I’ve been in awe of Donna-Michelle St. Bernard and her work for my entire career. She is a world builder, and through her writing her skill, courage and vision are met in equal parts by reverence, poetry and joy. 

The First Stone is set in an allegorical Uganda, but it has much to say to us about this land. Although these children are taken from their families and endure terrible things, the play is ultimately redemptive. This becomes a story about what happens to the children who come home, and our responsibility as they reenter our social sphere.

Within  the action of the show, we are faced with the question of what to do with people if we don’t put them in jail. There are other ways to ask this question: how can a community heal? Can we be responsible for each other? How can we live together after violence? Donna-Michelle St. Bernard doesn’t provide simple answers, but she shows us there is reason to hope. 

Dancing

MOTHER: Nothing is bigger than life, and the potential to create life.

….

BOY: What I have done is not all that I am.

GIRL: You rise because you cannot stay down.

They dance

How do we forgive?

How do we live together on lands that are steeped in our children’s blood?

The First Stone is one of the first plays of Donna-Michelle’s that I read, when we worked together at Native Earth. She produced Gas Girls off the side of her desk, which went on to win a Dora; when she told the audience that she was working on a 54-ology – 54 plays inspired by each of the countries in Africa – they laughed.

Undaunted, or perhaps spurred on by that audience’s response, DM kept writing, producing script after script, many of which went on to productions (you can see the progress of the 54-ology at https://54ology.wordpress.com), many more of which are in gestation. The First Stone continued to develop under the steady guidance of Isaac Thomas, with the participation of many artists and organisations over the years.

The First Stone has always been an important story to tell, but for me, after these last few years of pandemic isolation, racial reckoning, the “discovery” of children’s remains on residential school grounds and an articulated desire for a path to “reconciliation”, it has become even more relevant, more critical to the conversation.

How do we forgive? How do we find a way to live together on lands where so much harm has been done to its inhabitants? Can we forge a way forward that does not forget the past, but neither lets it hold us back, from joy, from love, from community?

- Yvette Nolan

My journey with this story began in 2005, when Belladonna & Awakening were invited to play for Guluwalk, and eventually led me to the village of Gulu, Uganda, where I was gifted stories from the Acholi people, who continue to rebuild and thrive in the wake of devastation.

We especially honour the team at YOLRED (Youth Leaders for Restoration and Development) who continue the work of bringing the children home.

• Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Introducing A New Affordable Housing Option for Senior Arts Workers

Have you heard? Affordable housing designed for senior artists and arts workers is coming to Ottawa! PAL Place, an affordable housing project with 86 units will provide aging artists access to safe and comfortable living, while allowing them to keep creating the wonderful art that inspires and enriches our communities.

WHO IS ELIGIBLE TO APPLY TO LIVE AT PAL PLACE?

Canadian residents whose:

- Professional artistic practice involves any artistic discipline

- Artistic occupation is/was a primary source of income for (minimum) 15 years

- Age is 40 (minimum) when applying, understanding resident acceptance begins at age 55

- Proof of residency (identification) can be verified

For more information on PAL Place, please visit www.palottawa.org/pal-place

Alison Wong

Producer, New Harlem Productions

Alison Wong 黃巧文 is a director, producer, and performance maker born in Hong Kong and now based in Treaty 13 territory, also known as Toronto. A graduate of York University and Canadian Stage’s MFA in directing, her work in opera and theatre - with a focus on transnational and plurilingual storytelling - has taken her from across Turtle Island to Italy, India, and the Netherlands. Recent directing credits include Bombay Black (Alberta Theatre Projects), Rooted: A Musical Poem (Sheridan/Musical Stage Company),   Blackberry (Red Beti Theatre), nowhen (Canadian Stage/SummerWorks), Cloudless (Periphery/11ours/Canadian Stage), Revolt. She said. Revolt again. (York University), Stormy Weather (IN Series, Washington DC), and La fedeltà premiata (Royal Opera House, Mumbai). As an independent Creative Producer, she thrives on building world premiere productions of new performance works. She recently produced the premieres of Cacao | A Venezuelan Lament a new dance theatre piece by Victoria Mata and The Empire Trilogy by Susanna Fournier. She has also produced with Small Wooden Shoe, Theatre Direct and WeeFestival, SummerWorks Performance Festival, and Luminato Festival Toronto. In 2017, she concluded a five-season term as Artistic Producer with b current, a Toronto-based company of 30+ years dedicated to developing new Canadian performance works by BIPOC artists.

