National Playwrights Retreat

Melody Anderson (Vancouver, BC)

Melody is an award-winning theatre artist and mask-maker. In 2007, after making more than three thousand masks over the course of her career, she shifted her creative focus to playwriting. Her first play, The Emperor’s New Threads, toured nationally for Axis Theatre. In 2010 she joined Wet Ink Collective, whose mandate is to support and develop work by professional and emerging women writers. Her play, Me and You, which follows the relationship of two sisters over the course of a lifetime, was developed in Wet Ink sessions facilitated by Jane Heyman, and premiered at the Arts Club Theatre in 2018. Scripts-in-progress include Mr. Aesop (for young audiences) and three one-act plays with leading roles for women: Fling, Ditto and Home. Her recently published instructional book, Making Masks, is available at Blurb and Amazon. An exhibit of her masks is currently on display, until April 1, 2023, at the Salmon Arm Arts Centre. She lives in Vancouver with playwright/performer/poet Peter Anderson.

Peter Anderson (Vancouver, BC)

Peter Anderson is a poet, playwright and performer living in Vancouver on the ancestral land of the Coast Salish people. His prose poetry has appeared in the American Journal of Poetry, Unbroken, Sublunary Review, Duality, MoonPark Review, Best Microfictions 2022 and elsewhere, and his collection “Mutter and Other Prose Poems” was recently shortlisted and placed third in the 2023 Raven Chapbook Contest. Peter has authored over a dozen plays for the Caravan Farm Theatre, including The Coyotes, Law of the Land, The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw, Head Over Heels, The Blue Horse, Coyotes’ Christmas, Sleigh-Ride Christmas Carol, Horseplay, Creation, Nativity & Passion, The Second Shepherds’ Play, Bull by the Horns and Animal Farm. Other credits include the internationally-produced Rattle in the Dash, adaptations of Don Quixote, Lysistrata and Eurydice, the libretto for a “micro-opera” Aftermath and a song cycle 4 Horses with composer Jennifer Butler, and the song Background Noise with cellist Peggy Lee for the Standing Wave Ensemble. Peter was also a co-creator and original performer in Axis Theatre’s The Number 14, which toured nationally and internationally for over twenty years. He’s the recipient of eight Jessie Richardson Awards for playwriting and acting, a Bay Area Critics’ Circle Award for ensemble performance (The Tosca Project), a Victoria Theatre Critic’s Award for Best Actor (Waiting for Godot), a NY Drama Desk nomination (The Number 14), and Gemini, Leo, Dora Mavor Moore and Betty Mitchell nominations for Best Actor (The Overcoat). His plays are available online at Canadian Play Outlet.

Elaine Ávila (Vancouver, BC)

Elaine is distinguished as a Fulbright Scholar to Portugal and a descendentes notáveis (Notable Descendant) for her theatre work by the Government of the Azores. Her plays incorporate music, politics and humor, and explore untold stories about women, workers, the Portuguese community and the climate crisis. Elaine is a co-founder, with Chantal Bilodeau and CaridadSvich, of the International Climate Change Theatre Action, which now reaches 45,000 worldwide. Her writing is described as “bold, intelligent, forthright, spirited, compassionate…inviting, wide-ranging” (Caridad Svich), “open, generous” (Erik Ehn) and “tremendously gifted, and innovative, a wonderful writer” (Suzan-Lori Parks). Her plays have premiered in over forty cities and countries, including Panama; Costa Rica; Lisbon; New York City; Vancouver; Victoria, Edmonton; Toronto; Seattle; Paris, France; Los Angeles; and London, England. Best New Play Awards: Victoria Critic’s Circle, Victoria, BC; Festival de los Cocos, Panama City; Disquiet Dzanc Books International Literary Program, Lisbon, Portugal. Additional Awards: Victoria Arts Council Best Production; Mellon Foundation Environmental Arts Award, BC Arts Council and Canada Council. She has taught in universities from Tasmania to China. Publications: Jane Austen Action Figure and other Plays (NoPassport Press, New York); Fado (Talonbooks, Vancouver); The Ballad of Ginger Goodwin and Other Plays (Upcoming, Talonbooks) in 24 Gun Control Plays; Monologues for Latino/a Actors; Scenes for Latinx Actors, Innovation in Five Acts; Howlround, Canadian Theatre Review, American Theater, Contemporary Theatre Review, Lusitania. More at: https://www.playwrightsguild.ca/playwright/elaine-avila

