A fierce advocate for regional theatre artists, Lisa O’Connell (she/her) is the founding Artistic Director of Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, a catalyst for new works of theatre and PlaySmelter, Northern ON’s New Work Theatre Festival. Artists work created at PTD have received or been nominated for the RBC Tarragon Playwright Award, the Carol Bolt Award, Governor-General’s Award (Drama), RBC Emerging Directors Award, among others. Work created at PTD has been presented at Magnetic North Theatre Festival, SummerWorks, Canadian Stage, Tarragon, MT Space, Sudbury Theatre Centre, Theatre Aquarius, The Grand Theatre, among others. O’Connell is a two-time recipient of a Special Jury Award from Arts Awards Waterloo and has delivered the closing Keynote address at the Canadian Association of Theatre Researchers Conference. She was past Caucus Chair at the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres, Advocacy Committee of the Playwrights Guild of Canada, Steering Committee Equity in Theatre and is the creator of Regional Women Lead, a national initiative to address gender parity for women in theatre. She is a recipient of a New Conversation Award (British Council/Canadian High Commission UK) for The Women’s Room with Lyth Centre, Scotland. O’Connell has been published in Canadian Theatre Review, The Toronto Star, The Globe and Mail, Chatelaine, among others. She divides her time between her artistic homes in Waterloo, ON and Sudbury, ON with her partner Mark Walton.

lisa@patthedog.org

Tara began her career with The National Ballet of Canada after graduating from the National Ballet School. She then danced for The Alberta Ballet and was Principal dancer for Canada’s Ballet Jorgen for 16 years. Bengt Jörgen created many lead roles in full length ballets for Tara including Romeo and Juliet, Cinderella, Anastasia, Coppelia, and The Nutcracker. She had the opportunity to guest perform internationally with The Hong Kong Ballet, The Ohio Ballet, Banff Festival Ballet and The Miami Hispanic International Ballet Festival. She has worked with many of Canada’s most sought after choreographers including Gioconda Barbuto, Roberto Campanella, Robert Desrosiers, Robert Glumbek, Allen Kaeja, Karen Kaeja, Malgorzata Nowaka-May, Crystal Pite, Kathleen Rea, and Wen Wei Wang. Tara worked on many creative dance project with Proartedanza, DNA Theatre, and Allison Cummings and was featured in Michael Greyeyes short dance film ‘Seven Seconds’. Tara was also part of the award winning dance film ‘Old Country’ by Allen Kaeja. Since moving to Kitchener and having her second child Tara has been teaching and coaching young dancers, choreographing, and performing as a freelance artist. Tara was invited to be a part Allen and Karen Kaeja’s Dance Ontario Lifetime achievement award performance in January 2020. Tara will be creating a full evening of dance which will be presented at The Registry Theatre in 2021 . She is thrilled to be sharing and creating with the community in partnership with Pat The Dog Theatre.

Jennifer Cornish: Trained by industry pros from Stratford, Shaw, Second City, and Kids in the Hall, Jennifer has worked in film and television, but says she has spent the best parts of her life onstage – a place she has been since age 8. A vital member of the Waterloo Region arts community, she is best known for her award-winning work in the Irish one-woman show “Myra’s Story” (Best Tragedy – United Solo Festival New York City, Best Production – London Fringe, Critic’s Pick – Hamilton Fringe.) Jennifer is a Region of Waterloo Arts Award recipient for Performing Arts.

Caitie is a dramaturg, playwright, and emerging screenwriter who is as excited about telling stories as she is about empowering others to do the same. Over her career as a dramaturg, Caitie has designed and facilitated several playwriting units for emerging artists, most notably at Tarragon Theatre (Young Playwrights Unit 2017-2020), and Driftwood Theatre Group, where she began as Company Dramaturg in 2020. Most recently, Caitie was the Assistant Dramaturg on Queen Goneril by Erin Shields at Soulpepper Theatre. Caitie has been compiling Pat the Dog’s monthly e-bulletin of resources for playwrights since 2017, and offering dramaturgical support to playwrights through the organization since 2022. She is thrilled to be taking her relationship with Pat the Dog one step further, by becoming facilitator of this exciting new Unit!

Amy Neufeld is a perfectly fine person who lives, works, knits, and writes in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. She has one husband, one calico cat, and two kids. She writes plays, novels, humour pieces, and short stories.

As a child, Amy used to read under the covers in the dark after her flashlight had been taken away. She wants to write stories that inspire that level of disobedience in others.

Amy has written for CBC’s The Irrelevant Show, SEE Magazine, Shameless Magazine, The Daily Drunk, and Bear Creek Gazette among others.

Vanessa C Spence is a classically trained theatre actor, published author, playwright, producer, and arts educator. She is a creative entrepreneur with over six years of experience in the performance arts industry and social sectors. Vanessa is the artistic director of Virtu Arts, a production company that develops and creates live performance art that is shared in a virtual space to be enjoyed by all. At the root of her life’s work and her artistry, Vanessa seeks to inspire empathy and action by shedding light on the thought processes of women in marginalized communities. Her latest project entitled Stretch Marks, based on her self-published book of poetry explores the mental, emotional, and physical imbalances BIMOC (Black, Indigenous, Mothers of Colour) face through the many stages of motherhood. Part 1 of this three-part series focused on the moments leading up to a young woman’s decision of whether to become a mother or not. Vanessa is excited to continue the development of Stretch Marks Part 2 with the support of 2021 Women’s Room.

Karen Thistle was born and raised in Sudbury where she grew up with both literary and imaginary friends. A playwright with an Honours B.A. in English and Women’s Studies from Laurentian University and a M.A. in Journalism from the University of Western Ontario, she has worked with public libraries and non-profit arts organizations. As a playwright she participated in the 2nd annual STC Playwrights’ Junction (2012) where her play “The Intermediaries” was first drafted and later included in the Public Reading Series of the 2nd annual PlaySmelter festival (2014). In 2017 she participated in the festival’s inaugural Producer’s Unit which lead to her joining PlaySmelter in 2018. She continues
to meet and work with fellow playwrights in the Sudbury Writers Guild’s Inklings group.