Cameron Davis

Projection Designer

Selected credits include: projection designer: Bluebeard’s Castle (COC Online); Garden of Vanished Pleasures, Hell’s Fury (Soundstreams); Sweat, Oslo (Studio 180); Secret Life of a Mother (Theatre Centre); Theory (Tarragon Theatre); Gem of the Ocean, Sherlock Holmes and the Raven’s Curse, The Horse and His Boy, The Magician’s Nephew, Dracula, Sweet Charity, You Never Can Tell (Shaw Festival); You Are Mine Own, Feng Yi Ting (Spoleto Festival USA); Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Pacific Opera Victoria); Up The Garden Path (Obsidian Theatre); Domesticated (Company Theatre); Life, Death, and the Blues, CRASH (Theatre Passe Muraille); Watching Glory Die (Canadian Rep Theatre); The Gay Heritage Project (Buddies in Bad Times/Canadian Tour); Yukonstyle, Cruel and Tender (Canadian Stage); Dance Marathon (bluemouth inc). Cameron teaches and mentors projection design at the National Theatre School of Canada.

Charissa Wilcox

Production Manager, New Harlem Productions

Charissa Wilcox is the Artistic Producer and co-founder of FLYING SOLO and the lead designer and fabricator of FLYING SOLO’s cutting edge circus apparatuses. Charissa most recently worked at iconic queer canadian art organization, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (BIBT) as the Head of Production. As a Production Manager/Technical Director she has worked with companies such as Aluna Theatre, Tapestry, Modern Times and Nightwood Theatre, Associated Designers of Canada. This is her first production with New Harlem Productions.

Courage Bacchus

Ancestral Echoes (recorded)

I am Natasha “Courage” Bacchus. I’m a former 3 times Deaf Olympian Sprinter. I began working as an actress in 2019 - and since then I’ve performed in: The Black Drum, The Two Natasha’s, 21 Black Futures, and season four of The Coroner on Netflix. I have participated as an art collaborator with numerous theatre and film productions in Canada. I had multiple positions including an interdisciplinary visual artist, art accessibility consultant, Deaf theatre interpretation and activist for IBPOC Deaf art community in terms of expanding IBPOC Deaf artists representation.

daniel jelani ellis

Boy

Greetings! My name is daniel jelani ellis and I'm a Jamaican artist working in performance-installation creation, playwriting, dub poetry, and acting. My artistic practice is Afrocentric and celebratory. I'm especially passionate about arts-based community organizing for social justice. I'm a graduate of the English Acting program at the National Theatre School of Canada. I live in Toronto where I work for Obsidian Theatre Company as the Metcalf Artistic Director Intern.  I also steer ad-hoc entity Groundwork Redux - an ever-evolving gathering of artists and projects - creating original art, performance, and community activations. www.groundworkredux.com.

Theatre credits include: as performer: The First Stone (New Harlem Productions, Buddies in Bad Times, GCTC), The Bridge (2b, Neptune, Obsidian) receiving a Merritt Award nomination for outstanding performance in a supporting role, Risky Phil (YPT), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Pacific Opera Victoria); as playwright, co-producer, and performer: speaking of sneaking (Why Not, Groundwork Redux) receiving 5 Dora Award nominations including outstanding new play, outstanding production, and outstanding performer.

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard

Playwright

Donna-Michelle St. Bernard aka Belladonna the Blest is an emcee, playwright and agitator. Her main body of work, the 54ology, includes: Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, Salome’s Clothes, Dark Love, Gas Girls, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses and Diggers.  Other offerings include theatre for young audiences (Reaching For Starlight, Geordie Productions) opera libretti (Oubliette, Forbidden and Nucleosynthesis, Tapestry Opera), collaborative works (They Say He Fell with Nir Bareket for Pandemic Theatre, The House You Build with Circle of Voices for Gordon Tootoosis Nikaniwin Theatre) and weird reflections (Thought Residency, Spiderwebshow).  DM is currently an associate artist at lemonTree Creations and artistic director of New Harlem Productions.

Dorothy A. Atabong

Mom

Dorothy A. Atabong is an award-winning Actor-Writer-Director-Producer. Theatre Credits: Volcano Theatre’s, “Africa Trilogy” at the Toronto Luminato Arts Festival, The Overwhelming at The Canadian Stage Company.

