Nadine Villasin -Artistic Director
Nadine
is the current Artistic Director of the Carlos Bulosan Theatre (CBT) and is responsible for transitioning the company from a community theatre group to a community-based professional theatre company. She co-wrote and performed in CBT’s Toronto production of Miss Orient(ed) (with Nina Lee Aquino) in 2003, as well as Teesri Duniya Theatre’s Montreal production in 2005, both of which played to sold-out audiences. Nadine developed (and sometimes performs in) Tales From the Flipside, CBT’s annual showcase of emerging Filipino-Canadian playwrights and theatre artists. Nadine is one of the co-founders of the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture located in Kensington Market and has been instrumental in initiating community events such as the Kultura Filipino Arts Festival, as well as this year’s Flipside Festival.
Renna Reddie - Associate Artistic Director
Renna is a producer, playwright and performer. Recent credits include: The Making of St. Jerome (eastBOUNDtheatre) A Taste of Empire (Cahoots) Killer Klowns (Lab Cab), Cyclops Squad (Clay & Paper Theatre), All I Ever Wanted (Harbourfront: HATCH), Associate Producer for Toronto Noir (SummerWorks/Cheeky Magpie). She worked with Guillermo Gomez-Pena and La Poch Nostra in Divino Corpo-Temple of Improbable and Invisible Causes at the MOCCA. She is also one half of the improv duo GirlParty, an avid stilt walker and a past performer of the 7a-11d Festival. Writing credits include Community Centre (Toronto Fringe) and Baby Yellow (CBT Play Creation Unit 08/09). Renna spends the winter as a trainer for the Canadian Improv Games, a national not for profit organization dedicated to the teachings of improvisation to high school students. She is the General Manager of The Sulong Collective and the TD Financial Young Producer for The Fringe of Toronto Theatre Festival.
Michelle Uy - General Manager
Michelle is General Manager of Carlos Bulosan Theatre and has been with the company since 2005. Michelle would like to express her gratitude for being involved in such a moving production, she’s learned a lot about her culture and herself throughout this whole process. When Michelle is not plugging numbers on her spreadsheet or running after funders, she teaches yoga at various locations around the city.
Marie Beath Badian - Play Creation Program Director
Born and raised in Toronto, Marie Beath is a performer, writer, dramaturge and director. She was Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Direct Canada for two seasons and spent five seasons with the Blyth Festival, including two seasons as the Young Company Director. She has also collaborated and worked with Nightwood Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Pea Green Theatre, Fu-Gen Theatre, The Paprika Festival and Theatre Revolve.
CBT Collective:
Leon Aureus is an actor and playwright. Select acting credits include: F.O.B. (Gum San Theatre); Novena (CBC Radio); Remember Lolo (MyBuhay); Singkil (fu-GEN Theatre Company – for which he received a Dora nomination for Best Performance: Male); and Yogyakarta (Absit Omen/Bell Tower Theatre Company). He is currently performing in Nightwood Theatre’s a nanking winter. His play, Banana Boys has enjoyed successful runs in Toronto (Factory Theatre), Ottawa (Magnetic North Festival - Arts Court) and Vancouver (Firehall Arts Centre) and will be next produced at the new Richmond Hill Centre for the Performing Arts in the autumn of 2008. Leon is also an aspiring filmmaker whose short film Friends Like These was nominated for Best Canadian Short at the ReelWorld Film Festival and he was the founding Artistic Director of the fu-GEN Asian-Canadian
Theatre Company.
Rose Cortez was last seen as Norma in the play Singkil at the Factory Studio Theatre. She is very proud to be nominated at the Dora Awards for an Outstanding Female Performance of Norma. Rose is also a graduate at York University with her past credits including: Julia and Mrs. Boreman for Three Birds Alighting on a Field, Moth for Love’s Labour’s Lost, and Lotte and Barky for Not Wanted on the Voyage. As a young performer, Rose would like to thank Nadine, Nicco, Leon and Christine and without their help she wouldn’t have the guts to deeply explore her Filipino culture. Rose also wants to thank her parents, brothers, Mike and Tawiah for always supporting her acting career. She dedicates her work to her late Lola Juanita.
This is Nicco Lorenzo Garcia's first stint as a playwright and collaborative creator and being part of the CBT Collective has been a great learning experience for him. He hopes to better enrich the exploration of his cultural heritage and art through continued work with the collective.
