cast & creative



CAST

 


Deborah Drakeford* – Gloria/Nan

Deb is the Co-Artistic Producer of ARC, having been a part of the Resident Artist Company for the past 16 years. Deb’s ARC credits include A Kind of Alaska, The City, Bea (Dora nomination), Moment (Dora nomination), Pomona and Human Animals (both nominated for best ensembles), and Oil. Deb has worked across the country from Kamloops, BC to PEI. Her goal is to work in every province and territory. She has worked extensively with Soulpepper Theatre Company (Innocence Lost, Parfumerie, Marat/Sade, Happy Place, Blood Wedding, Christmas Carol, Great Expectations, Waiting for the Parade), as well as the Grand Theatre, Shakespeare in the Ruff, Thought for Food, Thousand Islands Playhouse, and more. Deb also works in TV and film, most recently on HBO’s “Station Eleven”. Deb also teaches across the GTA with Soulpepper, Sudbury Theatre Centre, Young People’s Theatre, and for the TDSB.

 

Carlos Gonzalez-Vio* – Lorin

Carlos was born at St Michael’s Hospital to (still) proud Uruguayan parents. He is now a Toronto based performer, translator, and physical trainer. he was raised between Mississauga and Montevideo, Uruguay, affording him the opportunity to grow up bilingual.  Thanks to his work as an actor, he travelled to several parts of the world, in the other times; he’s also quite happy to focus on home for a while.  Carlos was invited to be a member of ARC by Christopher Stanton in September 2013, an invitation he will always consider among the most beneficial to his personal life and creative work. Thank You. 

Selected stage credits include: Cloudless (Canadian Stage); The Walls (Soulpepper); Human Animals (ARC); The Scavenger’s Daughter (Paradigm Prodxn); Dissidents (ARC); Fortune of Wolves (TNB); Kiss (ARC/Theatre Smash/Canadian Stage); Blood Weddings (Modern Times/Aluna Theatre); Pomona (ARC), The Death of the King (Modern Times/Theatre Centre); Elora Gorge (The Room); Nohayquiensepa (Aluna Theatre); Endings (Passbo Dance); and Crave (Nightwood Theatre).

Selected screen credits include: The HOt ZOne: Anthrax, Pillow Talk, The Expanse, Designated Survivor, Orphan Black, Flashpoint, Kidnap Capital, and many, many self-tapes.  

They say he has been nominated four times for a Dora Mavor Moore Award in the independent theatre ensemble category. 

 

Jonelle Gunderson – Ani/Sasha/Callie

Jonelle is a Toronto-based actor, mover, and creator who originally hails from Saskatchewan. She worked with ARC at the beginning of 2020 (social media & marketing) for their production of Oil… now coming full circle, to join this incredible team for Gloria.

THEATRE (select): Exit, Pursued by a Bear, The Drowning Girls (Globe Theatre); To Kill a Mockingbird, An Ideal Husband, Julius Caesar (Stratford Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare in the Ruff); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, J. Caesar (Shakespeare on the Sask); The Great Mountain (Red Sky Canadian tour). FILM & TELEVISION (select): “A Royal Queens Christmas” (Hallmark); “The Winter Palace” (GAC); “Murdoch Mysteries” (CBC); “The Craft” (Blumhouse/Sony); “Stockholm” (Darius Films); “Running With Violet” (web); “People of Eart”h (TBS); “The Shape of Water” (FOX Searchlight) Jonelle is presently excited about writing through collaboration, and studying the Mitzvah Technique – a movement practice that addresses postural issues and various patterns of physical misuse.

 

Savion Roach – Miles/Shawn/Rashaad

Savion is is from Scarborough,ON, and went to school at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal. He first fell in love with theatre and acting after his Mother took him to see a show called UMOJA at the Mirvish. That was his first time seeing live theatre and more importantly seeing people who looked like him on a stage. Savion is so honoured to be one of the actors chosen to help bring this show to life at Crows, This play speaks volumes on the inter-workings of situations that we as a society like to run from or dismiss and instead puts it right in your face and has you watch the train break down itself.

 

Nabil Traboulsi* – Dean/Devin

Nabil is a Lebanese-Canadian actor, born and raised in Beirut. After training in New York, Nabil moved to Toronto and has collaborated with many theatre companies in the city and has performed in English, French, and Arabic. He is also a Resident Artist with ARC, an artist-led independent theatre company dedicated to producing thought-provoking international works in their Canadian premiere. Selected Credits: A Tonic For Desperate Times (Theatre Gargantua), Towards Rebirth (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Oil (ARC), Les Zinspirés 6 (Dora Nomination for Best Ensemble), Le Menteur, La Seconde Surprise de l’Amour (Théâtre Français de Toronto), White Wedding (Toronto Fringe), Sinners on a Southbound Bus (NY Fringe), Vanishing State (London International Festival of Theatre, Kaaitheater Brussels). Film/TV: The Boys (Amazon), Titans (Netflix).