TV credits: The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu/MGM), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC, UK TV), Mayday (Discovery Channel), Coping (Theatrical release), and Degrassi. National Commercial credits: Bell Let’s Talk Suicide, and PSAs for Stephen Lewis Foundation – help fight AIDS in Africa.

As a Writer/Director, her short film Sound Of Tears, screened at over 45 film festivals worldwide and won multiple awards: The Africa Movie Academy Award; Platinum Remi at WorldFest-Houston. Her recent short film, Eye of the Veil, has won Best Writer and was just nominated for a Golden Sheaf Award.

Dorothy directed CBC’s 21 Black Futures – Season 3 Ep. 5. She is the winner of the 2020 Cayle Chernin Award, and is mentored by Director Atom Egoyan. She was selected for the 2022 Netflix/Banff Diversity of Voices.

Des’ree Gray

Costume Designer

Des'ree Gray is a Toronto based Costume Designer with experience in film and theatre. She is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University's Production Design Program and takes pride in her abilities in all stages of the design process.

Work: Assistant Costume Designer for Otîhêw (Shakespeare in the Ruff); Assistant Costume Designer for Little Women (Stratford Festival); Assistant Costume Designer for 1851: Spirit & Voice (SoulPepper Theatre); Designer for Designing The Revolution (Theatre Passe Muraille); Costume Designer for Chloe=Catalyst (Culchaworks Art Collective); Key Makeup Artist for The Barber of Seville (UofT Opera); Head of Wardrobe and Makeup for Transform T.O (ARCA Productions).

Online: Instagram @desreegraydesigns; Website www.desreegraydesigns.ca

Heather Bellingham

Assistant Stage Manager

Heather has worked in stage management on 80+ shows throughout Canada and internationally, ranging from small-scale Fringe productions, to pieces in festivals such as World Pride and Panamania, to large scale shows at the Stratford Festival and for Mirvish. She won a Harold Award in 2021. Additionally, Heather is an apprentice producer at New Harlem Productions. She has stage managed a private performance for royalty. Credits at heatherbellingham.wordpress.com Follow @blue84HB

Indrit Kasapi

Choreographer

Born in Albania, Indrit has made Tkarón:to his home since 2000. He is the Founding Artistic Producer for lemonTree creations and Artistic Producer for Theatre Passe Muraille. lemonTree creations focuses on queer works, and Indrit has produced, acted in, choreographed and directed several critically acclaimed and award winning productions, including a national tour for MSM [men seeking men].
As the Artistic Producer of Canada’s original alternative theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Indrit continues to develop exciting new theatrical voices while also focusing on national and international touring for the company. He’s an Acting graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, a 2018 Harold Award Winner and a 2020 Dora Nominated performer. It has been a privilege to work on The First Stone with such an incredible group of artists.

Ingrid Gayle

Chorus

Award-winning entrepreneur and artist Ingrid Gayle has long been a lover of the arts and expressive movement. She has explored different genres of dance, including African dance, but found a sense of freedom and flow after spending time in India and experiencing the deep connection between spirituality and movement in Indian culture.

Ingrid is also the Founder & CEO of STEM the Gap Academy, an organization that empowers more girls to pursue careers in STEM fields. Now, in addition to her successful career in business, Ingrid is taking her first steps as a performer in theatre, bringing her passion for creativity and expression to the stage.

Jackie Chau

Set Designer

Jackie has worked as a set and costume designer for over 200 productions and is a production designer and art director for film and television.  Selected theatre design credits include: The Hours That Remain, Serving Elizabeth, The Gig (Theatre Aquarius) Annie Mae’s Movement, Almighty Voice and His Wife,  Tombs of the Vanishing Indian, From Thine Eyes, HUFF (NEPA), Gas Girls, (New Harlem Productions), Lady Sunrise, Wildfire, The Waltz (Factory Theatre), The Swearing Jar (Prairie Theatre Exchange), Fish Eyes Trilogy (GCTC), Moment, Dissidents, Oil, Gloria, Martyr (ARC Theatre), 39 Steps, Oraltorio (Soulpepper) and The Komagata Maru Incident (Stratford Festival). 

Jackie was named in NOW magazine's Top 10 Theatre Artists of 2009, nominated for 3 Virginia and Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design, nominated for a Saskatoon Area Theatre (SAT) award, Winnipeg Theatre Award, and has received 9 Dora nominations for outstanding set and costume design. She is also teaching Theatrical Design at the University of Toronto.

