Toronto theatre.
National connection.

Sue Miner is a Canadian director, actor, producer, writer, designer and theatre educator. A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada's Acting program, she has worked extensively across Canada in new work, classical theatre, musical theatre, puppetry and opera.

Sue has taught and directed at George Brown Theatre School since 1995 and serves as Program Coordinator. She is also co-artistic director of Pea Green Theatre Group with Mark Brownell. Her directing work has earned numerous Dora Mavor Moore Award nominations, three Pauline McGibbon Award nominations, and recognition on the longlist for the Siminovitch Prize in Directing. She and Brownell received a Harold Award for Outstanding Contribution to the Toronto Performing Arts Scene.

She's a particularly strong person to bring back for Toronto, since George Brown Theatre School is located in the Young Centre, where you're holding the October 23 conference. Soulpepper's biography specifically confirms that connection.

Jenni Saslove (she/her) is an educator and performer based in Toronto. She is the Learning Programs Coordinator at Young People’s Theatre, as well as a vocal coach in her own private studio. Jenni is an Ontario Certified Teacher, qualified to teach Grades 4-12, with teachables in the Dramatic Arts and Vocal Music. She received her Master’s in Teaching from OISE (UofT) and Bachelor of Science (Honours) from Queen’s University. Jenni has over 20 years of experience performing and training in the arts, and 15 years of experience teaching them. Jenni is also a published arts researcher and has investigated topics such as the mental health benefits of arts integration in the classroom, the psychological reasoning behind a “showmance”, as well as the effects of music on Alzheimer’s.

Julie Hartley is the director of Centauri Arts, a Toronto-based arts company that offers SHSM certifications and Sector Partnered Experiences for multiple sectors at schools across Ontario. She has a degree in Theatre Studies from Warwick University (UK) and an MFA from UBC. Julie has worked professionally as a theatre director, and taught drama at both George Brown College and the University of Waterloo. Julie has written 19 plays for young people, which have been performed across Canada and in the UK, and her drama textbook – on how to teach Shakespeare practically – was published by Theatrefolk. A previous workshop leader for CODE and the Shaw Festival Teacher’s Days, Julie is also an accomplished novelist. Her two historical novels, set during World War II, were released recently by Bookouture in the UK. You can find out more at www.juliehartley.ca or by visiting the SHSM page of the Centauri Arts website, at https://www.centauriarts.com/ontario-schools/shsm-programs-for-schools/

Paula Wing is a playwright, translator, dramaturge and theatre educator with more than 30 years of experience. She is currently Educator in Residence at Tarragon Theatre, where she has taught playwriting for more than 15 years and works with emerging and young playwrights. Her plays and adaptations have been produced across Canada and internationally, including Wicked Nix and her Chalmers Award-winning adaptation of Joy Kogawa’s Naomi’s Road. Paula is also a Sessional Professor at the University of Windsor and University of Waterloo and teaches creative writing and theatre to young people and adults across Canada.

Tracy Garratt has spent the past 26 years teaching drama, directing and producing theatre, and exploring what happens when young people are given the opportunity to find their own voices. She has directed and produced a wide range of plays and musicals, including Bugsy Malone, Evil Dead: The Musical, Firebringer, Trap, Clue: On Stage, and Showdown at Sand Valley. Her work with students has extended well beyond traditional performance, including directing This Is a Play, a devised piece exploring the impact of divorce on families, and developing a theatrical response to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave with senior students using elements of Meyerhold’s biomechanics and the Suzuki Method. She has also facilitated the RSVP devising process, adapted from the work of Lawrence and Anna Halprin, with her students as part of Brock University Professor Gyllian Raby’s COMMOTION project.

Tracy’s theatre practice has also explored how performance can give voice to lived experience and create meaningful change. She was Production Manager and Director for Headspace, a verbatim project made up of student-written monologues about their experiences within the mental health system, presented to health and social-service professionals with the goal of identifying gaps in service and encouraging providers to listen and improve the system. She also served as Production Manager for The Arab Spring Monologues, a community-engaged project connected to Brock University that brought the voices and experiences of Arab-Canadian and Muslim communities in Niagara to the stage. These experiences have deepened her belief that theatre can do more than entertain — it can ask us to listen, challenge our assumptions, and see the world through someone else’s eyes.

