Creative Team

Playwright

Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue emigrated first to Cambridge (where she did a PhD in eighteenth-century English literature) in 1990, and then (for love) to London, Ontario in 1998. Best known for her novels, including Room, The Wonder, The Pull Of The Stars and most recently The Paris Express, she is also an Oscar-nominated screenwriter. Room was a finalist for the Carol Bolt Award for best new Canadian play. The Wind Coming Over The Sea is her ninth full-length work for theatre and her first musical.

Director

Actor, director, playwright, collaborator, Gil has been with the Blyth Festival in some capacity or other since 1999. Outstanding shows over the years have included: Death of the Hired Man, The Drawer Boy, World Without Shadows, Pearl Gidley, The Nutalls, A Killing Snow, The Pigeon King, In the Wake of Wettlaufer and plenty of Donnellys shows. Gil has been artistic director since 2014, and lives on a little farm in Central Huron with his wife and four beautiful children.

Set & Lighting Designer

Ken’s award-winning set, lighting, costume, and video designs have appeared on stages across Canada, the United States and Europe. Ken has been a resident artist at Soulpepper Theatre company as well as the Young Centre for the Performing Arts. Ken is the president of the Associated Designers of Canada and one of the founding members of IATSE Local ADC659. Since the fall of 2021, Ken has begun a faculty position at the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon teaching in the School for the Arts. Ken last designed for Blyth in 2015 for Mary’s Wedding.

Costume Designer

Theatre: Assistant to Head of Wardrobe at Grand Theatre for past two seasons, Seamstress: Pride & Prejudice, Controlled Damage, Elf: The Musical, Grand Ghosts (Grand Theatre), Assistant Costume Designer: Wedding Band (Stratford Festival), Design Consult for Lester B. Pearson School for the Arts, Film: Design Assist: Tenth Generation, Education: Fanshawe College. Dedication: For Eddie Leigh and Demitro Choma, for giving me my love for theatre and the work ethic to get here.

Sound Designer

Adam Campbell is a versatile sound designer, composer, percussionist and singer-songwriter. Originally from Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Adam has worked as sound designer/composer with Stratford Festival, Blyth Festival, Human Body Expression, Edmonton Opera, Capitol Theatre, Lights On Stratford and more. Adam has toured and performed throughout North America as a percussionist with TorQ Percussion Quartet and Ladom Ensemble, and regularly plays in the pit for musical theatre productions with companies such as Mirvish Productions and Stratford Festival. In 2019, Adam released his debut solo singer-songwriter album, Guess I’m A People Too, featuring a mix of folk, rock and 90’s-tinged original music. Adam currently lives in Stratford, Ontario, with his wife Alice and their cats Ninja and Nazca.

Music Director

Originally from Manitoba, Anne is recognized as a leading Canadian fiddler who has been on the front lines of renewal of many traditions, especially Indigenous fiddling, Ontario trad, klezmer music, African-Canadian music and more. She was a founding member of Muddy York and The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, and currently plays solo, as part of Lederman/Bell, and with Njacko Backo from Cameroon. She has 6 CDs under her own name of trad and original songs and tunes, and over 50 with other artists. In 2016 Anne received the Estelle Klein Award from Folk Music Ontario for her contributions to Canadian folk music, and in 2022 she was made a member of the Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour. Anne’s history with Blyth is extensive: from playing in the company pit band in the very earliest seasons, to the Outdoor Donnellys, to her autobiographical Spirit of the Narrows and many, many more.

Music Supervisor

Other Theatre (Selected): Lear, Measure For Measure, The Winter’s Tale (Groundling), Much Ado About Nothing, Shakespeare In Love, The Taming Of The Shrew, Pirates Of Penzance, The Grapes Of Wrath, As You Like It, Jacques Brel… (Stratford Festival), Once (Neptune Theatre). Recordings: Another Street, Late, The Easy Straight, Recent Songs. Previously: Quartetto Gelato (1996 NPR Performance Today Debut Artist of the Year). More information at meanwell.ca. George is delighted to be returning to Blyth!

Dialect Coach

Alison is a Toronto-based actor and dialect coach. She teaches Speech and Dialect for the CFC Actors Conservatory and George Brown’s Acting for Media program, and narrates and directs audiobooks for Penguin Random House. She has coached actors on-set, in the voiceover booth, and at theatres across Canada for the past decade, in addition to her own work as a performer. Recent dialect coaching: productions for the Capitol Theatre Port Hope, Actors Repertory Company, That Theatre Company, and the television series The Next Step. Selected performance: The Capitol, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Mirvish, Stratford, Magnus, Gateway, and Western Canada Theatre. TV: Murdoch Mysteries, Children Ruin Everything, Fellow Travelers, Late Bloomer, and What We Do in the Shadows. Alison is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School.

Stage Manager

Flávia F. Martin (she/her) is a Portuguese-born Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager and Company Manager based in Toronto. Flávia is ecstatic to be part of the Blyth Festival and thanks the amazing Sandy Plunkett for making this happen. Some recent and not so recent credits include Blind Dates (Theatre Passe Muraille), Anna Karenina (George Brown College), Into the Woods (The Grove Theatre), No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart (Theatre Passe Muraille), On the Other Side of the Sea (Aluna Theatre), A Carnival of Munch (George Brown College), Comedy of Errors and Million Dollar Quartet (The Grove Theatre), New (Necessary Angel), Rubble (co-production between Aluna Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille), Two-Sided Mirror (Mixed Company Theatre), Beautiful Renegades (Peggy Baker Dance Projects), Cacao: A Venezuelan Lament (Victoria Mata Productions), Light: A Tribute to Toni Morrison (Luminato Festival), The House of Bernarda Alba (Modern Times Theatre and Aluna Theatre), and Lätt Lûtf (Teatro de Creación Remota).

Stage Manager Caitlin Mears is thrilled to be returning to Blyth after making her debut as Assistant Stage Manager for A Huron County Christmas Carol in 2023.

Previous selected stage management credits include: Ransacking Troy, The Winter’s Tale, London Assurance, Twelfth Night, Rent, Les Belles-Soeurs, Chicago, The Miser, Three Tall Women (Stratford Festival); Bluebeard’s Castle (Against the Grain Theatre); Home for the Holidays, Homes: A Refugee Story (The Grand Theatre); The Breathing Hole (National Arts Center); The Laundry List (Vintage Taps); Cinderella: The Panto (Capitol Theatre); August: Osage County (Soulpepper). Caitlin would like to thank her family, friends, and mentors for all their support.

Assistant Stage Manager

Alicia is thrilled to be returning to the Blyth Festival for a 3rd season! She has previously worked as an Apprentice Stage Manager on The Donnelly Trilogy (Blyth Festival) as well as an Assistant Stage Manager on Saving Graceland, The Trials of Maggie Pollock (Blyth Festival) and Trayf (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company).