Joy Mwandemange

Chorus

Joy Mwandemange, AKA Thandizo, is a Malawian actress and musical artist who graduated from Carleton University with a B.Mus (Hons) with a specialization in Musical Theatre Voice. Her love of performing also extends to rapping, singing, directing and writing. Joy has a passion for creating and participating in theatre and art that speaks to her experiences, culture and principles and so she gravitates to art that portrays and celebrates the Black experience in all its forms. 

She is grateful to have been able to play a part in creating this village and telling this story with such care and consideration for the art, the people and the subject matter. She hopes to continue lending her voice to many more stories, undertold, new and old.

Kendelle Parks

Chorus

Kendelle Parks (she/her) is a Black Canadian actor and theatre artist, based in Toronto. She is a recent graduate from the acting program at Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson), and is thrilled to be returning to The First Stone here in Ottawa, after being part of the Toronto premier. Kendelle recognizes the power of theatre to allow people to be seen and understood in unexpected ways. She cherishes each opportunity to grow in her craft and contribute to the ever-expanding landscape of the arts; she is especially grateful to do it with this group of people.

Maddie Bautista

Music Composition & Sound Design

In the daytime, you can catch Maddie creating and shaping sound in iconic theatres across the country – from composing original music in the earliest stages of new work development, to tuning systems with live musicians and mid-sized casts. 

Her composition work takes listeners across the bounds of genre and form. Her hands are dirty with the creation of new performance work, such as Noche Buena with Jennifer Villaverde -- a Filipino-Canadian Christmas musical, and this show you are seeing tonight.

After the sun goes down, she moonlights as half of xLq – a queer pop performance duo who tours across the country with their daring, interactive theatre… and bizarre, grungy drag.

While she is not creating, Maddie is an educator. She is a big fan and alumni of the Paprika Festival where she is currently facilitating the Creators’ Unit with xLq. Find her at @xLqpopart and www.maddiebautista.com

Megan Legesse

Chorus | Co-Dance Captain

Megan is an actor and mover, born and based in Toronto, Ontario. She loves rainy mornings and brass in every song she hears. She is excited about her debut with the GCTC, and continuing the work of The First Stone. She trained at York University's Acting Conservatory. Gratitude to the fam, Alicia and Yvette.

THEATRE: The First Stone (New Harlem Productions/Buddies), The Breath Between (Summerworks), Lion Womxn (Summerworks). FILM/NEW MEDIA: Gone, Fanclub, Keeper of the Cup, Black Deer in Blizzard. UPCOMING: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Canadian Stage).

She also dabbles in directing: Swallow This Skin (Toronto Fringe Festival) BOOM! (Rose Coloured Theatre/Paprika Festival/Obsidian), nowhen (Assistant Director) (Canadian Stage/Summerworks).

Micah Jondel DeShazer

Chorus

Micah Jondel DeShazer is honored to be collaborating with this beautiful ensemble of Black creators for his debut on the GCTC stage. Hailing from NYC, Micah is an arts administrator, director, award-winning performer and recent transplant to the Canadian theatre scene. A special thanks to Yvette for her grace, vision and precision, to Sarah W. for welcoming him to audition for this work, and OB for your uplifting presence and efficiency in running this incredibly polished production. Much love to his God, amazing family, best friend Anthony & incomparably loving fiancé Crystal. Cherished credits include: Tempest (Company of Fools), Matilda (CTM), Passing Strange (iTheatre Collaborative) & Native Son (Stray Cat Theatre, Best Actor).

Michael-Lamont Lytle

Grandad

Michael-Lamont is excited to be a part of this production. Born to a performing family in Springfield, Ohio, his father Johnny was a jazz vibist and his aunt Ada Lee sang with both the Count Basie and Duke Ellington Orchestras. He moved to Canada over  30 years ago to forge his own path. He has performed on stage  with everyone from Cirque du Soleil to Céline Dion. He was also part of the original Canadian casts of both Disney’s Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King, the latter of which he was the first POC actor to perform in the role of Scar. He has also performed in film and television with many noted artists such as Octavia Spencer and Eartha Kitt. Michael-Lamont dedicates this and all of his performances to his mother Barbara Lytle and to his husband D’Arcy McLenaghen.

Michelle Ramsay

Original Lighting Designer

At GCTC: Plan B

Recent designs include: Redbone Coonhound (Tarragon Theatre/Imago Theatre); Martyr (ARC); The Waltz, among men (Factory Theatre); 9 to 5: The Musical (Capitol Theatre); The Doctors Dilemma (Shaw Festival); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theatre Rusticle).

