Company Bios
ANNA CHATTERTON Anna Chatterton is a performer, playwright and librettist based in Toronto. She has been nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best Opera and was a nominee for the prestigious KM Hunter Award (for Theatre) twice. Recent critically acclaimed work includes Stitch (World Stage/Theatre Centre/urbanvessel), See Saw (Opera to Go, Tapestry New Opera Works) and Swoon (Canadian Opera Company). Anna’s operas have also been performed across Canada, in Ireland and Russia. She is a founding member of the Independent Aunties and co-wrote and performed in the triple Dora nominated Breakfast (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Theatre Centre), Clean Irene & Dirty Maxine (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), Frances, Matilda and Tea and The Mysterious Shorts (Theatre Passe Muraille).Anna was Playwright in Residence at Tapestry New Opera Works and was part of the Artist Residency program at the Theatre Centre with companies Independent Auntie and urbanvessel.Upcoming; Voice-Box (Harbourfront/urbanvessel, Fresh Grounds program), Donna (Canadian Opera Company) and acting in The Bird (Union Eight Theatre/Buddies in Bad Times Theatre). Anna is developing a new opera at Tapestry New Works, an adaptation for Buddies and a song cycle for the Norwegian Trio Medieval/The Toronto Consort. She is currently in Tarragon Theatre’s Playwright’s Unit and the Ante Chamber Unit at Buddies and has been in units at The Canadian Stage Company and Factory Theatre. Anna is the director of Youth Initiatives at Nightwood Theatre, is mentoring young playwrights for the Paprika Festival and the A.M.Y. project, is on the Reading Committee at Canadian Stage Company and is currently in the MFA program for Creative Writing at the University of Guelph where she was a recipient of the Griffin Trust for Excellence in Poetry Award.
EVALYN PARRY
is an award-winning spoken word artist, songwriter, theatre creator and educator. Her solo and collaborative performances have taken her to music, storytelling, poetry and theatre festivals from coast to coast of North America (some recent highlights include Guelph’s renown Hillside Festival, The Lincoln Centre Out of Doors Festival in New York City, The Yukon International Storytelling festival, The Calgary International Spokenword Festival, Halifax Pop Explosion, Toronto Pride). She has released three critically acclaimed CDs of music and spoken word (most recently Small Theatres, Borealis Records), as well as a live concert DVD (Live at Lula, Borealis Records). She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards including the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award (Ontario Arts Council), The Beth Ferguson Award and nomination for the KM Hunter Award (music) from the Ontario Arts Council. Known for the outspoken social commentary that runs through much of her work, evalyn’s creations have been widely broadcast (CBC radio and television, BRAVO) anthologized (Outspoken, Playwrights Press; Bent on Writing, Women’s Press) and commissioned (CBC radio and television, as well as various environmental, women’s, and social justice organizations, unions, and festivals).
KARIN RANDOJA
Karin Randoja is a director, actor, teacher and singer/composer. She was a founding member of Primus Theatre and is now a member of the Independent Aunties. She has directed, over the last ten years, numerous original, devised performances that have toured across Canada and the United States. She has acted extensively with Cleveland Public Theatre, the Caravan Farm Theatre, Wishounds, The National Arts Centre, Artistic Fraud among other companies, and was nominated for Dora Awards for her work in Red Red Rose’s production of Joan and Independent Auntie’s production of Breakfast. She has performed, directed and/or taught in Denmark, Italy, France, England, as well as across Canada and the United States. (Most recently performing in the Cultural Olympiad for the Vancouver Winter Olympics.) With the company Shakespeare Link Canada, Karin has traveled to Quelimane, Mozambique to work with actors/dancers on developing Shakespeare performances that raise AIDS awareness. As a singer, Karin has recorded numerous CDs and has toured to folk festivals across Canada with John Millard and Happy Day, and with Kavli. She has composed/musical directed for the Caravan Farm Theatre and The National Arts Centre. As a teacher/director, she is on faculty at Humber College, has been a regular guest instructor at The National Theatre School of Canada, and has taught at numerous universities and theatres. Karin received a Fox Fellowship to study voice and singing at the Roy Hart in France and is an acting graduate of The National Theatre School of Canada.
BRENDAN HEALY
Brendan Healy was appointed Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times in September 2009. At age 34, he is him one of the youngest artistic directors of a major facility-based theatre company in Canada. Originally from Montreal, Brendan began his career as an actor, appearing most-notably in Peter Hinton’s production of Girls!Girls!Girls! presented at the 2000 TransAmériques Festival. It was at that festival that Brendan met Richard Maxwell, whose company, the New York City Players, is considered to be one of the most influential alternative theatre companies currently operating in Manhattan. That meeting led Brendan to New York where he interned under Mr. Maxwell and where he decided to dedicate himself exclusively to directing. Since relocating to Toronto almost a decade ago, Brendan has established himself as a central figure in the city’s independent theatre scene and his work has been presented across the country. Recent productions include Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, Martin Crimp’s Fewer Emergencies, the multiple Dora-nominated Breakfast, Moliere’s Dying To Be Sick (The Imaginary Invalid) and Wallace Shawn’s A Thought in Three Parts. Brendan is a member of the theatre collective Small Wooden Shoe where he helped create Dedicated to the Revolutions. He has taught and directed at Concordia University and the National Theatre School of Canada. Brendan is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s directing program and he has trained extensively with one of the pioneers of the American avant-garde Anne Bogart and the SITI Company. He is a recipient of the Ken McDougall Award for emerging director and was recently awarded the 2009 Pauline McGibbon Award. Brendan was the associate artist at Crow’s Theatre before becoming the Artistic Director of Buddies in Bad Times. This season at Buddies, Brendan directed The Silicone Diaries and Breakfast.