Pig Girl by Colleen Murphy

Nadien Chu is an Edmonton based performer, teacher and writer.  She is absolutely thrilled to be working on this extremely special piece.  Nadien is a graduate of the BFA Acting Program at the University of Alberta but she is originally from Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Deepest thanks to Colleen Murphy and Bradley Moss. Other Recent Credits include: CLEOPATRA’S SISTER, FOURTH GRADERS PRESENT AN UNNAMED LOVE SUICIDE, CHERISH, Northern Light Theatre; LADIES WHO LYNCH, Workshop West; JULIUS CAESAR, THE TEMPEST, TWELFTH NIGHT, OTHELLO, TITUS ANDRONICUS (Sterling Award), COMEDY OF ERRORS, ROMEO AND JULIET, LOVE LABOUR’S LOST, Free Will Shakespeare Festival; THE PENELOPIAD, AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, Citadel Theatre; MOURNING DOVE, Kill Your Television; PALACE OF THE END (Sterling Nomination), Theatre Network; HEDDA GABLER, Canoe Festival; CUCKOOS (Sterling Nomination), Edmonton International Fringe Festival.

Brian Dooley is an award winning actor and producer. Currently Director of Play Development at the Citadel Theatre and formerly Vice President, Creative for Alliance Atlantis, Edmonton, Brian continues to embrace his first love – the stage. For over thirty years, Brian has worked throughout the country and abroad. His skills include directing, writing, producing and performing in a variety of media including radio, animation, film, television and the theatre. Trained and educated at the National Theatre School and Bishop’s University, Brian Dooley continues a long-standing relationship with the National Theatre School of Canada where he teaches neutral and character mask.  Brian believes passionately in the development of new work and always welcomes the opportunity to lend his support and skills to new plays and playwrights. Brian draws inspiration from the Mexican playwright Victor Hugo Rascon Banda’s fervent  message: “The theatre moves, illuminates, disquiets, disturbs, lifts the spirit, reveals, provokes and violates conventions. It is a conversation shared with society. Theatre is the first art to confront emptiness, shadows and silence to make words, movement, lights and life surge forth.”

PIG GIRL is Elinor’s Theatre Network debut. She was last scene on stage in Edmonton playing the title role in Catalyst Theatre’s, THE SOUL COLLECTOR. Her selected credits elsewhere include: THE ECSTATICS, Northern Light Theatre; SWEENEY TODD, Vertigo Theatre; THE WIZARD OF OZ, Alberta Theatre Projects; JAKE AND THE KID, Theatre Calgary; AUSTENTATIOUS, Forte Musical Theater; HARVEST, Lunch Box Theatre; BOEING BOEING, Stage West Theatre; THE ATTIC THE PEARLS AND THREE FINE GIRLS, Sage Theatre; URINE TOWN, Ground Zero/Hit&Myth; TWISTED, Ghost River Theatre; HELEN’S NECKLACE, Urban Curvz Theatre; THE PIPER, Downstage Theatre; BECKY’S NEW CAR, Theatre North West, Prince George; HEAD OVER HEELS, Caravan Farm Theatre, Armstrong, BC. Upon closing PIG GIRL, she’ll return to Caravan for their winter show, LITTLE BROTHER, LITTLE SISTER. Elinor lives in Calgary with her husband Spider and their three children, Ava, Waylon and RubyJune.

Randy is pleased to be back at Theatre Network where he last performed in Connie Gault’s SKY in 1989. He will be entering his seventh season at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 2014. He has performed leading roles at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, the Vancouver Playhouse, Citadel and Phoenix theatres in Edmonton, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, Persephone and Globe Theatres in Saskatchewan, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres, Tarragon, Passe Muraille, Factory, and CanStage in Toronto, Centaur and Segal Centre in Montreal, Neptune Theatre in Halifax, and the Blyth Festival, among others. He has toured Canada six times in shows such as HIGH LIFE, EARSHOT, THE CHET BAKER STORY, HALF LIFE, and has performed in Mexico and the United States. He has worked extensively in television, radio, and film, and has been nominated for eight Dora Mavor Moore awards, and received two. He has been nominated for three Vancouver Jessie awards, an Edmonton Sterling award, as well as a Gemini for television, and has received one of each. He is happy to be back in Edmonton, a city he loves.

Bradley is an MFA graduate in directing from the University Alberta. He joined Theatre Network in 1996 to create the multidisciplinary emerging artist festival – Nextfest. In 2014 Bradley accepted the dual role of Artistic & Executive Director for Theatre Network. Some recent productions include: BED AND BREAKFAST, THE EMPRESS & THE PRIME MINISTER, MINERVA – QUEEN OF THE HANDCUFFS, INFINITY, The Sterling Award Winning Production IRMA VOTH, BUST, GORDON, RED, THE LAST FIVE YEARS, ARMSTRONG’S WAR, the Governor General Nominated THE GRAVITATIONAL PULL OF BERNICE TRIMBLE, the Sterling Award Winning LITTLE ONE, DRIVING MISS DAISY, the Governor General Award Winning PIG GIRL, the Sterling Award Winning LET THE LIGHT OF DAY THROUGH, WHERE THE BLOOD MIXES, IN ON IT, MOVING ALONG, TWELFTH NIGHT, PUBLIC SPEAKING, DOG, THUNDERSTICK, BUDDY, ALIAS GODOT, MISERY, CLOSER AND CLOSER APART, the Sterling Award Winning SUMMER OF MY AMAZING LUCK, TRUE WEST, GIRL IN THE GOLDFISH BOWL, HOSANNA, MARION BRIDGE, A SKULL IN CONNEMARA, the Sterling Award Winning glam rock musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, and HIGH LIFE.