Michelle has received eight Dora Awards, a SATAward, the 2008 Pauline McGibbon Award, and was a finalist for the 2021 Siminovitch Prize. She is on the Board of the Associated Designers of Canada. 

Nawa Nicole Simon

Girl

Toronto-born multi-talent Nawa Nicole Simon has a passion for performing and creative community participation, which began as a teen participant in Fresh Arts.

She attended Humber College’s Theatre Performance Program, and soon after appeared in the Hart House production of Angelique.

Her stage roles include her Dora nominated role as Lola in the Dora winning play Gas Girls, Uma in New Harlem's production of The First Stone in Toronto and most recently took the lead role as Girl in the remount on Ottawa at the Great Canadian Theatre Company.

Nawa’s film and television work include the award-winning Ruby Skye P.I. (Outstanding Supporting Actress – Interactive Narrative Comedy), Forensic Factor (Discovery Channel), Steadfast: The messenger and the message ( Cannes Festival 2023) and most recently playing Eli in Roseneath Theatres 'Taking Care of Maman' directed by Djennie Laguerre.

Oluwakayode Sodunke

Chorus

OLUWAKAYODE SODUNKE has more than 2 decades of experience working with prestigious organizations, including, among others, the National Theater of Nigeria, the Crown Troupe of Africa, Renegade Theatre, and KWLT. He has both  Master's and a Bachelor's degree in Theater. In 2022, he made his Stratford Festival debut in Death and The King's Horseman as an onstage voice and instrumentalist. He has earned several awards as a creative director, dance choreographer, and  instrumentalist. This is Oluwakayode's GCTC debut.  

Paul Smith

Kidogo

Paul Smith (he/il, they/iel) is a Thursday-born actor, creator, and director from Stittsville, ON., based in Toronto, ON., exploring how narratives that center marginalized bodies can be adapted into stories of reclamation, innovation, and protest. Outside of their work in education at Blue Bird Theatre Collective and previous administrative work at PACT, Paul’s recent projects include The First Stone (New Harlem Productions, GCTC, Buddies in Bad Times), Anansi v. God(s) (TACTICS), Bush of Ghosts (Blue Bird Theatre Collective), BLACKPenTHER (Cahoots Theatre), the Artist Mentorship Program (Black Theatre Workshop & the National Arts Centre), and cepheloparty! (Paprika Festival’s Creators Unit). When not thinking about the symbiotic relationship between theatre and film, Paul is building his practice through the principles of Sankofa, and listening to Frank Ocean (on repeat).

Pulga Muchochoma

Choreographer

Pulga Muchochoma was born in Mozambique. His dance career and training began in Quelimane with Montes Namuli Dance Company.

In 2006, he came to Toronto with the company for the International AIDS Conference.

With Montes Namuli/Shakespeare Link Canada, he performed in several shows in venues in Toronto and Mozambique. When Montes Namuli returned to Mozambique, Muchochoma stayed in Toronto to study at the School of Toronto Dance Theatre .

In 2009 he joined the company Toronto Dance Theatre where he danced for 11 seasons under the artistic leadership of Christopher House.

With TDT, Pulga worked with many local and international artists and he also participated in the 2015 Opening ceremony of the Toronto Panam Games, with Cirque du Soleil and NBS. He’s also the creator and the founder of Pulga Dance since 2015.

Rachel Shaen

Co-Lighting Designer 

Rachel Shaen is a lighting designer and artist based in Toronto. Recent lighting design projects include This Lip-Sync I’ll Lament Until I’m Born Again (Social Growl, dir./choreo Riley Sims), Festival designer for the 2023 Rhubarb Festival (dir. Clayton Lee), and assistant lighting designer to Bonnie Beecher on The Man That Got Away (dir. Peter Hinton). Rachel’s artistic interests include non-traditional light sources, experimental film, and lighting queer raves and nightlife. In addition to their design practice, Rachel currently works as a house technician at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. 

Sarah O’Brien

Stage Manager

Sarah is utterly thrilled to be back in her hometown, in the theatre where the big things started. For GCTC in the very distant past, Sarah served as the Apprentice on Waiting For The Parade, Wit, Whale Riding Weather, Suburban Motel, and The Begats. Recent credits include Anatol (George Brown Theatre School), ProArteDanza’s fall season, last autumn’s Buddies In Bad Times premiere of The First Stone, and The Hobbit for Festival Antigonish Summer Theatre. Upcoming projects include some spring madness at Canada’s National Ballet School, a twenty-second summer in Nova Scotia in both Antigonish and Halifax, and Theatre Rusticle’s newest adventure. This is very much for the beloved crowd at the Ranch, with extra gratitude to Dad.  Much love, as always, to Duncan, and the most enormous thanks to Jayne.

