Amber Bissonnette

Amber Bissonnette is an Edmonton-based performer/choreographer. Her choreography has been seen in such productions as The Seventh Circle, The Pajama Game, A Christmas Carol: The Musical, Chicago, Suessical The Musical and Rent: The School Edition. Select theatre performance credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mayfield Theatre), The Winter’s Tale Project (Off Off Broadway Orange Bus Productions), The Leisure Society (Theatre Network), Follies in Concert (Plain Janes), A Chorus Line (Stage West Calgary) Cheerleader!, Pulling Down, Breaking Face (Human Loser), Poki Talks (Teatro La Quindicina) Marie Christine, Company, A Little Night Music (Grant MacEwan) and West Side Story (Stage Polaris). Amber has performed with local dance companies Free Fall Dance and Vinok World Dance and has collaborated/performed in Dancefest @ Nextfest and Expanse Movement Festival.

Andrea Boyd

Andrea Boyd is a director, theatre educator and playwright. Directing credits include: Molly (Edmonton Fringe Festival) After Juliet, (Citadel Theatre, Teens @ The Turn), Seussical the Musical (Keyano College) The Paper Bag Princess & Other Stories, Playwrights Cabaret and Listen to the Wind (The Grand Theatre) Kingfisher Days (Covenant Theatre) One Flea Spare (Studio Theatre, U of A), The Tempest, Stone and Ashes (Media Room, U of A), Woyzeck, All Fall Down, The Journey, Kid Sister (Found Productions), My Fair Lady, Good Night Desdamona, Good Morning Juliet (Champlain College). She completed her MFA in Directing at the U of A in 2006. Upcoming: The Blue Light at Keyano Theatre.

Andrea currently teaches in the drama department at the University of Alberta and at The Citadel Theatre. While in Montreal she taught at Champlain College, Concordia University, Willingdon Elementary School, Lower Canada College, Geordie Theatre School & Found Productions, and she also taught in Southern Ontario at Centauri Camp of the Arts.

Shannon Boyle

Shannon Boyle has been teaching and adjudicating for over 22 years. She received her BFA (Acting) and BMus degrees from the University of Alberta and has appeared in local productions as well as independent films. She has a thriving voice and piano studio and also teaches Rocker Girl Camps, Drama and Musical Theatre camps during the school holidays. She loves to share her passion for the arts with up-and-comers of all ages!

Michele Brown

Michele Brown graduated with a BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta in 1981 and has worked as an actor, musician, guest instructor and acting coach since that time. Michele has most recently performed in The Office Tower Tales and Death’s Godson, a piece she co-wrote words and music for with Paul Morgan Donald for Edmonton’s Fringe Festival. She has toured Alberta extensively and performed across the country and abroad in a number of productions including the multi-award winning November Theatre production of The Black Rider, which toured Western Canada and was later invited to the 2006 Magnetic North Festival in St. John’s Newfoundland and Spring Alibi, a play written by Linda Wood Edwards, which was invited to Washington D.C.’s inaugural Fringe Festival in 2006. Recently she traveled to Torino, Italy where she performed in Should’ve, a play written by Nobel Laureate Dr. Roald Hoffmann, which also traveled to Vancouver in March of 2008. Nominated for three consecutive Edmonton Sterling Awards — Fringe Category, she received a Sterling Award in 2002 for her work in Ken Brown’s adaptation of The Old Curiosity Shop.

This is Michele’s eighth year at the Foote Theatre School and she also works as a guest instructor in the Drama departments of the Univeristy of Alberta, Red Deer College, Portage College and the Free Will Festival’s Camp Shakespeare.

Ashley Butler

Born and raised in Edmonton, Ashley Butler became involved in theatre through the world of dance. The majority of her training was achieved at the Edmonton Dance Centre. She has had several opportunities to tour and perform around the world with both Viter and Volya Ukrainian Dance Troupes. She graduated from Grant MacEwan with her Early Childhood Development and Theatre Arts diplomas. Her biggest highlight of the TA program was being a part of Stewart Lemoine’s original cast of The Addlepated Nixie. Along with teaching at FTS, Ashley has also been teaching at Edmonton Community Dance since 2003.

