As You Like It.indd - Stratford Festival

Justin Ellington
Stratford debut: Composer, original songs, for As You Like It. Elsewhere:
Credits include The Pride (MCC – director Joe Mantello); Fetch Clay Make
Man (McCarter Theatre – director Des McAnuff); The Seven (New York
Theatre Workshop – director Jo Bonney); Five Fingers of Funk (Children’s
Theatre Company – director Derrick Sanders); Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night
or What You Will (Bristol Riverside Theatre); Black Nativity (Goodman Theatre/
Congo Square); Conversations with Ice (Cosmic Theatre, Amsterdam); Soweto! Soweto!
(Freddie Hendricks); Top Dog/Underdog, King Hedley II, Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet,
Ferdinand the Bull (Alliance Theatre); Class of 3000 Live! (Alliance Theatre/Cartoon Network).
Victor Ertmanis
Third season: Oliver Martext in As You Like It and Paulina’s Steward in
The Winter’s Tale. Stratford: Last year Victor had a blast playing Whit in
Bartholomew Fair, Snout in Dream and the Soothsayer in Caesar. “What actor
wouldn’t love playing a blind, legless clairvoyant?” Elsewhere: Victor has
enjoyed a long stage career, working all over this continent and across the
pond. Goodness, by Michael Redhill (a genocide play with songs), found
great acclaim in Edinburgh and off-Broadway. Film/TV: When it comes to film and television,
Victor maintains that if you’re not looking for him he’s everywhere. Training: Victor is very
proud that all of his training has been on the job! Awards: He is also very proud of receiving
a Betty Mitchell Award for outstanding performance by an actor in a lead role as George
Simon in Counsellor-at-Law. Et cetera: Victor is now married! To Leslie Francombe! And has a
stepdaughter, Mady!
Xuan Fraser
Sixth season: Le Beau in As You Like It and Cleomenes in The Winter’s Tale.
Stratford: Titus Andronicus (Aaron), The Tempest (Caliban), Macbeth (Witch),
Romeo and Juliet (Benvolio), The Three Musketeers (Jussac), The Night of
the Iguana (Pedro), Juno and the Paycock, Oedipus Rex (Chorus), Julius
Caesar (Pindarus), The Alchemist, The Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Hamlet.
Elsewhere: Most recently, Oberon/Theseus (Shakespeare in Action and
CanStage); Thomas Matthews in Toronto the Good (Factory Theatre); Macbeth in Macbeth
(Workman Arts/Shakespeare in Action); Eddie in Touch the Sky and Walter Sisulu/Elder in
In the Freedom of Dreams: The Nelson Mandela Story (LKTYP); Cody in This Is How It Goes
(Neptune Theatre); Polixenes in The Winter’s Tale, Othello in Othello (Driftwood Theatre).
Other credits include Dubois in Counterfeit Secrets (Artword Theatre, Dora nomination). Et
cetera: “For my wife, Erica, and girls, Olivia and Myles, and son, Maxwell: with family, one’s
journey in life is always fantastical.”
Dean Gabourie
Seventh season: Assistant Artistic Director of the Stratford Shakespeare
Festival. Realizer of Do Not Go Gentle and director of The Two Gentlemen
of Verona. Stratford: Director: Bereav’d of Light. Assistant director: Twelfth
Night, All’s Well That Ends Well, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Coriolanus, Romeo and
Juliet, Macbeth. In July 2008, Mr. Gabourie was appointed Assistant Artistic
Director. Elsewhere: Dean has been creating challenging Canadian theatre
for the past two decades, as an Artistic Director, director, teacher and actor. Training:
Ryerson Theatre School. Awards: Ryerson Theatre School Chairman’s Award; founding
Artistic Director of the Dora Award-winning ACME Theatre Co. While working at Stratford,
Dean received the Tyrone Guthrie/Jean Gascon Award. Web Site: www.acmetheatreco.
com. Et cetera: Dean is a newly blessed uncle to Zoe and Cooper and lives with his fiancée,
award-winning photo illustrator Marcelle Faucher.
Verne Good
Stratford debut: Assistant sound designer of As You Like It, Kiss Me, Kate and
The Tempest. Elsewhere: Sound design: Tarragon Theatre’s Communion,
Groundwater Productions’ Epic of Gilgamesh, Theatre Awakening’s Buried
and In Darfur, Seventh Stage Productions’ The Red Queen Effect. Sound
and lighting design: Praxis Theatre’s Section 98. Touring production stage
manager, Wyrd Productions’ MacHomer. Lighting designer, Buddies in Bad
Times Hysteria festival 2009. Recipient of Theatre Ontario Professional Theatre Training
Program grant, under which she assisted Todd Charlton at the Blyth Festival (full season)
and at Stratford on Palmer Park. Training: Verne is a graduate of Bishop’s University and the
National Theatre School of Canada.
