ESCAPED ALONE
Tanja Dixon-Warren, Anna Hagan, Eileen Barrett, Jenn Griffin
Photo by Javier Sotres
Head Hog of Fundraising!
President
Donnie MacDonald is a designated Chartered Professional Accountant and a Fellow of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (FCA, FCMA). She was the Vice-President of Finance with Westminster Savings Credit Union until retiring in July 2015. Currently she is a member of the AGLG Audit Council. Active in the community, she is currently Chair of the North Shore Crisis Services Society and is as a board member and Chair of Western Gold Theatre. In addition to her community work Donnie also enjoys travelling and hiking which has taken her to many interesting parts of the world. When at home she can be found enjoying live theatre (has been a loyal fan for over 30 years) and having fun with her friends and fellow book club and hiking group enthusiasts.
Director
Director
Info coming soon
Director
She currently sits on the board of Green Thumb Theatre . She has also served on a number of other boards over the past 20 years including those of the Unitarian Church of Vancouver, the Universal Gospel Choir and the Canadian Public Relations Society.
Kathryn sings in a 50-voice auditioned choir. She acts as the choir’s producer for up to three concerts each year. She also manages the choir’s social media presence and runs the online ticketing and box office for concerts.
She has a life-long interest in theatre as student and performer in the distant past, producer for a couple of shows, and enthusiastic audience member. She also has family connections to the theatre through her husband Stephen (actor) and daughter Rachel (actor, playwright, associate artistic director at Green Thumb).
Literary Manager
Seamus Fera is an emerging Vancouver-based director, writer and actor who holds a BFA in performance from UBC. He has worked with various theatre companies in Vancouver including Arts Club Theatre, Boca Del Lupo, The Only Animal, Promethean Theatre and United Players. He was also a member of the first two inaugural years of Bard on the Beach’s Riotous Youth Apprenticeship.
Seamus also works as an Artist-in-Residence at Killarney Secondary and is on faculty at The Anvil Centre, Arts Umbrella and Place des Arts. He is the director of the Coquitlam Youth Theatre which tours to various elementary and middle schools throughout the district, bringing live theatre to over three thousand youths each year. He has also helped design Axis Theatre’s YOUNGPlays competition.
His adaptations Gale: The Yellow Bricks of Oz and Alice: A Wonderland have been performed by various highschool theatre troupes and youth theatre programs in Metro Vancouver, and his play The Wives has been workshopped by various theatre groups, including at UBC and with Frolicking Diva’s SUP Series. Seamus is a proud member of the Jessie Richardson Award Society board and serves as the chair of the events committee.
Follow Seamus on instagram @shakespearehipster and e-mail play submissions to literay@westerngoldtheatre.org
Creative Marketing Manager
Director
Anna’s long and accomplished career was honoured with the 2013 Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Outstanding Career Achievement. In 2014 she was honoured to be Woman of the Year by UBCP/ACTRA. She was an associate director of the Arena Theatre Company, a professional repertory company, where she directed and acted – among other plays: Waiting for Godot, The Merry Wives of Windsor, She Stoops to Conquer, and Hay Fever. She served as assistant director of the Stratford Festival’s Young Company and was mentored by the internationally renowned director Robin Phillips, Anna then went on to be one of three Canadians invited to participate in the International Directors Seminar in London, England.Her extensive acting credits include The Music Man, Our Town, A Man for All Seasons, – the acclaimed World Theatre 2000 production of The Mill on the Floss (Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto). Vancouver audiences will have seen her in A Delicate Balance, Old Goriot, Half Life, Home Child, Three Tall Women, The Dining Room, Homeward Bound, Red Birds & Escaped Alone. Anna was the Artistic Director of Western Gold Theatre, for a total of 12 years. She now serves on the Board of Directors.
Secretary
Diana has been a working singer and director in many years. She’s performed with United Players, Vagabond Players, The Metro, Dragon Diva Opera Company, Applause ! Musicals, North Shore Light Opera , The Shakespeare Center, PALS Chorus, and TUTS, as well as in numerous coffee houses and other dives. Back in the dawn of time, she worked with cuneiform and abacus as a computer programmer. Her proudest achievement was to usher two splendid young women into the world without messing it up too badly. She is very fond of dogs, cats, frogs, reading, swimming, single malt whisky, and travel, and persists against all odds in the attempt to learn French.
Diana firmly believes that the arts in general, and theatre in particular, are essential to humanity, noting that our most ancient ancestors, scraping a precarious existing from a harsh world, still made time for art – cave paintings, music, storytelling. They could not do otherwise. Without art, we have no hope of reaching out of our individual isolation to form community, and humans cannot survive long without community.
