PROGRAM
PROGRAM
Roles: Artistic Director, Co-Sound Designer, Writer (Procella)
Taylor is an actor, writer, and multi-disciplinary artist, currently creating art for and within the Niagara Region. He is a graduate of Fanshawe College’s Theatre Arts Acting Conservatory, and Brock University’s Dramatic Arts program. Since then, Taylor has frequently been seen working with Carousel Players as an actor, director, puppeteer, and more! Over the last several years, Taylor has diversified his art practice, delving into the worlds of sound design, self-producing, and immersive works. His recent interdisciplinary creations include an interactive digital story-sharing experience (The Forest of Us - co-creator), an ongoing audio thriller series (The Moonlight Frequency), and an interactive outdoor installation for the Niagara Children’s Festival (The Pirate Mystery). Last year, Taylor took on an Internship in Artistic Direction at Carousel Players, and was nominated for an Emerging Artist Award at the St. Catharines Arts Awards. Taylor is grateful that he still gets to make art with his friends.
Roles: Production Manager, Lighting & Co-Sound Designer
Alex is a Niagara-based lighting designer & theatre artist. He’s a passionate storyteller who primarily works with light and sound to tell stories that make you, think, laugh, cry, and wonder as these are the stories he loves himself. Alex is a graduate of Brock University and The National Theatre School of Canada’s Production, Design and Technical Arts program.
Roles: Hut & Co-Sound Designer
Josh is an artist from St. Catharines. He writes, performs, directs, designs, builds, plays, draws, creates, and dreams just about anything he can. Josh is yet to find an art form that doesn’t excite him, he’s always trying new things, learning, and pushing boundaries. Alongside his theatrical experience, Josh has been developing as a woodworker, creating multiple beautiful pieces. I’m just a weird guy who’s had lots of opportunities to try lots of different things. I love a challenge, I love an adventure, I believe passionately in love, community, hope, and joy. Find a reason to love someone today.
Sound Designer & Composer for: Betty The Baby Bat, Credit Card & Discovering My Big Beautiful Bear
Zoe Daca (She/Her) is a stage manager, sound designer, and composer based in Toronto and Montreal. Driven by her dedication to theatrical excellence, Zoe strives to create an environment that fosters creativity and supports individual artistry within the collaborative process. Zoe holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Classical Trumpet from McGill University, where she also pursued studies in theatre and philosophy and she is a recent graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada's Production, Design, and Technical Arts program.
The Last of My Kind
Travis Seetoo is an actor, writer and musician living in the Niagara Region. An actor at the Shaw since 2013, his two Dungeons and Dragons based plays The Roll of Shaw and Through The Wardrobe were produced at the Shaw in 2024 and 2025. Travis' other acting credits include work at The Stratford Festival, The National Arts Centre, The Tarragon Theatre, The Citadel Theatre and many others. Travis holds his masters degree in comparative literature from Brock University and has spoken at symposia internationally on game based theatre and his secret love of the Brontë sisters juvenalia and how it was essentially Victorian era D&D. Travis lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake with his partner Emma and their 2 year old Saint Bernard George.
Ang Unang Pamilya
We are Tethered the Ghost, a theatre collective based in Toronto, Ontario founded by Kaylyn Valdez-Scott and Meryl Ochoa. Our mission is to address the complexities of the Filipin*-Canadian diaspora by putting on stage the narratives that we and our families live through.
Kaylyn Valdez-Scott is a half Filipina, half Scottish artist from Toronto, Ontario. Kaylyn is the Artistic Director and co-founder of Tethered The Ghost, a collective that explores and celebrates the Filipinx-Canadian diaspora. Kaylyn’s work is rooted in her passion for devised physical creation through song and movement, and she enjoys finding sparks of creativity by water. She is also incredibly excited to introduce her cousin, Keira Valdez-Filaro, who voices “Daughter”.
Meryl (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist and producer who immigrated to Canada with her family in 2012. Alongside her work in Tethered the Ghost, Meryl completed the Empathy Squad training with FIXT POINT Arts & Media in 2020 and was co-Creative Facilitator of the program from 2021-2024. In 2024, she joined the Balancing Act Canada team and is now Managing Producer with the new organization. Meryl is devoted to developing work that tells untold truths and empowers those that are under-represented.
