The Company

The Howland Company is an artist-led and art-driven Toronto theatre company.

Howland’s collective leadership is made up of the following core Artistic Leaders:
Ruth Goodwin, Sam Hale, Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster,
Cameron Laurie, Hallie Seline
and Associate Members:
Sebastian Biasucci, 郝邦宇 Steven Hao, Jareth Li

Artistic Leaders:

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Ruth Goodwin

Selected Theatre: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (The Howland Company & Crow’s Theatre), Three Sisters (The Howland Company & Hart House Theatre), The Wolves (The Howland Company & Crow’s Theatre), Punk Rock (The Howland Company), Entrances and Exits (Best of Toronto Fringe & Canadian Comedy Award Nomination) Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons (Patron’s Pick, Toronto Fringe), 52 Pick-Up (Best of Toronto Fringe), And Now, The End (SummerWorks).
Selected Media: Wedding Season (Netflix/Imagine Entertainment),) Private Eyes (Global TV), Baroness Von Sketch (CBC), Save Me (CBC), Workin’ Moms (CBC), The Show Show (Intermission Magazine), Designated Survivor (ABC), Angry Angel (ABC), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Lost Girl (Showcase) and Ben’s at Home (Awk Silence Prod).
Awards: Toronto Theatre Critics Award, 2 My Entertainment Awards, Cayle Chernin Award, Dora Award Nomination, Canadian Comedy Award Nomination.
Other: Ruth is an actor, producer and writer from Toronto and a Founding Member of The Howland Company. She has been named a “Top Artist to Watch” by The Toronto Star and Now Magazine and she currently plays the role of Danica Powers alongside Jason Priestley and Cindy Sampson in Global TV’s Private Eyes. Ruth has produced for CTV, been published in The Globe and Mail and performed on various stages, screens and festivals throughout the city including JFL 42, Sketchfest and The Toronto Fringe Festival. @Ruth_Goodwin

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Sam Hale

Selected Credits: Prodigal, Casimir & Caroline, The Wolves, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, 52 Pick-Up, The Glass Menagerie (The Howland Company); Little Shop of Horrors (Stratford Festival); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Picture This, Parfumerie, Riverboat (Soulpepper); Jerusalem, Mr. Burns (Outside the March); Disgraced (Mirvish/Citadel/Hope & Hell); The Realistic Joneses, An Enemy of the People (Tarragon); Body Politic (Buddies in Bad Times/lemonTree Creations); Hedda Gabler (Necessary Angel/Canadian Stage); Into The Woods, Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Talk Is Free); The 39 Steps (3P Productions); My Fair Lady (Capitol Theatre); Hilda’s Yard, Here on the Flight Path, Aunt Agnes For Christmas (Foster Festival); Fall For Dance North (Sony Centre/Harbourfront).
Sam has also worked for dance: made in canada, Hot Docs, TIFF, University of Toronto, Ryerson University, as well as serving as Associate Producer of Virtual Project for Talk Is Free Theatre.

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Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster

Selected Theatre: The Orphan of Chao (Director, The Shaw Festival), Hypothetical Baby (Director, The Howland Company), Three Women of Swatow (Director, Tarragon Theatre, Dora-Award nomination for Best Direction), The Home Project (Co-Director & Co-Director, The Howland Company & Native Earth Performing Arts, Dora-Award Nomination for Best New Play), The Wolves (Director, The Howland Company & Crow’s Theatre, My Entertainment Award for Best Production), 52 PICK-UP (Co-Director, The Howland Company), Acting Credits: Snow in Midsummer, Man and Superman, Cyrano de Bergerac (Shaw Festival); Innocence Lost, Idomeneus, Spoon River, Incident at Vichy, Blood Wedding, Alligator Pie, 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: The Drawer Boy, Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Fringe (FOX), Smallville (WB), Shattered (Showcase), Hudson and Rex, Surrealestate, Silent Planet
Other: Assistant Professor at York University’s School of Art, Media, Performance and Design, Former Assistant Artistic Director at Tarragon Theatre, Former Resident Artist at Soulpepper Theatre Company, Former Directors Lab Facilitator and Trainer with the Paprika Festival, and mentor/teacher with experience at Sheridan College, Toronto Metropolitan University, the AMY Project. BFA University of British Columbia, Citadel/Banff Professional Theatre Program, Graduate of the Soulpepper Academy, Alumna of the Loran Award, Member of the 2024 Emerging Leadership program through Business / Arts.
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Cameron Laurie