 

athena kaitlin Trinh – Kendra/Jenna

(bio to come)

 

 

CREATIVE TEAM

 


André Sills* – Director

Seven seasons at Stratford Festival: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest, Coriolanus, Napoli Milionaria!, Pentecost etc. Four seasons at The Shaw Festival: Glass Menagerie, Sex, An Octoroon; “Master Harold”… and the Boys etc; Kim’s Convenience national tour (Soulpepper); Shakespeare’s Nigga, Ruined (Obsidian Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Alberta Theatre Projects, The Grand); Othello, Radio Golf (St. Louis Black Repertory Company). Training: Birmingham Conservatory, George Brown Theatre School. Awards: My Entertainment World Critics Pick Award, Best Leading Actor, An Octoroon; Toronto Theatre Critics Award and Dora Award, Best Leading Actor, “Master Harold”… and the Boys. Online: Check out his new web series on YouTube called Private Idiots. Upcoming: Richard III, All’s Well That Ends Well (Stratford Festival)
Animation: Summer Memories
Twitter: @andresills373.
Instagram: @dre373

 

Tammy Vuckovic* – Assistant Director & Stage Manager

Tamara is a Toronto-based Stage Manager, Director and Producer in primarily Theatre and Opera. Her work has taken her across Canada, from Toronto to Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, London, and Halifax; to the US, and overseas. She has been ARC’s Managing Producer since 2018, and their Resident Stage Manager since 2014. She has also been the Resident SM of opera performance company Off Centre Music Salon since 2010. 

Selected Stage Management credits include: Handel’s The Resurrection (Opera Atelier); Prototüüpe (ZOU Theatre); Beneath Springhill: The Maurice Ruddick Story (Festival Players); Oil (ARC); Marjorie Prime (Coal Mine); Old Man and The River (WeeFestival Tour); Hell’s Fury (Soundstreams); The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare in the Ruff); La Clemenza di Tito (Opera McGill); The Glass Menagerie (Grand Theatre). Her recent directing credits include the Assistant Director of ARC’s Oil, and Co-Director of ARC’s Dissidents (ARC).

 

Paolo Santalucia – Producer

(bio to come)

 

Holly Hilts – Production Manager

(bio to come)

 

Jackie Chau* – Set & Costume Designer

Jackie has been an ARC company member since 2014. She has worked as a set and costume designer and her work has toured internationally. In addition, she is a production designer and art director for film and television. Selected theatre design credits include: Moment, Pomona, KISS, Dissidents, Human Animals, Oil (ARC); Sexy Laundry (Theatre Aquarius); Annie Mae’s Movement, Almighty Voice and His Wife, Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, From Thine Eyes, HUFF (NEPA); Antigone Insurgency, Talking Masks, Charge of the Expormidable Moose, Ubu Mayor, S/W (One Little Goat); Gas Girls (New Harlem Productions); Romeo and Juliet (TD Dream in High Park/Canadian Stage); Zadie’s Shoes, Lady Sunrise (Factory Theatre); Brown Balls (Fu-Gen); Cowboy Versus Samurai, The 39 Steps, Oraltorio (Soulpepper); and The Komagata Maru Incident (Stratford Festival).  Jackie was named in NOW magazine’s Top 10 Theatre Artists of 2009, nominated for the Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design, nominated for a Saskatoon Area Theatre (SAT) award, two Broadway World awards and has received eight Dora nominations for outstanding set and costume design. She currently teaches Theatrical Design at the University of Toronto.  

 

Chris Malkowski – Lighting Designer

Chris is a professional lighting designer based in Toronto and designs lights for dance, drama, opera, musical theatre and live events in Canada and across the world. This is Chris’s debut with ARC. Selected credits include: Waves of Flesh (Staats Berlin Ballett / Komische Oper Berlin), AF (Canstage/Red Sky Performance 2020), Suitcase (Theatre Passe Muraille 2020), Portia’s Julius Caesar (UofT Hart House Theatre 2019), Pass Over (Obsidian Theatre 2019), Black Drum (Deaf Cultural Centre / Soulpepper 2019), Beside Myself, Hilda’s Yard and The Writer (Foster Festival 2019), Associate Designer on Middletown (Crow’s Theatre 2018). Chris is a full member of the Associated Designers of Canada IATSE Local 659.

 

Christopher Stanton – Music & Sound Designer

Christopher is a performer, director, writer, sound designer, composer, and educator. His stage work has taken him across Canada to Toronto, Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Montreal – and internationally to New York, Bogotà, Munich, Brisbane, Dublin, and Vienna. He has been nominated for 16 Dora Mavor Moore Awards across disciplines, winning in 2017 for his direction of Pomona (ARC), and in 2011 for his performance in Enda Walsh’s New Electric Ballroom (MacKenzie Ro). Past roles in artistic leadership include UnSpun Theatre, The Room, and ARC. He has been the Festival Director of the Hamilton Fringe since 2020.

 

Hannah MacMillan – Apprentice Stage Manager

Hannah is a stage manager for musicals, dance and theatre. She loves being able to bring theatre to young audiences. She also has a passion for great customers service and can often be found working Front of House. She is very exciting to be working on her first production with ARC. Crow’s Theatre Credits: Apprentice Stage Manager, The Wolves (Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre); Stage Manager, Punk Rock (Howland Company).  Recent credits include: Stage Manager, Nona’s Malaika (Shakespeare in Action); Apprentice Stage Manager, Lady Sunrise (Factory Theatre); Production Stage Manager, Matilda (Mainstage Theatre Company); Apprentice Stage Manager, Reprint (Musical Stage Company); Stage Manager, A Merry Munsch PJ Party (Solar Stage); Assistant Stage Manager, The Philosopher’s Wife (Paradigm Productions); Stage Manager, Dry Land (Cue 6). 

 

 

* ARC Resident Artists