Grand River.

• Chris MurphyMusician
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Chris Murphy

Musician

Chris Murphy has been a professional musician for over 25 years. An accomplished singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist, Chris has had the opportunity to perform across Canada and the United States, as well as Ireland, Australia, and China. When he is not performing solo or with his Kingston, Ontario-based band Turpin’s Trail, he is a highly sought-after accompanist, having toured with Séan McCann (formerly of Great Big Sea) and presently with 4-time Juno Award-winning singer/songwriter David Francey.

• Keith BarkerDirector of the Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program, Stratford Festival
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Keith Barker

Director of the Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program, Stratford Festival

Keith Barker is a Métis artist from Northwestern Ontario. He is the Director of the Foerster Bernstein New Play Development Program at the Stratford Festival, the former Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts. An award-winning playwright, actor, and director, Keith is the recipient of the Johanna Metcalf Prize, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, and the Playwrights Guild of Canada’s Carol Bolt Award. He was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama in 2018 for his play, This Is How We Got Here. Keith received the Saskatchewan and Area Theatre Award for Achievement in Playwriting for The Hours That Remain and a Yukon Arts Award for Best Art for Social Change. Recent Directing Credits include, This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth Performing Arts); and The Art of War (Stratford Festival). Keith’s play, Raised by Women will be published in the Fall of 2026.

• Colin Rivers Vice President, Marquis Entertainment
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Colin Rivers

Vice President, Marquis Entertainment

Colin River is co-owner of Marquis Entertainment and Marquis Literary. Marquis Literary is the largest literary agency in Canada and the operational hub for the representation and promotion of playwrights/composers/lyricists within Canada and international markets.

• Dr. Thea Fitz-JamesAssistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan
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Dr. Thea Fitz-James

Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan

Thea Fitz-James teaches theatre history, acting and directing at the University of Saskatchewan. Her research looks at the material body in contemporary performance with a focus on gendered femme or queer bodies and grassroots or community-driven Canadian stages, specifically Canadian Fringe Festivals. Thea is a feminist performance artist with a solo theatre practice; she holds a PhD in theatre and performance studies from York University, has over 15 years’ experience in arts administration, and delights when theory and practice rub shoulders in the classroom and the rehearsal room.

• Brett ChristopherManaging Artistic Director, Thousand Islands Playhouse
• Stephanie FungApprentice Director, Women of the Fur Trade
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Stephanie Fung

Apprentice Director, Women of the Fur Trade

Stephanie Fung (they/she) is an interdisciplinary performance artist based in Toronto, Canada.

A performer, writer, director, dramaturg, producer, and critic—they are particularly influenced by the grotesque, subversive and counter-cultural.

They graduated from Queen’s University in 2020 with a BAH in Drama and Indigenous Studies. They also hold a post-graduate certificate in Screenwriting & Narrative Design from George Brown College.

Stephanie is honoured to receive the 2023 Nathan Cohen Award for Outstanding Emerging Critic, and to co-facilitate the Toronto Fringe’s New Young Reviewers program with theatre scholar/professor Signy Lynch every year! They are also one of the newest members of the Toronto Theatre Critics Award and a former juror for the Dora Mavor Moore Awards.