Selected Theatre: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (The Howland Company & Crow’s Theatre), Prodigal, Three Sisters, Casimir and Caroline, Punk Rock (The Howland Company), Saving Graceland, The Trails of Maggie Pollock, The Donnellys: A Trilogy, The Drawer Boy, Our Beautiful Sons: Remembering Matthew Dinning, Falling: A Wake (Blyth Festival), Stag and Doe (Bluewater Summer Playhouse), Mercury Fur (Seven Siblings Theatre), 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company/Toronto Fringe), Genesis And Other Stories (Aim for the Tangent Theatre), The Tempest, 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).
Selected Media: The Shape of Water (Fox Searchlight)
Awards: “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award Nomination (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), “Outstanding Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award (Casimir and Caroline), “Outstanding Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination (Punk Rock), “Outstanding Ensemble” Critics’ Pick Award nomination (Punk Rock), Governor General’s Award of Excellence for Community Based Programming (Narcisse)
Other: Lead singer and song-writer of Toronto indie punk band Stuck Out Here.

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Hallie Seline

Selected Theatre: Heroes of the Fourth Turning (The Howland Company & Crow’s Theatre); The Farm Show: Then & Now, Resort to Murder, The Donnellys: A Trilogy (Blyth Festival); Prodigal, Three Sisters, Casimir and Caroline, The Wolves, Punk Rock, 52 PICK-UP (The Howland Company); Prairie Nurse (Lighthouse Festival/Showboat Theatre); Stag and Doe, Jonas and Barry in the Home (Bluewater Summer Playhouse); As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare BASH’d); SHANNON 10:40 (timeshare, Videofag); Oliver! (Port Hope Festival Theatre)
Selected Media:  Everything’s Going to be Great (eOne), Fellow Travelers (Showtime), The Grind (Neon Grey Films), Kick Me (The Jefferies Brothers), Dorothy’s Secret (Windy Corner Pictures, Toronto International Short Film Festival Official Selection), Mayday (Cineflix Prod. Inc), Under the Same Sun (Skin Deep)
Awards: “Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award Nomination (Heroes of the Fourth Turning), “Outstanding Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award (Casimir and Caroline), “Best Ensemble Performance” Toronto Theatre Critics Association Award (The Wolves), “Outstanding Ensemble” Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination (Punk Rock), “Outstanding Ensemble” Critics’ Pick nomination (The Wolves & Punk Rock)
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). @HallieSeline

Associate Members

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Sebastian Biasucci

Selected Theatre: Acting: The Last Mammoth (Good Old Neon), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Panoply Collective), Us Against Everyone (Toronto Fringe), What A Guy: A Window Into Flavortown (The Assembly Theatre), Retreat (Hart House Theatre), On the Rocks (Small But Mighty Productions), Dolphin (Rock Bottom Movement), String Quartet 14 in G Major (Rock Bottom Movement), Shed No More (Toronto Fringe). Producer: Dead Elephants (Good Old Neon), Two Minutes to Midnight (One Four One Collective), Window of Opportunity Festival (The Assembly Theatre), Fusion Theatre & Short Film Festival (emerGENce Theatre). Associate Producer: Prodigal (The Howland Company), A Christmas Carol Comedy (No Porpoise Productions) Director: White Wedding (Assistant Director, Port Albert Productions), Pulling Teeth (New Voices Festival) Marketing Manager: Entrances & Exits (The Howland Company)
Other: BFA in Performance Acting from Toronto Metropolitan University. Company Member of Good Old Neon. Marketing & Event Manager at non-profit charity NeighbourLink North York.
For more: @sebastian.biasucci 