Ellen Chorley

Ellen Chorley is an Edmonton-based theatre  and graduate of  MacEwan Theatre Arts working as a playwright, producer, actor, singer and theatre instructor. Favorite acting credits include The Piper (Downstage), I’m Sticking With Keifer (Mostly Water Theatre/ Indie 5), Grease (Stage West Calgary), Nunsense (Canadiana Productions Canmore), Full of Hot Air (Evergreen Theatre), Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (Centre Stage Theatre Calgary), 297 performances of Cinderella (Alberta Opera) and the Betty Mitchell Award nominated Bat Boy: The Musical (Mob Hit Productions). As a playwright, favorite credits include Bohemia Perso (NextFest Mainstage), Bridezilla and Good Girls Don’t (Mob Hit Productions), The Too Tall Princess and Cinderella the Wizard (Promise Productions), Big Winner (Hope in Elle Productions), Mixed Up (a play about teen violence co-written with three other playwrights) and Emma Burden (an original adult fairy tale produced by Mob Hit Productions ).

Ellen is the Head of Story/ Playwright in Residence for Calgary’s Mob Hit Productions and is the Artistic Producer behind Hope in Elle Productions and Promise Productions (theatre for young people). Ellen was nominated for the Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor’s Evening for the Arts in 2008.

Crystal Hanson

Crystal Hanson has been teaching Musical Theatre classes at the Foote Theatre School for over 8 years. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree (with Distinction) and runs her own vocal studio in St. Albert. She is a member of NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing). She continues to further her own personal training in the performing arts and focuses on voice, drama and movement. Crystal has toured throughout Western Canada in various musical productions. She has had the good fortune to work in one production based out of Prague, Czech Republic. She worked with the Alberta Opera for 4 touring seasons and played a large role in creating and directing the Alberta Opera’s Artist in Residency Program. She currently is working on developing a new Artist in Residency Program. 

She was a member of the Edmonton-based show band Shakin Not Stirred for 8 years and is currently involved in new musical projects. She also runs an Event Planning/ Entertainment Agency in her free time!

Binaifer Kapadia

Binaifer Kapadia is a musician who has worked extensively in theatre as a composer, musical director, teacher, and pianist/keyboardist. She has also composed and performed music for radio drama, short film and video.

Annette Loiselle

Annette Loiselle is a professional actor and instructor and has been teaching with the Foote Theatre School at the Citadel for 15 years. She has taught ages 4 to 20 at the Citadel and this year is teaching Explore Acting, the intermediate Adult Acting class. For the past 3 seasons Annette has lead the Citadel’s Teen Acting Company now known as the Young Company, directing their productions of Vinegar Tom, by Caryll Churchill, Unity 1918, by Kevin Kerr, and last year, an adaptation of Shelter by Simon Bent, all for the Teens at the Turn Festivals. Annette has also taught, coached and directed at the King's University College and the University of Alberta. She is a founding member and Artistic Associate of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival and is their Director for Youth Programming. She developed Camp Shakespeare for the Festival and more recently created performance opportunities for teens with a Spring Training program called the Dream Team. Currently she is working towards bringing Freewill Shakespeare into the schools, taking it out of the heads and into the hearts of a broader range of students.

As an actor, Annette has performed in most seasons of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival since 1989. Favorite roles include, Portia, Kate, Titania, Beatrice Rosalind, Hermione, and Queen Elizabeth. For the Citadel she is again performing in A Christmas Carol for the 10^th Anniversary season and last season was seen in Julius Caesar. She has also performed with Workshop West Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Northern Light Theatre, and L’Unitheatre in Edmonton,  plus Alberta Theatre Projects and Shakespeare in the Park in Calgary. Favorite productions include Rabbit Hole, The Last Train, Bloody Poetry, My One and Only and Homesick. In January 2010 Annette will be leaving Edmonton to live, work, and learn with her husband and 4 children in a developing country for a year.

