Production Bios & Headshots

Daniel Gilmour

"STAGE MANAGER"

Daniel Gilmour is excited to be back onstage in his fourth appearance with Merlyn Productions, and has always had a great experience!

Daniel most recently appeared as Tweedledum in “Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There)” in December. His other credits include Ugolin the Ogre in the 2014 Winnipeg Fringe Festival hit “Puss in Boots”, and Tolkachov in “A Tragedian in Spite of Himself” for ChekhovFest 2014.

ChekhovFest marked Daniel's return to the stage after a several-year hiatus. He appeared in two previous Master Playwright Festival productions: “Arcadia” with Theatre Incarnate in StoppardFest 2007, and “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” with Theatre Anywhere in MametFest 2008. He was also a regular with the Black Hole Theatre Company, both onstage and backstage, for several years.

Away from the theatre, Daniel is an Early Childhood Educator and looks after a gaggle of toddlers. He is an avid board game player, a maybe-too-obsessive sports fan, and wannabe Karaoke star.

Daniel thanks his family and friends for their love and support.

Heather Forgie

QUEEN

Heather Forgie became the Property Mistress at Merlyn Productions in 2014. Onstage she is moving from queen to queen: reprising her role as the Queen in “Snow White”, while having most recently appeared as Red Queen in “Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There)” in December!

Heather stage managed for the first time while working on “The Anniversary” for ChekhovFest 2014, and made three appearances with the company during the prior two seasons in “Ming Lee and the Magic Tree”, “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and “Wind of a Thousand Tales”.

In addition to being an actress, Heather is a playwright, and occasional director. Recently, she became the artistic director of fellow local theatre company R-G Productions, which is staging a drama & comedy double-feature with Merlyn Productions at Gimli Summer Theatre in August.

Heather is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg's theatre and dramatic arts program, and is currently employed as a high school Drama and English teacher.

Having once upon a time taken a few years off from the acting scene to have children and establish herself as a teacher, Heather is now back full-force. She looks forward to many further creative endeavours with the company!

Claire Boothe

SNOW WHITE

Claire Boothe is appearing for the first time with Merlyn Productions, and is excited to be making her community theatre début in the role of Snow White, since being a princess (in a role and in reality) has always been her dream!

Claire has loved acting ever since her grade 6 Christmas Concert performance as Mrs Claus in “Broadway Santa”. Since then, she has made various appearances in school and university productions, ranging from a chorus member in “Oliver Twist”, to the White Rabbit in “Alice in Wonderland”, and Evelyn in “The Shape of Things”.

Currently, Claire is pursuing an acting major in the Theatre department of the University of Winnipeg. In past years, she studied theatre through Manitoba Theatre for Young People and the Camp Arnes Drama Program, while also studying singing and various art skills on the side.

Although acting is her main focus, Claire also runs her own photography business: Claire Boothe Photography.

John Chase

DIRECTOR

John Chase is the Artistic Director of Merlyn Productions Theatre Company, and an acting instructor at the Winnipeg Theatre School. As a Winnipeg actor, director, producer and stage manager, he marked his 100th local production with “Wind of a Thousand Tales” in 2012.

John is a veteran of theatre for young audiences, having produced classic children's titles for the past six years – including multiple Kids Fringe best-sellers – and worked extensively in children's theatre with Fantasy Theatre for Children, both on and behind the FTC mainstage for twenty seasons (1991 – 2011). He directed multiple shows for G.D. Productions (FTC's adult arm), and is an alumnus of The Theatre School, where he obtained five years of formal training under Tony Frost in the 1990s.

John founded Merlyn Productions after his Co-Artistic Director at C.G. Productions departed Winnipeg in 2000, and has produced full seasons of plays at local venues and festivals each year since 2009. As one half of the critically-acclaimed Chase & Hamill act, John is also known for portraying quintessential straight man Bud Abbott of Abbott & Costello fame, alongside Kevin Hamill (Lou Costello).

Having performed the role of the “Stage Manager” on this very stage himself in 1997, John is delighted to be bringing this unique 3-performer adaptation of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” back to the Forrest Nickerson Theatre!

David King

STAGE MANAGER

David King is stage managing his sixth show at Merlyn Productions, and has made five previous onstage appearances with the company.

David last stage managed “Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There)” in December, and was the Production Stage Manager for the 2013 run of “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”. He was most recently seen onstage at the 2013 Winnipeg Fringe Festival, playing the Property Man in “Ming Lee and The Magic Tree” at the Kids Venue.

For more than twenty years, David has been involved in both amateur and professional theatre, and has worn many hats, including acting, set construction, and stage management, with theatre companies in Toronto, Ontario and Cornwall, Ontario, as well as Wichita, Kansas.

On the film and television scene, David has been involved in several films and commercials shot locally in Winnipeg, and recently worked as a background performer on the new television series “The Pinkertons”.

Darryl Audette

LIGHTING DESIGNER

Darryl Audette joined Merlyn Productions as its new Technical Director in March 2015. His primary interests are in the technical and design aspects of the theatrical space in all its forms.

While Darryl has always been involved in all things artistic, it was in the theatre that he found an outlet for his creative ideas and energy. He initially joined FTC as its Technical Director, Stage Manager, props builder, and eventually, set and lighting designer, and then moved on to props building at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, with additional technical direction, stage management and design credits at K.P. Productions, Townhouse 9 Productions, Stage West Dinner Theatre, and the Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

Darryl's love of the stage never left him, and after an extended hiatus to pursue other interests and occupation, he has recently returned as a professional model builder and a student in Design at the University of Winnipeg Faculty of Theatre and Film. In 2013, he designed and lit a Winnipeg Fringe Festival production of “Raising Roger” that brought the audience into a period Kensington Market book store, in addition to other independent local productions.

Darryl is a past recipient of the Banff Centre Scholarship in Theatre Production, and the newest recipient of the Royal MTC Design Apprenticeship, working on “Sherlock Holmes and the Case of The Jersey Lily” in 2014. He is also known in the world of miniature art for creating some of the finest award-winning box dioramas in North America, and his work can be seen online at BOXDIORAMAS.COM.