Pedro Chamale (Vancouver, BC)

Pedro Chamale was born and raised on treaty 8 territory, colonially known as Chetwynd, BC and now creates on the unceded and traditional lands of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. He received his BFA in Theatre Performance from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. He then went on to form rice & beans theatre with Derek Chan for which he is currently the artistic director. Pedro is a director, playwright, performer & co-founder beans theatre. He was the Artistic Resident at Neworld Theatre in 2014, guest curator of the 2018 rEvolver Festival and one of the playwrights in the 2019 Playwright’s Lab at the Banff Centre. Pedro was part of the second cohort of Banff’s Arts and Culture Leadership, is a co-founder of the Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Alliance, sits on the Latinx Theatre Commons steering committee and was part of Director’s Lab North in 2020. He was also awarded the young alumni excellence award in 2021, along with Derek Chan, for their work with rice & beans theatre from Simon Fraser University’s FCAT department.

Mishelle Cuttler (Vancouver, BC)

Mishelle is a Vancouver based composer and sound designer whose work is centred around the integration of sound, music, and storytelling. The foundation of Mishelle’s work is collaborative creation, and she has been fortunate to bring music to a multitude of projects with many incredible artists since entering the professional community in 2011. Most recently, Mishelle was the Sound Designer for The Seventh Fire at the 2023 PuSh Festival. The Seventh Fire is an immersive audio performance inspired by ceremony and created by Lisa C. Ravensbergen. This 85-minute audio piece took place in Lobe Spatial Sound Studio utilizing their 4D Sound System to invoke sound and story as the somatic link to ancestral realms. Another recent large-scale work was Made in Canada with collaborator Pedro Chamale – a song cycle, album, and concert tour with music written using the verbatim words of Latinx migrant farm Workers. As a theatrical sound designer, Mishelle has worked with companies throughout western Canada. Some recent design/composition credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bard on the Beach), The Herd (Citadel/Tarragon), Clean/Espejos (Neworld), and Made in Italy (WCT/Arts Club). She had the pleasure of working on 2 productions at Caravan – as the accordionist for The Tragical Comedy of Punch and Judy and as the Music Director for The Night’s Mare. She is currently an adjunct professor in Sound Design at UBC and Programs Manager for the GVPTA. Mishelle has an MFA in Musical Theatre Composition from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a BFA in Acting from UBC.

Bevin Dooley (Montreal, QC)

Bevin Dooley (she/they) is a playwright & dramaturg. Selected works include Nyctophobia/Here There Be Night (Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre); IN CAMERA (parts&labour/CGAS/ Found Festival); and Slack Tide (Blarney Productions/part&labour/Edmonton Fringe Festival). Most recently, her play The Drowned was the runner-up in Infinitheatre’s Write-on-Q Playwriting Competition. Readings of their work have been presented at The Pipeline Reading Series, SkirtsAfire Festival, Script Salon, and the Tiger Dublin Fringe Festival. Bevin has worked as a dramaturg with Alberta Musical Theatre Company, the University of Alberta New Works Festival, NextFest Festival of Emerging Artists, and Alberta Playwrights’ Network. In addition to her theatre work, Bevin is currently expanding the ways she tells stories to include filmmaking. They are based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal.

Meghan Gardiner (Vancouver, BC)

Meghan is a Vancouver based actor and playwright. Her one-woman show Dissolve premiered at the Vancouver Fringe Festival in 2003 and continues to tour to this day. She was the playwright in residence at Green Thumb Theatre, penning Blind Spot and Role Call for their 2009 and 2011 seasons, the latter garnering her the Sydney Risk Award for Emerging Playwright at the 2012 Jessies. Meghan’s other plays include Love Bomb, To Perfection (shameless hussy productions), We Three (Carousel Theatre) and Gross Misconduct (SpeakEasy/Gateway Theatre). She wrote a short film called Stalled and created a documentary film with the CBC based on Dissolve, both leading to screenwriting nominations at the Leo Awards in Vancouver. Meghan is currently working on commissions for both Carousel Theatre and the Arts Club. Her recent acting credits include: The Cull, The Sound of Music (Arts Club), The Boy in the Moon (NeWorld Theatre), and How the World Began (Pacific Theatre). She is a very proud YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee, and lives in Vancouver with her husband and daughter.