Barbara Mah

Barbara Mah has been a director/actor/choreographer/playwright for over 20 years. She came to the theatre through the world of dance where she toured across Canada with the dance troupe Kompany. Recent directing highlights include: A Chorus Line (Festival Players) and Sweet Charity (Walterdale Theatre). Performance highlights include: The Laramie Project (Pets Productions), Broadway Babies (Kompany!), A Chorus Line (Festival Players), Rocky Horror Show (Walterdale), The Wiz, The World Goes Round (ELOPE) and Grapes of Wrath (Studio Theatre).

She has studied extensively in both New York and Los Angeles. Barbara also appears occasionally on screen. She can be seen in full Star Trek regalia weekly on ACCESS discussing the finer points of Star Trek. When not working in the theatre, Barbara is an Arts Consultant for the Arts Branch and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts.

Amy Neufeld

Amy Neufeld is an actor, director and writer in Edmonton. She has a BA in English Literature from Wilfrid Laurier University and a diploma in Theatre Arts from Grant MacEwan College. Amy has taught a variety of different drama programs for the City of Kitchener, the City of Edmonton, Camp Shakespeare with the Free Will Players, the Foote Theatre School and Theatre Prospero.

Originally from Ontario, Amy is happy to now call Edmonton her home.

Anna Paquin

Anna Paquin has spent the last five years studying drama with wonderful professors at the University of Alberta, where she studied acting, directing, playwriting, production, history and dramatic theory. She has been a proud contributor and employee of the Citadel in various capacities since 2004. Acting credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream for the University of Alberta, Desire Caught by the Tail for the Media Room at the University of Alberta and Walterdale Theatre’s Steel Magnolias. Anna is a former Foote Theatre School student and is excited and privileged to be instructing.

Angela Richter

Angela Richter was born in Edmonton, Alberta and developed her passion for theatre back in junior high. She has acted in many productions including A Midsummer Night's Dream, Annie, The Bald Soprano and Vinegar Tom. As her passion for the theatre developed she also has done work behind the scenes as stage manager, costume designer, lighting and sound operator, as well as director and production manager for her 2006 Fringe show Counting the Ways by Edward Albee. Angela is currently working as a junior high school teacher and is thrilled to share in the magic of theatre at the Citadel once again this summer!

Kate Ryan

Kate Ryan has worked for over 15 years as a Professional Actor and Teacher and Director. A graduate of University of Alberta’s Fine Arts program, Kate has taught and directed Musical Theatre at The Citadel, Grant MacEwan College, Dramaworks and several junior and high schools in the city. As an actor Kate has worked with numerous theatre companies including The Citadel (A Christmas Carol, Peter Pan and Hello Dolly) The Mayfield Theatre (The Sound of Music, Oklahoma and Carousel) Teatro La Quinidinca (The Exquisite Hour, Damp Fury) and Northern Light Theatre (Water’s Daughter). She has also developed several cabarets and the 1940s review The Swingin’ Sisters Club which toured across Western Canada.

Kate has studied vocal technique and performing here in Edmonton, Toronto and New York City. She has received Sterling awards for best actress and supporting actress as well as an Ampia award for leading actress for her work in the film 1132 Pleasant Street. Kate is very proud of Edmonton’s thriving theatre community and is excited to be apart of the growth of our future performers. (www.kaybridge.ca)

Liana Shannon

Liana Shannon is a local actor and acting coach in both film and theatre. She is seen regularly in commercials (both nationally and provincially), independent films, industrials, local theatre and most recently in a role on an episode of the series Fear Itself on NBC.

In 2007 Liana returned to Edmonton after a year and a half in Vancouver and L.A. studying advanced film acting. In L.A. she studied at the Ivana Chubbuck Acting Studio and in Vancouver she studied at the Second Ave. Studio and took numerous workshops with leading casting directors and coaches, while also performing in theatre in Vancouver.

