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Our Mission Statement
To provide the opportunity for teens to be involved in musical theatre and develop their performance
skills in all aspects of a professional stage production.
Our Artistic and Music Director
Denise Williams is a professional singer, actress,
and music educator. She has an international performance career encompassing the concert
stage, opera stage, theatre stage, television and commercials. Her career highlights
include the title role of the Canadian stage play Portia White- First You Dream
and earned standing ovations at Roy Thomson Hall in a concert with Kathleen Battle and The Nathaniel Dett Chorale in 2000
and a concert of Porgy & Bess excerpts in 2001. Her performances of Porgy & Bess prompted Andy Barrie, host of CBC Radio’s Metro Morning, to exclaim, “Denise Williams
and Marcus Nance singing Bess You is my Woman Now was TO DIE FOR.”
Next season, Denise will be in the cast of "Sound Of Music" at Toronto's Princes of Wales Theatre.
Denise has founded No Strings Theatre with a desire to aid youth in developing
their skills in music theatre as well as grow in their team skills for life. As a music
educator, she has directed children and youth choirs for the Toronto District School Board, Royal St. George’s College School,
Suzuki and Thornhill Music Camps, and many other community organizations.
She has also led several choral workshops for the Canadian Amateur Musicians (CAMMAC) and was an assistant director for The Royal Conservatory
of Music’s Repertory Chorus.. Denise has been a private vocal teacher for over 15 years and is an examiner
for the Royal Conservatory of Music. Denise is focusing
her attention on youth programming and is currently serving as the 1st Vice President for the Malvern Onyx Lions
Club whos main mandate is youth focus. www.denisewilliamssoprano.com
Our Stage Director
A professional
actress and director, Heather Dick has performed in, directed or produced more than 70 shows and appeared in film, television
and commercials. Ms. Dick is also a highly respected and sought-after acting
coach who has been teaching classes and workshops for over 21 years. She
currently teaches a series of on-going acting classes for her own company, the SIRIUS THEATRICAL COMPANY, as well as workshops for individuals, community theatre
companies, and business professionals.
In 1989 Heather
founded the SIRIUS THEATRICAL COMPANY to provide emerging artists, in all theatre disciplines, with opportunities
to work and train with established professionals. The Company produces one to
two professional theatre productions each year and since the fall of 2006 has been based in south Etobicoke.
As the Artistic
Director of the SIRIUS
THEATRICAL COMPANY, Heather has recently directed a variety
of productions for the Company. In the fall of 2007, she directed the Company’s
highly successful production of MAIL-ORDER ANNIE which marked the Company’s initiation into presenting school matinee
performances. In December 2006, she directed TAPESTRY OF DREAMS, a stage performance
infused with dance, music, theatre and visual art that was the culminating event in a 6-month community arts project called
DREAMWEAVERS. And, in June 2006, she co-wrote, directed and produced the highly
acclaimed STREETHEARTS, a new play developed by the Sirius Theatrical Company Collective.
Our Choreographer
Victoria Slager is an enthusiastic participant in the Divine Dance
of Life and has been sharing her love and passion for movement for over thirty years. She is a gifted choreographer,
dancer and dance educator as well as a movement workshop facilitator. She has used her talents to choreograph numerous
works for dance, music theatre, festivals, films, videos, choirs and fashion shows. She is presently on the faculty
of teachers at Mayfield Secondary School in Brampton, where she is a dance educator in the Regional Arts Program, and
busy training dancers and choreographing for both the dance and drama departments. She has been the Artistic Director
of a number of dance companies, including We Dance/Nous Dansons, The Runaway Brides and The Blue Ladies. She continues
to to choreograph and perform as a freelance artist. Some of her credits as a choreographer and/or director include
musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Camelot, West Side Story, Seussical, Footloose, Les Miserables, Gypsy, Bye Bye Birdie, Two
Gentlemen of Verona, Children of Eden, Grease, The Lion King, Oklahoma and Hair. She has taught and choreographed
at The Etobicoke School of the Arts, Earl Haig Secondary School (Claude Watson Program), French Woods Performing Arts Camp,
The National Music Camp, Te Amim Theatre Company and No Strings Theatre Company. She has facilitated workshops for organizations
such as Future Aces, the Elementary Teachers Association, The Rotterdam Anger Management Corporation, the Sweet Adelines,
Building Blocks Speech Pathology Association, and many more. She has been comissioned to choreograph works for the
Toronto Symphony, Hamilton Art Gallery, the Canadian Children's Opera Chorus, Orangeville Music Festival, Guelph Contemporary
Dance Festival, Louville Art Gallery and the Simon Wisenthal Center in Toronto. Victoria - "It has always been and continues
to be my joy and my passion to move and create movement and to share my love of it all!"
