The Players
ARC’s company members provide artistic direction and are featured performers in all of our shows. The current members are:
Gordon Bolan was Artistic Producer of ARC from 2002 to 2008. During that time ARC produced award winning and highly acclaimed productions including Family Stories: Belgrade, 36 Views, Other Places, and The City. Recent acting credits include Chekhov for Two, which was part of the Slavije Festival in Belgrade, Serbia and the By The Sea Festival in Bourgas, Bulgaria. Other theatre credits include Doubt (Sudbury Theatre Centre), How It Works(Theatre Northwest), Dogbarked (TNW), ARC’s production of 36 Views (Berkeley Theatre). He has worked as an actor and musician with Kitchen Band Productions, most notably in the Fringe hit Reesor, Pelee (2008 Summerworks Festival), Petrichor, and Boblo. Film and TV credits include Conspiracy Theory Project, The Sentinel, The Man, and Tilt. Gordon also plays in the band ‘Local 164′.
Deborah Drakeford has been involved with Actors’ Repertory Company since 2004 and has been a part of their reading series and performed in their Summerworks hit Other Places – A Kind of Alaska in 2006 as well as The City last spring. Deb’s stage work includes classics from Shakespeare to Chekhov, new Canadian works by the likes of Adam Pettle, Paula Wing and Emil Sher and all sorts of American and British plays. She has been lucky enough to perform all across the country. Recent credits include: A Christmas Carol and Waiting For The Parade (Soulpepper Theatre), The Dining Room (Down ‘n Out Productions), Sleeping Beauty (Sudbury Theatre Centre) and Pobby and Dingan (LKTYP). Other favourites: Rabbit Hole (Sudbury Theatre Centre), The Laramie Project (Studio 180), Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Grand Theatre, London), Same Time, Next Year (Port Colborne), Dial M for Murder (Drayton Entertainment), Number One and Jamie (LKTYP), Skylight (Persephone), and Zadie’s Shoes (Mirvish Prod.). She can be seen and heard on various radio, tv and film projects. Deb is now also the proud owner of a B Ed.
John Fitzgerald Jay has been a member of The Royal National Theatre Company in the UK, has worked across Canada, in Europe, and in empty shop fronts in PittsburghFor ARC: 36 Views and the upcoming Out at Sea . Co- Founder of 404 Strand Theatre Co in Pittsburgh. Work there includes Faustus, Museum of Desire, in collaboration with Quantum Theatre The Collected Works of Billy The Kid, Dogface. . In the Autumn John will appear in I send You This Cadmium Red, with The Art of Time Ensemble at Canstage. John has curated and produced two large scale Nuit Blanche events in Toronto, and is the creator and co-owner of The Cobourg Bar in Cabbagetown.
Ryan Hollyman is an actor born and based in Toronto, although he began his career in Montreal as a graduate of Concordia University’s performance program and as a member of the Montreal Young Company. He is currently a member of the Actors Repertory Company , a Les Masques and TFC award winner and a three-time Dora Mavor Moore award nominee. RECENT THEATRE: Andromache (Necessary Angel/Luminato);Our Class (Studio 180/Canadian Stage)The Mill parts 1,2,3 and 4 (theatrefront/Young Centre);Fernando Krapp Wrote Me This Letter, The Overcoat (Canadian Stage); Mojo ( Red One); Scratch (Factory Theatre); A Good Idea, Sparta, Rochdale Project (Theatre Passe Muraille); Blue Orange, A Moon For The Misbegotten, The Winters Tale (Centaur Theatre). RECENT TV/FILM: Republic of Doyle, Othello, Unlocked, The Border (CBC); Flashpoint ,The Robber Bride (CTV/CBS); King, Degrassi, The Dealership (Global/Showcase); 3 Mothers (BlindDog). Upcoming: Fair Play (Theatre Collingwood) and the feature film The Shape Of Rex (LCP)
Emma Mackenzie Hillier is a Toronto stage manager, assistant director and occasional actor. Her most recent stage management credits include: The Godot Cycle (ASM, Fringe 2011), Shotgun Wedding (Carlos Bulosan Theatre), The Kreutzer Sonata (Art of Time/Prairie Ocean). Her most recent acting credits include: The Grace Project: SICK! (Dora Nomination: Best Ensemble), Luck (ECT), and upcoming Strange Mary Strange (SummerWorks 2011). When not in the rehearsal hall Emma is happy to spend her time at STAF working as their grant writer.
