Production Bios & Headshots

Daniel Gilmour

"STAGE MANAGER"

Daniel Gilmour is back onstage for a sixth appearance with Merlyn Productions, reprising his May 2015 role as a “Stage Manager” who plays ALL the male characters in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”!

Most recently, he was seen as Hero in the October 2015 run of “Sleeping Beauty”. Previous appearances from 2014 include Tweedledum in “Through the Looking-Glass”, Ugolin the Ogre in “Puss in Boots” at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival, and Tolkachov in “A Tragedian in Spite of Himself” for ChekhovFest.

On stage, he has appeared in three other Master Playwright Festival productions: “And Then There Were None” with Winnipeg Mennonite Theatre (ChristieFest 2017), “Arcadia” with Theatre Incarnate (StoppardFest 2007), and “Sexual Perversity in Chicago” with Theatre Anywhere (MametFest 2008). He was also a regular member of the Black Hole Theatre Company during university.

On the film & television scene, Daniel enjoyed spending Summer 2015 filming on “Millworth”.

Offstage, Daniel is an Early Childhood Educator and looks after chases a gaggle of toddlers all day. He is an avid board game player, possibly-too-obsessive sports fan, wannabe Karaoke star, and “all-around nerdy guy”.

Daniel thanks his friends and family for all the support.

Heather Forgie

QUEEN

Heather Forgie became the Property Mistress at Merlyn Productions in 2014. This production marks her third run as the wicked Queen in “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”, and eighth onstage appearance with the company. Most recently, she was seen as the Fisherman's Wife in the revived 2015/2016 runs of “The World of The Brothers Grimm”, and as the Red Queen in “Through the Looking Glass (And What Alice Found There)” in December 2014.

Heather stage managed for the first time while working on “The Anniversary” for ChekhovFest 2014, and made three appearances with Merlyn Productions 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 the Artistic Director of fellow local theatre company R-G Productions.

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!

Cora Fast

SNOW WHITE

Cora Fast is making her third appearance with Merlyn Productions. She was previously seen as Princess Aurora in the 2015 production of “Sleeping Beauty”, and as Princess Genevieve in “Puss in Boots” at the 2014 Winnipeg Fringe Festival.

Recently, Cora helped to establish a small theatre company based in Steinbach and was one of three cast members performing “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged” in the 2016 Winnipeg Fringe Festival. She also returned to Providence as an alumna this year to play the role of Snoopy in “You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown”.

Cora is a graduate of Providence University College with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Theatre, and was also a finalist in the 2012 MAP Scirocco Drama Manitoba Highschool Playwriting Competition. She is an experienced improviser, and has also studied some physical theatre.

On screen, Cora has taken on a number of roles in student films at the University of Winnipeg and done some work as an extra with larger casting companies in Winnipeg. One of her favourite roles remains that of a girl-gamer in the pilot episode of a mini-series mockumentary, “Into the League”.

Offstage, Cora is a waitress/bartender, and on occasion a nanny as well. She enjoys reading, singing, and virtually any sort of brain-teaser or puzzle that you can throw at her.

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 has worked on more than 120 local productions to date.

John is a veteran of theatre for young audiences, having produced classic children's titles for the past eight years, and worked extensively in children's theatre with Fantasy Theatre for Children 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 a full season of plays locally 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 Snow White's “Stage Manager” himself on this very stage in 1997, John is delighted that this unique adaptation of the classic fairy tale continues to entertain new generations of children at the Forrest Nickerson Theatre!

Hope Figueroa

STAGE MANAGER

Hope Figueroa is stage managing for the first time with Merlyn Productions.

Onstage she has appeared in three productions with the company — most recently as Natalia Stepanovna in “A Marriage Proposal” at Gimli Summer Theatre in 2015, and also in “Ming Lee and The Magic Tree” at the 2013 Winnipeg Fringe Festival and “Wind of a Thousand Tales” in 2012.

Hope's life has been and continues to be shaped by the performing arts. She is involved with several local theatre companies, was a member of her university's improv troupe, and has worked at Six Pines Haunted Attractions: entertaining children and terrifying adults. Hope has also served as an alumna coach of the Canadian Improv Games, and occasional director.

In 2016, Hope became a graduate of the University of Winnipeg's Theatre and Film program and the Faculty of Education. She is currently employed as a teacher, with a focus in Drama and english.

“Thank you for supporting local theatre and emerging artists; we appreciate you! Enjoy the show!”

Darryl Audette

TECHNICAL DIRECTOR / LIGHTING DESIGNER

Darryl Audette joined Merlyn Productions as its 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 Center Scholarship in Theatre Production, and a three-time recipient of the Royal MTC Design Apprenticeship since 2014. He is also known in the world of miniature art for creating some of the finest award-winning box dioramas in North America; his work can be seen online at BOXDIORAMAS.COM and DARRYLAUDETTE.COM.

Kaitlin Klassen

WARDROBE MISTRESS / SEAMSTRESS

Kaitlin Klassen became the Wardrobe Mistress at Merlyn Productions in December 2015, after joining the company as Apprentice Costume Designer for “Sleeping Beauty” in October of that year.

Since then, she has continued costuming the company's various plays, including “And Then There Was One” (ChristieFest 2017), “Ernie's Incredible Illucinations” (AyckbournFest 2016), and the revived 2015/2016 production runs of “The World of The Brothers Grimm”.

Kaitlin has been sewing and designing garments since age fourteen. Inspired by the fantastical creations in the Star Wars films, she soon moved onto historical costuming and became an expert in period fashions.

She has read the entire Brothers Grimm collection cover to cover, and enjoys fairy tales and fantasy just as much as science fiction. Kaitlin currently works as a seamstress in Winnipeg.