Today, Tracy is proud to serve as the National Director of Artist and Teacher Programs with the Theatrical Arts Education Association, connecting artists and educators across Canada and helping strengthen the relationship between professional theatre and the classroom. She is also developing The Forge, an upcoming pilot theatre- and drama-based education initiative hosted by Youth Wellness Hubs Ontario, exploring how meaningful engagement with theatre can help address gaps in boys’ engagement with school while developing the communication, empathy, collaboration and social skills they need as young men. After 26 years, Tracy is still teaching, still directing, still producing, still devising — and still asking what theatre can make possible. Phillip Goodchild is the Editor of TAEA’s newly relaunched Theatrics newsletter and an Arts assistant curriculum leader with the Toronto District School Board. A British-born theatre educator, director, performer, and writer, he has taught English and Drama in both Canada and the United States and is currently working to establish and host a regional STAR Festival within the TDSB.

Phillip Goodchild is a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as Assistant Curriculum Leader of Arts, Communications Technology, Digital Learning and Equity & Anti-Oppression at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute with the Toronto District School Board. He holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has presented professional learning for theatre educators at National Theatre Educator Conferences and for students at the International Thespian Festivals in the United States. Phillip is the editor of TAEA's Theatrics newsletter and is currently working to establish a STAR Festival within the TDSB. His teaching centres on ensemble, accessible theatre-making, culturally responsive practice, and helping students discover that there are many different ways to belong in a theatre.

The Sales and Marketing Manager of Playwrights Canada Press, Brandon is multi-faceted theatre artist with over twenty years of experience specializing in new play development in Canada.

Lori Ravensborg is full time faculty and the coordinator of the 2 year program ACTING FOR FILM AND
DIGITAL MEDIA at Niagara College, School of Media (Welland Campus).  She teaches acting,
auditioning, actor on set, and acts as executive producer of the graduate capstone demo projects in year
2 of the program.  In the last 20 years, she has taught and facilitated acting across Canada from Alberta
to Toronto.   She was part time at Toronto Film School (2015-2016) as well as for the Advanced
Television and Film- Script to Screen program at Centennial College in Toronto (2016). She relocated to
the greater Toronto area from Alberta in 2015. Her own short film "The Long Road" (Wrote, Produced
and Directed) enjoyed some positive feedback screening at Oceanside International Film Festival 2012,
won a Rising Star Award at the Canada International Film Festival 2013 in Vancouver as well as being
nominated for an Alberta Rosie (AMPIA award) in 2013. She is a longstanding member of Equity, ACTRA
and Women in Film and Television (Alberta and Toronto chapters).

Luis Carlos Sotelo-Castro is Associate Professor in Theatre at Concordia University. His research focuses on engaging audiences as active listeners within participatory frameworks that reimagine restorative and transitional justice processes as pathways for community recovery. See his latest publication: Sotelo Castro, Luis Carlos and Lucas, Sara. (2026) How call-and-response facilitates restorative dialogic listening: Reconstructing a transitional justice hearing as participatory performance. Theatre Research International.

Matthew MacKenzie is an award-winning Canadian playwright, director and Assistant Professor of Dramatic Arts at Brock University. A citizen of the Métis Nation of Alberta, his work centres Indigenous storytelling, identity and contemporary Canadian theatre. His plays include First Métis Man of Odesa, Bears, After the Fire, The Particulars and Strife. Matthew is also Artistic Director of Punctuate! Theatre and teaches Contemporary Canadian Indigenous Theatre at Brock University.

Luke Bramer is a theatre educator, director, arts leader, and practitioner based in Hamilton, Ontario. He currently serves as Head of Arts at Glendale Secondary School with the Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board, where he has played a significant role in the school’s Audition-Based Program of the Arts. Luke’s work spans drama education, performance, technical theatre, stage management, and arts programming, with a strong commitment to helping young artists develop creativity, professionalism, confidence, and resilience.

A graduate of the University of Windsor’s Drama and Education program, Luke has spent his career creating meaningful opportunities for students to learn through theatre and the arts. His teaching practice emphasizes collaboration, creative exploration, social awareness, and connecting students with the wider professional theatre community.

Grandview Theatre Company is a professional theatre company based in Brantford, Ontario, dedicated to creating high-quality theatre while developing and empowering local artists. Founded in 2019, Grandview brings professional and community artists together to create original productions, educational opportunities and collaborative theatrical experiences. The company has a strong commitment to youth education, providing opportunities for young people to learn professional theatre skills directly from practising theatre artists while supporting the development of new Canadian and community-rooted stories.

Lucy Mee is the Operations Manager for the Canadian Improv Games (CIG), a national organization that uses improvisational theatre to help young people develop creativity, confidence, communication, collaboration and teamwork. A longtime member of the CIG community, Lucy began her involvement with the organization as a student improviser and has continued as a volunteer, performer and arts administrator. A graduate of Queen’s University, she has also worked in theatrical production and remains an active improviser and advocate for youth theatre and improv across Canada.

