Judas Acting Company
Philip Akin
Philip was last seen in Othello, Of Mice and Men (Stratford Festival), The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Birdland Theatre) and the television series Flashpoint.
He has been directing since 1995 and is the Artistic Director of the Obsidian Theatre Company.
Directing credits include Toronto the Good, El Paso (Factory Theatre), Black Medea, Intimate Apparel, Born Ready, Pusha Man (Obsidian Theatre), and a number of short works from the Obsidian Playwrights Unit and International Playwrights Forum.
Aviva Armour Ostroff
Aviva works in Toronto as an actor, producer and photographer. Recent acting credits include Annie Sullivan in The Miracle Worker (Chemainus Theatre), The Gladstone Variations (Convergence Theatre) A Good Idea (Theatre Passe Muraille), The Rochdale Project (Theatre Passe Muraille) and in the original Toronto production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Birdland Theatre). She is the artistic director & founder of The Lab Cab Festival, an annual multi-arts festival at the Factory Theatre. Aviva is a Dora Award nominee, a Harold Award recipient and has been named one of Toronto’s top ten theatre artists and best producer of works in progress by NOW Magazine.
Abdu Bedward
Abdu most recently finished working with Earth Rangers, a not-for-profit environmental company, where he participated in delivering a free show about the environment to elementary school students across the GTA. Prior to that he found himself in New York City for two months where amongst other things he was interning with the Negro Ensemble Company.
Abdu is thrilled to be part of this great production and would like to thank Jehovah, David and Zorana for such a wonderful opportunity.
Adam Brazier
Selected Credits: Most recently Adam played Carnivia Von Botox, one half of the ugly stepsisters in Ross Petty’s production of Cinderella. Giorgio in Passion (Chicago Shakespeare), Kaffee in A Few Good Men (Neptune), Dr. Frank ‘N Furter in The Rocky Horror Show (CanStage) for which he received the Dora award for best actor in a musical. Khasshogi in We Will Rock You. Adam Originated the role of Walter Hartwright in The Woman in White (Broadway), Originated the role of Dr.Barnardo in The Like Of Us (Sydmonton Festival/WestEnd), Rapunzel’s Prince in Into The Woods (Broadway), Joey in Pal Joey, Freddy in Pygmalion (Shaw Fest), Jamie in The Last Five Years (MTC), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Theatre by the Bay), Originated the role of Sky in the Toronto production of Mamma Mia. Padre in Man Of LaMancha, James Kellar in The Miracle Worker (Stratford Fest.) Adam would like to thank David Ferry for this opportunity to work with so many of his favorite actors.
Zarrin Darnell-Martin
Zarrin Darnell-Martin, born and raised in Montreal, is a recent graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. Zarrin has just finished touring as Penelope in Roseneath theatres award winning play Danny King of the Basement. Some favourite NTS credits include; Rose in Restoration, Jenny Hill in Major Barbara, Witch in Macbeth, Varya in the Cherry Orchard, Hero in Much Ado about Nothing and Laura in the Glass Menagerie. Zarrin is thrilled to be making her Toronto debut with such a dynamic cast, director and production team. Special thanks to all friends and family for their unwavering support.
Ted Dykstra
Ted Dykstra has received Dora Mavor Moore nominations as an actor, director, writer, producer and composer, and was awarded Doras for Fire (Acting + Musical Direction) and 2 Pianos 4 Hands (producing) as well as a Chalmers Award for writing (2P4H). Co-writer of 2P4H, he has performed it in 11 Canadian cities (including 4 Toronto runs) as well as in New York, Washington DC, London’s West End and Tokyo, Japan.
He has also directed productions of 2P4H across the US, as well as in Australia and Hong Kong. He has played leading roles on every major stage in Canada. Some of his favourite memories are the title roles in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hamlet and Amadeus, Cousin Kevin in The Who’s Tommy (Dora nomination), Daffyd Llewellen in A Chorus of Disapproval (Dora nomination), Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Ariel in The Tempest. He has acted in dozens of movies and television shows and received a Gemini award for his performance in Shattered City: The Halifax Explosion. He has composed music for theatres across the country. He is a founding member of Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre. He has directed numerous productions in Toronto including Leaving Home (Dora nom), Saltwater Moon, Rocky Horror(Dora nom), Little Shop Of Horrors, Fool for Love, the Pantos Cinderella, Aladdin and Snow White (Dora noms), The Dumb Waiter, Tequila Vampire Matinee (Dora nom), Under Milk Wood, Scott Thompson’s Lowest Show on Earth, BULLY and The Beggar’s Opera. For The Neptune in Halifax he directed Anne Frank (Merritt Award), To Kill A Mockingbird, A Few Good Men and Miracle Worker. Upcoming productions include Tuesdays with Morrie, Of the Fields Lately, and Billy Bishop Goes to War. He wrote and directed Mordecai Richler: A Celebration for the CBC. Currently he is writing a musical commissioned by David Mirvish.
