Leif has been photographing theatre productions and providing photos for media for Theatre Projects Manitoba since 2005.
Armin Wiebe
Playwright: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Armin Wiebe is the author of three novels set in the fictional Mennonite town of Gutenthal, Manitoba: The Salvation of Yasch Siemens, Murder in Gutenthal, andThe Second Coming of Yeeat Shpanst, as well as the award-winning novel Tatsea, set in the Canadian subarctic of the 1760s. New fiction recently appeared in Prairie Fire. His work is renowned for the musicality of its dialect and dialogue. For a dozen years an instructor of creative writing at Red River College, he has also served as writer-in-residence at libraries in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and Dauphin, Manitoba, and the Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture at the University of Manitoba. Wiebe has served on the board of the Mennonite cultural magazine Rhubarb and on the National Council of the Writers’ Union of Canada. After spending six years in the Northwest Territories in 1980s, he now makes his home in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz evolved from his short story, “And Besides God Made Poison Ivy.”
Brian Perchaluk
Set & Costume Design: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Brian Perchaluk is a set and costume designer based in Winnipeg. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg and the National Theatre School of Canada, he has designed productions for major arts companies across the country including Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Canstage, Theatre Passe Muraille, the Grand Theatre, The Blyth Festival, The National Arts Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Le Cercle Moliere, Manitoba Theatre For Young People, Persephone Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, The Citadel Theatre, The Vancouver Playhouse, The Arts Club Theatre, The Belfry Theatre, Manitoba Opera, more than 40 productions for the Manitoba theatre Centre, and two seasons at each the Shaw and Stratford Festivals. He is the recipient of a Jessie Richardson award for outstanding set design, and a Gemini award for production design.
Daria Puttaert
Daria Puttaert was last seen at TPM in the 2008 production of “Stretching Hide”. She has also appeared in various productions at MTC and PTE, and is a member of Winnipeg’s Tom-Tom Theater Co-op. She recently appeared in the role of Zooey in Sean Garrity’s film “Zooey and Adam”. Daria looks forward to working with TPM again in the upcoming season.
Eric Nyland
Beethoven Blatz: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Eric is delighted to make his Winnipeg debut with Theatre Projects Manitoba working on The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz. A Calgary based actor, pianist and music teacher, Eric can’t quite believe he gets to rehearse a new script and play Beethoven at the same time. Previous credits include A Christmas Carol, Macbeth, Sherlock Holmes (Theatre Calgary); Go Back For Murder, An Inspector Calls, Sherlock Holmes (Vertigo Mystery Theatre); Jack and Jill: Deconstruct, Art, The Creation of the World and Other Business, Progress and Procrastination (The System Theatre); Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet (Citadel Theatre), As You Like it, Richard III (River City Shakespeare Festival). Eric is currently engaged in an ongoing, long term creative process with Ryland Alexander and Jonathan Seinen for a play called Spot: the play explores the impact of the possibly parallel processes of birth and death on the lives of two friends haunted by Spot – a possibly divine creature who simultaneously exists at the points of birth and death. Many thanks to Ardith, Rea and Hugh at Theatre Projects Manitoba for helping to organize everything needed to tackle Blatz.
Hugh Conacher
Lighting Designer: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Hugh has collaborated with choreographers, dance companies and theatres across Canada for 30 years. His work was last seen at TPM in North Main Gothic, for which he designed the set, media and lighting. In Winnipeg, he regularly works with Winnipeg Jewish Theatre, Manitoba Theatre for Young People and recently completed After Miss Julie at the MTC Warehouse. He is also currently designing the lighting for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet’s new production, Wonderland. Hugh has expanded his process beyond traditional lighting design to include various forms of interactive media and photography, as recently seen in Hybrid Humanat the Winnipeg Art Gallery, Jolene Bailie’s Sensory Life, Infinite World, Freya Olafson’s Avatar and the upcoming world premiere of Michael Nathanson’s One of Us, being produced by WJT, for which he is designing set, media and lighting. His photographic work resides in private collections and has been published throughout North America and beyond.
