Mary Ellen MacLean, a creator, actor, director, and educator, toured worldwide with the ensemble Jest in Time and starred in three CBC-TV specials. Her one-woman play Frankie toured Canada. She and her wife Wendy run Open Skyridge Studio, an artist retreat in Gatineau Park.

Roberta Lloyd has been engaged in the theatre since she was very small. Since moving to Wakefield in 2014 she has been involved in several Theatre Wakefield productions. Roberta is the treasurer on Theatre Wakefield’s Board of Directors.

Paul Hetzler wrote the original story with Marie-Line Bourdy that inspired the script and then adapted it with Mary Ellen MacLean. Paul is a certified arborist and a prolific natural history essayist and author who lives in Val-des-Monts.

David Lane, Pete Balkwill and Nan Baldwin of the Canadian Academy of Mask and Puppetry and the Old Trout Puppet Workshop of Calgary inspired us and taught us.

Jesse Kahat is an actor, director, choreographer, dance instructor, and music teacher. She has a BA in Theatre Directing and an MA in Business Communications. She has been teaching ballroom dance since 2005 and music since 2011. This is her 4th show as a stage manager for Theatre Wakefield.

Nuha Yousuf studied vocal music at Laurier. Her interests include classical voice, free improv and new music, song and lyric writing, contemporary dance, opera direction and theatre. She was runner up in the NUMUS Emerging Improvisers Competition.

Catrina Von Radecki of Chelsea Dance school has been teaching dance for more than 30 years. She is the founding partner of the Guelph Youth Dance Training Program, as well as the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Guelph Dance Festival (GDF).

Kelsey Walsh, an interdisciplinary dance artist, facilitates movement classes and projects. As Artistic Director of Dandelion Dance, she created programs for girls and women from equity-seeking groups across Ottawa. Now she facilitates classes in Wakefield and Chelsea.

Venessa Lachance has been music director for several productions for GCTC, Odyssey Theatre, and the NAC’s Théâtre français. She was nominated for a Rideau Award in 2015 in the Emerging Artist category. She was nominated for a Trille Or Award (2015 Discovery of the Year ).

Charlotte Scott is a farmer and singer and has played the piano, cello, electric bass and Celtic harp. She has worked in community radio, children’s theatre and sound/art/cultural projects. She has played with the Ratchet Orchestra and a psychedelic rock trio.

Marie-Nicole Faber has been involved with and surrounded by music all her life. She started to learn the violin when she was six. She sang in many choirs, played in many orchestras and chamber ensembles and played and sang in musicals and operas.

Janet Beers, Erica Bernstein, Peggy Campbell, Christiane Claude, Barbara Dee, Chloe Laberge, Helen MacKinnon and David Woods.

Tim Yaychuk is an experienced multi-instrumentalist specializing in violin and saxophone who has worked with large orchestras, chamber ensembles, jazz trios and rock bands.

Wim Kok came to Canada from the Netherlands 35 years ago. He’s always loved music and has played percussion since elementary school. He’s a drummer in a band from Farm Point called Phové.

Claude Laroche has been working on Theatre Wakefield productions in various capacities for over 20 years now. He is happy to be working with the wonderful group of people who have put together this new and exciting production.

Doug McArthur is a veteran musician and videographer, festival organizer, writer and a rather bad painter. He has worked all over Canada, New England and California. Examples of his work are at https://www.dougimac.com

Patricia MacGowan got the acting bug at a young age when she was in an NFB film, Shyness. In the Savoy Society, she sang and performed in Gilbert & Sullivan productions for 12 years. She then joined Theatre Wakefield and has been in many works.

Patrick Thompson works in painting, performance and sculptural installation. His work has been included in the Toronto Biennial of Art, Every Now Then, Reclaiming Nationhood at the Art Gallery of Ontario and London’s British Museum.

Kathryn Drysdale creates large-scale drawings. She has participated in shows in Canada and abroad, and her work is found in private and public art collections. She’s had a studio in Wakefield since 1991.

Geneviève Cloutier has extensive public art project experience, is widely published on art and art education, and is a teacher.

cj fleury is best known for public commissions in Ottawa, including Little Italy’s 19 granite and bronze sculptures; monuments against violence (Elgin Street) and poverty (City Hall); and the Blair LRT station’s Lightscape. Find more at cjfleuryART.ca.

Steve Powers (Dad/Fire Log) is a Theatre Wakefield Board member, artist in the community, and was a primary puppet maker for this show. Some shows he’s been involved with are Theatre Wakefield’s A Christmas Carol, The Trouble with Ninjas and Verbatim Theatre’s Home is a Beautiful Word.

Jim Payette has been involved with Theatre Wakefield for several years both on stage and behind the scenes building sets and sourcing props.  He found the learning process and teamwork that brought the puppets into being especially rewarding.

Alison Scott jumped out of the frying pan and into the graphic design fire and is loving the heat of it all. Her backpack of life also holds the best family and friends (ever) and a love of real food, cryptic crosswords, yoga, and biking to the market.

Osa Natalie Fraser (the narrator) is a facilitator, teacher, counsellor, inspirational speaker, healer, minister and performing artist. She is a graduate of Concordia University’s Theatre Performance program and has been involved in the Ottawa theatre community all her life.

Dawn Moore (Flicker) is a longtime resident of the Hills who is finding her way back to theatre. The past spring, her first play, Blindfolds, was featured at Wakefield Writers Fest. Now Dawn has swapped her pen for a mushroom-like puppet and can be found flickering around the woods with her forest pals.

Elle Gray (Sylvie) is a versatile performer who began at Ottawa Little Theatre’s Summer Camp. She’s had roles at The Academy for Musical Theatre, and been active in the CEAO. Her roles include Hémon in Antigone, Maria in The Sound Of Music, and Heidi in Dear Evan Hansen.

Steve Powers (Dad/Fire Log) is a Theatre Wakefield Board member, artist in the community, and was a primary puppet maker for this show. Some shows he’s been involved with are Theatre Wakefield’s A Christmas Carol, The Trouble with Ninjas and Verbatim Theatre’s Home is a Beautiful Word.

Sarah Doyle (Small Flufftail and Big Flufftail – head and body) is a hiker, swimmer, artist, crafter, former midwife and a graduate art therapy student at the Toronto Art Therapy Institute. She has a Bachelor of Health Science from Laurentian University’s Midwifery Education Program.

Jonathan MacArthur (Raven/various) earned his Masters of Music at UofT Opera and has toured in operas around the world. He was a part of two Dora Award-winning ensembles and was the frontman for DONNA, dreamchild of a dj set and a funk band. 

Danielle Schami (Porcupine/Snail) lives in Wakefield with her family, stewarding a piece of unceded Algonquin Anishinaabe territory where she grows specialty flowers. She works in international cooperation, public engagement and social justice.

Rebecca Russell is an experienced communications professional and a Dora Award-winning multidisciplinary performing artist. She performed with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia from 2009 to 2011.

Rob Linke was a newspaper journalist down East and on Parliament Hill, then wrote for a large Crown corporation. He chaired the board of 9^th Hour Theatre Company.