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).
She and her family live on a farm outside Peterborough.
Paul O’Sullivan is an actor, comedian, director and writer. This summer, Paul made his second appearance at the 4TH Line Theatre as James Deyell in “Welcome Death”. Last season he starred in “The Last Green Hill” as the low down Dean Harmony. Recent projects include directing the new YTV series “That’s So Weird”, a guest role on “Murdoch Mysteries”, a principal role in the feature film “Zombie Dearest”, a series lead in CBC Radio’s “Canadia 2056” and a series lead in “Getting Along Famously”, for CBC television.
His voice is featured in such cartoons as “George Shrinks” (as Harold Shrinks), “Grossology” (as The Director), and “Friends and Heroes” (as Marcus).
He was a guest star on “An American In Canada”, “The Sean Cullen Show”, “Puppets Who Kill” and was a regular for two seasons on “Improv Heaven and Hell”. For Rhombus Ent., Paul acted in the vignette entitled “Choo Choo And You” as part of the film “Burnt Toast”, a series of short, urban themed operetta’s.
A veteran of the legendary comedy club “The Second City”, Paul collaborated on 4 original shows at Toronto’s Old Firehall, and directed the hit shows “Old Wine, New Bottles” and “Pinata Full of Bees”, for which he received a Canadian Comedy Award. His second Canadian Comedy Award he shares with fellow members of the popular sketch comedy group “Skippy’s Rangers”. This Gemini nominated troupe has been featured on CTV’s “Comedy Now”, “Sketch.com” for the CBC, and several CBC radio productions.
His most recent musical theater venture was “The Producers – The New Mel Brooks Musical”, directed by Susan Strohman, for which Paul garnered rave reviews. Before that, Paul appeared in “The Drowsy Chaperone” at Toronto’s beautiful Winter Garden Theater, where he played blustery best-man “George Best”, a role he originated. Paul starred in “The Joe Blow Show”, a Gemini nominated Comedy Network special he created and produced with his partner Linda Kash.
Paul began improvising in the early 90’s with the world-renowned comedy club The Second City. He has taught improv for 15 years, independently, and for The Second City and Humber College. He has improvised with the likes of Colin Mochrie, Ryan Styles, Sean Cullen, Martin Short, Mike Meyers, Rachel Dratch, Tina Fey, Horatio Sanz, and Chris Farley, among others.
RAY HENDERSON, Artistic Director of Arbor Theatre has been involved in over 150 theatre projects since 1994. Producer of the popular “24 Hour Projects”, the “Peterborough Fringe Festival” and “T.H.A.T Festival, he has received 3 Civic Awards for his Cultural Contributions in Peterborough.
He has written 9 plays and directed nearly 30 for Arbor Theatre since 1995 including 2008’s “A Christmas ‘Carol’”. Lately he has enjoyed his time producing and performing in the “Impros Vs Joes” series. In 2007, Ray was inducted into the Adam Scott Collegiate “Hall of Honour”.
BEAU DIXON is a musician / singer / songwriter / producer / actor / director and playwright.
Beau has starred in numerous theatrical and musical plays, including ‘Hair’, ‘The Woolgatherer’, ‘Necropolis’, ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’, ‘The Full Monty’. He has also been in many 4th Line Theatre productions.
He has directed ‘West Side Story’, ‘Steel Magnolias’, ‘Freedom Bells’, ‘Oliver Twist’, etc. He was also the playwrite for ‘Freedom Bells’, ‘From Here to Africville’, ‘Once a Flame’, and ‘Other People’s Heaven’.
Visit Beau’s website: beaudixon.com
SARAH TYE is a recently certified Drama and English teacher, with a passion for theatre. As a local, she has been involved with the Peterborough Theatre Guild, St James Players, 4th Line Theatre and Trent’s Anne Shirley Theatre Company, primarily as a director (Cabaret, Into the Woods, Brighton Beach Memoirs) and stage manager (Schoolhouse, The Last Green Hill, Dr. Barnardo’s Children).
Sarah recently had the opportunity to work in the education department at The Shaw Theatre Festival, creating study guides for the classroom, assisting with Shaw workshops, and becoming involved in the rehearsal process of several productions. Some local, young, theatre enthusiasts will remember Sarah’s drama and filmmaking workshops with Class Connections, and she is looking forward to instructing once again with P.A.P.A.
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.
