Beatriz is a writer/director /actor and the artistic director of Aluna Theatre: a leading company that creates, develops, produces and presents artistically innovative and culturally diverse performance work, with a focus on Latin Canadian and women artists. Beatriz has written and directed a trilogy of plays about women and war in Colombia (For Sale, Madre, La Comunión) that has received a total of 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards and 13 nominations. Beatriz has been recognized with the prestigious John Hirsh Prize from the Canada Council for the Arts. The jury said: “Beatriz Pizano is one of the most important directorial innovators in a landscape of new developing artists in Canada. We recognize her ability to galvanize her community into productive, proactive commitment to process and production. She is guided by a strong directorial vision that is continually expanding her breadth of theatrical knowledge.” “Colombian-born Beatriz Pizano is one of Canada’s important Latin-Canadian writer/directors” Paula Citron The New Classical 96.3 FM   photo by Victor Yeung

William Yong was trained at the London Contemporary Dance School in England and was admitted to the Master of Arts with distinction. In the last year of his MA study, he was sent alone for his secondment to study with the Nederlands Dans Theatre 1 in the Netherlands. Previous dance companies he worked with included Wayne McGregor’s Random Dance, Matthew Bourne’s Adventure in Motion Pictures, Toronto Dance Theatre, CORPUS, Theatre Rusticle, Fila 13 and many others independent choreographers. William has performed in eleven dance films including his latest film ‘To Fly or Fall’ directed by Kathi Prosser. He was also profiled in an episode of the Bravo TV documentary ‘Freedom’ as a choreographer. Currently William is the artistic director and choreographer of Zata Omm Dance Projects (www.zataomm.org). William is a double Dora Mavor Moore Award nominee. His 2009 nomination was for ‘Outstanding New Choreography’ for Zata Omm’s production Frames. Zata Omm’s new production Eight Ways From Mara will be premiered at the Harbourfront Centre’s Enwave Theatre on Danceworks’ Mainstage in October 2011.   photo by David Hou

William Lau was born in Hong Kong and raised in Montreal. A graduate from York University’s Master of Fine Arts Program in Dance, he was trained in both Chinese traditional dance and Western classical ballet. Presently, William specialized in the art of Peking Opera and had performed nationally and internationally with critical acclaims. He had also pushed the boundaries of traditional arts practices by collaborating with professional artists of different artistic disciplines and diverse cultural backgrounds. With a deep passion for the arts, his professional experience includes artist, arts administration, producer, and researcher. Mr. Lau also founded the Little Pear Garden Collective in 1994, a collective of artists committed to preserving and promoting Chinese performing arts in Canada. www.littlepeargarden.com   photo by Yong Zhen Wang

Alice is an acclaimed Chinese Canadian composer/pianist dedicated to new music. She is a recipient of numerous awards such as the Winnipeg Symphony New Music Festival Composers Competition, Martin Hunter Artists Award, International League of Women Composers Competition, and Luxembourg International Composition Prize. Her works have been performed by many major orchestras and ensembles including China National Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, Esprit Orchestra; Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg Symphony; Amsterdam’s Nieuw Ensemble, Penderecki String Quartet, Polish Radio Choir, and Luxembourg Sinfonietta. She has a new solo CD Ming ( Centrediscs label) featuring music for percussion. Upcoming highlights including performances of her orchestral work Ice Path by the Toronto Symphony; new commissioned works for Toronto New Music Concerts, Amici Chamber Music Ensemble, Duo Concertante, Ottawa 13 Strings, and Toronto Masque Theatre. Ms. Ho holds a Bachelor of Music degree in composition with high distinction from Indiana University and a Master of Music degree in composition from the University of Toronto.www.alicepingyeeho.com   photo by Loren Forsythe

Trevor is a Toronto-based Scenographer, designing sets, lighting, and video for performance with independent artists. He is Artistic Producer of Aluna Theatre, and in 2010 was Designer-in-Residence at the Theatre Centre. He directed, designed, and dramaturged Nohayquiensepa (No one knows) for Aluna. He has collaborated with: Modern Times (Hallaj, Waiting for Godot, The Sheep and the Whale), Jumblies Theatre (Like An Old Tale, A Bridge of One Hair), Lisa Marie DiLiberto (Tale of a Town – Queen St. West), Alameda Theatre (The Intruder, Refugee Hotel), Christopher Stanton (Elora Gorge), Marie-Josée Chartier (Stria), Ame Henderson’s publicrecordings (300 Tapes, relay, /dance/songs/), Sasha Ivanochko (Future Memory Heartbreak Junction), Dancemakers (Double Bill #1 and #2), Aluna Theatre (La Comunión, Madre, For Sale), Buddies in Bad Times (Silicone Diaries), Small Wooden Shoe (Dedicated to the Revolutions), Susie Burpee, Meagan O’Shea, Obsidian, Taragon, Unspun Theatre, and others. He has 3 Dora Awards for his work (of 11 career nominations), a Harold award, and a Childrens’ Choice award for Best use of Lighting. Upcoming: Aluna’s Architecture of Terrorism, Liza Balkan’s Out the Window, and Evan Weber’s Ajax. www.trevschwell.blogspot.com