Debra Hanson
19th season: Scenic designer of As You Like It. Stratford: Head of design,
1990 to 1994. Elsewhere: San Diego and St. Louis opera companies, NAC,
Shaw Festival, CentreStage, MTC (resident designer), Theatre Plus, Toronto
Free, Banff Centre, Theatre Calgary, Theatre New Brunswick (resident
designer). She has taught at McGill, Queen’s and Bishop’s universities,
John Abbott College, Humber College and the University of Victoria. Film/
TV: Chloe, Casino Jack, Adoration, Away from Her, Outlander, Childstar, In God’s Country, I Was
a Rat, Verdict in Blood, A Killing Spring, Society’s Child, Love Come Down, What Katy Did, One
Heart Broken into Song, Cra$h & Burn. Awards: Pauline McGibbon Award (1984), Dora Award
for Translations, Dora nomination for Saint Joan, Genie nominations for New Waterford Girl and
The Gospel of John, Gemini nomination for Stormy Weather, Gemini Awards for Roxana (2007)
and Othello (2009).
Ian Harper
32nd season: Musician in As You Like It. Stratford: Ian has been playing in
the orchestra at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival since 1978. Elsewhere:
In addition to freelance work in both the jazz and classical fields, Ian
played in the original Toronto productions of Les Misérables, Crazy for You
and Chicago as well as playing for most of the other Mirvish productions,
including The Lion King and Lord of the Rings. He plays all of the woodwinds
as well as Uilleann pipes and Highland pipes in the Celtic bands Shaggy Haggis and
Beggar’s Road. Training: Ian studied jazz arranging and composition at Humber College in
the mid-’70s. Et cetera: Ian lives on a farm north of Owen Sound with his lovely wife, Donna-
Claire, and a menagerie of animals.
Alana Hawley
Third season: Dorcas in The Winter’s Tale and appears in As You Like It.
Stratford: Last seen as Grace Wellborn in Bartholomew Fair and Cobweb
in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2009) and the Princess of France in Love’s
Labour’s Lost (2008). Elsewhere: Zanda (The Clink), Flaminia (The Double
Inconstancy) (Studio Theatre); Flora (27 Wagons Full of Cotton) (University
of Alberta); Regan (King Lear), Kitty Packard (Dinner at Eight), Anna (Anna
Karenina), Third Witch (Macbeth) (Prince George Playhouse); and Ophelia (Hamlet) (Vanier
Hall). Musical theatre credits include Oliver! (Prince George Playhouse) and Grease (St.
Albert’s Children’s Theatre). Training: Alana is a graduate of the University of Alberta BFA
acting program. She has studied film and television with Tarlington Training and participated
in the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre. Awards: Jesse L. Richardson
Memorial Scholarship, British Columbia Arts Council Scholarship, B.C. Festival of Performing
Arts – First Place Senior Speech Arts.
Randy Hughson
Third season: Corin in As You Like It and Antigonus in The Winter’s Tale.
Stratford: Senex (A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum), Jordan
Knockem (Bartholomew Fair), Hortensio (The Taming of the Shrew), Second
Gravedigger (Hamlet), Interpreter (All’s Well That Ends Well). Elsewhere:
National tours of High Life, Earshot, Half Life and The Chet Baker Story. Major
roles at the Belfry Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre,
Canadian Stage Company, Neptune Theatre, Factory Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille,
Alberta Theatre Projects, Centaur Theatre, Blyth Festival, National Arts Centre, Soulpepper,
Tarragon Theatre and many others. Film/TV: Leading roles in films The Shoemaker, The
Feeler, Stolen Heart and Luck and extensive television credits. Awards: Nominated for 10
Dora Mavor Moores, three Edmonton Sterlings, one Calgary Betty Mitchell, three Vancouver
Jessies and one Gemini. Randy has won one of each award. Et cetera: “Love to my wife,
Melissa.”
Robin Hutton
Third season: Appears in As You Like It and understudy in Jacques
Brel Is Alive and Well and Living in Paris. Stratford: Irene in Hello, Dolly!,
Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof, Patience, The Three Musketeers. Elsewhere:
Guys and Dolls in Concert (NAC Orchestra); James Bond/ABBA in Concert
(Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra); Betty in White Christmas (Aquarius,
Neptune); Maria in The Sound of Music (Aquarius); Mamma Mia! (Royal Alex
and Vancouver); A Foggy Day, Lady Windermere’s Fan, Easy Virtue (Shaw); Little Me (Drayton);
Cinderella in Cinderella, Maid Marion in Robin Hood (Stirling); The Who’s Tommy (Germany);
Anne of Green Gables, Guys and Dolls (Charlottetown). Film/TV: Little Mosque on the Prairie
(CBC). Recordings: Featured on Stephen Patterson’s CD, Tonight at Eight. Training: Sheridan
College graduate, AISTD in Cecchetti ballet. Et cetera: Robin is a Newfoundlander who
resides in Stratford with her husband, Steve, and their sons, Hutton and Wesley.
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