 MARA BREDOVSKIS (she/her) Festival Production Manager, Lighting Designer Mara can often be found hiding in booths and backstages around St.John's and beyond. She has lent her skills in various theatrical endeavors to companies such as Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, PerSIStence Theatre Company, Opera on the Avalon, Resource Centre for the Arts Theatre, White Rooster Theatre, Wonderbolt Circus, Theatre St.John's, Rising Tide Theatre, and many others.  KEVIN OLSON (he/him) Festival Stage Manager (Girls From Away, The Codfather) Kevin is beyond thrilled to be a part of the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival this year! He is a professional stage manager who has worked on many productions for over a decade. He has called many theatres home, including The Charlottetown Festival, Lighthouse FT, Port Stanley FT, Theatre Orangeville, Theatre Aquarius, Vancouver Playhouse, Carousel Players, Young Peoples Theatre, Canadian Rep Theatre, Black Theatre Workshop and Smile Theatre (where he was also production manager for several years). He has most recently toured internationally with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia and with Geordie Theatre, travelling extensively to the United States and to Hong Kong. Despite taking a brief hiatus from theatre, the stage has called his name once again. He will continue to pursue ways to make the theatre process accessible, inclusive and enjoyable for everyone involved!  RENATE ROSSOL (she/her) Festival Music Director (Girls From Away, The Codfather) Renate Rossol is building community through her musical leadership in Winnipeg and abroad as a music director, pianist, vocal coach, adjudicator, and piano instructor. She holds a Master of Music (Collaborative Piano Performance) and Bachelor of Music (Performance and Music History) from the University of Manitoba, and an A.R.C.T. in Piano Performance. Ms. Rossol also studied Vocal Accompaniment at the Vienna Conservatory from 2012-2013. She has performed on stages in Austria, Canada, and the United States. Since completing her master’s degree in 2016, Renate has been focusing her professional work in musical theatre and opera as a music director and rehearsal pianist. Recent credits include: Ma-buhay! (Music Director, Rainbow Stage, Winnipeg 2021); The Phantom of the Opera (Rehearsal Pianist/Keyboard 1, Opera on the Avalon, St. John’s 2019), and The Three Penny Opera (Associate Music Director, Sick+Twisted Theatre, Winnipeg 2019). Renate is thrilled to return to Newfoundland to music direct both shows for Kitchen Party Theatre Festival!  JACQUELYN REDMOND (she/her) Festival Fiddler (Girls From Away, The Codfather) Jacquelyn Redmond is a violinist and fiddler from Portugal Cove. Jacquelyn holds a Master of Music in Violin Performance/Pedagogy from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, and is headed to Waterloo, ON in September to study with the Penderecki Quartet. Ms. Redmond has strong roots in traditional newfoundland folk music and has maintained a balance between her western classical training and her folk music identity. From a young age, she was a part of the Suzuki Talent Education Program (S.T.E.P.) Fiddlers, collaborating with with her cousin, Daniel Payne, and participated in the Young Folk At The Hall (YFATH). Throughout both her university degrees, Jacquelyn continued to collaborate with local folk musicians, and was a regular mentor for the YFATH program. In 2018, Jacquelyn was a cast member of the Gros Morne Theatre Festival as an actress and fiddler, collaborating with local musicians including Stephanie Payne and Allison Crowe. Ms. Redmond was a featured artist in both Neddy Norris Night and Newfoundland Vinyl.  TIMOTHY MATSON (he/him) Girls From Away Lyricist/Composer, Girls From Away Co-Director Timothy Matson is thrilled to be spending the summer in Grand Falls-Windsor with Kitchen Party Theatre Festival. Some recent directing credits include Be More Chill, Fun Home, Impresario (premiere), next to normal (Best Kind Productions), Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, All Shook Up (Rennie’s Fall Musical), Almost Maine, Happy Days – the Musical, (Mount Pearl Senior High), Promnado (premiere), Pippin, She Loves Me, The Diviners (Acting Manitou Theatre Camp). He is a dedicated teaching artist and educator and has worked with Achieva Educational Services, Ghostlight Theater Camp, and he is the Drama teacher at Mount Pearl Senior High School. He is also Co-Artistic Director of Best Kind Productions. Recent writing credits include Second Shot – the Curling Musical (with Kiersten Noel – premier coming soon!), Isobel Gunn – a New Musical (with Kyle McDavid), The Stars Are Always Brighter When the Lights Go Out, and a new adaptation of Pirates and Penzance. Grateful to be a part of this magical story and season!  