BIOS
KAGAN GOH
Producer, Spoken Word Artist, Playwright, Actor
Originally from Singapore, Kagan Goh is a Vancouver-based multidisciplinary artist: published author, spoken word poet, playwright, actor, mental health advocate and activist. Kagan has been published in numerous anthologies, periodicals and magazines. Select Books in Singapore published his first book, Who Let in the Sky? Goh is also an award-winning documentary filmmaker with a number of releases, including the award-winning Mind Fuck (1996) and Stolen Memories (2012). His films have been broadcast on national television and gained entry into respected film festivals across Canada. Kagan was diagnosed with manic depression on Valentine’s Day in 1993, at the age of 23, and has struggled and lived with it for close to 25 years. Kagan is committed to putting his creative talents - writing, spoken word, acting, filmmaking and storytelling, to good use by educating people about mental health issues and fighting the stigma against people with mental health challenges. His personal mission is to educate people about mental health issues and fight the stigma against the mentally ill.
SUSANNA UCHATIUS
Collaborative Creator
Susanna Uchatius has worked over 35 years directing, writing, acting and teaching theatre. Her BFA is from SFU School for Contemporary Arts, voice at Banff Centre for the Arts with Richard Armstrong, the UBC National Voice Intensive, and work with Anne Bogart of Siti Theatre NY to name a few. She is an Equity, CAEA and IFTR (International Federation of Theatre Research) member. Susanna has been the Artistic Director of Theatre Terrific, Western Canada’s longest running inclusive theatre company in Vancouver, since 2005. Having collaboratively developed over 27 professional, community and site-specific productions. Awards include: Nightswimming Pure Research Award for voice exploration, Metro Vancouver Inclusion Through Innovation Award, Jessie nomination for Vancouver NOW 2016 “For persistent and ongoing commitment to inclusive casting and creative processes.” The Glass Box was published in Playwrights Canada Press, scenes from Egni’s Eye were juried to perform at the School of Theatre, Performance and Cultural Policy Studies, University of Warwick, England and Roy & Janet was a finalist for the Vancouver Fringe Festival Risk Award. Susanna is honored to collaboratively create inclusive theatre with the voices, unique perceptions and lived stories of humanity in all its diverse, mosaic wonder.
JIVESH PARASRAM
Artistic Advisor, Mentor
Jivesh is an award-winning multi-disciplinary artist, and facilitator of Indo-Caribbean descent. His work has toured Nationally and Internationally. Jiv is the founding Artistic Producer of Pandemic Theatre, and became the Artistic Director of Rumble Theatre following three years as the Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille. He was a member of the Cultural Leader Lab with the Banff Centre and Toronto Arts Council. His public service work has included collaborations with the Ad Hoc Assembly, The Canadian Commission for UNESCO, and as an advisor to the National Arts Centre. His current cultural practice centres decolonization through aesthetics.
MINAH LEE
Accessibility Dramaturg
Minah is an interdisciplinary producer & curator, multimedia-performance artist, visual artist, and teacher. She has been honored to work on unceded Coast Salish Territories both as an artist and curatorial assistant for Digital Carnival. Minah’s collaboration with Cinevolution began as an artist for the organization’s site-specific multimedia festival in 2016. Since then, she has also been working with Cinevolution’s curatorial team on educational programs and community events. Minah traces her passion for theatre and accessible art back to her experience as a facilitator in 2006, when she played a creative role in children’s education program at Korea University Museum. In this role, she provided inclusive art classes for children living with financial barriers or disabilities. Meanwhile, she participated in forum theatre workshops for teachers at Theater of the Oppressed-해(解) in Seoul. Minah holds an MA in Comparative Media Arts and a BFA in Theatre performance from SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts. She has created and performed as part of many innovative performing arts festivals including rEvolver(2014), Outsider Arts (2017&2018), and Caminos (2017). She has also workshopped her collective theatrical projects in residencies such as Boca del Lupo’s Climate Change Project (2016) and The Cultch’s summer residency (2015). Minah recently published her script “Mad Woman’s ESL Poetry” in Canadian Theatre Review.
YUN-JOU CHANG
Project Manager and Co-Producer
Yun-Jou Chang is a writer, translator, project administrator, governance professional, and community engagement specialist. Rooted in grassroots organizing, with a background in literature and social sciences, Yun-Jou is drawn to language, literature and the stories that we tell, and how they inform our ability to connect with one another, form groups and build community. Since joining Cinevolution in 2012, she has worked with the organization to conceptualize, research, curate and develop a diverse range of artistic and community programs including: Your Kontinent, DocuAsia Forum, Digital Carnival, You(th)+Me(dia) Day, Underwater Chinatown, Art Talking Women, Voice of the River, and Beyond Spectacle.
SCOTT SWAN
Dramaturg, Ex-Artistic Director
Scott Swan, M.F.A. (Directing), Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, is the Artistic Director of the Seacoast Theatre Centre and Principal and Head Teacher of Seacoast Studios. Scott has been a theatre director and teacher for over thirty years, winning numerous awards for his work. He was the Founding Artistic Director of the Kay Meek Centre for the Performing Arts as well as for Northern Light Theatre in Edmonton, and the Artistic Director of Festival Lennoxville in Quebec. Select directing engagements include: The National Arts Centre, The Shaw Festival, Manitoba Theatre Centre, Alberta Theatre Projects The Citadel Theatre, The Vancouver Playhouse, and Bard on the Beach. Scott has had two shows optioned for Broadway, served as a National Radio Drama Producer for CBC, and has numerous stage and television credits. Since the founding of Seacoast Studios in 1993, a large number of Scott’s former students have found work professionally in both Canada and the US, and have been accepted to highly acclaimed theatre programs all over the world. He is a member of the professional company, and the founder (and a member) of the Mentorship Program at the Studios.