Kim McCaw
Director and Dramaturg: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Kim is the first Director of the Canadian Centre for Theatre Creation, and a Professor in the Department of Drama at the U of A. As a nationally-recognized dramaturg, he has been the Director of the Banff Playwrights’ Colony, and for the past three summers has been Resident Guest Dramaturg at the Playwrights’ Atlantic Resource Centre’s playwrights’ colony in Sackville, New Brunswick. As a director, Kim has mounted shows in Edmonton with Shadow Theatre, L’Uni-Theatre, and the Free Will Shakespeare Festival, as well as numerous productions in Studio Theatre at the University. He has been Artistic Director of Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange and Associate Artistic Director of Regina’s Globe Theatre. Also in Winnipeg, Kim has directed for Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Projects, Le Cercle Moliere, the University of Winnipeg and Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. He will be directing the World Premiere of Don Hannah’s The Cave Painter as part of the Canadian Centre for Theatre Creation’s Working Title Festival in June of this year.
Lisa Nelson
Apprentice Stage Manager: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Lisa Nelson is thrilled to be working for Theatre Projects again! When she is done working with this talented group she’s off to Ottawa with WJT to stage manage Michael Nathanson’s awarding winning play “Talk” at the Prairie Scene Festival. Favorite Stage Managing credits include: Encore (TPM), Hybrid Human – Wanda Koop…On the Edge of Experience (WAG), Sunday Father (WJT), Ruddigore, Gondoliers, Mikado, Yeoman of the Guard (Gilbert & Sullivan), La La La Dispute (University of Winnipeg).
Sheena Sanderson
Stage Manager: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Sheena is a born and raised Winnipegger, so she is always thrilled to be a part of some home bred theatre here at Theatre Projects Manitoba. Sheena last worked at TPM on Carolyn Gray’s North Main Gothic. Other previous stage management credits include: The December Man (ASM), Lawrence & Holloman (ASM), Souvenirs (ASM) and Little Munsch on the Prairie with Prairie Theatre Exchange; Lenin’s Embalmer’s (ASM) and Some Things You Keep with Winnipeg Jewish Theatre; Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (ASM) with Rainbow Stage; A Rez Christmas Carol with the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company; and Surf at the 2009 Carol Shield’s Festival.
Tom Keenan
Obrum: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
As a member of the Winnipeg music community, Tom Keenan is very familiar with Mennonites. He is thrilled to be on board for this great new play, and to be taking part in his first full production with Theatre Projects. Recent theatre credits include The Winter’s Tale (Tom-Tom Theatre), Beneath the Banyan Tree (Theatre Direct / MTYP) and Strike! The Musical. Recent screen work includes five episodes of House Party (Comedy Network), Less Than Kind (HBO Canada), two episodes of Men With Brooms (CBC), and Sean Garrity’s latest feature film, Zooey and Adam.
Tracy Penner
Sucsh: The Moonlight Sonata of Beethoven Blatz
Tracy’s thrilled to be making her debut performance with Theatre Projects Manitoba! You may have seen her last year playing Dull Gret and Angie in Top Girls at MTC, or fringing in Muriel Hogue’s Scar Tissue, or touring in SIR’s Stripped-Down Macbeth. Other selected theatre credits include: Frankenstein (Catalyst Theatre), A Year of Winter (Shadow Theatre), Work Plays (Alberta Workers’ Health Centre), Orange Flower Water (Blarney Productions), The Shape of a Girl (Concrete Theatre), Quality (Nordic Nomad Productions, England), Shoe! (Vault: Theatre of Invention), Progress and Procrastination (The System Theatre), Undiscover’d Country (U. C. Collective), CHEECH (Mutt’s Nuts), The Beaux’ Stratagem, Electra, and The 7 Dwarfs (Studio Theatre), Camelot (MTC), Funny Girl (WJT), as well as her one-woman show, simple gifts. Tracy is a graduate of the University of Alberta.
This play has a Brummtopp in it. The Brummtopp is a European friction drum also known as Brommtopf, Reibtrommel, Rummelpot, and in classical music circles is also known as a “lion’s roar”.
This message is for Tom Keenan,
Did he by any chance ever attend YPT summer camp as a child? I’m trying to reconnect, as we were good chums when we were twelve years old and never should have lost touch.
Many thanks,
Nicole