Dance Nation by Clare Barron

Special Events/Discounts

• Festival Passes available now
• 14 Pay-What-You-Will tickets available per performance
• Pay-What-You-Will performance on Tuesday, March 11
• Book your group of 6 or more and get 15% off or your group of 10 or more for 20% off!
• Relaxed Performance: Wednesday, March 12
• ASL Performance: Thursday, March 13
• If you require an attendant, aide, or companion, they are still required to have a ticket. Please contact coordinator@skirtsafire.com and we’ll book a ticket for the accompanying person at no extra cost.

• Accessibility Measures for Dance Nation by Clare Barron

  Relaxed Performance | Wednesday, March 12 @ 7:30 pm
  This is a relaxed performance, designed to welcome audience members who would benefit from a more relaxed and inclusive environment, including those with sensory needs or families with young children. People are welcome to come and go from the performance and meet their needs as they see fit. The theatre will be dimly lit but not completely dark, there is a relaxed attitude toward audience movement and noise, and there may be some changes in production to reduce startling effects or noises.

  ASL Interpreted Performance | Thursday, March 13 @ 7:30pm
  

   

  
  Sensory Kits
  Sensory Kits will be available to borrow for free at all shows including sunglasses, ear muffs and fidget spinners.

  Companion Tickets
  If you require an attendant, aide, or companion, they are still required to have a ticket. Please contact coordinator@skirtsafire.com and we’ll book a ticket for the accompanying person at no extra cost.

  Full Venue Accessibility
  Outside, there is a gravel parking lot and surface parking, and there is an uneven step with approximately 1 inch on one side.

  Once in the building, there is a relatively steep downward decline ramp that is dimly lit. The lobby is well lit, with a bar for drinks and quiet snacks at the east end, opposite of the of the entrance.

  There is a slight lipped incline into the theatre space with tiny ramps to cover the lip and hi-vis orange paint strips marking the lip. People with mobility aids wheel up to the first row and sit where they can.

  All chairs have cushioning, can move and do not have arms. They are wider than average.

  In the bathrooms, there is a larger stall in each gender-neutral bathroom that is larger and has grab bars. One of the toilet doors opens into the space (accessible only to smaller mobility aids), the other opens outwards.

  Parking
  Paid parking lot at the theatre (on west side of building with entrance off of Gateway Blvd) and metered and free parking on streets surrounding.

  A discounted parking rate is available at the Farmer’s Market parking lot! Simply scan the QR code posted in the front foyer of Gateway Theatre, enter your license plate and the discount code, and pay just $3.00 for six hours of parking.

  Click here for more information on Accessibility 

  Click here for SkirtsAfire’s FAQs

Content Warnings

• Curse words, crude humour and explicit references to sexual acts, body parts and genitalia
• Partial nudity (in a non-sexual context)
• Simulated masturbation
• Physical touch of a sexual nature
• Discussion of sexual assault and suicide

If you need further clarification regarding these content warnings, please don’t hesitate to reach out to info@skirtsafire.com.

Clare Barron is a playwright and actor from Wenatchee, Washington. Her plays include You Got Older, which received its world premiere with Page 73 and will appear at Steppenwolf in 2018 (Obie Award for Playwriting, Drama Desk Nomination for Outstanding Play, Kilroys List, and Susan Smith Blackburn finalist);  I’ll Never Love Again (The Bushwick Starr, NYTimes & Time Out Critics’ Picks); Baby Screams Miracle (Woolly Mammoth, Clubbed Thumb); and Dance Nation, which will appear at Playwrights Horizons in 2018 and won the Relentless Award established in honor of Philip Seymour Hoffman and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. She is also the recipient of a Whiting Award, the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship and the Paula Vogel Award at the Vineyard.

Amanda Goldberg (she/her/elle) is a director, dramaturg and the Artistic Producer of SkirtsAfire Festival. Originally from Tiohtià:ke/Montreal, she is an honors graduate from Dawson College’s Professional Theatre program, Concordia University’s Theatre and Development program, and University of Alberta’s MFA Directing program.

In 2014, she co-founded We Are One, a Tiohtià:ke/Montreal based independent feminist theatre company. With this company, she staged five world premieres with a focus on adaptations, queer love stories and staged intimacy. She is a 2019 alum of Director’s Lab North and Segal Centre’s Jewish Artist Mentorship program.