Colleen Murphy was born in Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, and raised in Northern Ontario. Her play PIG GIRL won the 2016 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama as well as the 2014 Carol Bolt Award. THE DECEMBER MAN / L’HOMME DE DÉCEMBRE won the 2007 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama, the CAA/Carol Bolt Award and the Enbridge Playwrights Award.  Other plays THE BREATHING HOLE (shortlisted for the Susan Blackburn Prize, U.S.), BRIGHT BURNING, ARMSTRONG’S WAR, THE GOODNIGHT BIRD, BEATING HEART CADAVER (shortlisted for the 1999 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama), and THE PIPER.  Libretti include FANTASMA (c. Ian Cusson), OKSANA G., (c. Aaron Gervais) for Tapestry Opera, and MY MOUTH ON YOUR HEART, (c. August Murphy-King) for Toy Piano Composers and Bicycle Opera.  Colleen twice won prizes in the CBC Literary Competition.  She is also an award-winning filmmaker and her distinct films have played in festivals around the world. Colleen has been Writer-in-Residence at ten theatres and universities including the Lee Playwright-in-Residence at the U of A and Finborough Theatre in London UK. In 2017, Colleen was awarded a Canada Council New Chapter Grant to write a six-hour play GEOGRAPHY OF FIRE / LA FURIE ET SA GÉOGRAPHIE about The Battle on the Plains of Abraham in 1759, and in 2019 she received the Playwright Guild of Canada’s Lifetime Membership Award for her body of work.

Cory is an award winning designer, currently residing in Charlottetown, PEI. His set, costume and lighting designs have received both national and international recognition. His work has been seen throughout Canada, as well as throughout Europe and Russia. Cory earned a degree in Architectural Studies from Carleton University before studying design at Ryerson Theatre School in Toronto. He also holds a MFA in Theatre Design from the University of Alberta. Recent Designs: EVANANGELINE, BITTERGIRL THE MUSICAL (Charlottetown Festival) LIBERATION DAYS (Theatre Calgary/WCT), PETER AND THE STARCATCHER, LES MISERABLES (WCT); MARY POPPINS, NEXT TO NORMAL, (Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre); MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, VENUS IN FUR, ROMEO AND JULIET, SPAMALOT, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Citadel); LAST 5 YEARS, MICHEL AND TI-JEAN, and LET THE LIGHT OF DAY THROUGH (Theatre Network). www.corysincennes.com

“Now is a time to storm; Why dost thou laugh? It fits not with this hour.” Recent Design credits include BED AND BREAKFAST (Theatre Network), EDAY (Serial Collective), Minerva Queen of the Handcuffs (Ghost-writer Theatre), THE EMPRESS & THE PRIME MINISTER, WHAT A YOUNG WIFE OUGHT TO KNOW, INFINITY (Theatre Network), TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, THE WINTER’S TALE, HAMLET, A COMEDY OF ERRORS (Freewill Players), 9-5, A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (Grant MacEwan University). Scott is resident Production Manager for Theatre Network and Nextfest, and is a founding member of Edmonton band Captain Tractor. “Why, I have not another tear to shed.”

Matthew Skopyk is an Edmonton based Sound Designer and Composer. Recent Design/Composition credits include: PALACE OF THE END, Theatre Network; RICHARD III, Free Will Players; SPREEPARK THE MUSICAL, Mischief and Mayhem and SOMETHING RED, Vault. A past graduate of the U of A Technical Threatre Production program (B.F.A Graduate 2006 With Distinction), Matthew excels at software/hardware manipulation, allowing for new realms of possibility in the theatre through manipulation of data. New works include: wireless performer-worn sensors; allowing for performer control over technical aspects of a production, a glove-based three-dimensional-panner for Sound Designers and a MIDI Cello. Matthew has worked as a FOH mixer for companies such as Free Will Players and the Catalyst Theatre. Matthew currently resides as the Head of Audio for the Drama Department at the University of Alberta.

After 8 happy seasons as the Technical Director for Theatre Network at the (pre-fire) Roxy theatre Paul felt a need to do some touring and so, when the opportunity to Stage Manage for The Old Trout Puppet Workshop’s arose Paul jumped at it. Having now toured 2 shows across Canada, the US and throughout 5 countries in Europe the need to tour is really being satisfied. Theatre Network isn’t completely out of Paul’s blood stream however, so whenever the opportunity arises to come back he does. “It has been an enormous pleasure to work with this team again! Thanks Theatre Network!”