Treasurer
Louise has enjoyed a 38 year career in the Finance Department of a local Credit Union, retiring as the Vice President, Finance.
Volunteering has been a big part of Louise’s life, spending numerous hours volunteering with her children’s various sports teams and schools, church and a domestic abuse services organization. Served six years as a Board of Director for The North Shore Crisis Services Society, including holding the office of Treasurer.
Louise enjoys theatre from a seat in the audience and is thrilled to be on the Board of Western Gold Theatre and appreciates the love and dedication of all those attached to theatre.
Vice President
Bonnie is a retired executive from the Federal Public Service who is currently active on several Community Not For Profit Boards, including: the West End Community Centre; The Opera Club; and Western Gold Theatre (WGT). She participates as the Community Representative on three Medical Research Ethics Boards: Providence Health Care; Coastal Health; and Fraser Health.
She assists WGT with Volunteer Co-ordination and Donor Participation/p>
Casting
Stephanie was the Artist Liaison at the Arts Club Theatre Company for 25 years and facilitated the casting of hundreds of artists since 1998. Previous positions at the Arts Club include Campaign Administrator for the restoration and re-opening of the Stanley Theatre, and Tour Coordinator for the Arts Club Theatre for whom she sent out over 30 shows to 25 venues across BC and Ontario. Stephanie was also the Festival Manager for CIAO! (Children’s International Arts Organization), an international children’s theatre festival, in Bracknell and Oxford, Southwest England from 2004 – 2010. An active community member and volunteer, Stephanie has served on the Boards of the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance, Jesssie Richardson Theatre Awards Society, British Columbia Touring Council, Rumble Productions and the Rachel Davis Foundation. Stephanie is a graduate of the University of British Columbia with a Master of Arts in English Literature. Stephanie is frequently asked to adjudicate auditions and to give workshops on audition techniques.
Publicist
Ellie O’Day has worked in music, performing arts and cultural industries for nearly 40 years. She was one of North America’s first female DJs in the 70s, a columnist for the Georgia Straight in the 80s, and Executive Director of Pacific Music Industry Assn in the 90s. For 17 years, her O’Day Productions provided media relations to The Cultch, festivals (PuSh Festival, Children’s Festival, VIFF, VIBC, Sonic Boom, KickstArt, Sound of Dragon), theatre companies, special events, CD launches and more. She has served on numerous boards, including twice as a Director of PAL Vancouver.
General & Production Manager
Glenn trained in all aspects of the theatre at the Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg during the magnificent tenure of the legendary John Hirsch. He has worked as an actor, Stage Manager, Production Manager and Designer for theatres across Canada and in the US including The Vancouver Playhouse, Arts Club Theatre, Stratford Festival, Charlottetown Festival and Studio Arena Theatre (Buffalo, NY). In Vancouver, he produced You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown at Metro Theatre, and co-produced T-Shirts at City Stage and Torch Song Trilogy at the Cultch. In addition he worked in Production Management for Expo ’86 Entertainment Department where he managed a $12M budget. He Stage Managed the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Calgary Winter Olympics and was Operations Director for BC’s MUSIC ’91 province wide music festival. He also works in television and film in set decoration and has over 100 projects to his credit. He is the President of the PAL Studio Theatre Society and sits on the Board of Trustees of PAL Vancouver. Glenn has designed over 200 stage productions including 20 in the last seven years at the PAL Studio Theatre. He is the recipient of the 2016 Jesse Richardson Award for Outstanding Set Design for the production of Annapurna. He has managed Western Gold Theatre since 2012.
Artistic Director
Tanja Dixon–Warren has been working as a theatre artist / producer for over 35 + years. Previously she was the Artistic Producer / Co-Founder of Hoarse Raven Theatre and from 2009 – 2017 she was Managing Producer of Full Circle: First Nations Performance. She continues to work with them on a consulting basis, mentoring young theatre practitioners As an actor, proudly based in Vancouver, she has been seen in a number of WGT productions as well as on numerous stages throughout the city. Film/TV includes a bunch of blink & you’ll miss ‘em plus the occasional role with an actual name! An active member of the community, Tanja has served on numerous boards and committees including 15 years with the Greater Vancouver Theatre Alliance, where she speared headed and launched World Theatre Days and the annual Making a Scene Theatre conference. She currently sits on the board of Vocal Eye and the Granville Island Theatre District (GID).Nominated twice for YWCA’s Woman of Distinction Award as well as a number of Jessie Richardson Award (for both performance and producing), she is recipient of the Mary Phillips Award, the Vancouver Board of Trade’s Business and the Arts Award and the 40 Under 40 ‘Business in Vancouver’ Award.