Recent directing credits: Twelfth Night (Freewill Shakespeare), Brontë, Phaedra’s Love and Belleville (University of Alberta), Yerma (Concordia University), City Boy (Mainline Theatre), and three-time META nominated production, Smackhead (We Are One). Recent assistant directing credits: Citadel Theatre’s Network and The Fiancée, Theatre Surreal SoReal’s Madame Catherine prépare…, and Segal Centre’s Indecent.

Gomathi Boorada is the artistic Director of Shivamanohari School of Performing arts, Edmonton, a Kuchipudi dancer who Worked extensively in South Asian Dance Drama and theatre for over 23 years. Gomathi has trained in Kuchipudi, one of 8 classical dances of India, for 17 years in the village of Kuchipudi, India. Gomathi directed and choreographed a number of dance productions and toured across Canada, Indonesia, USA and India. In the past 13 years she worked at the SSDM Alberta community theatre in Edmonton in the capacity of a dancer and puppeteer, presenting shows and offering dance workshops in community schools. Gomathi uses her skills as a puppeteer to encourage speech in children with speech delays and autism with free monthly puppet workshops at her studio. She works with Indonesian Institute of Arts and University of Gadjah Mada in the capacity of a guest lecturer offering lectures, seminars and workshops on Indian Classical Dances, Dance and Intercultural Understanding, Dance as a Ritual Practice and Dance as a cultural Identity.
Gomathi is trained in the art of “Tholu Bommalata” Indian Shadow puppetry under Mr.Shivakumar Shinde, Dharmavaram, India, in “Wayang Kulit” Javanese Shadow Puppetry at University of Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia under Mr.Anggara Sri Wisnu. Gomathi curated, directed a full length puppet/ dance production along with Maralyn Ryan, written by Chris Dodd. Her strong love of dance, storytelling and her excellent knowledge and experience working with number of artists across Canada, USA, India and Indonesia lend to her work as a trans-disciplinary theatre artist.

Stephanie Bahniuk (she/her) is a Ukrainian-Canadian, award winning theatre designer originally from Edmonton and now residing in Brooklyn, New York. She is a graduate of the Masters of Fine Arts in Design program at the Yale School of Drama and a recipient of the Jay Keene and Jean Griffin Keene Prize in Costume Design. Recent and upcoming design credits include work with Pyretic Productions, The Belfry Theatre, NYU Tisch, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Freewill Shakespeare Festival, Goodspeed Musicals, Yale Dramat and Tiny Bear Jaws. In addition to her theatre work, Stephanie has contributed to Broadway and Off-Broadway productions as a costume shopper, and has lent her expertise to major TV productions like The Gilded Age and And Just Like That. She is a proud member of USA Local 829 and serves as an Artistic Associate of Pyretic Productions. www.stephaniebahniuk.com

Even is a queer and trans theatre designer and creator based in Treaty 6 territory. He graduated from the University of Alberta’s MFA Theatre Design program and is sometimes a creator and producer with his scrappy indie company, Donkey Dog Theatre. Feel free to check out other collaborations and designs on his website evengilchrist.com.

Kena Leon (they/them) is a queer Filipinx multi-disciplinary artist who uses music, sound and technology as their main media. Kena is active in the queer and arts scene as a DJ, performing artist and producer.

Their passion for uplifting the queer community through art has led them to support queer work through sound design. Their more recent projects included: Brick Shit House (2024 – Fenceless Theatre), Boy Trouble (2024 – Amoris Projects), Tough Guy (2023-2024 – Hayley Moorhouse), and Enough (2024 – Hoy! Productions).

Cheyenne Sykes is a Lighting Designer based out of NYC working in: dance, music festivals, performance art, and theatre. Select Design Credits: Clyde’s (PlayMakers Rep), Her Portmanteau (George Street Playhouse), several works by performance artist Miles Greenberg: Fountain I (Worthless Studios), PNEUMOTHERAPY (II) (PERROTIN New York), HAEMOTHERAPY (1) (Reena Spaulings), Black Exhibition (The Bushwick Starr), The Slow Room (PSNY). Select Assistant/Associate Credits: Opera Theatre of Saint Louis ’23/24, Site Lighting at Bonnaroo and Outside Lands Music Festivals, Mary (Kanye West at Lincoln Center), Heroes of the Fourth Turning (Playwright’s Horizons), “Daddy”(New Group/Vineyard).