ARTIST
Makram Ayache is a Governor General Literary Award Finalist, Lambda Literary Award winning,
and Dora award-winning playwright, performer, director, and producer based in Toronto. His
playwriting explores representations of queer Arab voices and aims to bridge political struggles
to the intimate experiences of the people impacted by them. Ayache’s work was named as
a Canadian culture maker who defined 2025 by the CBC and he also won New York
City’s Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Drama in the same year. His play, "The Hooves
Belonged to the Deer" was selected as one of 10 best productions in Ontario in 2023 by the
Globe and Mail and won an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for “Outstanding Independent
Production” in Edmonton in 2023. Previously, His Governor General nominated play "The Green
Line" (Downstage and Chromatic Theatre) garnered four Betty Mitchell Award Nominations,
winning two including "Outstanding New Play."  Most recently, Ayache has written an adaption
of Shakespeare’s "The Tempest" titled "A Witch in Algiers" (Shakespeare in the Ruff)m which
garnered the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 2025. Alongside writing,
Ayache directs, acts, teaches and producers theatre.
EDUCATOR
Ayache is trained as an educator from the University of Alberta, holding a Bachelor of
Education. Currently, he facilitates 2SLGBTQIA+ (2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans,
Queer, Intersex, and Asexual/Agender) through his consultation organization, Shajara, which
works with organizations, collectives, and individuals to make meaningful change towards equity
an anti-oppression. He has worked with organizations like the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival,
Shakespeare in the Ruff, and The Canadian Theatre Critics Association. 
He also has extensive experience in curricular design and development at the secondary, post-
secondary, and community level of education. He has instructed at University of Waterloo, the
519 Church Street Community Center, and Workman Arts.  Much of his teaching philosophy is
centered around an anti-oppressive and socially conscious pedagogy.

PHATT al is the Artistic Director of The Second City Toronto Training Centre and a Dora- and JUNO-nominated actor, MC, director, digital visual artist, and writer. A five-show Second City Mainstage alumnus, he has performed across theatre, television, film, music, and comedy. PHATT is a recipient of Second City’s Bob Curry Fellowship and is the creator of Yes Yes Y’all and Check The Rhyme, innovative programs combining improvisation and hip-hop. His work brings together improvisation, collaboration, music, character, and original creation. Julie Dumais Osborne is Vice President of Training Centers at The Second City, where she leads the strategic, artistic, and educational direction of Second City’s Training Centres in Toronto, Chicago, New York, and online. An award-winning director, improviser, and educator, Julie previously served for ten years as Artistic and Managing Director of Toronto’s Bad Dog Theatre Company. She also spent nearly two decades with the Canadian Improv Games in leadership roles including National Associate Artistic Director, helping young performers and educators discover the power of improvisation, collaboration, and creative play.

Phillip Goodchild is a National Board Certified Teacher and currently serves as Assistant Curriculum Leader of Arts, Communications Technology, Digital Learning and Equity & Anti-Oppression at Stephen Leacock Collegiate Institute with the Toronto District School Board. He holds an MA in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and has presented professional learning for theatre educators at National Theatre Educator Conferences and for students at the International Thespian Festivals in the United States. Phillip is the editor of TAEA's Theatrics newsletter and is currently working to establish a STAR Festival within the TDSB. His teaching centres on ensemble, accessible theatre-making, culturally responsive practice, and helping students discover that there are many different ways to belong in a theatre.

Darcie King
Darcie King is the Director of Creative Partnerships at BookTix. She is a seasoned marketing professional with a strong background in theatrical production, sales, fundraising, and video production. She graduated from Elizabethtown College with a BA in Mass Communications and a minor in Theatre. She is an award-winning videographer and entrepreneur, started and ran her own video production company, and has worked with companies such as Resorts Digital Gaming, Axelrod Performing Arts Center, ArtsEdNJ, and NBC30.

Tim DiVito
Timothy Divito is the co-owner of BookTix and holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a concentration in E-commerce and Information Technology and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) with a major in Information Technology and Informatics, both from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) with experience managing small- and large-scale IT projects. Since 2013, Timothy has served as an Instructor at the Rutgers School of Business-Camden, teaching classes in IT Project Management, Database Design, Systems Analysis and Design, and others. From 2001–2005, Timothy served as the Managing Director of the Livingston Theatre Company (LTC) at Rutgers, managing many of the business aspects of the theatre including staff selection, budgeting, box office operations, and external communications, as well as taking on many roles both on and off stage when needed to help support the company.