Portico Project: The Exchange

Trevor Barrette (he/him) is a queer actor, director, writer/composer, stage manager and teacher based in Tio’tia:ke (Montreal). In 2011, he founded the award-winning KaleidoscopeMTL, for which he directed ten productions. His work has been presented at Segal Centre’s Academy, Centaur Theatre’s Wildside Festival, CETM Inc’s Next Wave Festival, Playshed Theatre’s WRK’N’PRGRSS, Freestanding Room’s Shortstanding Festival, and the Montreal Fringe Festival. As a stage manager, he has had the pleasure of working with the Segal Centre and Centaur Theatre (apprentice), Kidoons Theatre/WYRD Productions, and Harlot X/safeword, among others. As an actor, he has performed on stage with the National Arts Centre/Centaur Theatre, Geordie Theatre, Repercussion Theatre, Scapegoat Carnival, Talking Dog Productions, and MainLine Theatre, as well as in readings and workshops with the National Theatre School, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Infinitheatre and Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal. He has proudly served his community as President of the Montreal English Theatre Awards and Vice President of the Quebec Drama Federation. You can catch Trevor on stage this fall in Scapegoat Carnivale’s YEV. www.trevorbarrette.com @trevorkbarrette

A description of Maryline takes its roots in Haiti. Before leaving the pearl of the Antilles to immigrate to Canada, her father used to cheer up the townspeople by writing and performing plays. Throughout the years, her father transmitted his stories, love for acting and words, and artistic strength to her.

An actress, dramaturg and improviser, Maryline studied theatre at Concordia University. Since graduating, she created and performed her first solo show, Afrodisiaque, at MainLine Theatre and Espace La Risée in 2018. The same year, she was invited to the 17th French World Summit in Erevan, Armenia, where she performed and gave acting and creative writing workshops. Maryline was also part of the 2018–2019 Black Theatre Workshop Artist Mentorship Program. She also appeared in notable TV series such as District 31 (2020) or Ruptures (2019). Chery also dove into staging as she co-directed the second edition of Projet Racines at Espace Libre (2021).

Maryline takes on the responsibility of representing the riches of Creole culture in her craft as a writer and actress. Her mission is to create vibrant, diverse, engaged, and colourful pieces that reflect her.

Corrina Hodgson is a Queer playwright and disability advocate from Tkaronto. An award winning playwright, this is Corrina’s first performance in over 20 years, and her very first performance as a disabled actor. She is grateful for this opportunity to explore her craft in such a hyper corporeal project, and to this team for their patience and generosity in learning together.

Corrina attended AMDA (NYC) on a creative movement scholarship where she studied Laban Movement Theory and Alexander Technique. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from UBC and is the past recipient of Theatre BC’s National Playwriting Competition, Solo Collective’s Monologue Competition, Pennsylvania Playhouse’s Playwright Award and the Jane Chambers International Playwriting Award. She teaches piano as her side gig from her home studio in Dorval.

Sandra Tatsuko Kadowaki is a third generation Japanese Canadian, and a born and bred Montrealer. She was a performer, instructor, and composer with Montreal’s Japanese drumming ensemble, Arashi Daiko, for 19 years, and still enjoys sharing the energy of the drum with others whenever she gets the chance. Having dabbled in the past in jewellery, greeting card and print making, and currently exploring watercolour painting, her creations are indelibly influenced by her family history, cultural roots, and her love of the natural world and all the creatures in it – except for caterpillars. 

Ainsley McNeaney is a singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer with an honour’s degree in Percussion Performance from the University of Toronto. Her recent collaborations include Hat Trick with Rag & Bone Puppet Theatre (virtual children’s show); Needle & Thread with Miller-Paivio Productions (interdisciplinary dance production, Festival Quartiers Danses 2021); as well as composing music for Montreal circus artist Bekka Rose, and lending vocals to the soundtrack of a coronavirus documentary. McNeaney has released two full-length indie orchestral albums under her own name and has performed all over Canada and internationally. Her new solo electro-pop project, Pet Lion, is the result of a pandemic spent holed-up re-working a series of songs meant originally for a full band. In her free time, McNeaney helps run a community garden in St-Henri and has way too many houseplants. She is thrilled to be a part of Portico Project’s The Exchange at Centaur Theatre this year.

Julie is an award-winning actor and theatre creator from Montreal. Selected acting credits include: Sophie in Strawberries in January (Hudson Village Theatre); Sin in Paradise Lost and Elena in Butcher (Centaur Theatre); Marion in The Team on The Hill (Blyth Festival); Annie in Jean Dit (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui), Isabella Bird in Top Girls (Segal Centre); and Emilia in Othello (Scapegoat Carnivale/Segal Centre).

