The Howland Company’s 2015 workshop presentation of Casimir and Caroline features the following:
The Cast
Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster – Amanda – Production Coordinator
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: 52 PICK-UP (Co-director, The Howland Company), Marat/Sade, Eurydice, The Dining Room, Of Human Bondage, Idiot’s Delight, The Barber of Seville, The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, The Royal Comedians, Dirt (Soulpepper); Tin Drum (UnSpun), The Flood Thereafter (Canadian Stage); The Ballad of Weedy Peetstraw (Summerworks); Macbeth: Nach Shakespeare (Theatre Conspiracy); Pride and Prejudice (Citadel Theatre); As You Like It (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre); The Wild Party (Pint Size Tall); Twelfth Night (What You Will)
Selected Media: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Fringe (FOX), Smallville (WB), Shattered (Showcase)
Other: BFA University of British Columbia, Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program, Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy, Alumni of the Loran Award.
Upcoming: Courtney will next be seen in Alligator Pie, Blood Wedding and Incident at Vichy at Soulpepper Theatre.
Alexander Crowther – Casimir
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: Macbeth: Walking Shadows (Shakespeare in the Ruff), Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare BASH’D), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Lady Julie (Apuka Theatre/Campbell House); Woyzeck (Shotgun Players, Berkeley); Once in a Lifetime, Higher, Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theatre, San Francisco); Metamorphosis (Aurora Theatre, Berkeley); Midsummer Night’s Dream, Taming of the Shrew (Flower City Theatre Festival, Brampton)
Selected Media: Beauty and the Beast (CW), Reign (CW), Assassin’s Creed: Unity (Ubisoft)
Awards: Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award – Best Lead Actor (Metamorphosis)
Other: BFA University of Windsor, MFA American Conservatory Theatre
Sophia Fabiilli – Ellie
Selected Theatre: The Philanderess (Truth’n’Lies/Toronto Fringe Festival, The Second City), Brave New World (Litmus Theatre – workshop), In Piazza San Domenico, The Snow Queen (Sudbury Theatre Centre) Shipwrecked!, The Grandkid (Theatre Kingston), War of the Roses (Theatre Aquarius); Vinegar Tom (The Playwright Project); The Gentleman Clothier (Lighthouse Festival Theatre, Upper Canada Playhouse); The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare Bash’d).
Selected Media: Feature film debut in The Cocksure Lads which is now available on Video On Demand.
Awards: Her first play, The Philanderess, won Patron’s Pick and the inaugural Second City Award for Outstanding New Comedy at the 2015 Toronto Fringe Festival.
Upcoming: The premiere of Celeste Percy-Beauregard’s play Well Born (Feb/March 2016, Artscape Youngplace) and currently developing a web series called Overachieving Underdogs with Michelle Alexander. Follow her antics on Twitter: @SophFab
Ruth Goodwin – Mary – Marketing & Publicity
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: And Now, The End (SummerWorks 2014), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Tagged and It’s Complicated (Out of Reach Theatre), Antigone (Vagabond Theatre), The Ghost of the Tree (Wellington Street Theatre), Charlie is Having a Baby (Toronto Fringe Festival), BroadProv (Lower Ossington Theatre), Rhinoceros (The Belfast Players), The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl (Queen’s Theatre).
Selected Media: Lost Girl (Showcase), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Acceptance (ACTRA Film Challenge Winner), Ben’s At Home (Awkward Silence Productions)
Awards: Vitamin Water Scholarship (AAS), Fred Euringer Award in Drama (Queen’s University)
Cameron Laurie – Sanders
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: The Tempest (Hart House), Mercury Fur (Seven Siblings Theatre), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Genesis And Other Stories (Aim for the Tangent Theatre), Falling: A Wake, The Outdoor Donnellys (Blyth Festival), Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth (Hart House Theatre) Performing Occupy Toronto (Docket Theatre), Narcisse (St. Joseph Historical Society), Winter’s Tale, Angel’s Trumpet, The Russian Play (Theatre Erindale).