Molly’s recent credits include Stage Managing The Mountaintop, Rubaboo, A Christmas Carol, The Royale, The Garneau Block, (The Citadel Theatre), Twelfth Night, Macbeth, Two Gentlemen of Verona, and A Comedy of Errors (The Freewill Shakespeare Festival), assistant stage managing Musicians Gone Wild: Nashville Music City & Rock the Canyon, Mamma Mia (The Mayfield Dinner Theatre), Vigilante (Catalyst Theatre), Trouble in Mind, Children of God, Peter and the Starcatcher and A Christmas Carol (The Citadel Theatre).

Isabelle Martinez (she/her) is an Edmonton based stage manager who just recently graduated from the UofA’s Fine Arts in Production program. She’s both grateful and excited to be spending her first apprenticeship with SkirtsAfire. Extra love to Everett, as well as the Dance Nation team! Her most recent credits include: Flashback Fever, Grease, Canada Rocks! The Reboot (Mayfield Dinner Theatre); Sweet Jesus (Edmonton Fringe); Civil Blood: A Treaty Story (Thou Art Here).

Rae is a freelance production manager, technical director, lighting designer, and technician based in Edmonton. She has been an active member of the Edmonton backstage community for over a decade and serves as a board member for the Canadian Institute of Theatre Technology (CITT/ICTS) Alberta Section, where she promotes professional development and advances the theatre community.

For the last 20 years, Laura has worked, studied, and volunteered in all elements of Theatre. Her vast knowledge of directing, acting, history, dramaturgy, and technical theatre gives her clarity and foresight on any project. In just the last decade, Laura has worked for the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, The Alberta Circus Arts Festival, The Freewill Shakespeare Company, The University of Alberta’s Fine Arts Department, The Winspear Centre, The Citadel Theatre, DARK, and the International Children’s Festival. She is a member of IATSE Local 210. She holds two bachelor degrees, one a double major in Drama and Psychology, and the other a BFA in Technical Theatre. Laura is excited to use her expertise to ensure Dance Nation delights and engages the whole team and audience!

Kira Franchuk is a multidisciplinary artist and technologist, lifelong Albertan, and current Technical Director of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre. They are passionate about amplifying and facilitating local, Canadian works, specifically leveraging their varied skills- in systems, new media, live events, user experience, among other niche fields- towards this abstract objective in concrete, effective means. You may have encountered their work at a number of local festivals including Zoominescence (2019 through 2024) and the Kaleido Festival (2023, 2024), or at the Gateway Theatre, in Workshop West’s recent seasons- notably: Subscribe Or Like (TD/PM, 2023), MOB (TD/PM, Multimedia Design (Sterling Award nominee) 2023), Stars On Her Shoulders (TD/PM, 2024)- previous SkirtsAfire iterations (2023, 2024), and beyond. Outside of the periphery of the stage, they have contributed to projects and experiences with Apple, Grainger, Kuehne+Nagel, Macewan University, and others. Still an avid CD collector, check out what they’ve been hearing lately at https://hhhpccc.ca/

Liv Bunge (They/She) is an emerging Albertan Freelance Production Manager & Technical Director and Technician with a love for new works. They are passionate about creating cool and heartfelt shows. The abundance of the amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton) Theatre community has allowed them to explore many of the local spaces and has kept her engaged all year long. Recent Technical Direction credits include; Brick Shithouse (Fenceless Theatre), R.A.V.E. (Outside the March), The Hooves Belonged to the Deer (In Arms Theatre Collective), I Don’t Even Miss You (Tiny Bear Jaws).

Sydney is a multidisciplinary artist raised and currently based in amiskwaciwâskahikan/Edmonton who has collaborated on projects as an actor, singer, writer, composer, and dancer. Recent stage credits include Monstress (Northern Light Theatre), Tiny Beautiful Things and Fresh Hell (Shadow Theatre). Some other meaningful artistic experiences have been the creation of her EP Ordinary Things, gigging as a back-up vocalist, offering bedside serenades in long-term care homes and rehabilitation centres in Toronto with Smile Theatre, collaborating on indie concerts and cabarets, and creating and performing her own solo performance pieces. She is a graduate of Sheridan College’s Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program. She draws comfort and wonder from the natural world and is grateful for the trees and for her community of loved ones who sustain her.

