ARTISTS

Ann-Marie MacDonald Author

Ann-Marie MacDonald is an author, playwright, and actor. She is known for her novels, Fall On Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, Adult Onset, and Fayne, as well as her plays, Goodnight Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet), Belle Moral: A Natural History, and Hamlet 911. Her work as an actor on stage and screen has earned her a Gemini Award and a Genie Nomination, and she hosted and narrated CBC TV’s documentary series, Life and Times and Doc Zone. Her writing has been honoured with awards including the Chalmers, the Dora Mavor Moore, the Governor General’s, and the Commonwealth Prize. Ann-Marie is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada. In 2019 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of her contribution to the arts and her activism for LGBTQ2S+ rights.

Alisa Palmer Director/Adaptor/Co-Creator

Alisa Palmer has led the development and world premiere of acclaimed theatre creations for over twenty five years including East of Berlin by Hannah Moscovitch, Sibs by Diane Flacks and Richard Greenblatt, Body Politic by Nick Green, Oh My Irma by Haley McGee, Belle Moral, Anything That Moves and Hamlet-911 by Ann-Marie MacDonald. Ms Palmer spent eight seasons at the Shaw Festival. Selected Credits: The Women, Sunday in the Park with George, The Philanderer and Pal Joey, and three seasons at the Stratford Festival (Hay Fever and Hamlet-911). She directed the box office breaking production of Good-Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) by Ann-Marie MacDonald, featuring the playwright in the leading role. Ms. Palmer has directed Canadian premieres of works by international playwrights including Sarah Ruhl, Naomi Wallace and Caryl Churchill. Her acclaimed revival of Churchill’s Top Girls is featured in the documentary film Girls on Top by Fighting Fish Productions. She directed Cloud 9, also by Churchill for Mirvish Entertainment, where she was Resident Director for the World Premiere of Lord of the Rings. As Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre, Ms. Palmer oversaw the commissioning, development and premiere of celebrated plays including Djanet Sears’ Harlem Duet and Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God, and Alex Bulmer’s Smudge, the first professional play by a visually impaired theatre maker which she also directed. Ms. Palmer is the recipient of numerous awards in Canada and internationally, including multiple Dora and Chalmers Awards, and the Award of Excellence in the Arts. She is a three-time finalist for the Siminovitch Prize for Directing and is a proud recipient of a Harold Award for her contribution to Independent Theatre. Ms. Palmer is currently the Executive Artistic Director of the National Theatre School of Canada, English Section and is founder and Artistic Producer of Vita Brevis Arts. She was born and raised in New Brunswick, in the unceded Territory of the Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik and currently lives in Montréal, unceded territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka Nation, with her wife and daughters.