Judith Mendelsohn
Judith has been creating and performing her bouffon/clownesque shows since 2006. Her shows Hothouse, Bonne Fête, and Bobby were created and performed in Calgary with Downstage and Sage Theatre. She has had the great pleasure of working as a character/stiltwalking performer with Calgary’s Green Fools Theatre and has studied clown with Canada’s famous John Turner (Smoot of the Mump and Smoot duo) and Dean Bareham. In 2008, she was awarded funding by the Canadian Development Initiative Program and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts to pursue an intensive two-year acting program with the infamous clown, Philippe Gaulier, in Paris, France. In 2010-2011, Judith wrote and performed her show, Bienvenue à Paris with Harlan Chambers and Balthazar Gaulier in Paris France while studying sports at the Université Nouvelle Sorbonne. She is extremely pleased to be returning to Calgary, her hometown, and to be teaching this class with Calgary’s Young People’s Theatre. Judith will be teaching the PHYSICAL PLAY ON STAGE class in the Fall Term.

Phil Fulton
Phil has been working in schools and professional theatre, film and voice over since 2004 and is excited to be with CYPT for another season! Phil has taught everything from Shakespeare to basic fight choreography with children all over Alberta from kindergarten to grade 12 and has a particular passion for engaging youth in creating their own stories. The main focus in any of Phil's classes is the building of confidence and supplying students with the tools and support to achieve their own goals in acting, and nurturing each actor in bringing a bit of themselves into any role. In his spare time Phil works at the Calgary Humane Society and enjoys spending time with his one eyed dog, Mike and fiancée Paula. Phil has also recently gone back to school and graduated with a Bachelor of Education from U of C. Phil will be teaching the ACT 4 CLASS at the Riverbend location.

 

Jessica Robertshaw
Jessica graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2009. Previous stage credits include The Marriage of Figaro, Lux in Tenebris, Oedipus Tyrannos, Antigone, Potentilla, Hamlet and Radioheaded 2 (University of Calgary). Other select credits include The Year of Falling Down (Ignite Festival and Theatre Bombus), Happily Ever Once Upon (BraggArts Theatre), Higher than Truth and Shape of a Girl (Verb Theatre). She is also active in theatre for Young Audiences and was a member of the performing children's theatre ensemble Wagonstage (2009). Jessica is currently an Artistic Associate with Verb Theatre and has also been an instructor with Calgary Young People's Theatre since 2007. Jessica will be teaching the ACT ONE and ACT TWO Class at the Riverbend location.

 

Mike Griffin
Mike has been teaching Drama since 2005. He has his Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia and taught high school Drama at DW Poppy Secondary for four years. Recently, Mike finished his Master of Fine Arts in Directing at the University of Calgary, where he will be teaching first year acting next fall. There he focused on incorporating Commedia dell'Arte into his thesis production of The Liar, by Carlo Goldoni. Mike studied Commedia in Reggio Emilia Italy with Antoni Fava. He is also interested in creating original work and in the spring he was the Directing Intern for Ghost River Theatre's original production of Reverie. Mike's teaching philosophy stands on the principle of creating lifelong learners, students who are passionate about learning beyond the classroom. He believes that the Drama Classroom is a place to build confidence, creativity, and respect in students through exploration and play. Often Mike's classes focus on character development, scene creation, improvisation and sometimes mask exploration. Mike will be teaching the ACT FOUR Class at the North location as well as COMMEDIA LAB in the Winter Term.

Jason Long
His TYA play Offensive Fouls has toured extensively across Canada, and was recently published in the anthology “Things That Go Bump” through Signature Editions; The most recent production of OF in Toronto, by Hustle n’ Bustle Theatre, just received Dora nominations for Best Production and Best Performance (Colin Doyle); His newest play, Just Kidding, was commissioned by Quest Theatre and will begin touring in the fall of 2011. Jason has also written several short films and co-written two feature films, Turning Paige and Walk All Over Me. Jason is graduate of the National Theatre School Of Canada. He is the playwright of the Daily Mischief Trilogy for CYPT. Stay tuned this February for the third and final instalment of this exciting series Daily Mischief: Golden Summer. Jason will also be teaching THE CYPT COLLECTIVE in the Winter Term for CYPT.