Just Roll With It
Kemi King (she/her) is a writer, director, dramaturg, producer. She is the Artistic Director of YIKES Co. founded in her second year of undergrad. Working within her practice, Theatre of Critical Care, Kemi emphasizes relation and exploration in her work. This work takes from abolitionist principles in care and disability justice in order to resist formal inclusion.
He He He
Eliza Martin is an award-winning actor, writer, and creator. She is a graduate of the Theatre and Drama Studies program at the University of Toronto and Sheridan College and has since performed on stages in Canada, the U.S., and the U.K. Eliza has created such works as: O (NYC United Solo Award Best Satire, All About Solo, Critics' Choice), Harvey & The Extraordinary (My Entertainment World - 2018 Critics' Pick Award Nominee, Outstanding Solo Performance) and BLOOM (Bad Hats Theatre, 2019 Creator-in-Residence). Eliza's first novel Harvey and the Extraordinary, based on her play of the same title, was published by Annick Press in 2021 (Canadian Children's Book Centre Best Books for Kids & Teens), and translated into Czech in 2022. Her second and third books will hit bookshelves in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Off the stage and page, she can be found working with children and youth in creative and therapeutic programs (M.A. CYC). @elizavmartin www.elizamartin.ca.
I Was A Teenage Carnie
Gavin Fearon is a black collar labourer. His heart is in the North Atlantic.
Discovering My Big, Beautiful Bear
Nicole is an award-winning , multi-disciplinary artist who grew up in Mississauga. Her bloodlines are mixed Euro-Settler and they are registered with Horse Lake First Nation, AB. For over 25 years she has been storytelling for stage and screen, across Turtle Island and beyond, and has worked with many celebrated companies such as the Stratford Festival, Theatre Aquarius, Punctuate Theatre, Native Earth, Carousel Players, CBC, CBS and Telefilm. As a proud Bear clan matriarch, 60’s scoop witness and 2Spirit Helper, supporting each other through healing and the Indigenous arts continues to be a passion of theirs. She recently assisted the DART faculty at Brock University in their Indigenous Theatre, Foundations of Theatre and Dramaturgy courses and is looking forward to performing in the World Premiere of “Rez Gas” in Port Hope this summer. Kinânaskomitin to the Healers, Elders, and Community that have been guiding them on this beautiful path.
2086: I Love You
Seymour Irons is a Black Queer Canadian Multi-disciplinary artist. He recently premiered his first full-length play, Family Container, in partnership with Theatre Kingston. Seymour is currently completing his master's degree in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies at Queen’s University. His creative practice spans visual art, media, film, theatre, dance, and virtual reality. In the winter of 2025, Seymour’s short film Psychogenic Fade was curated in the Kingston Growing Pains Premiere. His work often incorporates themes of wellness, identity, love, and technology, aiming to share stories that are overlooked or marginalized. His short story 2086: I love you is a Queer dystopian love story that imagines queer futurity in difficult conditions. More info about Seymour and his work can be found on Instagram @seymour.irons, or check out his site https://www.seemorewakeup.com/
Credit Card
Lucy Mee (she/her) is an arts administrator with a passion for improv! She attended Queen’s University for drama and holds a Master’s degree in Arts Management. Her theatre experience includes production management, producing, stage management, and carpentry. In 2023, Lucy became the Operations Manager for the Canadian Improv Games, where she helps coordinate dozens of high-school improv tournaments nationwide. She is currently based in Toronto, Ontario. Outside of work, Lucy runs her own amateur trivia league, is a frequent thrifter, and has a hamster named Princess Cheese.
Park Mosaic
Skye Rogers (she/her) is a dance and theatre artist dearly devoted to making the body, community, and place feel like home. Based in Attiwandaronia (Hamilton), and St. Catharines, Skye is the co-Artistic Director of retrograde: dance in motion, a lead artist with Tapestry Theatre Collective, and an Artistic Associate with Aeris Körper Contemporary Dance. Skye is making work that is embodied and wholehearted. Her practice spans performance, choreography, producing, facilitation, and theatre creation. She is curious about building strong worlds and stories understood beyond language, and takes delight in wrapping around others’ visions, dreams, and hopes as a teacher and collaborator.
