Staff

Heather Cant is a multi-faceted theatre practitioner who has worked as a director, actor, playwright, dramaturg, and producer. She has experience with everything from large scale productions to interactive micro-performance and has worked at theatres across Canada, including the National Arts Centre, Western Canada Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Persephone Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Chemainus Theatre, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Pi Theatre, Axis Theatre, Presentation House, Upintheair Theatre, Project X Theatre, Urban Ink, and SkirtsAfire.

In addition to her freelance work, Cant has over 8 years of arts leadership experience. She served as Associate Artistic Director of Western Canada Theatre for six and a half seasons and was Artistic Producer of Project X Theatre for two seasons. She is the Artistic Producer of Phenomania Arts Society and the creator and curator of Secret City, an ongoing digital theatre project that explores the secret life of public spaces in an ever-growing list of cities. Cant recently completed her MFA in directing at the University of Calgary where she developed a practice called Process-As-Relation, an anti-imperial paradigm for centering intersectional empathy in creation — a vital lens that she brings to her new role.

Born in Moose Jaw, with family based in Saskatchewan, Cant has both family and creative ties to the community. Saskatoon audiences may remember Heather from her roles onstage in Hamlet and The Merry Wives of Windsor at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, or from her work as the assistant director on Persephone’s production of Mary Poppins.

Originally from Richmond, British Columbia, Breanne has spent much of the past decade working and living in many places throughout BC, most recently on the unceded, ancestral and traditional territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations, also known as Vancouver, and is now very happy to call Treaty 6 home. Before working in arts administration, she worked as a professional Stage Manager for close to ten years, and graduated with honours from the University of British Columbia with her Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre Production/Design, where she was the recipient of the Norman Young Scholarship for Theatre and the Dean of Arts Scholarship; while also completing the Fine Arts Program in Visual Arts at Langara College.

Prior to her appointment as Executive Director at Persephone, Breanne worked with Green Thumb Theatre in Vancouver, as both General Manager and previously Tour & Education Manager, and was the Production Manager at Presentation House Theatre in North Vancouver.

As a Stage Manager, Breanne has had the pleasure of working for various theatre companies across Canada, including; The Shaw Theatre Festival, Arts Club Theatre Company, National Arts Centre, Chemainus Theatre Festival, Green Thumb Theatre, Neworld Theatre, Axis Theatre, among many others.

In addition to her work in arts administration, Breanne was the Caucus Co-Rep for the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) Caucus for three years, and is currently the Co-Rep for the Region 3 Caucus, and has been involved in a number of PACT Negotiations Teams, Advisory Committees and Working Groups, including the Canadian Theatre Agreement (CTA), and Playwrights Guild of Canada (PGC) Agreement. Breanne is a Founding and Advisory Circle Member of Rising Tides and Open Door, a national initiative for the advancement of IBPoC and equity deserving arts managers, as well as a Co-Coordinator of the National Arts Leadership Training Program. She is the recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal, and is the proud mother of two beautiful children.

Jodi is joining the Persephone Theatre team as Director of Marketing & Communications. She is a talented writer and communicator, who hopes to use her skills to bring the love of live theatre to the community.

Before coming to work at Persephone Theatre, Jodi worked in both the non-profit sector and as a journalist. She has worked at the weekly newspaper, The Humboldt Journal, and the daily newspaper, The Prince Albert Daily Herald. During her time as a reporter, she covered many different beats, but her favourites were the art and health beats.

After leaving the Daily Herald, Jodi moved on to the non-profit sector, where she worked as the Program and Communications Specialist for 4-H Saskatchewan, a youth organization, which teaches leadership and life skills.

When she is not at work, you can find Jodi working on home renovation projects, her artistic hobbies and spending time playing with her rescue dog Brandy and grumpy old cat Bucky.

Kristi (she/her) has made a career out of Creating – through acting, singing, puppeteering, puppet building, writing, art journaling, and most recently, illustrating. She grew up in Hillmond, Saskatchewan and then moved to Saskatoon to study at the University of Saskatchewan, where she received her BFA. Shortly after her training, Kristi co-founded Saskatoon’s Wide Open Children’s Theatre with Crispi Lord and co-directed/produced the company’s seasons and school tours until 2008. She was also one of the founding members of Live Five Independent Theatre Company. From 2008-2014 Kristi lived in Stratford Ontario and had the opportunity of working on several independent theatre productions and providing drama workshops in Perth County for Foundation for Education. From 2015-2017 Kristi served as an Artist in Residence at Dancing Sky Theatre, bringing arts programming to several rural schools in the Prairie Spirit School Division. From 2017-2020 Kristi worked at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, as Special Projects Coordinator and worked in Marketing & Development, helping to bring the beautiful new site to fruition. In response to Covid-19, and the arts all but grinding to a halt, Kristi kicked off her own business, Girl Friday Creations. GFC services include: art journaling workshops, personalized puppet videos for those in isolation, puppet tutorials, and an illustrated book about courage. Kristi most recently performed as Lady Macbeth at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan in the summer of 2021. Much of Kristi’s work has been to create experiences through art that uplift our communities- she is excited to have the opportunity to do so with Persephone.