Her first play, Mixie and the Halfbreeds (with Adrienne Wong), about mixed identity in multiple universes, was first commissioned as a radio play by CBC, then adapted for the stage for Neworld Theatre in Vancouver. Her second play The Tashme Project: The Living Archives (with Matt Miwa)–a verbatim retelling of the Japanese Canadian internment experience, produced in Montreal in 2015 and 2018–recently toured to Toronto, Vancouver and Ottawa and was published by Canada Playwrights’ Press in 2019. She is currently writing her third play, Mizushōbai–The Water Trade, commissioned by Tableau D’Hôte Theatre, about Kiyoko Tanaka Goto, a Japanese picture-bride turned ‘underground’ business woman in 1930’s British Columbia.She has been a mentor for ARTISTA, Imago Theatre’s mentorship program, Black Theatre Workshop’s AMP, and co-facilitator for the Arrivals Legacy process with Diane Roberts. Julie is a proud Sansei (third generation) Japanese Canadian and a member of the student taiko group, Inazuma Daiko.

Since graduating from NTS, David has designed over 80 theatre shows. He has done lighting for visual art shows, corporate galas, dance and musical shows. After twenty-five years of this life, he still believes that light in all its forms is worth looking into more closely.

Rose Plotek is a theatre director and performance maker. The inquiry of Rose’s work investigates form and aesthetic, with experimentation being a driving force of both development and presentation. Her work is often developed through interdisciplinary collaboration and workshops.

She was Associate Director of the Directing Program at the National Theatre School of Canada from 2013-2018. She was Intern Director at the Shaw Festival in 2013. She is Associate Artist at the Centaur Theatre where she is also curator of the Wildside Festival.

Born and raised in Montreal, she is a graduate of Concordia University’s theatre program and the directing program at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Recent credits: Like Mother, Like Daughter (Why Not Theatre & Complicite, UK); Performance about a woman (OFFTA, Tiger Dublin Fringe; SummerWorks). 

Kayin Queeley, born in the federation of St. Kitts & Nevis in the West Indies and now living in Montreal, Canada, is the founder of Montreal Steppers. He fell in love with the art form of step during his studies at SUNY Plattsburgh, where he obtained a bachelor’s degree in International Business and a master’s degree in Leadership Studies. Kayin currently works at McGill University where he is engaged in his passions for student development, peer mentoring and community outreach. He unfailingly shares his love for step through his work with young people on campus and in other communities. Since founding the Montreal Steppers in 2019, Kayin and the team have performed at countless events and run in-person and virtual workshops, both in Montreal and in the U.S. Through step, song, and spoken word, the Montreal Steppers centre the importance of Black Lives, Black history/futurity and stories, hoping to inspire, strengthen solidarity, and reimagine a just world where together we can breathe, live, succeed, and thrive differently.

Eo Sharp is a Montreal based set and costume designer who began her career in theatre as a house and box office manager. She has been designing across Canada for the past thirty years. Recent work includes: Little Mighty Superhero and Celestial Bodies with Geordie Productions; Mae West’s Sex at the Shaw Festival; Tropic of X for Imago; and Héritage (A Raisin in the Sun) at Théâtre Jean Duceppe. Her work has been nominated eleven times for design awards, won four, and represented Canada three times at the Prague Quadrennial. As an educator, Eo has worked with the National Theatre School of Canada, Black Theatre Workshop’s Mentorship Program, Concordia University, Bishop’s University, and York University. Eo participated three times in The Ark, a National Arts Centre theatre research project. She holds a BFA Honours in Art history from the University of Toronto and is a graduate of the National Theatre School’s Design Program.

Nalo Soyini Bruce is a Montreal-based artist, set, costume and prop designer of Caribbean origin. Her designs evoke rich associations through vibrant colour relationships, textured surfaces and varied materials. She uses this vocabulary to express underlying historical, cultural and psychological dimensions of stories enacted on screen and stage. Since she emerged from the Black Theatre Workshop Artist Mentorship Program’s 2017-2018 ensemble, Nalo has worked with numerous theatre and dance companies that include Black Theatre Workshop, Geordie Theatre and We All Fall Down, on productions that explore themes of cultural identity, tolerance, acceptance, and hopeful futures. Recent projects include: Simone Half and Half, directed by Quincy Armorer (Black Theatre Workshop’s Black History Month school tour presentation, February 2020); The Negroes are Congregating, directed by Natasha Adiyana Morris (A Piece of Mine Arts & Theatre Passe Muraille co-production, March 2020); Da Kink in my Hair, directed by Ray Hogg (An Arts Club Theatre Company production, April 2020 opening, postponed due to Covid-19).

Upcoming productions include Backstage at Carnegie Hall (a new chamber opera produced by Bradyworks and Black Theatre Workshop) and Luna (Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal).

Nalo’s website: https://www.nalosoyini.com