This International Women’s Day we’re taking a moment to highlight the lovely ladies who have put together our current production, a new take on Charlotte Perkin Gilman’s feminist horror classic, The Yellow Wallpaper.
Emily is thrilled to be working on Bygone’s 10th season. She founded Bygone Theatre in late 2012 and has been running it as Artistic Executive Director ever since, directing, producing, and designing the majority of their productions. Recently she wrote and directed a new stage version of The Birds, a “masterful homage” to the classic Hitchcock film, performed at Hart House Theatre. Prior to that, she wrote and directed The Rear Window, an “engaging and unexpected take” on another Hitchcock classic, winning the Broadway World Toronto Award for Best Direction of an Equity play. She has worked as a theatre freelancer in Toronto for more than a decade, including as a producer with companies like Tarragon Theatre and Crow’s Theatre. She also dabbles in film and tv, most recently working as a researcher for a Cineflix true crime documentary. Her next production is a return to comedy with Wayne & Shuster at Hart House, May 2023. Emily is grateful for the chance to have worked with such a stellar team of multi-talented women on a project that, while very different in style from her usual work, surrounds themes she is passionate about. Learn more at emilydix.com.
Kate McArthur is a Mad (Bipolar 1 Disorder)/ Queer actor/theatre artist and is a Co-Artistic Leader of Skipping Stones Theatre, a Toronto based company whose mandate is to tell stories through the lens of mental health or stories that centre around it. She received a Prix Rideau Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Performance for her performance as Nurse/Mercutio/Prince in a Company of Fools’ production of Romeo and Juliet. She constantly seeks to grow as an artist and is dedicated to the creation of important work in supportive spaces with professional standards. Selected credits: The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Twelfth Night, As You Like It with a Company of Fools; A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gorboduc, The Changeling with Shakespeare BASH’d; Hamlet(s), Laughing Wild, 4.48 Psychosis with Skipping Stones Theatre; The Rear Window with Bygone Theatre.
Bria Cole is a junior architect and documentary filmmaker. She has worked in the nonfiction film industry and with cultural organizations in Toronto and New York including People Design Cooperative, Philip Beesley Architects, Downtown Community Television, Girls Write Now, Tribeca Film Festival and Mongrel Media. She explores outdoor projection, media infrastructure in border regions, and collective solutions within the design and build community.
Bria is continuously working at the intersection of media arts, architectural design and narrative. The arts always have been and will be vital to her. It’s been a joy to work in this immersive theatre project and she will be on the lookout for more hybrid, public works.
Website: briacole.com
Julia Edda Pape is a current student at the University of Toronto and (hopefully) a future director, writer and actress. She is thrilled to return to Bygone Theatre as Assistant Director for The Yellow Wallpaper after working as Apprentice Director on The Birds last Fall. She is currently directing “Maggie Chun’s First Love & Last Wedding” by Helen Ho which will be debuting at the Toronto Fringe Festival this summer (check it out on Instagram @maggiechun.fringeto)! She is grateful to her friends, family and Bygone for the on-going support, encouragement and opportunities.
Shreya Patel is a multifaceted individual, who has made a significant impact in the worlds of entertainment, activism, and mental health advocacy. Model-turned-actress, filmmaker and mental health advocate, Patel is the honoree of Top 100 Most Powerful Women of Canada, Forbes 30 Under 30, Women’s Achiever Award, Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award and Emerging Leader Under 35. Patel has been acknowledged for her efforts in advancing equity in her community, with an honorable mention from the City of Toronto. She was also listed among DissDash’s “Top 50 Coolest South Asians of 2021” alongside notable figures such as Priyanka Chopra, Kamala Harris, and Hasan Minaj. She has also graced the pages of fashion magazines like Vogue and Grazia. As an actress, she has brought raw emotion and depth to her roles in films like Strangers In A Room, Vivid, and The Intersection, which explore themes of mental health. Patel’s debut documentary, ‘Girl Up’, is an unflinching look at the reality of domestic human trafficking and was partnered with the Toronto International Film Festival and the Civic Action Summit. Her music video directorial debut, Freedom Dance, which featured famous personalities from 7 countries, has over 1.2 million views on YouTube. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, she rallied 66 countries to come together for Unity- #LOVESPREADS Faster Than Virus, a documentary that showcases the plight of the human spirit, which was the closing film at the Munich Film Festival. As one of the faces of the Canadian Screen Award-winning national mental health awareness campaign “Bell Let’s Talk”, Patel is committed to raising visibility and breaking the silence around mental illness and support. Currently, she is working on a comedy series, Layla is Relevant and writing a film about trafficking while also producing various projects under her company, Window Dreams Productions.
Helga Packeviciute is an Ontario based sculptural artist and architectural designer, and is thrilled to be able to assist Bygone Theatre. After finishing her Master of Architecture, focusing on the relationship between ornamentation, transgression, and fabrication methods within architecture, she is delighted to use her expertise to help support production design for “The Yellow Wallpaper”. Helga is currently producing sculptural works in Hamilton and is happily embracing its industrial heritage and welcoming arts community. The central theme of her work is a playful subversion of one’s expectations of materiality in its representation and use. This is reflective of her experience as a woman within architecture, where investigation of craft and materials has long been associated with male dominated architectural practice. In her spare time, Helga can be found on hiking trails, cross-country ski paths, or wherever there is nature to explore.
Thank you ladies for all you do!
Bygone Theatre 