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Shaista
Justin, Oh Susanna, Aidan Mason, Tiffany Claire Martin, Sonja Seiler, Brian
Khan, Frank Manfredi, Jeff Davidson, Veronica Hyatt, Elizabeth Jackson, Maria
Nunes, Vivian Peachey, Hal Swann |
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Thursday, April 16,
2009
The Rivoli (334 Queen St. W,
Toronto)
7:00–9:00pm,
free
admission; cash bar
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Shaista
Justin
emigrated to Canada at the
age of six and grew up in Toronto where she currently
lives with her husband and two children. Extensive
travel has contributed to her fascination
with colonization and the contemporary manifestations of
historical tragedies. Her dominant passions are writing
fiction, producing theatre, and academic research in the
fields of Post-Colonial Literature & Theory,
Eco-criticism, Feminist Theory and the 18th-Century. She
has published in The Fiddlehead & New Contrast
and works freelance as a writer and editor. |
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Over the last 10 years, Juno nominated musician and
songwriter Oh Susanna has garnered critical acclaim
and loyal audiences around the world with her albums
Oh Susanna (2003), Sleepy Little Sailor
(2001), Johnstown (1999), and EP
(1997). Her newest album, Short Stories,
reunites Suzie with long time band-mates Bazil
Donovan (Blue Rodeo) on bass, Cam Giroux (Weeping
Tile, By Divine Right) on drums, Bob Packwood (Blue
Rodeo) on piano as well as the explosive talents of
Luke Doucet, Justin Rutledge and Burke Carroll.
www.ohsusanna.com
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Aidan Mason
was born in South
Africa on the coast. The rhythms of the sea and Cape
Town Jazz rollick in some of his guitar compositions
along with the formations of rock/pop (music) in
Canada. After a long successful career, Aidan is
engaged in self-reinvention. Nudging away bears and
lions with the butt of his guitar, he enjoys playing
in the wilds of whatever land he is in and teasing
his audiences with his light-hearted wit and magical
notes. He will be accompanying Shaista on the poem
“The River Club in Obz” with his composition "The
Whispering Wind".
www.nuvoduo.com
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Tiffany Martin is a graduate
from the Humber Theatre Performance program.
She was nominated for a Dora Award in 2008 (Ensemble
Cast) for an outstanding group performance
in Factory Theatre’s Production of "Tough!". Most
recently she appeared in Obsidian Theatre’s
critically acclaimed production of "Black Medea."
She has also appeared in "Twelfth Night" (Humber
River Shakespeare) as 'Feste' and as 'Kate' in "The
Curative" (Harvest Festival) in Montreal. She can
next be seen in "Love and Human Extinction" playing
in the Toronto Fringe Festival, written and directed
by Shaista Justin.. She would like to thank the
amazing people in her life that have and continue to
support her on this wonderful ride. Thank you.
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Sonja is a
freelance composer, playwright and performer whose
current projects include the book, music, and lyrics
for The Highwayman:
a new musical, premiering
in concert at the Toronto Centre for the Arts, May
12, 2009. (www.highwaymanmusical.com).
Sonja's composing
credits include her own award-winning, one-woman
musical, Sandra Goodwife's Big Day,
Smashing Bat Theatre's Western Canada tour of
Shakespeare's As You Like It
and she is currently working on a short piece, Ballet
School Musical, for
the students at the National Ballet School of
Canada.
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Brian Khan, Baritone, is a classically trained
singer. Born and raised in Toronto, Ontario,
Brian studied voice from 1992 to 2004, during
which time he competed and placed in many local,
provincial and national music competitions; he
has sung with the Mendelssohn Choir, performed
leading and supporting roles in
semi-professional productions of Mozart’s
operas Don Giovanni, Die Zauberflöte
and
Così
Fan Tutte
and has studied several art & leide
song cycles composed by various European and
North American composers, both classical and
contemporary. Brian took a 5 year hiatus from
vocal studies and performing, however in 2009,
he has resumed his studies with his previous
teacher, Canadian Soprano
Lois McDonall. This will be Brian’s first public
performance in 5 years. |
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Frank attended the
Banff School of Fine Arts and graduated from the
University of Alberta’s Acting program. He played
lead roles in productions with Workshop West,
Northern Light and the Phoenix theatres in Edmonton.
Next was Tom Wood’s hit B-Movie, The Play
at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary. The bulk of
his work was with Teatro La Quindicina, with lead
roles in Damp Fury
and The
Glittering Heart
which was also presented at Factory Theatre in
Toronto. He has also performed in many Fringe
Festivals throughout Canada in plays like
Geeks in Love and
Cocktails at Pam’s.
Film and TV roles include Bye Bye Blues
and an obviously strange episode of television’s
The Twilight Zone.
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Jeff Davidson is a
Toronto area photographer. He has honed his people
skills by variably working as an entrepreneur,
musician, carpenter, landscaper and waiter.
Jeff studied photography at George Brown College to
further develop a life-long passion for photography
and has been working full-time as an independent
photographer since 2004. People and the places they
go are his favourite subjects.
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Veronica Hyatt has a BFA with a focus in photography
from the University of Ottawa. After some years of
teaching and travelling she completed her
qualification to become an Art Therapist. She has
worked as a freelance photographer in her spare time
and her work has appeared in some national
publications. Veronica’s Photo “The Decision” will
appear as the poster for the Fringe show, “Love and
Human Extinction.” Veronica works as an art
therapist in Toronto where she lives with her
growing family and dog.
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When asked,
Elizabeth describes her work as romantic realism.
She is primarily a painter in oil, who prefers to
work from life. As an artist in Toronto, Elizabeth
has been a frequent participant in the TOAE, the
Bloor West Village studio tour and the Comic Book
Jam. The Mad Dog gallery, outside Picton, Ontario,
deals in her plein-air landscapes, still-life and
florals. Portraiture, corporate or private, is
brokered directly from her Toronto studio. From 2004
to 2006 she painted with FPD (Fine Painting and
Design) doing
church
restoration and several ecclesiastic
commissions, including a large icon.
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Maria Nunes recently completed
an Honours B.A. from U. of T. with a Specialist in
Social Cultural Anthropology, Major in Sociology,
and Minor in Portuguese. She has worked as a video
editor for CBC TV News for over a decade and
dabbled in photography for much longer. She is the
proud mother of a talented musician, Jonathan in
Brooklyn NY, and
his feline step-sister, Marigold, with whom she
resides in Parkdale.
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Vivian Peachey
is a painter and
environmental advocate of ethical environmentalism.
Professionally she works to support the well
management of Canada’s forests through FSC forest
certification. Her passionate interest in
understanding the relationship of human beings to
their environment is evident in her work. She
currently lives with her husband and son in Toronto.
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Hal Swann has emerged from his
(photographically) chemically-stained past as a
cross-media artist. From initial minor fame in
creating 3D and Virtual Reality experiences, his
work has expanded into time-based imaging such as
film making and time-lapse photography. He is
co-founder of a well-established user-generated
travel video and advice site, and travels widely in
his work for that firm and overseas in his digital
workflow consulting. He is a speaker on cutting-edge
media for universities and for such organizations as
Apple and Kodak. For love or money; from 15 years of
dance photography, to behind-the-scenes media for
Hollywood feature film, to medical education DVDs;
dance drama movies; and collaborating with Shaista
in this exciting realm of literary interpretation,
Hal feels humble and incredibly blessed to present
his work along with such talented and generous
people.
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