 

Anton de Groot
Anton is a director, creator and designer with a BFA from the University of Calgary. He has been working with Calgary Young People's Theatre since 2004. With CYPT he has directed/created: A Midsummer's Night Rock Story, Hamlet, The Tempest, and Identity 2010: The Incomplete; he has designed in part: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Alice in Wonderland, The Daily Mischief, Daily Mischief: Haunted Summer, and Raggedy Ann & Andy. Anton is a member of the Downstage Creation Ensemble, with whom he shares the 2010 Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play for the creation In the Wake. For CYPT this year, Anton will be creating/directing Identity 2011: By Proxy with the Cast of Crayons Creation Ensemble to be peformed in Birmingham, England, and he also has written the adaptation and will be designing lights for FRANKENSTEIN, to pe bresented as a part of the CYPT Season 19 mainstage season. Anton serves as President on the CYPT Board of Directors.

Andrew Torry
Andrew is a playwright living in Calgary. He holds a BFA in Drama from the University of Lethbridge, and an MFA in Playwriting from the University of Calgary. His plays have been produced by the U of L's Drama Department, the Empress Theatre in Fort Macleod, and four times for the Edmonton Fringe Festival. With Kompany Family Theatre, he co-wrote and performed in two plays, one of which was remounted by the company for multiple Junior High Schools five years in a row. He has taught drama and creative writing at the U of C, Wood's Homes, and Antyx Theatre. Andrew teaches the Act Two class at the North location.

 

 

 

Jamie Dunsdon
Jamie Dunsdon is an active director, playwright, performer, and arts instructor based in Calgary, Alberta. She currently teaches for the University of Lethbridge, Evergreen Theatre, and Calgary Young People’s Theatre. She is also the Co-Artistic Director and Founder of Verb Theatre. For Verb, Jamie has directed such productions as Marg Szkaluba (Pissy's Wife) by Ron Chambers, The Shape of a Girl by Joan Macleod, John and Beatrice by Carole Fréchette. Other selected directing credits include: Little Red Riding Beard And Other Rejected Fairy Tales (Wagonstage); Tree Hugger (Urban Curvz: Heroines); Raunch (Downstage: Motel Series); The Year of Falling Down and The Dirty Goddess (Sage Theatre: Ignite!); I Dream of Disney (Downstage: Birds and Stone); and Potentilla (UofC). Jamie recently completed her MFA in Directing at the University of Calgary where she directed the Albertan premiere of Karen Hines’ Hello…Hello in 2008. She also holds a BFA in performance from the University of Lethbridge where she directed Colleen Wagner’s The Monument and Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story. Jamie will be directing the Story Theatre Troupe in Man in the Moon as part of CYPT’s Season 19 Main Stage Line-up.

Laura Hildebrandt
Laura has a BFA in Drama Education from the University of Calgary. She has been improvising with the Improv Guild for seven years, and she has worked with CYPT for over 5 years. Laura is an elementary schoolteacher in her other life. She likes pink and pirates... and pink pirates. Laura is teaching IMPROVISATION in the WINTER TERM and directing KIDPROV in the Fall as part of the Calgary International Improv Festival Sept 22-Oct 2, 2011.

 

 

 

 

Mat Mailandt
Actor, director, clown, and improviser, Mat Mailandt can be found all over the world creating theatre. Having received a BFA from the University of Calgary, Mat has been working professionally in Theatre for Young Audiences for 8 years. From 2005-2010, he was the Artistic Director of Calgary Young People's Theatre. From 2010-2011 he was an Artistic Associate with ComedySportz Berlin, in Berlin Germany. He has performed and taught theatre across Canada, in Germany and Noway. He is a founding member of Kids Play Klassics, a performing member of The Improv Guild and yearly contributor to the Calgary International Children's Festival. He has been teaching drama to Calgary's youth for better part of the last decade and is very excited to be a part of the CYPT team again this season. Mat will be teaching IMPROVISATION FOR TEENS in the Fall Term, ACT THREE in the North location and directing Daily Mischief: Golden Summer as part of CYPT’s Season 19 Main Stage Line-up.