Previous credits include: Peter and the Wolf, Birnam Wood, April 14, 1912 and The Stronger Variations (Theatre Rusticle) The Atomic Weight of Happiness (Standup Dance), paper SERIES (Cahoots Theatre Projects); lady in the red dress and Banana Boys (fu-Gen); Wasted on the Young (Humber College); Nearly Lear (Susanna Hamnett w/ The New Victory Theatre NY, NY); 9 Parts of Desire (Seventh Stage); Night (Human Cargo/NAC); Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, Giiwedin, Salt Baby, Death of a Chief, A Very Polite Genocide, Annie Mae’s Movement and The Unnatural and Accidental Women (Native Earth Performing Arts); The Ecstasy of Rita Joe (Western Canada Theatre/NAC); My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (Mirvish Productions). She has been nominated for nine Dora Mavor Moore Awards and has received three. In 2008 she received the Pauline McGibbon Award. photo by R. Kelly Chipperton

Victoria has been designing sets and costumes for many companies across Canada – Favorites include: Theatre Smith Gilmore (Chekhov Longs, Ward 6, Chekhov’s Heartache) Theatre Columbus (Dance of The Red Skirts, And up they Flew, Happy Days)
Soulpepper (American Buffalo, John Gabriel Borkman. Saltwater moon), Factory Theatre (A Short History of Night, Geometry in Venice) and Canadian Opera Company Ensemble (The Bear/ Swoon) She has designed costumes for Young Peoples Theatre, The Stratford Festival and Edmonton Opera, among others. Opera work includes assisting Michael Levine on productions at the Vienna State Opera, Metropolitain Opera, and Opera Lyon as well as associate costume design for Canadian Opera Companys’ Ring Cycle.

Ric has worked as a dramaturge and director for 30 years at theatres ranging from Mulgrave Road through Necessary Angel, Tarragon, Factory, Buddies in Bad Times, fu-GEN, Modern Times, and theatre gargantua to the Stratford Festival. He most recently dramaturges Body 13 for the MT Space at the IMPACT 11 Festival, Monique Mojica’s Chocolate Woman Dreams the Milky Way for the Chocolate Woman Collective, and Jovanni Sy’s Dora-nominated A Taste of Empire for Cahoots Theatre, and is currently working on upcoming productions with Carlos Bulosan Theatre and Cahoots Theatre Company. He is Professor of Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, co-editor of Theatre Journal, former editor of Modern Drama and Canadian Theatre Review, and award-winning author or editor of fifteen books on theatre and performance including his most recent book, Theatre & Interculturalism.

Alex graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Political Science from the University of Toronto with the goal of being a human rights lawyer instead he became a documentary photographer who focuses on human rights issues. Though he also does work in other genres and issues, his focus is on stories that involve the relationship between his country of birth (the Philippines) and his country of upbringing and citizenship (Canada). His photography has been featured in publications and exhibitions in Canada, the USA, Italy, Australia, and the Philippines. His work has been published and/or exhibited by Amnesty International, CARE-Canada, Oxfam-Australia, NOW magazine, The Toronto Star, This Magazine, Red Bull Entertainment, the Immaginario Scientifico museum in Trieste, and others.He has also had articles written in the Toronto Star, This Magazine, and on a variety of online blogs. In his regular visits to the Philippines he has worked with local and international NGOs around human rights issues. In 2010 he received an Ontario Arts Council grant to work on a documentary and photo project in the Philippines. In 2009 he won honourable mention at the 2009 National Magazine Award for Photojournalism for a photo essay and story on the negative effects of Canadian mining corporations in the Philippines. alexfelipe.info/about

Theatre companies Doug has worked as a PM/TD include:  Volcano Theatre, Obsidian Theatre, Adonis Productions,  Modern Times, Factory Theatre, Blyth Festival, RBC festival of Classics, Native Earth Preforming Arts,  Fringe of Toronto Festival, Summerworks Festival,The Exchange Rate Collective, Pleiades Theatre, Alameda Theatre Company, Human Cargo, Acting Upstage Theatre Company, The Company Theatre, Theatre Panik, Actors Repertory Company, Crows Theatre, Theatre Smash. Doug is the Production Manager/Technical Director for George Brown