Melissa D’Agostino: Actor/Writer/Co-creator
Actor, writer and producer Melissa D’Agostino has been called “outrageously funny” (NOW Magazine), “A standout” (NOW Magazine) and “hilarious” (EYE Magazine). Constantly pushing the boundaries of performance, she is mostly known for her live performances as the character Lupe, and continues to make waves in theatre, comedy, clown and performance art. She is currently shooting a Web Series with Lucky Friday Productions called The Lupe Show.
Melissa is a Toronto-based interdisciplinary artist and a graduate of the BFA Acting program at the University of Windsor. Past productions include: Vox Animae (Young Centre) The Maddest Kind of Love (Dreamers Take Your Mark Productions), Downtown (The Question Company), Innana (tiny bird theatre), and In Translation (Nightwood Theatre, Write from the Hip). She can be heard in The Novena Sisters for CBC Radio and seen in the Independent film Calogero (Mexican Monster Productions).
Melissa is also the Artistic Director of Fault Line Theatre and co-curator/performer of the acclaimed Harper’s Bazaar Political Cabaret with Adam Paolozza and Hard Italian cheese with Blue Daggers Productions. Melissa is a member of the BASH artists’ unit at CanStage for 2008-09.
Adam Lazarus: Director/Co-creator
Adam Lazarus is a graduate and former apprentice of Master Teacher Philippe Gaulier’s school in Paris, France. He is a sessional professor of acting at the University of Toronto and a regular facilitator of physical theatre workshops for professional and non-professional artists, including recent consultations for the Nova Scotia Theatre Festival, York University, Humber School of Comedy, Buddies in Bad Times, Theatre Passe Muraille, Zero Gravity Circus, DanceMakers, Volcano and bouffon coaching for Mike Kennard’s The Hollow.
Adam has directed many revered clown, bouffon and character shows, including Rachelle Elie’s Joe: The Perfect Man ’06; Jesse Buck’s Bubkus ‘07; Precious Chong’s Zdenka Now! ’08 and Everyone's An Asshole (Buddies in Bad Times’ 07). He is also a co-founder and co-producer of the Annual Toronto Festival of Clowns. Coming up, Adam can be seen performing as Dr. Wishful Thinking in Darren O’Donnell’s [boxhead] (Crow’s Theatre) as well as a remount of the award-winning SummerWorks’ production of Appetite (Volcano/Theatre Passe Muraille).
Rebecca Picherack: Lighting Design
Rebecca Picherack designs lights for dance, theatre and installations. She has received eight Dora nominations and two awards for her work in independent theatre. For hum : Waking En Dessous, Still. Other companies include DNA, Volcano, GCTC, Tarragon, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Buddies in Bad Times, Theatre Centre, Mammalian Diving Reflex, Nightwood, Blyth Festival, Theatre Smith Gilmour, Nightswimming, Nation of Aslan, Mirvish Productions, Moriah Productions and Resurgence Theatre.
Ken Mackenzie: Set Design
Ken MacKenzie is delighted to be involved in the Toronto Fringe festival once again. He last worked in the Fringe as a director for the shows 'Famous Lies' and 'Point of Distraction'. Some of Ken's recent design credits include 'Agammemnon' and 'Hippolytos' at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles as well as Iphigenia Crash Land Falls on the Neon Shell that was Once Her Heart with Son of Semele Ensemble. Ken has also worked as an assistant designer on projects from Salzburg, Austria to Ashland, Oregon.