Sam Malkin recently played Randall Wellington and Leon Labas in the highly acclaimed Eternal Hydra. He played in Blyth as George in Pearl Gidley and Gerry in Killing Snow. As a member of ARC he has played Evans in The Sea, and The Driver in Victoria Station and will be taking on the role of Thin Man in ARC’s 2011 SummerWorks production of Out at Sea. He performed Wiff in Of the Field’s Lately and various roles in The Tempest, Of Mice and Men, Spring Awakening, Forty Deuce, Duddy, Moby Dick, and Jitters. Film/TV credits include Where the Spirit Lives, Passion in Paradise, Due South, Dracula, Videodrome, and An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving.
Born and raised in Toronto, Brendan McMurtry-Howlett has performed as an actor throughout the East Coast, Quebec, Ontario, and New York. Theatre: The one-person show …and stockings for the ladies (Gesumtkunstwerk Project); Geoffrey in The Overwhelming (CanStage/ Studio 180), Nicholas in Sia (Pyretic Productions); Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Classical Theatre Project); Percy Shelley in The Apology (NextStage, Dora Nomination); Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Rose Theatre); and Josh in Guns & Roses (Original Norwegian). Brendan directed and co-wrote Honey in the Lion’s Head that premiered at the Edmonton Fringe. Film/TV: Degrassi: The Next Generation (CTV); Nikita (Fox); Valemont (MTV). Brendan is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.
Janet Porter has been a member of ARC since she graduated George Brown Theatre School in 2001, and is thrilled to have recently taken on the role of Artistic Producer. She has also taken on another role as producer of ARC’s 2011 SummerWorks production of Out at Sea. Credits with ARC include: The City, Family Stories: Belgrade, The Sea and many staged readings. Other stage credits include: The Last Days of Judas Iscariot and Assassins (Birdland Theatre), Orson’s Shadow (Pilot Group), The Swearing Jar (6am Tango/Toronto Fringe 2008), Metamorphoses and Mary’s Wedding (Theatre and Company), Amadeus and Communicating Doors (Magnus Theatre), How the Other Half Loves (Sunshine Festival), Hockey Mom, Hockey Dad (Showboat Festival), Love’s Labour’s Lost and Macbeth (Driftwood). Film/TV credits include: Degrassi: The Next Generation (CTV), Who is Clark Rockefeller? (Lifetime/Sony), Rookie Blue (Showcase), Murdoch Mysteries (City TV), Sunday’s at Tiffany’s (Lifetime).
Andre Sills Is pleased to be making his debut with ARC’s production of Out at Sea with SummerWorks . Other theatre credits include Kim’s Convenience with The Toronto Fringe, Window on Toronto with Soulpepper, Ruined with Obsidian Theatre, Richard III with Hart House Theatre (Best Actor Nomination Broadwayworld.com), Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with Theatre By The Bay, The Nile with the Toronto Fringe, A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream with Shakespeare In Action, The Overwhelming with Studio 180 and The Canadian Stage Company, Othello and Radio Golf with the St. Louis Black Rep, Much Ado About Nothing with The Canadian Stage Company. He has also spent four seasons at the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada and also did the Birmingham Conservatory under David Latham. Andre is a graduate of the George Brown Theatre School.
Bahareh Yaraghi is a Toronto based actress with a genuine fascination for the human experience since childhood. She is a 2010 honours graduate of Humber Theatre School, a graduate of Vancouver Film School, and McGill University where she studied Anthropology and French. Theatre credits include: Marina in Prisoner of Tehran (Theatre Passe-Muraille/ Contrary Company), Atiyah in Hallaj (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre/ RHCentre/ IMPACT Festival/ Modern Times Stage Company), Solo performer in the Dora-nominated show Homeland (Vancouver Fringe/ Small World Music Festival/ Godot Art Productions), Juliet in Romeo & Juliet (Shakespeare in Action), Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream(SIA), Orinthia in An Ordinary Wonder (Next Stage Theatre Company). Film/TV credits: Covert Affairs(USA); Instant Star (CTV). Bahareh is honoured to be a part of ARC’s wonderful ensemble andcontinues her search for universal stories by studying various cultures and bringing unheard voices onto the stage. Bahareh was recently nominated for the 2011 Stage West Equity Emerging Theatre Artist Award in Toronto.
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