Liana’s previous acting training came from the Etobicoke School of the Arts, the Academy of Theatre Arts (Toronto), the University of Guelph, (where she received her BA and her MA in Drama), and countless workshops. Some of her Edmonton stage credits include: Metamorphoses (The Citadel Theatre), Afterplay and Ashes to Ashes at the Edmonton Fringe (both garnering her Sterling nominations for best actress at The Fringe), Taking Sides and My Mother Said I Never Should at the Studio Theatre, Othello with Sound and Fury, Hamlet with Two Roads Theatre and Wrecked with Azimuth Theatre. Liana’s other passion is teaching acting and she’s thrilled to be a part of The Foote Theatre School’s lineup.

Amy Shostak

Amy Shostak is currently performing in her seventh season with Rapid Fire Theatre, and is the current Associate Artistic Director. She can be seen weekly at Theatresports as well as in several Chimprov troupes. She is a trainer and judge for Rapid Fire's high school tournament The Wildfire Festival, and has also begun teaching in the pilot verison for Rapid Fire’s Aboriginal Education Project. Amy also leads workshops for the public at the Rapid Fire Academy.

Amy is a graduate of the University of Alberta where she received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Drama and Art History. Last season Amy was pleased to make her official acting debut in Belinda Cornish’s Thrubwell’s Pies (Teatro la Quindicina) at the Varscona Theatre.

Amy has been involved in numerous collaborative projects. Most recently she combined forces with fellow RFT member Kirsten Rasmussen and RFT Alumni Clarice Eckford to create Kiss My Bus (Rapid Fire Theatre) at the Edmonton Fringe, a play literally performed on a bus! Previous credits include A Watched Pot Never Boyles, co-created with Arlen Konopaki (neXtfest), as well as HAG! (InterFear Festival) and  An After School Special ... Hardly! (neXtfest), both co-created with Kirsten Rasmussen.

Jennifer Spencer

Jennifer Spencer is an Edmonton-based actor, voice/text coach, director, playwright and theatre educator. She is currently on the faculty of the Theatre Arts Program at MacEwan University where she teaches Voice/Speech and Text Analysis, along with directing their Mainstage Productions such as Pericles, The Skin of Our Teeth, The Trojan Women and The Malcontent. In the fall of 2009/2010 she directed and adapted an all-female version of Macbeth for the 2010 graduating class. In the fall of 2010 she will direct The Mating Season by P.G. Wodehouse, which she is also adapting for the stage for the 2011 graduating class, also at MacEwan University. When not at MacEwan, Jennifer also teaches Play It Up and Advanced Acting for The Citadel Theatre School.

Eileen Sproule

A graduate of the University of Leeds (MA) and Concordia University, Montreal (BFA), Eileen Sproule has been directing theatre in Western Canada since 1989, when she became the Associate Artistic Director at Regina's Globe Theatre. Edmonton-based since 1990, she has also been very active in Calgary. Most of her work has been on new creations, often being brought in by the writer as director/dramaturge, or as co-creator. Dark and edgy, performer-driven, usually with live music, her work has been described as "controlled chaos." She is co-founder of the award-winning generic theatre, known for such things as the Dr. Grot shows, Geek Love and The DeadRats (with Pegaseus). Work outside actual theatres includes four years with the Foote Theatre School, a few seasons with Trickster, (a Calgary-based company that goes into schools and produces an original show in a week), and directing the voices for the puppet film The Kay Stories, with Red Smarteez, Calgary. 

She is excited that Project: Whooping Crane, which she co-created with the amazing team at Green Fools, will be presented in November as part of the TransAlta Family Series. Eileen also makes props, cards, and jewelry under the name Mothra Designs and Frugal Spendthrift.

April Viczko

April Viczko is pleased to be back at FTS this summer. Her work has been seen at various theatres throughout Canada. Companies she has worked for include Workshop West, Kill Your Television, Tarragon Theatre, Factory Theatre, Moonhorse Dance Theatre, Globe Theatre, LKTYP, Theatre Calgary and Birdland Theatre, for which she was nominated for a Dora Award for Outstanding Costume Design for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot. April has also designed for film, most notably the dance film Redamorphosis directed by Veronica Tennant. April is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada and sits on the Regional Committee as the Prairie Representative.