the marquise of O—

lauren gillis

co-creator

lauren is an actor, director and deviser. she graduated from the university of toronto in 2011 with a double major in drama and neuroscience, studying performance, production and directing at the university college drama program while exploring mouse models of narcolepsy and epilepsy elsewhere on campus. she has been working with the red light district since 2008. in 2011 she co-founded lester trips (theatre), a company with a keen interest in making visceral, new work through collective training in physical theatre-related disciplines such as clown and butoh. lauren has been studying butoh-based embodiment with denise fujiwara for the past 2 years, receiving the fujiwara dance inventions scholarship in 2012-2013. she is currently working with denise and colleague alaine hutton on devising and performing an original work, intangible trappings, incorporating principles of butoh within the framework of narrative and character-based physical theatre.

for the red light district: the lord chamberlain in IVONA princess of burgundia, ida methusalem/mr. & mrs. katgut/the jokebot in METHUSALEM or the eternal bourgeois, marie in WOYZECK, somerton in the WITCH of edmonton, the young wife in …la ronde…, director FIREraisers.

ted witzel

co-creator

(taedon witztl doesn’t live here anymore).

ted makes plays. usually they’re by dead people. not always. right now he does that in toronto. he has also done it in vancouver, montreal, berlin, paris, milan, stuttgart, ingolstadt, baden-baden, and bad hersfeld, which is a small town with a lot of sheep in it. well, near it. he has a company where he makes plays with friends, called the red light district. ted has a so-called spider-plant on his desk that is taking an awfully long time to make spiders.

for the red light district, ted directs, acts, writes, lights, organizes, dramaturgs, and generally orchestrates. director/creator: LULU // aspects of a femme fatale, director (the RESISTIBLE rise of arturo UI), director (SUDDENLY last summer, the playwright project), director / dog (the WITCH of edmonton, summerworks 2010), director / translator (WOYZECK, 2010), alceste (THE MISANTHROPE, 2009), director (METHUSALEM or the eternal bourgeois, 2009), director / simon (IVONA princess of burgundia, 2008), director (titus andronicus! 2007).

camie koo

set concept

camie koo is pretty awesome.

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

amanda wong

costume design, set design assistant, assistant production co-ordinator.

amanda wong is a set and costume designer based in toronto. she studied production and design at york university and collaborated with  she is always exploring her personal and creative limits and constantly looking to gain new skills while honing the old.

for the red light district: costume and props design (THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI).

c.j. astronomo

lighting designer

c.j. is a toronto-based lighting designer who has been nominated for the pauline mcgibbon award. she has worked as an assistant designer at the stratford festival during the 2012-2015 seasons, on productions including: carousel, she stoops to conquer, alice through the looking-glass, man of la mancha, and 42^nd street. she has also worked as an associate designer for kim purtell on gimme shelter (why not theatre), alice through the looking-glass (charlottetown festival), her2 (nightwood theatre) and homebody (shannon litzenberger dance). designer credits include: the rocky horror show (sudbury theatre centre), impulse festival (soulpepper), post eden (suburban beast), purgatory in ingleton (the red light district/storm and stress co.), obeah opera (b current), serious money (nightwood theatre/ryerson theatre school). also for summerworks this year, she is designing moderato cantabile (guilty by association) and aperture (the amy project) in factory studio.

christopher stanton

sound design

christopher is a performer, sound designer, writer, director, and musician. selected sound design includes tragedy: a tragedy (summerworks/nightfall), possible worlds (talk is free / beme munich), ajax & little iliad (world stage/brisbane festival/dublin fringe/wiener festwochen), jacob & nova (dancemakers), new electric ballroom (mackenziero), gruesome playground injuries (birdland), the tin drum, and minotaur (unspun). chris has been nominated for four dora mavor moore awards as a performer (winning in 2011), four as a sound designer, and one as a director. he was nominated for a pauline mcgibbon award for his work as a director. chris is also the artistic producer of indie theatre company arc. upcoming: possible worlds (stratford).

