BOB BAKER Director

Since returning to his hometown of Edmonton twelve years ago, Bob Baker has rejuvenated and expanded the Citadel Theatre as Artistic Director. Programming eleven or twelve full-scale theatrical productions each year, including family programming and the cutting-edge Rice series, Mr. Baker has ushered in an era of growth at the Citadel. Last season, Mr. Baker was instrumental in incorporating five of the Citadel’s existing creative development programs under one umbrella: The Robbins Academy. The Robbins Academy consists of the Eldon and Anne Foote Theatre School, the Citadel Young Companies, The Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program, ongoing Play Development activities and Audience Outreach, creating Canada’s newest and most comprehensive program for creative development in professional theatre. Mr. Baker was recently honoured with a University of Alberta Distinguished Alumni Award, is a member of Edmonton’s Cultural Hall of Fame and is a recipient of a PACE award from Alberta Association of Colleges and Technical Institutes. Death of a Salesman is the 43rd play that Mr. Baker has directed at the Citadel and his production of A Christmas Carol has become, for the last eleven years, a beloved Edmonton family tradition. He was the artistic director during the successful turn-around of both the Phoenix Theatre in Edmonton (1982-87) and the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto (1990-98). Mr. Baker will also direct A Christmas Carol and The Sound of Music at the Citadel Theatre later this season.

 BRENDA BAZINET Scene Study

Brenda is an actor, acting instructor and theatre director. With over 30 years of experience, she has performed on stages across the country, receiving 4 Dora nominations and appeared in over 100 film and television projects. Some of her recent acting credits for the theatre include: Death of a Salesman, The Goat, Equus (Citadel Theatre);  Harvest (Persephone Theatre); Hamlet (Resurgence Theatre); Ring Round the Moon, The Wild Duck (Soulpepper); Old Love (Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Thousand Island Playhouse, Theatre Orangeville); The Price (Sudbury Theatre Centre); Ashes to Ashes (Summerworks); Death of a Salesman (Neptune Theatre); End of Civilization (Factory Theatre); Leaving Home (Blyth Festival). Recent television credits include:  Haven, Against the Wall, Flashpoint, Burn Up, MVP, Custody, Sins of the Father, This is Wonderland, Redemption, Puppets Who Kill, Rabbittown and  A Grief Shared (Gemini Award). Brenda is a much sought after acting instructor and is delighted to be once again teaching for the Citadel/Banff Academy. She has also taught for George Brown Theatre School, Ryerson University (Act II), Fanshawe College, Equity Showcase, Actraworks, Actors Workshop, Armstrong Acting Studio, the Women in the Director’s Chair Program (Banff), Theatre Ontario and Humber College (Acting for Film and Television Program). She has conducted Acting for the Camera workshops in cities across Canada and served as a private coach to actors preparing for film and theatre auditions. Brenda’s recent directing credits include: Little Women, The Musical (Assistant Director, Citadel Theatre); Unity 1918, Splendor in the Grass, Problem Child, Adult Entertainment, Featuring Loretta (Fanshawe College); Love List (Iguana Productions, Mexico); Blown Sideways Through Life (Toronto Fringe Festival – Best of the Fringe); Of the Fields Lately (Sudbury Theatre Centre); The Sea (Actors Repertory Company).

DON HORSBURGH – Singing and Choral Work

As resident music director and Robbins Academy faculty, Don has been enjoying a connection with both Citadel Theatre Young Companies and the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program participants. Last season at the Citadel Theatre, Don was the music director for Little Women, the Musical and Hunchback, and provided original music for August: Osage County. Previous seasons, he has been the music director for Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, Sweeney Todd, the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The Wizard of Oz, West Side Story, Oliver!, Guys and Dolls, The Sound of Music, Cabaret, Into the Woods, Aspects of Love and Duddy. Additionally, he has provided original music for Pride and Prejudice, Blithe Spirit, and The Constant Wife. Recently Don has visited Winnipeg to Music Direct Hairspray, White Christmas and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. For the Stratford Festival he has provided original music for 19 productions and music directed Threepenny Opera. He is the recipient of five Dora Awards for his contributions to Rigoletto; A Little Night Music; Fire and Lilies and a Sterling Haynes Award for outstanding music direction for Cabaret.

JULIA LENARDON  Vocal Technique

Julia holds a BFA Acting (University of Windsor), B.Ed. (Queen’s University) and an MFA, One Year Acting Diploma from The Webber Douglas Academy, London, UK and Acting and Voice Teaching Diploma (York University). Over twenty years of acting credits include The Stratford Festival and classical and contemporary roles in regional theatres. Ten years of Voice/Speech/Text teaching and coaching positions include: The National Theatre School of Canada (7 years) , The Prince Edward Island Conservatory, Michigan State University, and guest teaching/coaching dialects and text at Concordia University and The Institute for Higher Learning (MFA Program) at Harvard University. At present, Julia coaches professionally full-time in theatre and film. Recent theatre coaching includes:  God of Carnage, Doubt and Glorious (Centaur Theatre), Vigil, Equus and Wicked Old Songs (Segal Centre) and English Clarification coaching for Quebecois Theatres; Tout a Trac, Theatre Gros Mecano, Rideau Vert, Theatre de L’Oeil and Jeunesses Musicales de Montreal. Recent T.V./film coaching projects include: Pan Am, Warm Bodies, On the Road, Immortals, Voyez Comme Ils Dansent, Emotional Arithmetic, and Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed computer games series.

