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.

Kristen is an experienced arts administrator with a career that spans across more than two decades in the Canadian cultural sector. She has led the negotiation teams for PACT with the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Associated Designers of Canada, and Canadian Actor’s Equity Association. After growing up in the arts, Kristen is grateful to be able to spend her career working in this sector. In her spare time, she loves to cook, read, enjoy wine, see shows, and spend time with her friends and family.

Jennica is a lifelong lover of theatre. From her portrayal of the baby Jesus when she was a mere four months old Jennica caught the theatre bug and has been sick with it ever since! Originally trained in theatre performance at the University of Winnipeg she continued her studies in Vancouver, B.C. under the expertise and guidance of the Studio 58 faculty. Since graduating in 2012 Jennica has toured extensively with Green Thumb Theatre and Quest Theatre while continuously expanding her artistic practise to include directing, playwriting and arts administration. Working primarily with youth and for them in the creation of Theatre for Young Audiences work – Jennica is delighted to bring her passion and expertise to the oversight of Persephone Theatre’s Youth Presentation Series, the provincial Youth Touring productions, and the Young Company program. Directing For Arts Sake and Jabber for the 2018 Persephone Youth Tour without the use of projections is a definite career highlight. She recently directed the highly successful Deep End production of I Lost My Husband! this past Fall!

This is Olivia’s third year with Persephone Theatre and she’s excited to be a part of this multi-talented team!

Olivia was born and raised in Saskatoon Nutana and has more than a decade 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 on the socials keeping you up to date and in the loop.

Grahame started at Persephone just over 7 years ago 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.

As Artist Services and Youth Tour Coordinator and a part time Marketing Associate, Grahame is in charge of creating the show programs, head shot boards, posting cast and crew info on the website and other duties. He books the provincial  Youth Tour shows and oversees the Tour which is produced each spring. 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.

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.

Elden started his Persephone Theatre journey first as a volunteer and has been part of the Front of House Team since September 2008. During his younger years, he was very active in several amateur theatre groups and has always enjoyed being part of Theatre.

As Front of House (FOH) Team Leader, Elden works with over 10 part-time staff and over 250 volunteers. Together they ensure all performances and events are enjoyable and entertaining for each and every one of our guests.

Elden is also Persephone Theatre’s Rentals Manager. If you are looking for a venue for your next concert, corporate event, wedding, or live theatre performance, Elden is the person you need to connect with!

The biggest, most fun, and one of the most challenging projects that FOH has undertaken, was the creation of a fully functioning candy store for Mary Poppins that had every type of candy you could possibly desire. We still get asked “When is the candy store coming back” or “Do you have X? I know you had it in the candy store.” Elden listened to our patrons and is happy to be bringing it back for ELF: The Musical!