Kristen (She/Her) is a South Asian/Portuguese theatre artist who just recently moved back to Edmonton! She is a graduate of Grant MacEwan College’s Theatre Arts Program and the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Program. Select acting credits include: The Jungle Book, The Wedding Party (Alberta Theatre Projects); Barvinok (Pyretic Productions); A Fit, Happy Life, A Grand Time in the Rapids, The Scent of Compulsion, On the Banks of the Nut (Teatro la Quindicina); Murder in the Studio, Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse (Vertigo Theatre); The Strid (Downstage Theatre); Under Cover (Concrete Theatre, Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Nomination). She is also an Associate Producer with Chromatic Theatre. Love to D + A.

I’m Kijo Eunice Gatama, a multidisciplinary artist and emerging playwright holding it down in Amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). I thrive as a holistic artist, bringing creativity and intention to everything I do. I curate Here, for: Fear Collective, Edmonton’s first fear-focused theatre and film festival highlighting IBPOC artists, and I’m the founder of RECHIQUE. On stage, I’ve recently performed in Paper Ship by Eric Awuah, The Lobbyist with Azimuth Theatre, A Girl in a Goldfish Bowl directed by Alissa Watson, and the workshop production of my play, Hyena’s Trail.

Veenu grew up in a Punjabi Sikh household in Dawson Creek B.C. She ventured alone to what is now known as Vancouver and started her acting career in 2007. She is mindful of her privilege to live and work on the traditional unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations. Her theatre credits include A Thousand Splendid Suns (Arts Club) and Himmat (Theatre Conspiracy). Notable TV credits include her recurring role as Prisha Dhar on Lost In Space (Netflix) and her very creepy and fun death scene on Supernatural (CW). Film credits include the wry medical examiner Bella on Curious Caterer: Grilling Season (Hallmark), and Officer Reece on A Dog’s Way Home (Columbia Pictures). Aside from acting, Veenu is also a writer and director. She completed her first ultra-short film What I Want, which was selected as one of the ten 1-minute films to be made for the Mighty Asian Moviemaking Marathon (VAFF) in 2023. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, she loves to share her knowledge, as well as learn from her students as an instructor at Vancouver Film School and Emily Carr University of Art and Design.

Kristin is an Edmonton based performer and instructor, and a graduate of the Theatre Arts Program at Red Deer College and the Canadian College of Performing Arts in Victoria, BC. Her local credits include A Christmas Carol, 9 to 5, and Sense and Sensibility at the Citadel, the latter as part of the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Training Program. Kristin has appeared in MOB at Workshop West, Helen with Trunk Theatre and Pith and Deathtrap at Teatro Live. She’s also appeared regularly with Northern Light Theatre, where her credits include Enough (Sterling Award Nomination), We Had a Girl Before You, Baroness Bianka’s Bloodsongs (Sterling Award Nomination) and Origin of the Species. Kristin’s many Fringe credits include The Black Widow Gun Club, Destination Wedding and Destination Vegas with Whizzgiggling Productions, Mass Debating with 100% More Girls, Rivercity the Musical and The Unsyncables with Dammittammy Productions and Release the McCrakkin for Accidental Humour Co. Kristin can be seen next in The Odd Couple at Teatro Live.

Linda is an Edmonton based film, television, voice, and stage actor. She has performed onstage for Northern Light Theatre, Shadow Theatre, Theatre Network, The Citadel Theatre, Teatro La Quindicina, Stage Polaris, Trunk Theatre, The Maggie Tree, Guys in Disguise, Whizgiggling Productions, Panties rePublic, The Unconscious Collective, Onion Theatre, as well as for many other independent theatre companies. Her work has been nominated for both Sterling and AMPIA awards. In 2024, she won Best Actress at the International Art Film Festival for her work in NLT’s filmed production of “The Look”.