Sarah Waisvisz

Chorus Director

Sarah Waisvisz is a playwright, director, and multi-disciplinary performer with training in dance and physical theatre (classical ballet, puppetry, acrobatics, stilts, West African dance styles). Her solo script Monstrous was published in Alt.theatre 13.3 and performed at b current’s rock.paper.sistahs festival in Toronto and across Canada and the US. Her surrealist play Heartlines-- about Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore-- had a sold-out run at GCTC in 2022 and will be published in 2023 by Methuen Drama.  She directed Donna-Michelle St. Bernard’s Witness Shift for Obsidian Theatre and CBC Arts as part of the award-winning filmed anthology 21 Black Futures. Sarah is Assistant Professor at the Dan School of Drama and Music at Queen’s University.

Shannon Litzenberger

Assistant Director

Shannon Litzenberger (Tkaronto) is an award-winning dancer, choreographer, director, embodiment facilitator and experienced cultural leader working at the intersection of art, ideas and transformational change. She creates sensory-rich, multi-disciplinary performance experiences that animate our relationship to land, community, and the forgotten wisdom of the body. She has been an invited resident artist at Soulpepper Theatre, Toronto Dance Theatre, Harbourfront Centre, Atlantic Ballet Theatre, Banff Centre, Remai Modern and Memorial University. She is also a frequent collaborator with the wind in the leaves collective. Her recent work World After Dark was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award. www.shannonlitzenberger.com  

Tsholo Khalema

Ancestor

Tsholo Khalema is an artist currently living and creating art in Tkaronto, and a multi-hyphenate of the arts who makes it his duty to ensure his passion for social justice is interwoven into his artistic practices. Thrilled to be making his Great Canadian Theatre Company debut. Selected Film and TV: why the last man as Jack, SortOf as Nurse; selected theatre credits include Cake as Mabo, Lilies Or The Revival Of A Romantic Drama as Simone, Musical Theatre The Drowsy Chaperone as Trixx, Little Shop Of Horrors as Christal. Currently the Facilitator for VUKA at Theatre Passe Murraille. Coming up catch him at Soulpepper Theatre Company as assistant director for Sizwe Banzi is Dead. To keep connected and find out what’s next for Tsholo, checkout www.tsholovisions.com

Taija Shoné-Chung

Uma

TAIJA SHONÉE CHUNG is a Jamaican-Chinese multi-disciplinary artist, based in Toronto. A passionate actor, mover and creator, she's enthusiastic about exploring the intersection of theatre and film to highlight the talent and voices of her community. Her theatre credits include: The First Stone (dir. Yvette Nolan), The Humans (dir. Chris Stanton) and The Green Bird (dir. Adam Palozza). When not on stage, she has extended her talents to TV, commercial work and short films. She is excited and humbled to step into her new role as Uma in this iteration of The First Stone. 

Tifanni Kenny

Chorus

Tifanni is smitten to finally be able to perform live theatre again. After a long grueling hiatus the whole world suffered, she is ecstatic to be performing as part of the chorus for The First Stone.

She has been in shows such as Legally Blonde: The Musical, 9 to 5, and had the pleasure of taking on the iconic role of Motormouth Maybelle in Hairspray. Tifanni enjoyed playing Gary Coleman in Tototoo's Avenue Q and let's not forget tackling the role of Matt Damon in the play Matt and Ben written by Mindy Kaling.

Uche Ama

Auntie, Teacher | Co-Dance Captain 

Uche Ama is a Black queer theatre arts and vocal performer born on the stolen Indigenous land Tkaronto. Deeply passionate about cathartic art that intrigues, creates discomfort and makes you ask questions, they are an anti-oppression facilitator, a 2019 Dora nominated graduate of the Music Theatre Performance program at St Clair College and an alumni of the prestigious 'Broadway Theatre Project'. Previous performances include 21 Black Futures (Obsidian Theatre with ‘CBC Gem), The Negroes Are Congregating (Piece Of Mine Arts), Obeah Opera (Asah Productions) and The First Stone premiere in Tkaronto (New Harlem Productions).