Josh Dalledonne
After graduating from the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting program in 2009, Josh began working with the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, in Birmingham, UK, as the Playwriting Officer until 2011. His role there took him to primary and secondary schools, sixth-forms and colleges as well as adult community groups. He taught playwriting and play-creation, created and delivered bespoke projects for schools and groups, directed youth theatre, staged readings and professionals, and produced countless festivals of work for-and-by young people. As a writer, Josh was commissioned to create a new script for the 2010 SHOUT! Festival in Birmingham and has had a number of plays for young people produced here for Alberta Parks and Protected Areas in Kananaskis Country. This will be the second time Josh has worked with CYPT, the first being (his favourite project to date) the IDENTITY PROJECT, which saw CYPT partner with The REP. Josh teaches the Act One class at the North location.

 

Aaron Coates
Aaron is an actor, director, playwright, teacher, and co-artistic director of Trepan Theatre. He studied acting at Mount Royal College in Calgary and at Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris. With Trepan, a company known for outrageous physical comedy, he has created and performed in SHE, Matadora, The Cat Lady Show, and La Mexicaine de Perforation. Aaron has worked for many theatre companies in Calgary including Alberta Theatre Projects, Lunchbox Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Ghost River Theatre, Vertigo Theatre, Calgary Opera, Quest Theatre, and Downstage. His plays include: The End of the Rope, which has toured throughout Alberta and was shortlisted for the Writers Guild of Alberta Award for Drama; Tin Soldier, an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen story, created in collaboration with UK-based Aitherios Theatre and performed in an Off-West End Theatre in London; and numerous short plays and monologues which have been performed in Canada, Australia, and the UK. He is also the co-producer and director of Calgary’s long-running “improvised soap opera” Dirty Laundry. Aaron directed the world premiere of Mischief in Fez for CYPT and will be teaching the Act Three Class at the North location.

 

Holleay Rohm
Originally from Edmonton, Holleay is a recent graduate of the University of Alberta’s BFA- Acting Program. Since settling in Calgary, Holleay has appeared in LOST for Evergreen Theatre, Rosaline in The Shakespeare Company’s production of LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST and The Fairy Godmother in the UofC Operetta Companies production of Rodger's and Hammerstein's CINDERELLA. Other selected credits include Mary in UNDER THE BIG TOP (Twenties Street Productions), Elizabeth Stride in WHITE CHAPEL(Storybook Theatre), and Suzanna in LARGO DESOLATO (Studio Theatre). Holleay is also associate member of Calgary's Improv Guild and recently had the opportunity to perform in the Guilds international improv festival. When not performing Holleay takes great joy and inspiration from teaching and working with children through Evergreen Theatre, Quest Theatre and Calgary Young People's Theatre. Holleay is teaching the Act One and Act Two North classes in the Winter Semester.

 

Michelle Crimmins
Michelle Crimmins graduated from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre, and later pursued her Bachelor of Education at the University of New Brunswick. She has worked for the Company of Rogues Actors' Studio as a studio coordinator and teen acting instructor, and Central Memorial Performing and Visual Arts Senior High School as a guest instructor in improvisation and film & television. She spent the last year travelling the world and teaching at a Canadian-Chinese high school in Beijing, China, and is happy to return home and continue to develop her teaching career. Michelle teaches the Act Three class in the South location.

 

 

Kristin Eveleigh
Kristin is the Artistic Director of Calgary Young People’s Theatre. She will be directing and Frankenstein this December as part of CYPT’s Season 19 Main Stage Line-up.
Click here for more about Kristin.

 

 

 

 

Gillian Pinckney
Gillian is the General Manager of Calgary Young People’s Theatre. She is also the Stage Manager for By Proxy, Frankenstein and Daily Mischief: Golden Summer, all part of CYPT’s Season 19 Main Stage Season.
Click here for more about Gillian.