IZAD ETEMADI, Writer & Performer
Izad Etemadi is an Iranian-Canadian actor and writer based out of Toronto. He was a resident of the 2021/2022 CBC Actor’s Conservatory at the Canadian Film Centre and the recipient of the 2017 Emerging Queer Artist award from Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
On-screen credits include Orphan Black: Echoes (AMC), Ghosts (CBS), Overlord and the Underwoods (CBC/Nickelodeon), Revenge of the Black Best Friend (CBC Gem).
In 2022, he originated the role of Samuel in the new Canadian musical Grow (from the producers of Come From Away) at The Grand Theatre and returned later that season to play Buddy the Elf in Elf the Musical. His short film Plant Daddy won the 2023 Queer Your Stories short film competition, garnering a screening at the prestigious Inside Out Festival.
Outside of acting and writing, he has over five years of experience working in casting for film and television.
BIOS - IZAD ETEMADI: LET ME EXPLAIN
CARIN LOWERISON, Producer
Carin (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Managing Director of Green Light Arts. She has been working as a professional theatre producer, arts administrator, educator, choreographer and performer for nearly 20 years. Before co-founding Green Light Arts, she was the General Manager and Producer of fu-GEN Theatre Company in Toronto, the longest running professional Asian Canadian theatre company in Canada. Other: Carin began her theatre career as a performer and is a member of the Canadian Actors' Equity Association. She is an occasional sessional instructor for the Theatre & Performance Program at the University of Waterloo and teaches regularly at The Branches Yoga. She has been nominated for the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Award three years in a row. Instagram: @carinlowerison
ALEX JODI VERGE, Stage Manager
Alex Jodi Verge is a producer, stage manager, performer, and general theatre nerd based out of Toronto. They have produced such romps as The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee and The Last 5 Years, and stage managed and produced the play Get a Dog, written by the lovely Jonathan Kline and directed by the exuberant Amanda Cordner. As a performer, a couple favorite credits include Christine Colgate in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and, most recently, the Juliet alternate in Sunbeam Theatre’s Romeo and Juliet. They drink too much tea, are always covered in hair from their little dog, and will manage to pull out a board game at any gathering. She is pleased as punch to be a part of Let Me Explain! @alex_jodi_verge
HELEN YUNG, Set Designer
Helen Yung is a scenographer and inter/transdisciplinary artist. She has designed set, costumes, installations and spaces for the Düsseldorf Schauspielhaus, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, the red light district theatre company, Open Heart Surgery Theatre Company, The Independent Aunties, Stand Up Dance, Bad Muse Productions, Dreamwalker Dance Company, TO Dance Community Love-In, and the Storm &nd Stress Company. She makes exhibitions, installations, interactions, interventions and performances that have been presented around the world. Helen has received three Toronto Dora Theatre award nominations (Scenic Design, Lighting, and Production). She also leads a small experimental artistic and social research group called the Laboratory for Artistic Intelligence.
PAUL CEGYS, Lighting Designer
Paul (he/him) is excited to be back with GLA. He is a lighting and projection designer whose work extends into mixed-reality scenographies. He has over twenty-five years of experience working in theatre and opera with La Monnaie/De Munt, Canadian Opera Company, Canadian Stage Company, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Hamilton Place and Theatre Aquarius. Recent work includes The Home VR (Digital Oral Histories for Reconciliation), Blue Hour MR/VR (Prague Quadrennial), and Foams (Venice Biennale, Finnish Research Pavilion). Upholding his commitment to ecological imperatives, he integrates his artistic work with a sustainability practice, having gained an MSc. in Sustainability Science from Lunds University, Sweden. Paul is on Faculty at the University of Waterloo, and is a PhD candidate in the School of Arts, Design and Architecture at Aalto University in Finland. www.paulcegys.com
JACQUELINE MELDRUM, Marketing Coordinator
Jacqueline Meldrum (they/she/he) is a multi-disciplinary artist, communications professional, and University of Waterloo Theatre and Performance student. Previous GLA Marketing Credits: "This Is How We Got Here" (2022), "Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers" (2023). Jacqueline has been the Head of Props for "EVERYBODY" (2022) and the Head of Costumes for "Portia's Julius Caesar" (2023) at the University of Waterloo. She has performed her original poetry at the Pinch Cabaret, and designed and created costumes for numerous smaller productions in her hometown of Ottawa. They are delighted to be back for a third production with Green Light Arts, and would like to thank their parents and KW found family for their constant love and support. @jmeldrumpoetry on Instagram.
MATT WHITE, Director & Dramaturg
Matt (he/him) is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Green Light Arts. Prior to Green Light Arts Matt was the Associate Producer and then General Manager of Necessary Angel Theatre Company, and he has also held administrative positions with The Company Theatre and Factory Theatre in Toronto and Theatre & Company in Kitchener. Directing credits for Green Light Arts: This is How We Got Here, WE COULD BE, Touch, Will You Be My Friend, The Amish Project, Andy Warhol presents: Valerie, You Be Me, Camp Knot-a-Cult, Adam Bailey is on Fire. Other select directing credits: There Are No Gays (workshop, Page1 Productions); #churchtoo (Theatre of the Beat); The Seagull and Eurydice (University of Waterloo); Adam Bailey is on Fire (National Fringe Circuit); Twelfth Night and Hamlet (KW Youth Theatre); Bone Cage (Hart House Theatre), and Eirlys and Eckhart (Cart/Horse Theatre). Matt is currently a sessional instructor for University of Waterloo Theatre and Performance program, Department of Communication Arts and the National Theatre School of Canada.
NADIA URSACKI, Production Manager
Nadia Ursacki is a K-W based Stage Manager, Lighting Designer and Production Manager, but is also known to do many other theatre supporting jobs. She has done lighting design for K-W Musical Productions (Titanic, Spring Awakening), The Singer’s Theatre (Heathers, In the Heights), and Elmira Theatre Company (The Wild Guys); she has done production management and stage managed for Green Light Arts (This is How We Got Here, Touch); and stage management for Lost & Found Theatre (Outside Mullingar, Charles Dickens Writes a Christmas Carol), plus many others over more than twenty years.