Tristan Hafso is a dancer, writer, & performer who was last seen in Festival Places’ Cinderella The Musical, and in Tangerine Productions Flashback Documentary. He has experience choreographing and teaching, as well as his stage hand work for concerts in Edmonton. In his free time, he loves walking along the river valley, cuddling with his bunnies, and matcha lattes. 

An Artistic Associate with the Freewill Shakespeare Festival, Troy has appeared in many of their productions including The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, and Twelfth Night. Other theatre credits include A Christmas Carol, The Sound of Music, The Royale, (Citadel Theatre); As You Like It (Grand Theatre); The 39 Steps (Mayfield); It’s a Wonderful Life, Ten Lost Years, A Christmas Carol (Theatre Northwest); The Umbrella, Le Paraplouie (Quest Theatre); The Baffled Blossom, The Early Bloomer, Smokescreen (Concrete Theatre); Anxiety, Shoot/Get Treasure/Repeat, The Righteous Woman (Theatre Yes); An Inspector Calls, The Diary of Anne Frank, and The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe (Rosebud Theatre), The Falstaff Project (Thou Art Here), Knives in Hens (Northern Light Theatre); Bless you, Billy Wilder (Shadow Theatre); Strike! (Workshop West Theatre).

Kristi Hansen (she/they) https://www.kristihansen.ca/ is a disabled theatre artist who has called Edmonton home for the past 24 years. Kristi trained as an actor at Grant MacEwan’s Theatre Arts Program from 1999-2001, and then at the University of Alberta’s Bachelor of Fine Arts Acting Program from 2001-2004. Kristi is the co-founder and co-Artistic Director of The Maggie Tree and the former co-Artistic Producer of Azimuth Theatre in Edmonton, AB. She was the Associate Artist with the Citadel Theatre from 2022-24 and is currently working as their Accessibility Coordinator for their 2024/25 Accessible Performance Series. Kristi is a researcher and budding technologist with Moment Discovery, a body-art tech company that specializes in the human body in tech. https://momentdiscovery.ca/ Acting credits include The Silver Arrow, The Sound of Music, A Christmas Carol, and Alice Through the Looking Glass (Citadel Theatre); Sweeney Todd (Plain Jane Theatre); Beautiful Scars (Theatre Aquarius); The Bear/The Proposal (Caravan Farm Theatre); A Doll’s House, Part 2, Small Mouth Sounds, 10 out of 12, and Passion Play (Wild Side Productions); Joni Mitchell: Songs of a Prairie Girl (Theatre Network/Wide Side Productions); Jason Kenney’s Hot Boy Summer (Grindstone Theatre); Hiraeth (Bright Young Things); Dear Rita (Confed Centre); Candide (Edmonton Opera); The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Catalyst Theatre); Mr. Burns: a post-electric Play (You are Here Theatre/Blarney Productions); The Bad Seed, The Jazz Mother, Pith!, The Scent of Compulsion, and The Ambassador’s Wives (Teatro la Quindicina); The Hollow (Vertigo Theatre); Irma Voth (Theatre Network); Christina/Philippe (Northern Light Theatre); The Sound of Music (National Arts Centre); Comedy of Errors, Hamlet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet and Love’s Labour’s Lost (Freewill Players); The Snow Queen and Apocalypse Prairie (Azimuth Theatre); The Supine Cobbler, Monstrosities, Age of Arousal, Hroses: An Affront to Reason, Folie à Deux, and Hunger Striking (The Maggie Tree). Directing credits include Cycle (Thou Art Here Theatre); Fake n’ Bake (Oh Hello! Productions); Confessions of a Sex Worker (Red Umbrella Productions); Shatter (The Maggie Tree, co-Director); and Workplays (The Alberta Workers’ Health Centre). Their one-person show, Woody, explores the themes of privilege and disability in a reflection of her life as a disabled human living in North America in contrast with other amputees (real and imagined) around the world. Kristi is currently sitting as the Vice Chair/Secretary (and is the former Treasurer) on the Board of Directors of CRIPSiE (The Collaborative Radically Integrated Performers Society in Edmonton) which is a not-for-profit performance company that challenges dominant stories of disability and other forms of oppression through crip and mad performance. She has also sat on the board for the Edmonton Arts Council, Azimuth Theatre (former President), and is a current member-at-large for Radical Research, a new human computing arts society in Edmonton.