Shelagh Haney (Toronto, ON)

My name is Shelagh Haney and I am a Toronto-based theatre artist. I am a third-generation actor in my family; my Aunt Mary and Grandmother Sheilagh both tread the boards on the Stratford and Shaw stages. I attended an arts high school in the Drama Program and earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, then went on to attend The National Theatre School of Canada for Acting (2015). During my years at Guelph, I submerged myself into all aspects of theatre: sound design, script writing, costume and set design, as well as acting, all under the mentorship of Judith Thompson, Sky Gilbert, Pat Flood, and Paul Ord. While at NTS, I was also provided invaluable training from David Latham, Jane Gooderham, Seana McKenna, Nancy Palk, Adam Lazarus, Djanet Sears, and Don McKellar.  Upon graduation, I moved back to Toronto where I was accepted into the one-year Longform Improv Conservatory at The Second City. More recently, I have been developing my own work, while also training and taking up residencies in Creation/Performance at Thousand Islands Playhouse, Soulpepper, and Playwright’s Workshop Montreal. I have also been focusing on writing and honing my performance skills as a musician/singer/songwriter; performing and creating between Toronto and Nashville under the stage name Alaska Highway. Lastly, I have been developing a podcast with Pacific Content, a Vancouver-based podcast media company. 

Michael Kras (Hamilton, ON)

Michael Kras (he/him) is a playwright, director, actor, magician, and educator based in Hamilton, Ontario whose work primarily examines young people growing up in contemporary Canada and the social media age. He is the recipient of the prestigious Herman Voaden National Playwriting Prize for his play The Team, which was also a Tom Hendry Award nominee and a national finalist for the Safe Words New Canadian Play Award. The Team made its professional world premiere with Essential Collective Theatre and Theatre Aquarius, and is published by Scirocco Drama. His new play for high school audiences – No Big Deal – recently made its world premiere with Roseneath Theatre in the 2022/2023 season, touring to Ontario schools and enjoying a sit-down run in Hamilton in association with Tottering Biped Theatre.

Michael is currently part of the directing team for the Canadian premiere of the international sensation Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (Mirvish Productions, dir. John Tiffany) as the Resident Illusions & Magic Associate. He has also worked as a magic director and designer on productions like the world premiere of The Extinction Therapist (Theatre Aquarius, dir. Christine Brubaker) and Bullfinch’s Mythology (Tottering Biped Theatre, dir. Ric Knowles). Michael has numerous new plays in development, including rip it out of my THROAT, which he began

writing as OAC Playwright-in-Residence at Essential Collective Theatre; and The Start-Up, which received initial support from the Ontario Arts Council and Canada Council for the Arts. He is also currently at work on a new electro-pop musical – ‘a how-to guide for the not-yet-viral’ – with composer Stephen Ingram as 2022/2023 Canada Council Artists-in-Residence at Theatre Aquarius. Michael is a graduate of Humber Theatre School (2015), an alumnus of the Theatre Aquarius Playwrights Unit, and was named a 2023 Hamilton Artist to Watch by Beyond James.

Shawn Macdonald (Vancouver, BC)

Shawn is an award-winning actor and playwright who has lived and worked in Vancouver since 1988. He is the co-author of three hit comedies (with Gary Jones): The Vacant Bachelor, World’s Greatest Guy (Jessie Award for Outstanding original Script) and Fear Knot (five time Jessie nominee including Outstanding Original Script). His play Prodigal Son (Touchstone/Pacific Theatre) won the Jessie for Outstanding Original Script in 2006. His play Demon Voice was produced by Touchstone Theatre in 2009, and his play Sister Judy was commissioned by The Arts Club Theatre (Silver Commissions) and received its world premiere in 2015. In 2018, Shawn wrote the book and lyrics for the original musical Sea Of Stories, a commission from Peninsula Productions about the history of White Rock, BC as part of the Canada 150 celebrations. With author Rick Antonson, he is developing a full-length musical about American politics called The Route 66 Musical and has two new plays in development: Everybody, I Love You and Love/Worship. His newest project is a musical about mental health and healing called Believing Dr, Bell, a collaboration with composer Mishelle Cuttler.Shawn was the Program Leader and Instructor for the LEAP Playwriting Intensive for Young Writers at the Arts Club theatre from 2007 to 2023, where he led the mentorship of over 200 young playwrights.