MARY JANE PAQUETTE
Composer and Sound Designer
Mary Jane is a trans, mixed heritage (Algonquin Cree/Dutch Canadian) composer, sound designer, musician, conductor and educator based in Vancouver. She has worked with Theatre Terrific in a number of productions, classes and research projects, developing an artistic practice that creates with radical inclusion. Recently she has collaborated with The Only Animal, The Arts Club Theatre Company, Frank Theatre, Itsazoo Productions, Savage Society, Vision Impure, The Belfry Theatre, Alley Theatre, Neworld Theatre, Sugarworks Theatre, Caravan Stage Company, Move: The Company, and Rice and Beans Theatre. She is a co-founder of the CITT Award winning Flip The Switch Collective. She has presented design work at the 2015 Prague Quadrennial and the 2017 World Stage Design festival in Taipei. She is a 4 time Jessie Award nominee, as well as a recipient of the BC Arts Council Early Career Development Program. She is a member of ADC and graduate of the School of Contemporary Arts at SFU.
CANDELARIO ANDRADE
Video Designer
Candelario Andrade is a video editor and media designer. Since 2000, Cande has designed video and sound for theatre, performance, music and dance in México and Vancouver. Recent credits include video and sound design for Motherload; Arts Club Theatre's The Mountaintop and Horseshoes, Hand Grenades' This Stays in the Room, and Studio 58’s Wilderness. Other designs include productions with: Patasola Dance Company, Mascall Dance Company, Theatre Replacement, Electric Company, Neworld, Rumble, Leaky Heaven, Theatre Conspiracy, Boca del Lupo, Urban Ink, Theatre for Living and Pi Theatre. Cande is co-Artistic director of his own theatre company Rough House Productions.
SALOMÉ NIETO
Butoh Dancer/Choreographer
Renowned for her emotionally-charged performances, audiences have described pataSola co-founder, Salome Nieto, as ethereal, evocative and enchanting. Her work explores the essence of Butoh and the integration of spirituality with her cultural identity. An accomplished dancer/choreographer, Salome has 23 years of specialized Butoh training with internationally-renowned instructors. She has danced extensively with Kokoro Dance Company. As well as executing her own works in Vancouver, Salome has performed in Argentina, Mexico, Nicaragua, Thailand, England and Poland. Recent collaborations include projects with Butoh Masters Gustavo Collini-Sartor (Argentina) and Valentin Tzin (Russia), Dianne Farnsworth, Donna Redlick Dance and Poet Kagan Goh (Canada). She is the recipient of the 2017 Vancouver International Dance Festival Choreographic Award in recognition of her contribution to the art of contemporary dance.
ANGELO MORONI
Musician/Composer, Social Theatre Facilitator
With more than fifteen years practicing Theatre and Music, Angelo has performed in numerous theatre and
modern dance companies, including in experimental music ensembles. Furthermore, he has given social theatre workshops to kids, teens, adults, the visually impaired, Amnesty International, and to educators at UBC in Canada and Mexico. In Surviving Samsara, Angelo, the musician/composer, has also given Kagan Goh (actor) directorial support with his written pieces.
JUJUBE JACINTO
Rapper, Stage Manager, Audio Visual Designer
Jujube Jacinto is a self-taught lyricist, performer, and visual artist living with bipolar. Through her work, she heals personal trauma, inspiring others to do the same. As stage manager in Surviving Samsara, she assists with all technical aspects of the production: successful timing and delivery, costumes, props, projector, and lighting.
RENA DEL PIEVE GOBBI
Filmmaker, Production Assistant, Audio Visual Designer
Rena Del Pieve Gobbi is a Vancouver Artist and Filmmaker. Her work has screened in 15 countries and opened for the Images Film Festival Gala in Toronto as well as the Canadian Images Gala at the VIFF IN Vancouver. Rena was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1993. Her art work is concerned with issues surrounding PTSD and sexual violence. Rena collaborated with Kagan Goh on the Surviving Samsara
piece photographically five years ago. She is very excited to continue collaborating on this material. “My feeling is that work that demonstrates the experiences of mental illness are crucial to raising awareness.” To this end Rena has made a video, seclusion, out of photographs shot on a camera smuggled into a psychiatric
hospital when she was in her early 20s and a painting depicting herself locked in the seclusion room for seven days. The video is narrated with three journal entries woven together from the same time. An improvisational soundtrack accompanies the narrative and brings to life the hallucinated monkey in the next room.
NICHOLAS EPPERSON
Cellist, composer
Nicholas Epperson is an accomplished cellist and composer. He studied music at the Vancouver Academy of Music, Simon Fraser University and the University of British Columbia. He has worked at Ye Olde Music Scoo’ on Granville Island. He resides in Vancouver, BC.
FRASER MACKENZIE
Singer-songwriter
Fraser Mackenzie is a local singer-songwriter who has recorded and toured with Thurston 5, Thurston Revival and The Blue Alarm. He is involved with the Arts at large and continues to paint, write and record music. Fraser is currently employed by Coast Mental Health. Fraser is also an active member of the BC Mood Disorders Association and is a founding member of The Kaleidoscope, a peer-support initiative at UBC for students/faculty/community members helping to provide resources and support for those challenged with mental health and addiction issues. It is with great pleasure that Fraser takes part in this evening’s explorations.