Creative Team
JONATHAN CHRISTENSON (Writer, Composer, Lyricist, Director) Jonathan is a director, playwright and composer and the artistic director of Canada’s Catalyst Theatre. His plays – The Invisible, Vigilante, The Soul Collector, Nevermore – The Imaginary Life & Mysterious Death of Edgar Allan Poe, The Blue Orphan, and The House of Pootsie Plunket, to name a few – have appeared at theatres throughout England, Scotland, Wales, Australia, the U.S. and Canada and at such festivals as the London International Festival of Theatre, Luminato, Le Carrefour, The High Performance Rodeo, The PuSh Festival, and Magnetic North. His work as a writer, director and composer has been honoured by Canada’s Sterling, Betty Mitchell and SAT Awards, Scotland’s Fringe First and Herald Angel Awards, and the City of Edmonton’s Salute to Excellence Awards. He has also received multiple nominations for the UK’s Stage Awards, the Dora Awards, and the Alberta Book Awards. In 2011, Venture Magazine named him one of “Alberta’s Fifty Most Influential People” and Alberta Playwrights Network chose him as one of Alberta’s one hundred most significant theatre artists of the past one hundred years. His plays have been published by Playwrights Canada Press and Newest Press and his work has been featured in American Theatre, Canadian Theatre Review, PRISM International, Canada World View and All Stages Magazine. Last year Bayeux Arts published his first children’s book, Maximilian’s Mistake.
BRETTA GERECKE (Production Designer) is a Lighting, Set, Costume, and Projection designer for Theatre, Circus, Opera, Film, and Installation Art. She is the resident designer at Catalyst Theatre, where she co-creates and tours new work across North America, the U.K., and Australia. Bretta also designs for Cirque du Soleil, The National Theatre, The RSC, New York Theatre Workshop, The National Arts Centre, The Stratford Shakespeare Festival, Birmingham REP, Edmonton Opera, Opera Zuid, Arizona Opera, The Citadel Theatre, and The Grand Theatre. She is the recipient of over 25 awards in addition to being named Avenue Magazine’s Top 40 under 40, Global Television’s Woman of Vision, and IPL’s Best Emerging Artist. She has represented Canada in Prague at the Scenography Quadrennial and her costumes have been exhibited in Moscow, Beijing, Taipei, Canada, and the United States. Bretta lives in London (UK) and is a marathon runner and an Archaeological Illustrator.
LAURA KREWSKI (Choreographer) has choreographed original musicals The Invisible, Frankenstein, Hunchback and Vigilante for Catalyst Theatre. Other credits include West Side Story, Mamma Mia, Spamalot,Jesus Christ Superstar, Cabaret, Chicago and original productions of Made in Italy, Home is a Beautiful Word, Freefall and Jazz Playground. She has worked with The Citadel Theatre, The National Arts Centre, Belfry Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Opera, Vancouver Arts Club, Persephone Theatre, and Manitoba Theatre for Young People. Laura has received five Sterling Awards, two Betty Mitchells and the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Arts and Culture.
WADE STAPLES (Sound Designer) has designed and toured multiple Catalyst Theatre world premieres across Canada, the United States, Australia, and the UK. He has also designed for Stratford Festival, Theatre Calgary, Edmonton Opera, The Citadel Theatre, and L’Uni Theatre. As a designer, sound engineer, musician, technician, and educator, Wade has received numerous awards including an Elizabeth Sterling Haynes award, an Arts and Culture Performance Award, and the CITT/ICTS Award for Technical Merit.
MATTHEW SKOPYK (Music Producer) is an Edmonton-based sound designer, composer and music producer. Music production credits include: Vigilante, The Soul Collector (Catalyst Theatre). Sound design and composition credits include: Titus Andronicus (Free Will Players), Palace of the End (Theatre Network), Enron (National Arts Centre) and Playing With Fire (Alberta Theatre Projects/ Citadel Theatre). Matthew currently resides as the Head of Audio for the Drama Department at the University of Alberta.