Hoda Adra, Playwright

Hoda Adra is a spoken word poet and filmmaker with a practice rooted in writing as resistance and self-inscription. Born in Lebanon, raised in Saudi Arabia and adopted by Montreal, this triangle inspired her first album La liberté des sens, a rhythmical account of an Arab female body crossing worlds way too fast. Using performance as a pledge against erasure, Hoda examines notions of planetarity versus self-censorship through storytelling, somatic inquiry and the voice. Her writings explore gender apartheid, oral history abortion and politics of marginalization and their links to feminine motricity. Poetically drawing on phenomena from childhood, psychogenealogy and quantum physics, Hoda seeks to transmit that our hearts – when constellated – can become spaces of collective reimagining. Hoda is currently in residency at the M.A.I and at Main Film, and an alumna of the Banff Centre’s Spoken Word Program and New Media Institute. Her writing and video work have been supported by the Canada Council for the arts and the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec. Performances and screenings include the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word, Nuit Blanche, FQD, Place-des-Arts, FIFEQ, RIDM, Montreal Stop-Motion Festival, les Halles de Bruxelles, and she once brought home the silver medal at the Quebec Grand Slam. As an antidote to words, Hoda can be found spilling paint.

Kalale Dalton-Lutale, Playwright

Kalale is a writer and performer from Toronto. She has performed in Pervers/Cite, Montreal MonoChrome, Playwrights Workshop Montreals' Young Creators Unit Showcase, The Revolution They Wrote Theatre Festival, and KillJoy's Kastle: A Lesbian Feminist Haunted House in Toronto and Los Angeles. Recently her play Pinky Swear (Geordie Productions) was nominated for two Montreal English Theatre awards; Outstanding New Text, and Outstanding Emerging Artist. Pinky Swear (Geordie Productions) was also nominated for a Tom Hendry award in the inaugural Theatre for Young Audiences category. Kalale recently graduated in playwriting at The National Theatre School of Canada where she developed a number of new works.

Josianne Dulong-Savignac, Dramaturg

Josianne has a degree in Theater Studies from the UQAM Theater School. She is interested in current interdisciplinary practices as well as relational aesthetics. As part of her research-creation at UQAM's Master of Arts, Josianne designed Pour avoir une image claire de l’homme (To Have a Clear Image of the Man), a participatory exhibition questioning the collective memory related to the Canadian neo-colonial context, the visitor's participation and their willingness to look at fading faces from archival footage from residential schools. Josianne also works as a stage manager and playwright for several creators. She is also artistic assistant at Les Deux Mondes and cultural mediator at La Serre | Arts vivants. Multifaceted, she was also a member of the editorial board of the art magazines: aparté | arts vivants and Artichaut.

Sophie Gee, Director

Sophie Gee is a director of mostly new creations which she presents under the name Nervous Hunter. Her interdisciplinary performance Lévriers (MAI, Montréal, arts interculturels), was part of the 2019/2020 season of the National Arts Centre and will be touring the Maisons de la culture in 2021. She is an artist in residence at Théâtre Aux Écuries for the 2020/2021 season where she will create her next piece, Bonnes Bonnes. As a freelancer, she has directed The Tropic of X by Caridad Svich (Imago Theatre, Montreal), Michaela di Cesare's Fear of Missing Out (for Geordie Theatre) and she will be one of six directors for Théâtre I.N.K.’s next project. A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Directing Programme, Sophie strives for ways to combine her love of text and story with the research processes of dance and contemporary art.

Claudia Chan Tak, Choreography

Is a multidisciplinary artist based in Montreal. She graduated from Concordia University in Intermedia / CyberArts, Department of Studio Arts in 2009. She received the William Douglas Excellence Scholarship for her BFA in contemporary dance at the University of Quebec in Montreal in 2012. Her autobiographical solo, Moi, petite Malgache-Chinoise was presented at MAI (Montreal, arts interculturels) in December 2016. Her other choreographic creations have been presented in OFFTA, Phénomena, Zone Homa, La Petite Scène, Art Matters and Edgy Women. She co-created with Louis-Elyan Martin three pieces presented at Tangente (2013, 2015, 2017) dealing in a playful way with clichés of contemporary dance. She also dances in many projects of the Company Les soeurs Schmutt, Philippe Dandonneau and the Fanfare Pourpour.