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郝邦宇 Steven Hao

Selected Theatre: For Directing: Director, Death to the Prometheans (Studio 180 Development Series); Director, life and death and life and death and life and death and life. (CCTA/ACMJIS); Apprentice Director, Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812 (Crows Theatre/Musical Stage Company); Assistant Director, Rocking Horse Winner (Tapestry Opera/Crow’s Theatre); Director, Ordinary Days (Shifting Ground Collective); Assistant Director, Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Howland Company/Crow’s Theatre); Assistant Director, Dragon’s Tale (Tapestry Opera); Assistant Director, The Chinese Lady (Crow’s Theatre/Studio 180 Theatre/fu-GEN Theatre); Director, A Perfect Bowl of Pho (Toronto Fringe Festival/Kick & Push Festival); Director, I and You (Precipice Productions); Director, Constellations (Precipice Productions). For Acting: Salesman in China, Romeo and Juliet (Stratford Festival); The Two Noble Kinsmen, King Lear (Shakespeare Bash’d); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Canadian Stage); Storybook Search (Bad Hats Theatre); Cockroach (Tarragon Theatre); Three Sisters (The Howland Company); Trojan Girls & The Outhouse of Atreus (Outside the March/Factory Theatre).
Other: 郝邦宇 Steven Hao is a Tkaronto-based director, actor, and writer as well as the Artistic Director of Lemonade Stand Collective. He was named one of the “Breakthrough Toronto Artists 2022” by Glenn Sumi. He was also chosen as one of the RBC Emerging Directors for both Musical Stage Company as well Studio 180 Theatre. For more: @steven_haoby 

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Jareth Li

Selected Design: For the Howland Company – The Home Project (with Native Earth Performing Arts), Casimir and Caroline, The Wolves, Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons, The Glass Menagerie. Other recent work includes The Three Women of Swatow, Copy That (Tarragon Theatre); Serving Elizabeth (Western Canada Theatre); Hilot Means Healer (Cahoots Theatre); Ring of Fire (Citadel Theatre); Iphigenia and the Furies, Black Boys (Saga Collectif); Yellow Rabbit (Silk Bath); Risky Phil (Young People’s Theatre), Prairie Nurse (Factory Theatre, TIP); Chautauqua (Pearle Harbour Presents); Two Birds One Stone (RISER 2017, Various tours).
Other: Jareth is a member of the Associated Designers of Canada. He has worked as an assistant lighting designer with companies such as the Stratford Festival (six seasons) and the Canadian Opera Company (five seasons), and toured across Canada and the U.S. He is also a stagecraft instructor at York University. 

The Howland Company was founded in 2013 by the following members:

Alexander Crowther, Nathaniel Fried, Ruth Goodwin, James Graham, Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster, Cameron Laurie, Adrian Morningstar, Paolo Santalucia, Hallie Seline, Thomas Swayne, and Kristen Zaza. 

Canadian Stage’s 2016 RBC Emerging Company in Residence

Developing "take rimbaud" as part of the Canadian Stage RBC Emerging Company Residency
Developing “take rimbaud” as part of the Canadian Stage RBC Emerging Company Residency

The Howland Company was thrilled to be Canadian Stage’s 2016 Company in Residence. As part of this residency, The Howland Company worked on developing both Casimir & Caroline, focusing on the piece’s next phase of development following its 2015 staged workshop, and take rimbaud, which enjoyed a sold-out staged presentation at Canadian Stage.

About:
The Canadian Stage RBC Emerging Artist Program: Company in Residence initiative was created out of a desire to support the work of emerging artists who are developing and producing theatre as new companies. Each season, a resident company is selected to receive access to Canadian Stage staff, space, resources, and a work-in-progress showing for a project of their choosing. The resident company also assists in curating workshops for the Emerging Artist Program membership.