Richard Greenblatt
Richard Greenblatt was born in Montreal and studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. Since his return to Canada in 1975, he has directed numerous productions for theatres across the country and in Toronto; the vast majority being original and/or Canadian plays. He has been Resident Director at YPT, Deputy Artistic Director at Canstage, and Artistic Director of The Hour Company. He has acted in many roles in Toronto and across Canada, as well as in feature films, television and radio.
As a writer, he co-wrote 2 Pianos, 4 Hands; Sibs, The Theory of Relatives, i.d., Letters from Lehrer, and Care. He has performed 2 Pianos a staggering 750 times across Canada, in New York, London, and Tokyo.
Upcoming, he will perform in Bedbound for MackenzieRo, and direct a production of 2 Pianos, 4 Hands at the Drayton Festival. He has taught acting, directing and play creation at most of the theatre training institutions in Canada. He has won four Dora Awards and two Chalmers Awards, as well as receiving numerous other nominations.
Zorana Kydd
Zorana Kydd is the founding Artistic Producer for BirdLand Theatre. Her producing work with BirdLand Theatre received
5 Dora Mavor Moore Awards for The Last Days of Judas Iscariot including the Outstanding Production.
Her work has been seen in England, United States and Canada. She divides her time between producing, performing and being film and theatre scholar. As an actor she recently portrayed Mother in The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh for Birdland Theatre and The Canadian Stage Company, Mary Magdalene in BirdLand Theatre’s original production of The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Major Tamara Lotsky in the movie Neil and Frankie in Frankie and Johnny at Jane Mallet Theatre. Miss Kydd holds Doctor of Philosophy Degree in Theatre from The University of Toronto and has trained at Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (RADA) in London, England, New Actors Workshop and with Anne Bogart’s Sity Company in New York City. Currently she could be seen on TV in the new mini-series ZOS: Zone of Separation airing on the Movie Network.
Diego Matamoros
Diego Matamoros is a founding member of Soulpepper Theatre Company as well as a resident artist. A Gemini and three-time Dora Mavor Moore Award winning actor, Mr. Matamoros has performed more than a dozen leading roles for Soulpepper Theatre since the company’s inception in 1998. These include the title role in Uncle Vanya, Clov in Endgame, Theseus in Phedre, Turai in The Play’s the Thing, Robert in Betrayal, Hugh in Brian Friel’s Translations and Hjalmar in Ibsen’s The Wild Duck. He has performed leading roles at most of the major theatre across Canada as well as in the United States including five seasons with the Stratford Festival, The Court Theatre in Chicago, several new Canadian plays for the Tarragon Theatre, the Citadel Theatre, the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa and the Jewish Repertory Theatre off-Broadway. He has appeared in principal roles in more than forty Canadian and American television and film productions and was awarded a Gemini Award for Best Performance in 1997. He has been a teacher of theatre for twenty years, teaching theatre professionals as well as theatre students at acting schools, universities and colleges in Canada and the U.S.
Morris Panych
Morris graduated from Creative Writing at UBC in 1977, and had his first professional production in 1982 with Last Call for Tamahnous Theatre in Vancouver. Since that time, he has written twenty plays and adapted half a dozen others. He has twice won the Governor General Literary Award for Drama, The highest honour for playwriting in Canada.
Morris has directed eighty plays. He has also directed for film and opera, as well as music video. His acclaimed film of The Overcoat won an honourable mention at the Prix Italia.
Mr. Panych returned to the Shaw Festival to direct Stephen Sondheim’s A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC this season followed immediately by his Stratford Shakespeare Festival directorial debut of his newest work, MOBY DICK. Last season saw the premiere of two of Morris’s newer works, BENEVOLENCE at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto and THE AMOROUS ADVENTURES OF ANATOLE, which premiered to great acclaim at The Vancouver Playhouse. He returns to The Stratford Festival
in 2009 to direct the premiere of his latest work
THE TRESPASSERS.