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Our Inspiration
One afternoon during a voice lesson the idea occurred to us that there are a limitted number of professional musical
theatre community programs for teens in the Toronto area. So what was our solution? Create one ourselves. We knew many
teenagers in the Toronto area who loved to perform but hardly get the opportunity or find that they want to
improve on their skills in the less hectic summer months. We, therefore, started a program where teens
can improve on music theatre skills and learn to work with a team to successfully put on a co-operative
production. This program would not have been possible without the help of dozens of teenagers who taught us that there
is nothing better than giving someone the opportunity to take a bow.
Our Co-Founder
Kelly Bedard is a student
at Boston University studying Television Production in the School of Communications. She has experience in all aspects of theatre; on
stage and off. Kelly recently appeared in productions of The Taming of the Shrew
with Boston University Shakespeare Society and The Scottish Play with the BSS/UCC
Company. She directed an excerpt from As
You Like It for a Shakespeare competition in New Zealand and stage-managed a production of R&J for the BSS/ UCC Young Company. She also worked as Assistant Stage Manager for Toronto Youth Theatre’s
production of City of Angels. Kelly is a classically trained violinist, cellist
and singer with a focus on musical theatre voice. Favourite credits include the roles of Katisha in The Mikado, Mad Margaret in Ruddigore, Mrs. Partlet in The Sorceror and Dinah Murray in the world premiere production of Blind Bend which toured Ireland in the summer of 2004. She also appeared in Oliver Twist, HMS Pinafore, and various school productions. She was
a regular participant in Centauri Summer Art and Suzuki Kingston More the Music Programs for many years and has appeared in
a number of workshop productions. Kelly has 10 years of dance experience ranging from basic ballet to hip hop, lyrical and
jazz. She has performed in pit bands for numerous musical productions including most recently the BSS/UCC Company production
of Blood Brothers. Upcoming
projects include Boston University Shakespeare Society’s Queen Lear. She
is thrilled to see her vision of a summer musical theatre program in Toronto come true.
Gloria Tran, Stage Manager
Gloria Tran has
worked in all areas of production including wardrobe, direction, and set and sound design, but she has found her calling in
Stage Management. She first joined No Strings Theatre in 2008 as an Assistant Stage Manager for Into the Woods Jr, and is
very glad to be back. She recently stage managed a production of New Canadian Kid with Director Heather Dick and the Sirius
Theatrical Company. Some selected credits as an Assistant Stage Manager include: Into The Woods, Annie Jr, Little Shop of
Horrors and City of Angels (Toronto Youth Theatre), Unified! (Pride 2008), Choreographic Works 2009 and Period Study 2008
(Ryerson Theatre School). Other productions include The Three Birds (Head of Props - Ryerson Theatre School), Clown 2007 (Production
Assistant - Ryerson Theatre School). Gloria is a recipient of the Sears Drama Festival Award of
Excellence for Directing. She is currently at Ryerson University where she is working towards a BFA in Theatre Performance
Production.
Jordann
Zaza,
Associate
Musical Director
Jordann has been
music directing for the past six years. She is a graduate of University of Toronto's Music Faculty. Jordann has also been
the music director for the Randolph Academy of the Performing Arts' Young Company for several shows, most recently, "Footloose",
"High School Musical" (North American Premiere) and "The Wiz". Other favourite credits include "West Side Story",Fallen Rock Productions "La Cage Aux Folles" Scarborough Music Theatre and "Jesus Christ Superstar" Stage Blue Productions
and most recently, "Footloose" with the brand new company, Paradox Performers. Jordann
has also taught piano, vocal, choral and music theory in the private school system. She is an avid vocal coach, accompanist
and pianist. www.jordannzaza.com
Matt Craig,
Pianist
Matt Craig teaches science and math at the Community Hebrew Academy of Richmond
Hill but has been known to hijack random pianos while out on the prowl. A pianist since the age of six, Matt has recently been teaching music theatre
and accompanying performers at the National Music Camp of Canada and Living Arts Centre Mississauga. He has also assisted
the musical direction of Scarborough Community Theatre productions of "Cabaret" and "How to Succeed in Business Without Really
Trying". Outside Music Theatre, Matt accompanies Jazz and Classical singers and has also performed
classical piano recitals.
Elizabeth
Morriss Dance Captain, Production
Assistant,Camp Facilitator is a graduate of Cardinal Carter Academy for the Arts, and has degrees in Music Theatre (Acadia University) and Education (Nipissing University). She is an active member of ScriptLab, and has sung in several of their workshops and shows, including
the first Canadian Music Theatre Festival. In 2007, Elizabeth appeared in the Fringe Festival hit Lord of the Rings: the Musical: the Musical (Mother/ensemble).
She has been involved with the Civic Light Opera Company for the last nine years playing a variety of roles, most recently
Magnolia in Show Boat and Marsinah in Kismet. Elizabeth has taught classes in movement, music, and drama with Arts Express and Toronto Parks and Recreation. She is currently pursuing teaching and performing opportunities, and will be performing
in Solar Stage Children’s Theatre’s 2008-09 season.
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