JAMES MacDONALD  Program Director/Text

James is a director, actor, and educator with 20 years experience in the professional theatre.  He has been Program Director of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program for the past three years.  He has directed for theatres across Canada, including the Stratford Festival (Julius Caesar), the Shaw Festival (The Old Ladies), Canadian Stage (Fire – Dora Award, Much Ado about Nothing, As You Like It), and 10 production at the Citadel (Billy Bishop Goes to War, As You Like It, Julius Caesar, The Blonde, The Brunette and The Vengeful Redhead, Fire, Shining City, Vimy (Sterling Award), Equus, I am My Own Wife and Stones in His Pockets).   This spring he will direct God of Carnage for the Citadel.  James was also the founding artistic director of Edmonton’s River City Shakespeare Festival, a position he held for six years, and for whom he directed eight productions. As a director, dramaturge, and/or actor, James has also been involved in the development of over 25 new Canadian plays, including Vimy (Citadel – Sterling Award for Outstanding Production), With a Twist (Lunchbox Theatre – Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Production), and The Myth of Summer (Alberta Theatre Projects).  As an actor he has worked regularly across the country, and has received two Sterling awards for performances at the Citadel (Of Mice and Men and Einstein’s Gift).  He is a regular guest instructor/director for the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program, where he also received his training.  He teaches workshops in Shakespearean text and the audition process for professionals, theatre students, teachers, and high school students. James is a former national Councillor for the Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, and former Secretary of the Edmonton Performers’ Branch of ACTRA.

DAYNA TEKATCH  Movement/Dance

Dayna most recently directed and choreographed a production of Oliver! and choreographed Creation by Peter Anderson for the National Arts Centre English Theatre Company. Other directorial credits include the Canadian premiere of 39 Steps (1000 Islands Playhouse), Driving Miss Daisy starring Michael Learned and Tuesday’s With Morrie (Starbright Summer Festival). Choreographic credits include: The Drowsy Chaperone (NAC, Citadel Theatre, Vancouver Playhouse, 1000 Islands – Sterling award for Best Choreography), Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol, and Nativity (NAC), Anything Goes (TUTS), Buddy Holly Story, The Rocky Horror Show (Theatre Aquarius), Marvelous Wonderettes (1000 Islands), Romeo and Juliet (Canadian Stage), Palmer Park,  All’s Well That Ends Well, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Stratford Shakespeare). Selected acting credits include: Romeo and Juliet (NAC), St. Carmen of The Main (NAC/Canadian Stage),To Kill A Mockingbird (Mayella), My One and Only (Mickey), Shakespeare’s Universe, South Pacific, Oliver!, Hello Dolly!, Into the Woods (Cinderella), Guys and Dolls, Anything Goes, Gigi, My Fair Lady, and Romeo and Juliet (Stratford Shakespeare), White Christmas ( Judy-Aquarius, Neptune), The Boyfriend (Maisie) and The Music Man (Drayton Entertainment).

LINDA TURNBULL Strength and Conditioning/Movement

Linda Turnbull is an Edmonton based contemporary dancer and choreographer. Choreographic credits include: Yellow Fever (solo, Edmonton Fringe Festival, 2006); Mermaid Tales (Brian Webb Dance Company, 2007); Masked Memory (solo, Nextfest, 2008); My Song (Expanse Movement Arts Festival, 2009); Crash (co-creator, Expanse Movement Arts Festival, Fluid Festival). Since 2004, she has been performing and self-producing dance works and continues to work with the performing arts community in Edmonton on creation and movement workshops, as well as movement-based theatre projects. Linda also teaches Yoga, Pilates and modern dance classes around Edmonton. In 2007, she received the Mayors Evening For The Arts – Emerging Artist award.

 TOM WOOD Preparation Techniques

A University of Alberta graduate, Tom Wood is an accomplished playwright, actor, and director and has worked with every major theatre in Canada and a number in the United States.  Mr. Wood has spent seven years with the Stratford Festival and five with the Shaw Festival. For the theatre he has written: North Shore Live (with Bob Baker and Nicola Cavendish) (Jessie Award for Best New Play); B-Movie, The play, five Dora Mavor Moore awards and the Chalmers Award for Best New Play; Clap Trap, a farce, produced at Canadian Stage in Toronto and the National Arts Center in Ottawa. He has also adapted: A Christmas Carol (in it’s 12th season at the Citadel Theatre, Edmonton); a new version of Servant of Two Masters (set in the Klondike); a new version of Uncle Vanya (set on the prairies in 1928) produced at Citadel Theatre, National Arts Centre and Artist’s Repertory Theare in Portland, Oregon with William Hurt as Astrov,  A new version of Peter Pan (set on the prairies during the depression)  produced by the Citadel Theatre. A new version of Pride and Prejudice produced by the Citadel Theatre and the Banff Centre. Tom is currently working on a new comedy about movie-making in Hollywood circa 1938, entitled Make Mine Love. Last season the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program premiered his adaptation of  The Three Musketeers.