wesley mckenzie

video

wesley mckenzie is a toronto based lighting and sound designer. previous sound design credits include: LULU v.2 // because bad things happen to bad girls. (the red light district); the misunderstanding (lester trips); the vagina monologues (vagina monologues at york university);wounds to the face (theatre@york).  wesley has also worked as an assistant sound designer with canadian stage. previous lighting design credits include: elvis’s toenail (toronto irish players); assistant designer for bella the colour of love (harold green jewish theatre company); 2014 inspirato festival; the three muskateers (lakeshore collegiate institute); the beggar’s opera (theatre@york).  wesley is looking forward to working as the resident lighting designer at the classical theatre festival in perth, ontario this summer.

for the red light district: sound design (LULU v2 // because bad things happen to bad girls)

kaleb alexander

performer

kaleb is a toronto based actor/writer hailing from thunder bay, ontario. he is passionately engaged in furthering the diversity of toronto theatre.   his most recent credits have been on the tempest with driftwood theatre and hercules with the canadian opera company.  recent film credits: 12 monkeys (CTV), bone orchard (lifeguard productions) and barn wedding (floyder films). special thanks to parental units.

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

rong fu

performer

rong fu is a toronto based actor and a graduate from york university’s acting conservatory. select theatre : the money tree (roseneath theatre); the crucible, the royal comedians (soulpepper); three sisters (pure carbon collective); intent city (mayworks festival/eventual ashes); kilt pins (sulong theatre company). tv/film: the divide (we tv), working the engels (nbc/global), dr.cabbie (caramel films), rookie blue (global/abc), cracked (cbc), warehouse 13 (syfy).

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

richard partington

performer

trained at the national theatre school, richard partington has acted in many venues across canada including the stratford and shaw festivals, the national arts centre, and in toronto theatres such as the tarragon, passe muraille, toronto free, and factory. he has worked in TV and film and has excelled as a radio artist on the cbc documentary program ideas, reading most recently a least twenty characters from the alice books by lewis carroll. he has been president of the annex singers of toronto for 14 years.

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

g. kyle shields

performer

for theatre: maypole rose (safeword);  911 (HUMANZOO); the unseen hand, sucker (theatre brouhaha); the man of mode, happy end (george brown); the rocky horror show (port mansion); the diary of anne frank (lyndesfarne theatre projects young company) for film: other men – a webseries  upcoming: outside, a new play by paul dunn (roseneath).

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

eve wylden

performer

eve is best known for her work with the red light district including suddenly, last summer, la ronde, woyzeck, the misanthrope, and titus andronicus.   eve also co-created and starred in miss toronto acts back, a site-inspired multimedia performance hijacking the history of beauty pageants in toronto.  most recently, she was seen in birth, a sci-fi-esque new drama produced by pandemic theatre.  other productions include:  all in the timing (miller’s son), charming monsters (afterglow), othello (go play), love, virtually (working artists), save us!!! [hamletown] (surprise performance), doctor barnardo’s children (4th line theatre), and the mousetrap (toronto truck).

for the red light district:  mrs. holly (SUDDENLY last summer), the poet (…la ronde…), carter (the WITCH of edmonton), doctor (WOYZECK), celimène (THE MISANTHROPE), menina/aunt/lady/ambassador (IVONA princess of burgundia), tamora (titus andronicus!).

tyler hagemann

leopardo

tyler hagemann is pretty awesome.

for the red light district: dogsborough (THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI)

joey condello

rehearsal stage manager

joey condello has worked on many shows including paper series at the university of toronto’s director’s showcase (stage manager), lester trips’ the misunderstanding (stage manager), and a clown’s life (writer/director). although stage management is his forerunning strength, joey has a growing interest in projection design. he is currently working towards mounting a production of rossum’s universal robot this coming august 2015.

for the red light district: blushing virgin.

christopher ross

production manager

christopher ross has extensive experience as a technician, stage manager, and production manager. he has worked in most of toronto’s independent theatres, and has been a venue technician for the fringe festival, the next stage theatre festival, and the summerworks performance festival. he is currently the head technician of the theatre passe muraille backspace.

for the red light district: technical director.  production manager (the RESISTIBLE rise of arturo UI), production manager for (SUDDENLY last summer), stage manager (…la ronde…), stage manager (the WITCH of edmonton), lighting technician (WOYZECK).