A message from the Artists’ Working Group

On February 21st, the newly formed Artists’ Working Group met to begin its work. We are pleased to announce the other three members of the Working Group: Skye Brandon, Daniel Hudson, and Carla Orosz.

We discussed the purpose of the working group, what we have been charged to do, and began to lay out a pathway to achieve our goals. We laid out a timeline for our work, so that the staff and board of Persephone can do its work, and undertake the search for new artistic leadership in short order.

We talked of many things: about who is not represented at this table, and how we make sure their voices are heard; about what we have already heard from community members in consultations, in conversations, in correspondence. For us, the top three things we hear the community asking for are transparency, communication, and community. Those articulated desires informed our list of values, which we generated at the meeting and will use to guide our work:

• Transparency
• Generosity
• Inclusion
• Courage
• Trust
• Respect
• Humility
• Accountability
• Alignment

We hope that working from these values will begin to address the concerns of the community, and allow us to have fruitful conversations about what the role of Persephone Theatre should and could be in Saskatoon, and in Saskatchewan.

We talked about reaching out to our networks – and about finding ways for people to feed into this process. To that end, each of the Working Group members is inviting discussion; you will find everyone’s email addresses at the end of this post, as well as the phone numbers of the co-leads, Cynthia Dyck and Yvette Nolan.

At the end of Tony Kushner’s great play Angels In America (Part One: Millenium Approaches) – spoiler alert! – the Angel comes crashing through the ceiling and says “The Great Work Begins.”

We are feeling a little bit like that today: The Great Work Begins.

Artists’ Working Group

Skye Brandon

Skye is a Treaty 6 actor/director/producer/instructor based in Saskatoon. He has worked for numerous Saskatchewan companies (Persephone Theatre, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Dancing Sky Theatre, Globe Theatre, Station Arts Centre), as well as a number of companies for Live Five, for whom Skye helped co-found. He is currently on the board of directors for the Saskatchewan Association of Theatre Professionals, where he has recently finished serving a two-year term as board chair.

Daniel Hudson

Daniel Hudson, graduate of the American Musical and Dramatic Academy and the New School University in New York City, hails from Daytona Beach, Florida to the bridge city of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with extensive theatrical experience from repertory, film & tv, to large scale touring; working on shows like Miss Saigon, Black Journey and A Christmas Carol. In 2017, he joined the Persephone Theatre family as Box Office Manager. Daniel was thrilled to receive the opportunity to aid the artistic committee for Persephone Theatre and is looking forward to contributing ideas for the future innovation and growth of the theatre community. Daniel enjoys the occasional video game and going to the movies. He also enjoys being active and spends his free time at the gym. He and his wife Mandy love spending time outdoors and taking in the sights the city has to offer.

Carla Orosz

Carla has been designing Sets and Costumes for theatre full- time since 2006 when she completed a MFA in Theatre Design at the University of Victoria. In years previous Carla worked in technical theatre and design while earning her BFA at the University of Saskatchewan. Carla is an Associate Professor at the University of Saskatchewan Department of Drama where she resides as the Set & Lighting Designer, Production Manager and delivers the BFA program in Theatre Design.

Skye Brandon – skyebrandon @hotmail.com

Daniel Hudson – dan.h@persephone .org

Carla Orosz – [email protected]

Yvette Nolan – 416-460-7674, [email protected]

Cynthia Dyck – 306-321-5190, [email protected]