Linda Kash is absolutly thrilled to be co-founder and resident teacher at P.A.P.A.! Here is a bit of backround information:
Linda Kash began her professional life at the Second City in Toronto, where she perforrmed, directed and conducted workshops for four years. She has appeared in a number of plays throughout Canada. She was a regular cast member in “The Comedy Mill”, “Max Glick”, “Variety Tonight”, “DOC in Canada” and “SheTV”, “Minor Adjustments” and “Style and Substance” in the US.
Linda recently performed in “At The Hotel”, which won her a Gemini Award. She was also Gemini-nominated for her work in the Canadian series “Robson Arms”. As well, Linda has been a guest on “Seinfeld”, “Third Rock From The Sun”, “Cybill”, “Everyone Loves Raymond”, “Ellen” and “Sabrina”.
She can also be seen in “Cinderella Man”, “Man of The Year”, “Waiting For Guffman” and “Best in Show” (nominated for a Canadian Comedy award). She has co-created several shows for TV including “My Talk Show”, “Go Girl!”, “The Joe Blow Show” (which she also directed).
Linda has taught acting workshops for over two decades through Second City, Theatre Sports, Humber College and Beyond The Box. Upcoming projects include “The Ron James Show”, “Skyrunners for Disney” and “Happy Town” for ABC. Linda is best known as “The Philadelphia Cream Cheese Angel ” (a successful campaign now in it’s 15th year), but her proudest work to date are her three kids and partner, actor Paul O’Sullivan (co-founder of this school).
HARRY DOUPE: While not really being the pride of anywhere, Harry Doupe was born and raised in the small town of Fort Langley, British Columbia (the first capital of the province). An award winning comic and writer, he began his comedy career in Vancouver, choosing the December 7th date for his first show carefully – “I figured no matter how badly I bombed….historically it would be greatly overshadowed”. Over the next few years, he developed a reputation as one of the country’s hardest working comics, spending 46 weeks on the road in 1986 alone.
The 1990’s brought with them a whole new set of opportunities, and numerous television appearances on shows like “COMICS!”, “Comedy On The Road”, and “Off The Record” opened the door to the world behind the camera. Over the next decade, Harry became one of the most in-demand writers in the country with his knowledge of sports, music, and pop culture making him a perfect fit for awards shows. The next years would see him write more than thirty, including numerous Junos, Geminis, NHL’s and Genies.
As a live act, Harry continued to develop, and put together an extensive resume that includes clubs, community halls, theatres and arenas all across Canada and the United States. Some of the dates of note include EXPO 86, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, 1995 Grey Cup in Regina, and the Tragically Hips’ Another Roadside Attraction at Molson Park in Barrie. He was also the first comedian to play Toronto’s Air Canada Centre three times, appearing once with Weird Al Yankovic, and twice with the Tragically Hip at their New Year’s Eve 1999 and New Year’s Day 2000 shows.
In recent years, he has continued to write and perform, doing both on Toronto 1’s “The Toronto Show” (for which he won a 2004 Canadian Comedy Award), acted as head writer for the CBC’s Tsunami Fund-raiser “Canada For Asia”, was a producer for the series “Kraft Hockeyville”, served as a writer for the broadcasts of the Beijing Olympics, appeared on CBC’s Winnipeg Comedy Festival, and became a regular on the radio program “The Debaters”. He also delivers the “Statelessness of the Industry” annually at the Canadian Comedy Awards and Festival.
Having previously lived in Vancouver and San Francisco, he currently resides in Toronto.
DANNY BRONSON is a singer, songwriter, musician, and producer. He has appeared in many of the shows for the Peterborough Summer Festival of Lights, as well as produced the 1993 & 1994 seasons. Recently, as of 2008-2009 season, Danny was the Entertainment Chair for the Festival.
Danny is the co-owner and Creative Director of Da Vinci Sound, a company specializing in creating jingles, soundtracks, and theme music.
Danny was the Musical Director for “Honky Tonk angels” (2005, a Showplace production), Scrooge the Musical“ (2003, a St. James Players production), and for “ Always Patsy Cline “ (2003, a Showplace production). He was also the Musical Director/Band Leader/Band Member for “Spring Tonic” 1997-2007.
Catherine is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada and has a BFA from the University of Calgary. She has worked as an actor for the past 20 years and performed in theatres across the country. Recently she has been seen at the Blyth Festival in the premier productions of Michael Healy’s “The Nuttalls” and Marcia Johnson’s “Courting Johanna” as well as “The Mail Order Bride” and ” Against the Grain”. Other theatre credits include: “Orpheus Descending” (Manitoba Theatre Center/ The Royal Alex); “Scratch” and “Escape From Happiness” (Factory Theatre); “Forever Yours, Marie Lou” (Centaur theatre); “Vanya” ( Citadel Theatre); “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” (Theatre Passe Muraille); “Othello”, “Communicating Doors”, “Speak” (Persephone Theatre) and “Problem Child” (New Stages).
Catherine has also worked extensively in film and television where she won a Gemini Award for Supporting Actress in “Butterbox Babies” and was nominated twice for her role as Rosemary Davis in “This is Wonderland”. She was also the stage manager in three seasons of “Slings and Arrows” and had recurring roles on “Road to Avonlea” and “Emily of New Moon”. Other tv and film credits include: “Living in Your Car”; “Niagra Motel”; “Prizewinner of Defiance Ohio”; “Knockaround Guys”; “Profoundly Normal”; “The Arrow”; “Murdoch Mysteries”; and “South of Wawa”. She is also a proud participant in the Dreamcatcher Mentoring Program which matches students in the north with professionals in the south in an online mentoring relationship.
