The Space Between Stars by Christine Lesiak

Content warning for Space Between Stars:

This play has a subtle and figurative mention of excessive alcohol use, grief, and the death of a child and a cancer diagnosis. If we missed something, please let us know.

Christine is an Edmonton / amiskwacîwâskahikan-based theatre artist, teacher, mentor, and artistic director of Small Matters Productions. She holds a BSc in Physics, and a Masters of Fine Arts in Drama. She is co-creator of and performer in Small Matters’ eight full-length shows, including the interactive comedy hit, For Science! (2018-22) and the upcoming new inter-provincial collaboration, The Spinsters (premièring 2023/24). She is a frequent collaborator with Catch the Keys Productions, artistic associate with Toy Guns Dance Theatre, and director of the Play the Fool Festival of clown-theatre and physical comedy. She specialises in collaborative devising, audience experience design, interactive comedy, and physical storytelling. christinelesiak.com.

Tracy has worked as a director, dramaturg, teacher and producer for over 25 years and is the Co-Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Concrete Theatre. She has held the Artistic Associate position at Alberta Playwrights’ Network as well as at the Citadel Theatre. For SkirtsAfire, Tracy was the program coordinator for Peep Show!, a tease of new plays, and dramaturg on The Mommy Monologues, aiding in the development of dozens of plays by Edmonton area women.

Selected directing and dramaturgy credits include Matara and The Invention of Romance by Conni Massing at Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, Last Chance Leduc by Katherine Koller and The Book of Ashes by Emil Sher for the Northern Alberta Children’s Festival.

Upcoming, Tracy will be directing Fresh Hell by Conni Massing at Shadow Theatre in January 2023. 

Sarah Emslie is a queer theatre artist based in amiskwaciwâskahikan, Treaty 6. They hold a BFA from the University of Alberta in Acting. Most recently they performed as the Bride in Dead Centre of Town XIII (Catch the Keys). Their love to Gabriel and Thistle.

Sahl Wilkie is a young performer from Edmonton and is very excited to be part of this production. Amongst their many loves are their family, Pokemon, various types of magic, reading (currently plowing through Lord of the Rings), and math. 

They have performed for Rapid Fire Theatre, The Regretzky Entertainment Group, and other short projects they feel lucky to be a part of. 

When they aren’t consuming anything and everything with words on it, Sahl loves to spend time with their family and is one of the top ten snugglers in all of snuggle history. 

Daniela is a theatre designer and independent design professional from Treaty 6 Territory in the city of amiskwacîwâskahikan (Edmonton, Alberta). She works mainly in the areas of set, lighting, and projection for live performance, and more recently in the art department for film and television. Her training includes a B.F.A. of Theatre Design from the University of Alberta, a Grant MacEwan Diploma of Fine Arts, and a design apprenticeship in Italy at Teatro alla Scala Milano. Over the last decade, Daniela has designed across Canada collaborating on over 80 productions with companies such as The National Arts Centre,  The Stratford Festival, the Arts Club, The Citadel Theatre, Workshop West, Akpik Theatre, The Cultch, Western Canadian Theatre, Alberta Opera, and Teatro LaQuindicina among many others. 

T. Erin Gruber is an award-winning theatre designer with experience in set, lighting, costume and projected media design. She is a graduate with distinction of the University of Alberta and a member of the board of directors of the Associated Designers of Canada. She works professionally across Canada and her work has been toured and exhibited nationally and internationally. In June 2019 her work was featured at the Prague Quadrennial International Design Exhibition. Award-winning projects: Métis Mutt (One Little Indian Productions, Sterling Award for Outstanding Production), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time (Citadel Theatre and RMTC, Sterling Award for Lighting Design), Category E (Production Design, Maggie Tree Collective, Sterling Awards for Lighting and Projected Media Design). Online at: eringruber.com

Rebecca is an Edmonton based set, costume, lighting, and puppet designer. She graduated from the University of Alberta in 2022 with a BFA in Theatre Production. Select credits include assistant production design for Barvinok (Pyretic Productions), puppeteer for Puppet Pub Crawl (Found Festival), and associate costume design for Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing (Freewill Shakespeare Festival). She was also selected to participate in the Citadel Theatre’s RBC Horizon emerging Artists Program. You can see examples of her work at https://www.rebeccacypher.com/.

Skye (They/Them) is a designer from Edmonton who explores design and costuming for the theatre as well as fine arts. Skye is a graduate from the University of Alberta’s Theater Design undergrad program. They are passionate about creating work that is accessible for both audiences and artists. They are very excited to be welcomed onto the team this year. Select credits include: Puppet Pub Crawl, Big Feelings, Small World (Found Festival); Dancefest (Nextfest).

Ian Walker is originally from Yorkshire, England. He is a versatile artistic collaborator, an artistic associate of Small Matters Productions, and co-creator of and performer in For Science! (2018-22). Ian has designed and created many amazing theatre effects, props, projection and art installations: the shadow puppet play Le Voeu/The Wish adapted by Eileen Sproule and Marissa Kochanski (2021-2022, Flying Canoe Volant Festival), For Science! (2018-22), Over Her Dead Body (2017, Fringe Theatre Presentation Series), Dead Centre of Town (2015-22, Catch the Keys Productions), The Object of Constellations (2016, Small Matters Productions), and The Water Project (2016, The University of Alberta).

Nancy is excited to be working with SkirtsAfire again on The Space In Between Stars.  As an Edmonton based stage manager, she has worked at the Mayfield Theatre for over 50 productions including productions such as Mamma Mia, Buddy Holly-The Buddy Holly Story, Sister Act, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Cabaret. Some other theatre credits include:  Forever Plaid (Stage West Calgary), Ayita (SkirtsAfire Festival), Much Ado About Nothing (Freewill Shakespeare Festival),The Drowning Girls (Western Canada Theatre), Lost Lemoine Part 1 & 2  and Witness to a Conga (Teatro la Quindicina), Sprouts Festival (Concrete Theatre), Crazy For You (Cameco Capitol Arts Centre), Strike! (Workshop West Theatre), The Last Tree of Rapa Nui (MTYP), Love Song and The Liars (Shadow Theatre), As You Like It, Julius Caesar, The Blonde, the Brunette and the Vengeful Redhead, Equus, The Man Whose Mother Was A Pirate, A Year with Frog and Toad, and The Syringa Tree (Citadel Theatre), Rock ’n ’Roll, and Fire (Canadian Stage Company/Citadel Theatre co-production), Humble Boy (Theatre Calgary/Citadel Theatre). Enjoy the show!

My name is Shannon Wiebe and I am your CART (communication accessible realtime translation) Captioner. Before becoming a CART Captioner, I was a court reporter for ten years, and then decided I wanted something different and here I am. I have been providing captioning in a whole variety of settings for almost 23 years now, and I absolutely love what I do. I am so excited to be providing communication access for everyone during this wonderful production of The Space Between Stars.

A fun fact about me is I love to ride my 2018 Indian Springfield motorcycle around Edmonton and long trips to beautiful areas in Alberta, British Columbia, and the U.S. Enjoy the play!