Grahame started at Persephone in 2011 in the box office. Over the years he has worked for several different departments from Theatre School to Marketing to a few appearances on stage and now as the Artist Services and Youth Tour Coordinator.

He counts his start in the industry as when he produced, wrote and performed (and got paid!) his first show at the Saskatoon Fringe in 2008. From there he continued producing and writing through university, left university in 2013 and has been a theatre artist ever since.

He is the liaison between the theatre and the artistic community, booking actor auditions, finding billets for out of town artists, and answering any questions the artists have.

Olivia is a queer settler born and raised on Treaty 6. She has 15 years of experience in print, photo, and graphic design. She holds a BFA (‘04) from the University of Saskatchewan and is a graduate of the Graphic Communications program at NAIT.

Within Persephone’s Marketing Department Olivia can be found in the glow of her monitor preparing to grab your attention with advertising, or with a camera in her hand pointed at the stage, and of course keeping you up to date and in the loop.

Born and raised in Saskatoon, Ericka is proud to once again call the Prairies home. After many years away, she’s thrilled to be back with her family and witnessing firsthand how much her hometown has grown. A prairie girl at heart, Ericka brings with her a wealth of experience in arts administration, event planning, and community engagement—rooted in a deep love for theatre and cultural connection.

Her journey began just after high school, when she set off on a backpacking adventure across Europe. It was in Edinburgh, Scotland, that she fell in love with live performance while working front-of-house at the historic Edinburgh Playhouse. That same summer, she volunteered with the world-renowned Edinburgh Fringe Festival, igniting a passion for supporting theatre that would shape her career path.

Lorna (she/her) has spent much of her career using theatre arts to develop life skills and confidence in others. Originally from Hamilton, Lorna was a music kid in bands, choirs and orchestras playing several instruments and studying voice. In high school, on a dare, she auditioned for New Star

Children’s Theatre which opened an entirely new world.

Her professional journey began as a television news anchor and reporter which brought her to Saskatchewan in 1989. Since that time Lorna’s diverse training has fostered a career that includes, radio and television news, children’s television production, commercial casting, script development, adjudication, and workshop facilitation for all ages. Lorna also launched Lyrics and Laughs, a company that for more than a decade created customized entertainment for special events including improvised and scripted performances, murder mysteries and educational adventures for preschool and primary aged children with Cuddles the Clown. Her theatre credits include shows with SaskExpress, Saskatoon Summer Players, Ppl R Ppl Productions, Dancing Sky Theatre, Theatre Saskatchewan, Dance Saskatchewan, Saskatoon Gateway Players, Music for the Gut and several independent companies.

As an arts administrator she has worked with Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Dancing Sky Theatre and for the past 21 years at SaskExpress. As Studio Director, Lorna developed an award-winning triple threat performance program that introduced countless children and young adults to theatre, providing a safe space for everyone to be creatively confident.

Coming all the way from Daytona Beach, FL, Daniel Hudson has been a part of the Persephone Theatre family for three years and counting. Daniel has been a part of the Performing Arts Industry for over 10 years. From touring to singing in the opera, Daniel has his hands in every aspect of Performing Arts. When he is not singing, he is usually bugging his wife with useless trivia about Dungeons & Dragons, Fantasy Novels, and Fantasy Novels about Dungeons & Dragons.

Melanie Vanderlinde returns to the Persephone Theatre team after a family raising hiatus. With a BFA from the U of S Melanie has a keen understanding of the dynamics of live theatre and loves to share the magic with the audiences of Saskatoon.  Proud of the work it took to get this fabulous theatre built in the heart of Saskatchewan, Melanie looks forward to hosting you at a show or making your rental function run as smoothly as possible.  Raised in the middle of the forest in Hudson Bay SK, Melanie now calls Saskatoon home where she lives with her husband, son, daughter and pup.  When not in the lobby, Mel can be found baking bread, sewing clothes, or cheering her kids on the field and the court.

Kody Manson is a technician and theatre artist educated at the University of Saskatchewan with a BFA-H in drama. Kody has spent the last two years at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan as the Production & Site Manager, prior to that he was working as a lighting technician and has worked on dozens of festivals including The Saskatoon EX, Dauphin’s Countryfest, and Rock the River to name a few. Kody is excited to be joining the team at Persephone and hopes you enjoy all the hard work the team does to make art happen!