Awards: Governor General’s Award of Excellence for Community Based Programming (Narcisse)
Other: Diploma in Professional Actor Training (Sheridan College), Honours B.A. Theatre & Drama Studies Specialist (University of Toronto)
Michael Man – Rankin
Selected Theatre: Les Misérables In Concert* (Sudbury Symphony Orchestra/YES Theatre) Titus Andronicus, As You Like It (Shakespeare in High Park, Canadian Stage), The Snow Queen (Sudbury Theatre Centre), A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Puppet Epic (Toronto Fringe Festival), Goblin Market (Theatre Kingston), Spring Awakening (George Brown Theatre School, dir. Diana Leblanc), Playboy of the Western World (George Brown Theatre School, dir. Rosemary Dunsmore)
Selected Media: CNY (Sean Kung, ReelWorld Festival), If All You Have is a Hammer, Everything Looks Like a Nail (Studio Will Kwan, Trinity Square Video), Oddballs (Chilltop Creative Productions)
Awards: D. D. Monieson Undergraduate Scholarship (Queen’s University)
Other: Business Manager (fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre Company), ARCT Performer’s Diploma, Classical Piano (Royal Conservatory of Music), BCOMM, BA (Queen’s University), Theatre Arts Diploma (George Brown Theatre School)
Jesse Nerenberg – Frank
Selected Theatre: Twelfth Night (Repercussion Theatre/Shakespeare in the Park Montreal), Romeo & Juliet (Citadel Theatre); Birth (Pandemic Theatre); Love’s Labour’s Lost, Macbeth, Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Bash’d); Macbeth (Sterling Theatre); Journey’s End (Empty Room); one-man show The SantaLand Diaries (Frosty Co-op); Alan Strang in Equus (Hart House); Mary’s Wedding (Brantbury Fair); Can I Really…? (Teatron/Toronto Centre for the Arts); Reefer Madness (LOT); Thumb (Prague Fringe); Bent (Theatre Engine); Serious Money (RTS/Nightwood dir. Eda Holmes).
Selected Media: The Code (Global TV), Warehouse 13 (SyFy), The Transporter (HBO Canada), Canadian Made and Storming Juno (History Television),Trust, INC. (CBC Radio).
Other: Graduate of the Ryerson Theatre School and a participant in the 2014 Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program.
Hallie Seline – Caroline – Marketing & Publicity
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: Shannon 10:40 (timeshare, Videofag) Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare BASH’d), 52 PICK-UP(The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Fury (Staged Reading, Blyth Festival), Elephants in the Room Ensemble (Theatre Passe Muraille), Oliver! (Port Hope Festival Theatre), Mr. Marmalade (Fly By Night Theatre), Angel’s Trumpet (Erindale Fringe).
Selected Media: Dorothy’s Secret (Short Film, Lifeguard Productions, 2015 Toronto International Short Film Festival Official Selection), Mayday (Season 13, Cineflix Prod. Inc), Under the Same Sun ( Documentary Voice Over, Skin Deep), Tinder (Short Film, Bryan Kowalsky Films), Black & White (Documentary Voice Over, Cité Amérique Inc)
Other: Diploma in Professional Actor Training (Sheridan College), Honours B.A. Theatre & Drama Studies Specialist (University of Toronto), Diploma in Cinema, Video, Communications (Dawson College), Associate Producer of Marketing & Publicity (Theatre Passe Muraille), Co-founder & Editor in Chief of inthegreenroom.ca a Toronto-based theatre arts website dedicated to be “a space for artists to connect off stage”.