Camille Pavlenko (Calgary, AB)

Camille (she/her) is a playwright and theatre artist based in Mohkinstsis/Calgary. Her plays have won and been short-listed for awards from, amongst others, the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Theatre BC, Ottawa Little Theatre, the University of New Hampshire, and the Herman Voaden Prize. For the past four years, Camille has lead the Student Writers Group at Alberta Theatre Projects, a long-running playwriting program for high school students. She was also a member of ATP’s Playwrights Unit in the 2020-2021 season. Along with composer KP Smith, Camille was selected for the 2018-19 New Musical Program at Alberta Musical Theatre Company (Alberta Opera), which culminated with the world premiere of their original musical, Baba Yaga.

Other recent plays include real boi: The Tragedie of Pinocchio in Five Comedic Acts (Calgary Young Peoples’ Theatre), The Hitchhiker (Vertigo Theatre), Go for Gold, Audrey Pham (Lunchbox Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects), and USS ARTEMIS (co-created with Ali DeRegt), a sci-fi radio play that uses binaural audio to create an immersive experience, available at

www.USSARTEMIS.ca. Throughout the pandemic, Camille was engaged in a first novel mentorship through Diaspora Dialogues in Toronto with her mentor, novelist and playwright Anosh Irani. Camille is the recipient of the Allied Arts Council’s Young Artist Award and is a Betty Mitchell Award nominee. She is also the Artistic Associate at Verb Theatre.

This fall, Camille will be remotely joining the Creative Writing program at the University of British Columbia, in pursuit of her MFA.

Sharon Stearns (Dunster, BC)

I am a playwright, actor, dramaturg, and theatre producer. I have worked with theatre companies across Canada. I also work as a freelance writer, writing essays, articles, and reviews as well as documentaries and plays for CBC Radio. My short fiction has appeared in various literary magazines and anthologies. As artistic producer of Wishbone Theatre Productions (incorporated in 2002), I am dedicated to developing and producing new plays and musical events. We have created and produced over 20 plays, cabarets, and musical events since 2003. Since 1997 I also teach theatre and creative writing both privately and in the B.C. school system through Artists-In-Education Programs. 

José Teodoro (Vancouver, BC)

José Teodoro is a playwright, essayist, and filmmaker. His plays include Cloudless, which was

adapted into an audio drama presented by Canadian Stage, and The Tourist, which the Edmonton Journal hailed “a masterpiece.” He’s developed works in residence with institutions such as the Banff Playwrights Lab, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Historic Joy Kogawa House, Deer Lake Artist Residency, and Gachi Prieto Gallery. Alongside composer-musician Stephen Lyons, José is one half of Applied Silence, a group devoted to forging new fusions of music and narrative in collaboration with international artists of various disciplines. Their projects include a recording of Screen Door, José’s performance text for actors and musicians, which will be released digitally and on vinyl in 2023,and which debuted live in 2021 as part of Pi Theatre’s Provocateurs series. Applied Silence will also travel to Colombia this autumn to screen their short film Binary Star with live voiceover and musical accompaniment. José’s literary nonfiction has appeared in publications such as Brick, subTerrain, and The Fiddlehead. José is also a culture critic: his interviews, essays, and reviews have appeared in publications such as Film Comment, The Globe & Mail, and The Literary Review of Canada. José’s current projects include Binary Star, a new play whose development is being supported over a three-year period as part of Playwrights Theatre Centre’s Associates program; a screen adaptation of Cloudless for producer Hugh Gibson to be filmed in Mexico and Canada; and a book-length work of literary nonfiction called Without Destination.