Louise Pitre
Louise Pitre earned a Tony nomination for her role as Donna Sheridan in Mamma Mia! and made her Broadway debut when Mamma Mia! opened at the Winter Garden Theatre in 2001 (where she held the role for two years). Pitre has also released her cds “All of My Life Has Led to This” and “Shattered” and has a successful concert career.
She became a favourite of Toronto audiences with performances as Fantine in Les Misérables and as the title character in Edith Piaf. She has also starred in Jacques Briel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris; I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change; The World Goes ‘Round; Blood Brothers; Tartuffe; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolf?; The Roar of the Greasepaint, The Smell of the Crowd; Applause; and Rock ‘n’ Roll. She is the winner of three Dora Mavor Moore Awards, the National Broadway Touring Award, and a New York Theatre World Award.
She can be seen this fall as the host of Bravo’s brand new series “Star Portraits”. Other tv: Lifetime’s “A Christmas Wedding”, “Recipe for a Perfect Christmas” and in the CBC biopic “Celine”.
Website: www.louisepitre.com
Janet Porter
Janet is ferociously happy to be a part of this production and cast. Selected stage credits include: The Swearing Jar (6am Tango/Toronto Fringe 2008), Metamorphoses and Mary’s Wedding (Theatre and Company), Amadeus and Communicating Doors (Magnus Theatre), How the Other Half Loves (Sunshine Festival), Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad (Showboat Festival), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Macbeth (Driftwood Theatre). She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and a member of Actors Repertory Company (ARC). Credits with ARC include: The Sea, Family Stories: Belgrade and countless readings. Upcoming: Martin Crimp’s latest, The City (ARC). Janet feels lucky enough to have way too many people to thank. Cheers to David for this adventure.
Jamie Robinson
Jamie has just finished a co-production run of Medea with The Manitoba Theatre Centre and Mirvish Productions, and is thrilled to be a part of this outstanding show. Other Theatre credits include, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Edward II, Orpheus Descending, Timon of Athens, Cymbeline, King John, Troilus & Cressida (Stratford); Touch the Sky, The Other Side of the Closet (Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Resurgance Theatre); Escape From Happiness (Factory Theatre); The Rochdale Project (Theatre Passe Muraille). Select Film and TV credits include, Celeste in the City (ABC Family); ‘Twas The Night Before Christmas (Disney); The Fraternity (Universal Studios); Kevin Hill (CBC). This spring, Jamie will be performing in Surface/underground Theatre’s production of “Den of Thieves”, also by Stephen Adly Guirgis, and as part of factory Theatre’s Cross Currents Festival. Jamie is co-founder of the Grey Bruce Arts Collective. View his website at www.jamierobinson.ca.
Shaun Smyth
For BirdLand Theatre: The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh.
Theatre credits include: Galileo (Tafelmusik), Hamlet (Necessary Angel), Ishmael in Moby Dick, Macbeth, Amadeus, and The Country Wife (Stratford Festival), Closer & Trainspotting which garnered him a Dora award nomination (Canadian Stage Company), George in Of Mice and Men (Canadian Stage Company/ Theatre Calgary), Stone’s in His Pockets (Alberta Theatre Projects and The Grand Theatre), The Chet Baker Project (Crow’s Theatre National Tour) earning him two Betty Mitchell Award Nominations, Blue/Orange (Neptune Theatre), The Glass Menagerie (The Grand Theatre), Mad Boy Chronicles (Alberta Theatre Projects), Sweeney Todd (Phoenix Theatre) Shining City (The Citadel Theatre). Shaun is a two time recipient of the Tyrone Guthrie Award. Film & Television credits include Four Minutes, Proteus, Kevin Hill, Three to Tango, Steal This Movie, Soul Food, Pit Pony, Laughter On The 23rd Floor, The Associates, Blue Murder, Wild Card, Snakes & Ladders, Mutant X, Relic Hunter, Lonesome Dove, F/X and Nikita.
Christopher Stanton
Christopher is a Toronto-based performer, writer, director and sound designer. On stage, he has appeared in The Gladstone Variations (Convergence), The Swearing Jar (6AM Tango), A Quiet Place (Single Threat; Dora nomination),The Rake’s Progress (MacKenzieRo), Art is a Cupboard (Sweat Company), and Romance (Pilot Group). With UnSpun Theatre, he co-created and performed in Don’t Wake Me, Wreck, and Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump (Dora nomination). He is Artistic Director of upstart indie company The Room, along with Toronto theatre artists Brendan Gall and Geoffrey Pounsett. Upcoming: Guns (CBC TV), The Red Room (The Room).