Mishka Thébaud – Shaw
Selected Theatre: Mercury Fur (Seven Siblings Theatre), Arturo Ui (Red Light District), The Taming of the Shrew (York University), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (York University), Wounds to the Face (York University)
Selected Media: Crossfire (Incendo Productions), Bitten (Space/SYFY), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Schitts Creek (CBC), Saving Hope (CTV), Republic of Doyle (CBC), Defiance (SYFY/Universal), Played (CTV)
Awards: Best Supporting Actor Nomination (Mercury Fur, My Theatre Awards), York University Imasco Performing Arts Award
Other: BFA York University
Kristen Zaza – Liz, Musical Director
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: Twelfth Night (Cawrk Theatrical Productions), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Pieces of Penelope (New Ideas Festival); Piecing Together Pauline (Fire and Air Productions); The Man With the Flower in His Mouth (U of T Drama Centre); Marat/Sade (Soup Can Theatre); The Winter’s Tale, Jane Eyre, String of Pearls (Theatre Erindale), After Juliet (YPT)
Selected Media: Beauty and the Beast (The CW Network)
Awards: Outstanding Performance, Piecing Together Pauline (NOW Magazine: annual list of Fringe Highlights)
Other: Master of Arts in Study of Drama, Theatre and Performance (University of Toronto); Diploma in Professional Actor Training (Sheridan College); Honours B.A. Theatre and Drama Studies Specialist (University of Toronto); ARCT Performers Candidate, Classical Piano (Royal Conservatory of Music). Also a musician and composer, Kristen’s recent musical credits include Hamlet (Musical Director – Hart House Theatre) and Measure (still) for Measure (Composer – University of Exeter).
The Team
Holger Syme – Adaptor, Director
Holger Syme is the chair of the Department of English and Drama on the University of Toronto’s Mississauga campus. As a researcher and teacher, he specializes in Shakespeare and contemporary European theatre, and frequently blogs at www.dispositio.net. As a director, he has worked on a dozen short films and stagings of plays ranging from Büchner’s Woyzeck to Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado.
James Graham – Producer
Howland Company Founding Member
Selected Theatre: King John (Shakespeare BASH’D), NSFW (Studio 180), Titus Andronicus, As You Like It (Shakespeare in High Park, Canadian Stage), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), New Jerusalem (Harold Green Jewish Theatre), The Adventures of a Professional Corpse (Toronto Fringe Festival), South Pacific (U.S. National Tour), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington D.C.), As You Like It (Two Pence Shakespeare, Chicago), Beyond the Score (Chicago Symphony Orchestra).
Selected Media: Murdoch Mysteries (CBC)
Other: Northwestern University, Apprentice at Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lab Company at Hangar Theatre (Ithaca NY), and Acting Fellow at Shakespeare Theatre Company
Jareth Li – Lighting Designer
Selected Lighting Design: Dusk Dances 2015 (Dusk Dances); Rhubarb Festival 2015 (Buddies in Bad Times); Dangerous Liaisons (Storefront Theatre);Mourning Dove (Sudbury Theatre Centre); The Widow (Summerworks); The Harrowing (Clocktower Theatre); Disco Pigs (A Lasting Dose); The House of Bernarda Alba (Randolph Academy); Aurora Borealis (Harbourfront Centre)
Other Credits: Associate Designer: Just For Laughs – Canadian Tour 2012; Gita Govinda (Menaka Thakkar Dance). Assistant designer: five seasons at the Stratford Festival, five seasons at the Canadian Opera Company, and various other shows. Instructor at York University.
Upcoming: Lighting Designer for The Trial of Judith K @ Theatre Passe Muraille Backspace
Samuel S. Sholdice – Sound Designer
Selected Theatre: Fury (Blyth Festival), Mr. Burns (Outside The March), Accidental Death of an Anarchist (Soulpepper), Paolozza-pedia (Bad New Days), As You Like It / Titus Andronicus (Canadian Stage’s Shakespeare In The Park), The Speedy (Harbourfront), The Boy In The Moon (GCTC),
Selected Media: Barbelle (webseries), Vitals (film, 2015), drummer in the band BOSSIE, editor the Spoke Podcast.
Awards: Saskatoon Arts Award – Sound Design for The Hours That Remain
Jordana Weiss – Stage Manager
Selected Theatre: Trudeau and the FLQ, Trudeau and Levesque (VideoCabaret), The Play’s the Thing, Tartuffe, The Crucible, Soulpepper Salon Series, Spoon River, Idiot’s Delight, The Norman Conquests (Soulpepper), If I Loved You, A Literary Picnic (Luminato), La Nozze di Figaro (Opera da Camera), Godspell (Beautiful City Theatre)
Selected Media: Reading Rainbow (PBS)
Other: Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy, B.A. English (Drama and Theatre) and Humanistic Studies (McGill)
The Howland Company 