KIERSTEN NOEL (she/her) Girls From Away Composer/Lyricist, Bridey Butler (Girls From Away) Kiersten Noel is thrilled to be a part of the summer season for Kitchen Party Theatre Festival and truly honored to be a part of the premiere of Girls From Away. Some favourite performing credits include Hope Cladwell in Urinetown (Best Kind Productions), Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof (QVRRDF), Fantine in Les Miserables (Atlantic Light Theatre), Betty Haynes in White Christmas (Tada Events), Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes (Peter MacDonald Productions), Meg March in Little Women (Theatre St. John’s), Sister Mary Robert in Sister Act (Atlantic Light Theatre), and The Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Opera on the Avalon). Kiersten is also a composer and currently collaborating with her husband Timothy Matson on Second Shot – The Curling Musical (coming to a theatre near you in 2022/2023). Getting to write the music for and perform in this beautiful story is truly a dream come true!  NORA BARKER (she/her) Henny Lamarr/Pearl (Girls From Away), Mainstage Performer (The Codfather) Nora Barker is an L’nu (Mi’kmaq) and settler (Irish) artist and arts administrator from Grand Falls - Windsor, Ktaqmkuk. Nora received a Bachelor of Arts from Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2017, and is currently training in the acting program at the National Theatre School of Canada in Tiohtià:ke (Montreal). Nora credits her artistic journey to her community in Grand Falls-Windsor, especially the exceptional teachers at Exploits Valley Intermediate and Exploits Valley High who provide spaces for our youth to explore the arts. Nora spent many happy years of her youth performing at the Kiwanis Music Festival, the Regional High School Drama Festival, and with the Celtic Spirit Dancers. Nora is thrilled to be back on her home territory with the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival to share our stories in our very own Gordon Pinsent Centre for the Arts. Nora loves to caramelize onions and sing karaoke in her living room.  AMELIA WOOLFREY (she/her) Eleanora Barushka/Stella (Girls From Away), Mainstage Performer (The Codfather) Raised in rural Newfoundland, Amelia Woolfrey has always had a passion for storytelling and performance. As a recent graduate of the theatre and drama studies specialist program at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Sheridan College, she has continued to pursue this passion on the stage as a performer, singer and playwright. Some of her credits include Paula in Fefu and her Friends (Theatre Erindale, 2022), Hippolyta in Aftermath (Beck Theatre Creation Festival, 2022), Lady Macbeth/Hamlet/Emilia in Shakespeare Then and Now (Hart House Theatre), Lady Capulet/Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Theatre Erindale, 2021), The Hobbit (Theatre Erindale, 2020), and Lucy Wilde in Connie’s Crush and Fools Rush In (Queen Street Dinner Theatre; 2019, 2018). She has also written and directed two original plays; a one woman show titled On the Heels of Giants (2017), and Grave Spirits (2018).  KENNEDY TOMS (she/her) Bitsy/ Valerie/Madonna (Girls From Away), Mainstage Performer (The Codfather) Kennedy Toms is an actor from Bishop’s Falls, NL, currently completing her Bachelor's of Fine Arts at Grenfell Campus. Some of Kennedy’s latest acting works include Thérèse Dubuc in Les Belles Soeurs, Annabel Carew in Bedlam, Mildred/Marvelena in a previous edition of Girls From Away, and Darcy in the short film BOUNCE. Kennedy is so excited to be back for her second year at the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival playing Bitsy in Girls From Away, and you can also find her in The Codfather this summer.  LAUREN UPSHALL (she/her) Betsy/Linda (Girls From Away), Mainstage Performer (The Codfather) Lauren Upshall is a 22-year-old who moved to Newfoundland in the summer of 2021, after living in the United States for ten years. She is so thrilled to be in her favourite place in the world, and even more thrilled to be a part of the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival! During her time in the US, she worked as a theatre teacher at Christian Youth Theatre, and has performed in several productions including, “Heathers the Musical” (Veronica Sawyer), and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” (Olive Ostrovsky). She currently works as a nanny for a wonderful family, and spends her free time going on walks, writing, and exploring the island.  