GIVE IT UP BIOS

DM St. Bernard (Playwright) is an emcee, playwright and arts administrator. She is a creator whose mediums of expression are the voice, the pen and the body.  Works for the stage include Salome’s Clothes, Cake, The First Stone and Gas Girls which received A Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, Herman Voaden Playwriting Award, Enbridge PlayRites Award and Governor General’s Literary Award nomination.   DM is the General Manager of Native Earth Performing Arts and Artistic Director of New Harlem Productions.

Clare Preuss (Director) returns to New Harlem productions after directingCake for the Festival of International Theatre, Mayworks, Springworks and the Bayimba International Arts Festival where she also worked with Dynamo Theatre.  As a multidisciplinary theatre artist, she has collaborated with theatres across Canada including: Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland, The Blyth Festival, Buddies in Bad Times, Cahoots, Carlos Bulosan, Factory, fu-GEN Asian Canadian Theatre,Young People’s Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, Nightwood, Te-Amim Music Theatre, Theatre Direct Canada and Union Eight Theatre among others. Clare is the Artistic Director of Union Eight Theatre.  Recent credits include movement director of Macbeth for Driftwood Theatre and assistant director of Oil and Water for Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland.

Pamela Gilmartin (Musician) grew up in the Connecticut/New York City area. Winning music composition awards starting at age 14 she eagerly pursued music and attended the acclaimed The Center For Creative Youth in 1983 held every summer at Connecticut’s Prestigious Wesleyan University. She earned Bachelor degrees in both Music and Communications from Western Connecticut State University 1991'. In 1994 Sans Cherubs was formed: a double female fronted/five piece original band from Connecticut. Showcasing Gilmartins voice and music the band went on to secure BEST regional folk/rock band awards running years in a row. Sans Cherubs released a full length CD Where's Marion in 1997 with great success and reviews:

Gilmartin`s voice is angelic, but her lyrical subjects are often serious and slightly sad. The conflict between the beauty of her voice and the sadness of her lyrics makes for great music.

-Jeff Belanger.....Where's Marion album review.

By 2004 Pamela had fallen in love with a Canadian and moved herself and her musical career to Toronto where she spent years hosting a very successful open stage providing opportunity to up and coming song writers. Eventually she helped in the creation of a very successful 7 piece all acoustic 1980's cover band called The Mcflies who, among other great opportunities, enjoyed an appearance on CityTV's Breakfast Morning TV.

Pamela currently is in the studio working on recently written original songs with a new collection of musicians and is very excited about her current affiliation with New Harlem Productions.

Pamela and Donna Michelle St. Bernard have worked creatively since 2005.

nisha ahuja (Actor - Yolanda) actor, writer, and educator, has performed and created classical, contemporary, and original work in Canada, the Netherlands, and India. Recently she was an actor with National Arts Centre’s Resident Acting Company, toured her one-woman show Yoga Cannibal (Director Yvette Nolan, developed at Buddies), and will be published in Playwright Canada Press’ anthology Refractions: Solo. nisha is currently a member of Cahoots’ Playwright Unit. Some Collaborations include Native Earth, Buddies in Bad Times, CanStage Factory Theatre, Theatre Direct, Concerned for Working Children/Common Plants (Karnataka, India), National Centre for Inclusion (Mumbai, India), Carousel Players, Caravan Tallship Theatre, Diaspora Dialogues, Children’s Peace Theatre, Magnectic Lab (NYC/Toronto), and Summerworks Festival. nisha graduated from York University Theatre’s Creative Ensemble, minoring in International Development. www.nishaahuja.com 

Virgilia Griffith (Actor - Adanma) is a graduate from the acting program at Ryerson Theatre School.  Throughout her training, Virgilia has explored storytelling, directing, singing, writing and creation as a whole. Recent credits include:  The Innocents (Tango Co. and The Innocents Collective) ,4our Women( Obisdian Theatre Company - The Development Series)  Mrs. Muller in Doubt( The Village Playhouse) .Strange Things Done (The Empty Room);Floating (written and performed by Virgilia Griffith), Combat (Summerworks Festival); Mariner (Risk the Void); Under Milk Wood (The Empty Room); The Woods, The Breeding of Guns (New Voices),Sleep Country (Rock Paper Sistahz Festival); The Hairy Bird (bcurrent directing project) and Richard III, Crimes of the Heart, School for Scandal, Unity 1918, Attempts on her Life (RTS).  Directing credits: “I” written by Cassandra Walker and Ways to Say Goodbye written by Emily Nixon. Upcoming: With(out), (LastName FirstName Productions-Fringe Festival)

Christian Feliciano (Actor - Saad) is a Toronto born actor, singer, fight director and actor-combatant, Christian received what can only be described as the best education experience of his life at Humber College, graduating with an advanced diploma in the Theatre Performance program under the direction of Diana Belshaw. In his short career, Christian has been fortunate enough to be able to travel all over the world including Germany, France, Spain, Portugal, the U.K and Israel and all around the USA. Past film/tv credits include: Man With Knife in Reach (Ring Out Media); Michael Castro in Dual Suspects (Cineflix); Edwardo Sanchez in Urban Legends (Cineflix); Contestant on Date My Playlist (MTV Canada); Cuquid in The Rise of a Pride (Young Aria Inc.); and, Vic in Spoiled in Suburbia (Young Aria Inc.) Selected theatre credits include: Raven, Raven Stole the Sun (Red Sky Performance); Fili, The Hobbit (The Grand Theatre); Laertes, Hamlet (Forward Theatre); Mike Chao, Banana Boys (Fu-Gen); The Ram, Les Moutons (CORPUS);Capitan Kato, The Flock of Flyers (CORPUS); The Mock Turtle, Alice in Wonderland (Stage West); Romeo, Romeo and Juliet (Forward Theatre); Tootles, Peter Pan (Stage West); Macduff, Macbeth (Forward Theatre); Mercury, R+J: Brampton (A.C.T), Maupin Fighter/Martial Artist, Duel of Ages (TrueEdge Productions); Osric, Hamlet (Hart House Theatre); Gregory and Balthasar, Romeo and Juliet (A.C.T); Don Antonio, The Rover (Humber Theatre); Lampwick, The Alchemy of Wood (Humber Theatre); The Narrator/Bob the Saw, Threepenny Opera (Humber Theatre). Fight Directing credits include: Hamlet, Treasure Island, Macbeth, The Rise of a Pride, The Making of St. Jerome, among many more.