Clara Hilts started her music instruction at a young age. In her last two years of high school she directed the Liturgical Choir and soon gained a reputation as the go-to musician for school events and services. Clara sang with her two sisters in an “Andrews Sisters” style trio, while continuing her piano studies, eventually completing her gr. 10 RCM before heading off to post-secondary. With piano as her primary instrument, she graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours degree in Music Composition. While at University, Clara directed the choir at the First Unitarian Congregation of Waterloo, was a member of Laurier Singers with Lee Willingham and Vocal Director for Laurier Musical Theatre. Having always enjoyed artistic collaboration, for her graduating project she wrote and produced a children’s musical, “Rhythm Is…”, an introduction to the concept of rhythm. She loves teaching piano and working with large vocal ensembles. She currently resides in Peterborough where she is an accompanist for the Peterborough Academy of Performing Arts and a sight-singing instructor with the Peterborough Singers.
Dan Fewings is the artistic director of The Fabulous Green Roof Children’s Theatre Workshops and has been a teacher in the Peterborough Collegiate Arts Program for the last 15 years. Currently he is teaching Musical Theatre and drama. Dan has worked in clown and character mask for over ten years. His is a member of the Improvisational Music trio “The Three Martinis”, and for the past two years organized and directed the summer adult theatre workshop entitled: Stone Soup at Showplace. He is so excited about working at PAPA, he could just laugh.
The first time Marsala Lukianchuk stepped on stage as Gretl in “The Sound of Music,” at age 4, Marsala fell in love with musical theatre. She continued to perform in community theatre until she left to study acting at Ryerson University. Since then she has performed in television and radio commercials, documentaries, and on stage as both an actor and vocalist. She had the fortune of playing opposite Paul O’Sullivan in 4th Line Theatre’s 2008 futuristic musical “The Last Green Hill.” Currently, she can be seen performing in the Irish folk trio “Cairdeas” and will be playing the female lead in the Peterborough Theatre Guild’s production of “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels – the musical” in May.
Deborah Kimmet
With twenty years of experience mentoring writers, accomplished author and Second City veteran Deborah Kimmett hwill show you how to get your story down on paper. Using a series of right barined exercises, Kimmett will unleash your creative self.
An accomplished playwright nominated for a Governor General’s Award, for Miracle Mother, an author of two books of essays (Reality is Over Rated and That Which Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Funnier, and one novel, Deborah Kimmett is heard regularly on CBC Radio’s The Debaters. She also writes for TV and has a feature film about female prison guards in development.
Wyatt Lamoureux
Wyatt has been acting, directing, teaching, and writing for theatre for 30 years. In Peterborough he is a regular feature of the 24Hour Theatre Projects, and performed often with the Peterborough Theatre Guild and most recently directed Art, by Yazmina Reza, winning 3 EODL awards for PTG. As a writer, Wyatt was accepted for Summerworks Festival in Toronto in 2004. In 2005, his play, Shakespeare vs The Merchants of Venom, received the coveted third prize in the Canadian National One-Act Playwriting Competition. He continues to write and is working on several plays. While living in the Comox Valley on Vancouver Island, he operated the Very Small Theatre Company, producing Canadian and original shows. Wyatt also taught summer classes in theatre for children, and a 14-session adult theatre class for North Island Community College. He was also a resource for the local school board, and played with the local community players when available. Further in the past, Wyatt toured BC with Theatre Energy, and was director/manager for touring summer children’s theatre in eastern Ontario. Wyatt is very passionate about theatre and telling stories that reflect who we are as individuals and as a society. He is greatly looking forward to once again guiding people in their journey to “say your lines, hit your marks, and don’t trip over the furniture”.
Kevin McDonald
Best known for his five years performing with the Canadian comedy troupe,The Kids in the Hall, McDonald was born in beautiful Montreal, Quebec. McDonald was inspired to become a performer during the time his family lived in Los Angeles for less than two years. Returning to Canada, he decided he was going to become an actor while attending high school in Mississauga, Ontario.
Moving to Toronto when he was 19, McDonald enrolled at Humber College where he worked on drama studies. Kicked out of the course, a teacher recommended he use his talent at Toronto’s Second City improv workshop. Taking that advice to heart, he went and met up with Dave Foley. The two became fast friends and created the group The Kids in the Hall, which began in local clubs where they picked up three more players, Scott Thompson, Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney.
The Kids in the Hall became one of Canada’s most successful comedy shows, fairing well on both sides of the Canada/U.S. boarder. After the five-year series and the feature film Brain Candy (1996), the team split up and focused on their solo careers.
McDonald worked on a number of feature films including Galaxy Quest(1999), The Ladies Man (2000) and Year of the Carnivore (2010) and loaned his voice to the animated feature Lilo & Stitch (2002), as well as the television series Invader ZIM, before rejoining up with his successful troupe to do a tour across Canada and the States in a The Kids in the Hall stage show.
He continues to work steadily on TV in shows such as Kids in the Hall: Death Comes to Town and providing voices for the animated seriesWordGirl and Back at the Barnyard.
