Slaight New Play Actor Training - September 2024

Ellen Close is a playwright, actor, director and dramaturge based in Calgary. A graduate of the National Theatre School's Acting Program, Ellen has performed at Vertigo Theatre, Arts Club Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit, Theatre Calgary, the National Arts Centre, Alberta Theatre Projects and Sage Theatre. Her play Life Below won the 2022 Alberta Playwrights' Network Alberta Playwriting Competition Sharon Pollock Prize following development as Playwright-in-Residence at Downstage and at the Caravan Farm Theatre National Playwrights Retreat. Her play My Family and Other Endangered Species – written with frequent collaborator Braden Griffiths – was published by Playwrights’ Canada Press, received Best Play at the Calgary Critics Awards, and was nominated for an Alberta Literary Award. Her second collaboration with Griffiths, Cipher, won the Alberta Playwriting Competition, and premiered at Arts Club (Vancouver) and Vertigo (Calgary). Both Species and Cipher were nominated for Betty Mitchell Awards for Outstanding New Play.

Marie is an award-winning theatre maker and director primarily focused on the creation of new work. She recently directed her wondrous and critically acclaimed adaptation of André Alexis’ novel Fifteen Dogs for the stage at Crow’s Theatre. She has directed for and collaborated with some of the most innovative companies from across the country, such as Crow’s Theatre, the Banff Centre, Necessary Angel, the Stratford Festival, the Arts Club, the Segal Centre, Théâtre Aux Écuries, Rumble Theatre, Porte-Parole, and Théâtre La Seizième. She was the recipient of the 2019 Ray Michal Award for Outstanding Body of Work by an Emerging Director, the 2020 Dora Award for Outstanding Direction in the Musical Theatre division, and the 2020 Toronto Theatre Critics' Award for Best Director of a Musical. 

Joleen Ballendine is a mixed-blood Métis writer, actor, improviser, and educator, based in Treaty 6 Territories. Joleen has been an integral part of Canada’s third oldest improv company, Rapid Fire Theatre since 2009, currently holding the role of Director of Outreach and Welcome. She spearheaded the Outreach program in 2011 and since then has continued to grow the company's reach in the community. She works closely with Indigenous youth using improv and comedy to tell their stories.

Comedy has allowed Joleen to travel across North America and on six European tours, entertaining audiences, and leading workshops. Her work extends to various television and web series, including being a finalist for the National Screen Institute's Totally Television program in 2020. Noteworthy collaborations include partnerships with CBC and Aboriginal Peoples Television Network and Mosaic Entertainment. Recently, she proudly joined the Historical Canada family by writing her first Canadian Heritage Minute on Mary Bonnie Baker, currently airing.

Joleen is passionate about sharing stories, laughter, and the magic of theatre with audiences across Canada. Following the birth of her child in 2021, she has embarked on projects aimed at younger audiences, such as her latest project Kohkom’s Babushka, a children’s book adaptation into a play in collaboration with her real-life best friend Lianna Makuch, supported by Punctuate! Theatre, Pemmican Collective, and Banff Centre for the Arts.
 

Lianna Makuch is a third generation Ukrainian Canadian playwright, director, performer, co-Artistic Director of Pyretic Productions, and a producer with Punctuate! Theatre. Lianna has travelled several times to Ukraine to research and develop her plays Barvinok and Alina, which have garnered her recognition such as the Shevchenko Foundation’s REACH Award, an Edmonton Artist Trust Fund Award, Sterling Award nominations, shortlisted for the Alberta Playwriting Award, and as a finalist for the Gina Wilkinson Prize. Her work has been developed by Punctuate! Theatre, Pemmican Collective, Citadel Theatre’s Collider Festival, Banff Centre for the Arts, Concrete Theatre, and internationally by Wild Theatre and Izolyatsia Cultural Platform in Kyiv, Ukraine. Lianna’s directorial debut, First Métis Man of Odesa (Punctuate! Theatre), received a Dora Award for Outstanding Direction and has been seen on stages nationwide. Upcoming Directing: A Christmas Carol (Citadel Theatre). 

Lianna is an avid activist in support of Ukraine, and has been recognized as one of 50 Canadian Fellows of Ukraine by the UDonation International NGO, Edify Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40, and her theatre work has been referenced in the House of Commons. Lianna is thrilled to be developing Kohkom’s Babushka with her childhood best friend and artistic collaborator Joleen Ballendine, seeing it as a special opportunity to delve into their cultural roots and explore the enduring bond of friendship. 
 

Rose is an award winning writer and actor. She recently starred in the premiere of her own play, Mad Madge, produced by Nightwood Theatre with Video Cabaret. Her musical, After the Rain, co-written with Suzy Wilde will premiere this season at Tarragon Theatre co-produced with the Musical Stage Company. Notable acting credits include: the title character in Wildwoman (Soulpepper Theatre), Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Canadian Stage), Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (Citadel), and Kate in Taming of the Shrew (SLSF). She is currently developing a new play with Crows Theatre and new television shows with Cameron Pictures and Circle Blue Entertainment. She was a writer on season six of Hudson & Rex and is an alumna of the Canadian Film Centre, where she now teaches. 

Anna is a theatre practitioner and educator specializing in movement, choreography, intimacy and ensemble development. Her breadth of work ranges from live theatre to international mega-events.  In 2014, Anna Co-Created and Co-Directed Circle Game: Reimagining the Music of Joni Mitchell which toured to 13 cities in western Canada from 2017-2019, garnering 11 award nominations and winning 4 including an Ovation Award for Best Production and an SAT Award for Best Choreography.

Internationally, Anna has worked on the Mass Movement Team of mega-events. Most recently, she spent 2 years living and working in Dubai, UAE for Expo 2020 as a choreographer, movement director, and dance captain for on the nightly entertainment in Expo’s marquee venue – Al Wasl Plaza. These productions integrated actors, dance, and puppetry which interacted with sophisticated projection technology.

Anna holds an MFA in Movement Direction and Teaching from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, and trained as an Intimacy Director with Intimacy Directors International and Theatrical Intimacy Education. She  is currently a full-time Faculty Member at MacEwan University in Edmonton.