AIRS Live Podcast

This roundtable style podcast hosts four artists in residence in the Department of Theatre. The discussion will focus on the role of research in performance creation and will be moderated by Shauna Janssen, Chair of the Department of Theatre.

How can you participate? Join us in person or online by registering for the Zoom Meeting or watching live on YouTube.

Have questions? Send them to info.4@concordia.ca

Leslie Baker

Leslie Baker is Artistic Director of The Bakery, a theatrical laboratory rooted in the creation of devised interdisciplinary performance projects and events. She is a director, performer, educator and movement coach. Currently she is researching the Furies and the manifestation of rage through a new work, Monstrum Garden. Recent highlights include movement direction for Still Life (2024) and Thy Woman’s Weeds (2024), performer in La Neuf (2023), directing Idomeneus & Lysistrata (2024), and Oresteia & The Apple Tree (2023) and co-creator and performer in SKIN (2021) a live-streamed performance event. The Six Viewpoints, as developed by creator Mary Overlie, has informed her practice for 35 years. Teaching at the NTSC, Concordia University, and Dawson College.

Shana Carroll

Shana Carroll is Co-founding Artistic Director of the contemporary circus/dance/theatre company Les 7 doigts de la main. Since its inception in 2002, Shana has directed, written and choreographed more than a dozen of their shows. Some of Shana’s other collaborations include: circus design and co-choreography for Water For Elephants on Broadway (for which she received a Tony nomination); director and creator of Cirque du Soleil’s Crystal; co-creator of Queen of the Night (New York City); circus design and choreography for Iris (Los Angeles) and Paramour (Broadway); Sochi Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony; Cirque du Soleil’s performance at the 84th Academy Awards. In 2023, Shana was awarded the honour of Compagne des Arts et des Lettres du Québec as a recognition for her contribution to Quebec culture. Shana is a former trapeze artist of 20 years, Cirque du Soleil soloist, and alumni of Montreal’s National Circus School.

Ange Loft

Ange Loft (Kanien'kehá:ka, from Kahnawà:ke; lives in Toronto) is an interdisciplinary performing artist, whose works blend arts based research, voice, wearable sculpture, and Haudenosaunee history, guided by her background in community theatre, community art and Indigenous theatrical creation methodologies. In recognition of her craft, Ange received the Toronto Arts Foundation's Indigenous Artist Award in 2023. Ange’s recent roles include: artistic lead in the Co-creation of Stone and Bone Spectacular, as Indigenous Artist in Residence at Montreal’s Centaur Theatre (2022-25), instructor in Story Creation with the Centre for Indigenous Theatre (2021-23), and artistic lead of the Talking Treaties initiative with Jumblies Theatre + Arts (2017-24).

Mindy Parfitt

Mindy Parfitt is an award winning Director and Producer. Within a practice that is committed to story, investigation, collaboration and risk there is a dedication to aesthetic and research. She is a graduate of both Concordia University (BFA) and UBC (MFA). She has the great fortune of working on a wide variety of theatre productions including world premieres, collective creations and community based productions. Mindy recently founded The Search Party, a theatre company committed to bringing emotionally powerful and aesthetically rigorous productions to Vancouver’s stages. The Search Party has quickly made a name for itself as an important new voice in the Vancouver theatre ecology.