2 minute read
CreaTive + produCTion Team
Amanda Cordner // playwright + performer
David di Giovanni // playwright + director
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Rebecca Vandevelde // scenic + lighting design
Steven Bowa // composition + sound design
Lisa Sciannella // stage manager
Sanjina Dabish Queen + Kenya Rami // drag performers madonnanera w/ Rachel Forbes // costume design
Rebecca Vandevelde // production manager
Conrad McLaren // technical director
Kit Norman + Van Ward // head technicians
Matty Armour, Mike Dowdall, Elio Legault, Lindsay McDonald, River Oliveira, El Patey, Amber Pattison, Rachel Shaen, Leighton Smith, Diamond Srey, Yusuke Takase, Van Ward // crew
AMANDA CORDNER (she/they) // playwright + performer
2023: A theatre journey for Amanda… Snow White with YPT (her and co-star Ken Hall play all 14 characters). Her second show with madonnanera, WRING THE ROSES premiered in Calgary at the High Performance Rodeo. And now she’s thrilled to be back in TO at BIBT with Body So Fluorescent. Named one of Canada’s Rising Screen Stars by NOW Magazine in April 2022, Amanda has garnered enthusiastic reviews for her breakthrough performance as 7ven in the hit CBC/ HBOMax television series SORT OF (ACTRA Nomination for Outstanding Performance). Other credits: Slo Pitch, The Expanse, The Baroness von Sketch Show.
Headshot by Dahlia Katz.
DAVID DI GIOVANNI (he/him) // playwright + director
David di Giovanni is a theatre director and creator currently living in Toronto. He holds an M.F.A. in Theatre Directing from York University. In 2017, he co-founded Madonnanera, a rich creative collaboration with Amanda Cordner that is invested in making outrageous and intersectional theatre work. He has won awards for Outstanding Direction, Outstanding Play, and Outstanding Production (NOW Magazine’s Best of SummerWorks) and Emerging Canadian Artist (Inside Out) for Body So Fluorescent and was nominated for Outstanding Ensemble (Dora Mavor Moore Awards) for Wring the Roses.
REBECCA VANDEVELDE (they/she) // scenic + lighting design
Rebecca Vandevelde is an arts worker focused on production and design. Rebecca builds and curates spaces, events, and experiments - like Flip the Table and Blanket Fort - with Art is Hard; and works as a freelance designer and production manager. They are currently the Production Manager at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. Most recently: set design for Tarragon My Sister’s Rage, lighting/touring for Pandemic x Rumble x Theatre Passe Muraille Take D Milk, Nah?, lighting for Madonnanera Wring The Roses, PM/Producer for Theatre Centre Residency Project Here Are The Fragments., PM for Soundstreams x Signal Two Odysseys, lighting for Aluna Solitudes
Headshot by Sarah Bodri.
STEVEN BOWA (he/him) // composition + sound design
Steven (Chabala Chezche) Bowa is a multidisciplinary artist and performer. He focuses on using sound of varying modalities and genres to craft stories and evoke emotion. Having previously worked on BSF the short film, he is thrilled to be a part of bringing this show back to life on stage again.
Headshot by Jason Hatcher.
LISA SCIANNELLA (she/her) // stage manager
Lisa is a visual artist that fell in love with the theatre at an early age. She graduated with honours from Humber’s Theatre School (production). She has enjoyed stage managing a variety of different projects like the workshop of Sister Warriors with Suitcase In Point (2022), Shakespeare in Hospitals (2016-2021) and Articus Productions Weird (2015-2020)( Best of Venue Award Hamilton Fringe Festival 2018, The Cutting Edge Award Toronto Fringe Festival 2016, Best of Fest Award Ottawa Fringe Festival 2015). Coming this summer, she will be in Hamilton to work with Red Beti Theatre and Port Stanley for the Port Stanley Festival.
SANJINA DABISH QUEEN (she/her) // drag performer
Sanjina is Toronto’s Bollyhood remix with an attitude unlike any other. She is a trans Fijian icon of toronto who dances with an unmatched energy that brings a spicy flavour to any show. She turns the party and will put everybody in a trance! She is also the sweetheart of her season on OUTTv Call Me Mother!
KENYA RAMI (they/them) // drag performer
Kenya Rami is a drag artist and youth rights advocate whose drag journey began in Thunder Bay, Ontario almost 5 years ago. Kenya’s drag focuses on black, trans and woman empowerment. They often perform upbeat pop and rap numbers with comedic twists, getting the crowd pumped up and always giving an amazing show.