His past work with the Carlos Bulosan Theatre include: The Romance of Magno Rubio; Dust; Tales from the Flipside 2005-2008; People Power (Collective Creator/Playwright/Ensemble)
Other credits include Hana’s Suitcase (Grande Theatre); Andrew’s Tree & Beneath the Banyan Tree (Theatre Direct); Ice…beyond cool & Fire…where there’s smoke (DanceArts Vancouver); Owning Mahowny (Alliance Atlantis); Street Time (Showtime TV); Mayday (Discovery); DeGrassi TNG (Epitome) and Ang Pamana: The Inheritance (Digital Sweatshop).
Christine Mangosing was last seen in the Summerworks workshop production of People Power. A graphic/web designer by profession, Christine’s foray into the world of theatre began with Nadine’s invitation to become a member of the CBT Collective in 2006. This past March she premiered her short play Claim Your Baggage at CBT's Tales From the Flipside, in which she has also perfomed for the last 2 years. Christine is also a board member and the art director of Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts + Culture.
Nadine Villasin is the current Artistic Director of the Carlos Bulosan Theatre (CBT) and is responsible for transitioning the company from a community theatre group to a community-based professional theatre company. She co-wrote and performed in CBT’s Toronto production of Miss Orient(ed) (with Nina Lee Aquino) in 2003, as well as Teesri Duniya Theatre’s Montreal production in 2005, both of which played to sold-out audiences. Nadine developed (and sometimes performs in) Tales From the Flipside, CBT’s annual showcase of emerging Filipino-Canadian playwrights and theatre artists. Recent roles include Mimi in Singkil (Fu-Gen Theatre Company) on stage, and Anna in Ang Pamana: The Inheritance (Digital Sweatshop Inc.) in film. Nadine is one of the co-founders of the Kapisanan Philippine Centre for Arts & Culture located in Kensington Market and has been instrumental in initiating community events such as the Kultura Filipino Arts Festival, as well as this year’s
Flipside Festival.
CBT Artists:
Leonard Cervantes - Poet-in-Residence
Leonard has been writing poetry since high school when they were bad rap lyrics. Luckily, his writing has gotten better. Much better, to the effect that he has performed his poetry on television (FLIP! on Omni2), on stage at various local poetry events and most recently, in the studio - where he is currently recording with Minerva Records. Len has conducted poetry workshops for CBT and hosts a poetry event at Kapisanan called P.S.L. - Poetry is our Second Language. His work travels from nostalgia to now, bleeds aggression and promotes progression, both oozing honey and spitting venom along the way. In reality, Len writes poetry to better understand himself - and he feels fortunate that folks are willing to join the ride.
Karen Ancheta - Associate Artist
Karen has been a professional actor since 1995.
Her directing credits include: Round and White at L’espirit de L’escalier (Step 5) and with Tales From The Flipside 2007/08. She is thankful and happy to be learning from the CBT Collective and is looking forward to being mentored, this spring as assistant director for CBT’s People Power. Karen’s selected acting credits include: Lady Capulet/Apothecary in Romeo and Juliet (Forward Theatre); Maria in Singkil (fu-GEN Theatre); Parkette in Parkette (Rhubarb); Thiasa in Pericles, Taming of the Shrew and Loves Labours Lost (Stratford Festival); Choon-yi in Ghost Train (Young Peoples Theatre); Sadako in One Thousand Cranes (national and regional tours).
Karen is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School and a recipient of the Robert Christie Award.
Sulong Theatre Collective - Playwrights-in-Residence
"Sulong" means "battle cry" in Tagalog. For the Sulong Theatre Collective, their battle cry is in the form of multidisciplinary experiences that shout, wail and scream on behalf of brown women everywhere. The collective’s powerful inaugural multi-disciplinary work, Future Folk, uses the vocabulary of Filipino folk arts to tell the story of Filipina nannies in Toronto and their labour under Canada’s notorious Live-In Caregiver Program.
Photo: Alex Felipe
Vince Galvez // Secretary
Marilou Cruz
Rina Espiritu
Regina Simon
Outreach and Fundraising Committee:
Karen Kay Santos
Regina Simon
Karen Ancheta
Rina Espiritu
Renna Reddie
Rose Cortez
Nessa Trenton