You can explore more of Skye’s range of work at www.skylightcollection.com, or on instagram @whatskyedoes.
Bob & The Willow Tree
Salomae Lapinski is an 8 1/2 year old from St. Catharines who loves cats, riding her bike, reading and writing, and nature. She loves going on walks in the summer, fall, and spring. NOT the winter. She also loves sketching and doodling. She is an artist, musician, actor and dancer, and has completed many Carousel Players theatre camps since she was 5 yrs old. Over the years, she has grown to love making up stories. She is very proud to be part of this year’s Niagara Children’s Theatre Festival.
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Joe Lapinski is a St. Catharines–based sound designer and composer with over 20 years of experience creating sound and music for theatre. An active musician, producer, songwriter, and recording engineer, he brings a broad musical perspective to his theatrical work. Joe is the lead producer at WOW! Recording Studio and has collaborated with a wide range of artists across genres and disciplines.
He is a co-founder of the In the Soil Arts Festival and a former music director with Suitcase in Point Theatre Company. Selected theatre credits include Metamorphosis (Brock University, 2025), Hare & Tortoise (Carousel Players, 2018/2025), Pop! Pop! (Carousel Players, 2021–2025), Antigonick (SummerWorks Festival, 2014), Topdog / Underdog (Shaw Festival Theatre / Obsidian Theatre, 2011), A Downtown Stupor (Suitcase in Point, 2009), and 1984 (Théâtre Rien Pantoute, 2008).
Betty The Baby Bat
Lena is a Dora Award winning actor / theatre creator / artist-educator from Toronto. Her work involves writing and performing in new musical adaptations of classic stories, including Moby: A Whale of a Tale, winner of 4 Dora Awards (Art & Water); The Velveteen Rabbit (Carousel Players); Pippi: The Strongest Girl in the World (Gorgon Theatre, Art & Water). Other acting credits include Cabaret (Contact Theatre); I Love You and It Hurts (Theatre of the Beat); Peter Pan, winner of 3 Dora Awards (Bad Hats Theatre). As an artist-educator, Lena has worked as the Education Coordinator at Theatre of the Beat and is currently the lead instructor for Soulpepper Theatre’s City Youth Academy.
Take a walk down memory lane with Gavin as he recounts the wild days of when he was a teenage carnie.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Hue is the last of a strange species that express themselves through colour. But if you listen to Hue’s plea, maybe there’s a way you can help!
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Take a walk through the park, and soak in the collage of characters and scenery surrounding you.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Peter comes from a neighbourhood of laughers. But what do you do when you don’t have a laugh of you own?
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Imagine this - you are 13 years old, standing at the top of the bowl about to run through the longest skate track in the city.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
It’s moving day for Bob the Bird, and he’s got his eyes set on a new nest in the big willow tree! In this jointly told tale, Bob’s quest for a new home doesn’t quite go to plan.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Lucy's got a brand new job in the big city, and her boss sends her on an important errand. What's the worst that could happen?
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer & Composer
When the A.I. Tech Bodies attack, how can we find love and connection in an isolated and digitized world?
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
What can a mortal mother offer to a Goddess? This Philippine folklore tale takes you on a journey of magic, motherhood, and sacrifice.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
When Nicole goes on a journey to rediscover her heritage, she also discovers her spirit helper - with some unexpected assistance.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer & Composer
The sun’s coming up, which means it’s bedtime for Betty the Bat. But she can’t fall asleep! Betty seeks out some help from her forest creature pals.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer & Composer
When communication towers on Mars break down, those that live there lose their precious connection to home.
Writer & Voice over
Sound Designer
Loewen Design Studios
Annie Slade
Shannon Fletcher
Tony Bogaert
Isabella Saranchuk
Carousel Players
Suitcase In Point
Patrick Avery-Kenny
Monica Dufault
Sara Allison
Carolyn Hafer
Marcel Stewart
Deanna Jones
Gavin Fearon
David Vivian
Bea Freedman
David Bogaert
Zakk Milne