Chadia Kikondjo (Water)

Right after receiving her B.A in Theatre, Chadia began her professional career and debut by embarking the 2PlayTour with Geordie Productions in 2019. She toured the shows FOMO and The Water Chronicles. She also played in White (2019) which she also co-directed. And for her most recent work, Black Balloon (2020) with the Centaur Theatre's: The Portico Project. As well as an actor, Chadia is also a singer/songwriter and her most notable appearance was on La Voix 6 in 2018. As an artist, fulltime bey-hiver, and part-time rent-head, Chadia strives to create and support works that instigate conversations, and challenges societal norms.

Aida Sabra (Emma)

Aida has been active in the performing arts since 1983. She has taught acting, physical expression, mime and dance at the Lebanese University. She also taught theatrical expression at the Star Academy. She has played leading roles in theatre productions as actress, mime, and dancer. She has starred in a number of TV series and film productions. She was nominated for the best actress award for her monodrama performance at the Cairo Festival for Experimental Theatre in 1997. Aida has participated in several theatrical festivals in Tunisia, Kuwait; and Sharja U.A.E, where the play "The Dictator" received Best Theatrical Award in 2013. She has also written and directed several plays.

Lesly Velazquez (Tamara)

Lesly is a Mexican-born actress established in Montreal since 2012. She studied languages and literature before completing her bachelor's degree in theater at the University of Veracruz. In Mexico, she worked with Mercedes de la Cruz, Alberto Lomnitz and Boris Shoemann. Her artistic career has led her to participate in several projects as an actress and puppeteer such as Cabaret de l'Objet, traité # 4 (La Pire-Espèce), Lola, un monde qui s’achève (Ondinnok), Jean dit (Théâtre l'Activité), Fiel (Theatre Ink), Valparaiso (Singulier Pluriel) and Migraaants (Coop Ludotek). She continued her training at the École du Mime, Dynamo Theater, Resource Center Theater and Ateliers Danielle Fichaud.

Emilee Veluz (Beth)

Emilee Veluz is a Canadian born Filipina and has been working as a professional theatre, film and TV actor for over 20 years. Taking a little break to be a wife and a mom of 3, Emilee is excited to be back at it full time with the support of her family. She has toured eastern Canada and USA with Geordie Theatre and is best known on stage for her role as June in the Governor General Award winning play, Where the Blood Mixes by Kevin Loring and Twinkle in the Montreal hit play, Miss Orient(ed) by Nina Lee Aquino and Nadine Villasin; both produced by Teesri Duniya Theatre. Emilee is very excited to be working with Talisman Theatre for the first time. Selected Television and Film credits include, Clouds, The Moodys, 19-2, Nine Lives, Broken Trust and The Lottery. Diversity in theatre, TV and film is very important to Emilee and despite all the barriers of being a woman of color in this industry, her goal is to continue to represent the under-represented and tell the stories of the 'other'.

France Rolland (Habibi's voice)

France is a Montreal based actor. Theatre credits include: Macbeth (Modern Times Stage Company), Angélique (Black Theatre Workshop/Table D’Höte Theatre), L’Histoire du Soldat (Orchestre Symphonique de Laval), Top Girls (Segal Centre for Performing Arts), The Bacchae and Medea (Scapegoat Carnivale Theatre), Sexy Béton (Projet Porte Parole), Snowman (Imago Theatre), Les Contes Urbains (Théâtre Urbi et Orbi). She has taken part in the Festival TransAmériques, the Just for Laughs Festival and the Toronto SummerWorks Performance Festival. She has been awarded a MECCA for best actress (Medea), and a META for Outstanding Supporting Performance (The Bacchae).