CHRISTOPHER DUNN (he/him) Baz/All Purpose Man (Girls From Away), Mainstage Performer (The Codfather) Christopher Dunn is a multidisciplinary firecracker that loves making people laugh. This has led him to do improv, stand-up comedy, drag, aerial arts, musical theatre and opera, even magic! He’ll try any art form once. Hailing from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, he now studies vocal performance at the University of Manitoba under Monica Huisman. He is thrilled to help bring this incredible story of perseverance, courage, love, and community to life!  JOSIE SHEPPARD (she/her) Mainstage Performer (The Codfather), Stand-in/Swing (Girls From Away) Josie made her debut with the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival in 2021, having been part of The Rowdies cast. She's been performing since middle school, having been a part of a variety of musicals and plays, most notably as Lonny in Rock of Ages. She also read the part of Boots in the play, Brass Rubbings. Off stage, Josie loves to cycle reading through her same favorite books over and over, and watching Netflix snuggled up with her adorable feline companion, Zeus.  GWENDOLYN ADAMS (she/her) Mainstage Performer (The Codfather), Festival Production Apprentice Gwendolyn O. Adams hails from Central Newfoundland. A veteran of regional and provincial drama festivals across the island, she is excited to be returning to the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival for her second year. Gwen is a passionate film buff who absolutely loves animals. When not happily immersed in her stage or screen craft, she can be found lost in a movie, chatting about her favourite actors, feeding squirrels, and caring for her pet rooster, Ralfie.  BERNARDINE ANN TERÁZ STAPLETON (she/her) Kitchen Party Theatre Festival Co-Artistic Director & Producer; Girls From Away Playwright, The Codfather Playwright & Director Bernardine Ann Teráz Stapleton has been a professional theatre artist for forty years. She was born in North West River, Labrador, and grew up on the Burin Peninsula. She is the Artistic Director of Girl Power Inc. She is co-artistic director of the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival. She’s had almost forty plays professionally produced in Canada and beyond, including the iconic Offensive to Some, Woman in a Monkey Cage, Brazil Square, Our Frances, and, a new musical, co-written with Nicole Smith/Tim Matson/Kiersten Noel Girls from Away. Her two latest books were just released. Love, Life is available from www.breakwaterbooks.com. Girly Muckle and the Queer Hands is available now from www.problematicpress.com. Bernardine was writer-in-residence at Memorial University in 2019 and created and taught an introductory course in playwrighting for their winter session. For more about Bernardine visit www.bernardinestapleton.com.  NICOLE SMITH (she/her)
Kitchen Party Theatre Festival Co-Artistic Director & Producer; Girls From Away Playwright, Girls From Away Co-Director Hailing from Cambridge, Ontario, Nicole is proud to call Newfoundland home for half the year. Her work as a playwright has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, the Shaw Festival, and Canadian Stage. Her writing has been published in a number of literary journals, and she was the 2021 recipient of the New Quarterly's Peter Hinchcliffe Award for Short Fiction for her story Something Really Unbelievable. In addition to co-producing the Kitchen Party Theatre Festival alongside Bernardine Stapleton, Nicole is founding Artistic Producer of Sonderlust, a theatre collective dedicated to the creation of original work and the staging of women's stories. Nicole is a member of the Writer's Union of Canada, the Playwright's Guild of Canada, and Playwright's Atlantic Resource Centre, and she's directed or assistant directed for KPTF, Sonderlust, PerSIStence Theatre Company, and the St. John's Shorts. Nicole has served on juries for the Ontario Arts Council, the New Quarterly, and the Region of Waterloo Arts Fund, and she currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Women's Work Festival in St. John's.
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