Vocalypse - Trudeau Cast and Creative Team

John Lindsay-Botten - Pierre Elliott Trudeau
John is very grateful to be singing this work again, now a fully-staged premiere! Before moving back to the Maritimes in 2004, John Lindsay-Botten had sung both solo work and chorally with numerous churches and organizations including the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Elora Festival Singers, Mississauga Choral Society, The Toronto Jewish Folk Choir and the Nathaniel Dett Chorale. After positions with St. Andrew’s United Church, Calvin Presbyterian Church and Bedford United Church, John is now Music Director at Woodlawn United Church, Dartmouth, and is founder and director of the East Coast Carolling Company. He is also a private instructor in voice and piano. This Mount Allison Music Grad has also sung solo with Opera Nova Scotia, the Bedford Singers, Dartmouth Chorale, Festival Singers of Halifax and King’s College Chapel Choir. John has also appeared at The Halifax Club (Sentimental Journey and Christmas on the Town), and was Music Director for the Capital Health Players (They Came from Eekum Seekum). John wishes to thank his wife Vanessa, as well as Mariella (7) and Barrett (3) for putting up with seeing him a little less this spring. Summer will be different, I assure you. Just watch me….

Ross Thompson – Castro, Mao, Fanon
Ross trained at the University of Calgary, the Banff School of Fine Arts, the University of Toronto and Acadia University. During the early part of his career, Ross’s versatile singing style saw him performing with Calgary Opera, Edmonton Opera, Vancouver’s Theatre Under the Stars, Winnipeg Opera and the Canadian Opera Company as well as symphony orchestras across Canada. Since moving to Nova Scotia he has appeared with Symphony Nova Scotia have included "Madama Butterfly", "HMS Pinafore", "The Gondoliers", and Bach's beautiful cantatas "Ich habe genung" and the "Coffee Cantata". Noted for his musical theatre stylings, he has been featured often under Howard Cable’s baton in the SNS “Pops” series. Other more recent appearances include: Tevye in “Fiddler on the Roof”, Harold Hill in the “Music Man”, a recital of Beethoven’s folk song arrangements for the Musique Royale concert series, featured soloist with the Nova Scotia Opera Association, baritone soloist in Acadia University’s production of “Carmina Burana” and an appearance with the Scarborough Symphony in their “Pops” series. He is featured with the "Rhapsody Quintet" on their first CD, “The Melody Lingers On”. In the spring of 2002, he was a recipient of the Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence. More recently, his work was acknowledged in the Nova Scotia legislature.

Megan Johnson - Yu Xuanji (Poet)
Mezzo- soprano Megan Johnson recently graduated from Acadia University with a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance. During her time at Acadia, Megan was a member of the Singing Theatre Ensemble and performed in numerous productions including the operatic review Smooth Opera-tors, Charles Gounod’s Romeo and Juliette and the musical Working! Other highlights include the role of Katisha in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, and the role of the Witch in Humperdink’s opera Hansel and Gretel, for which she received praise from Opera Canada magazine (September 2009). She has participated in the Nova Scotia Youth Choir, as well as representing the province as an alto in the National Youth Choir of Canada in 2008. Megan currently sings with the Halifax Camerata Singers under the direction of Jeff Jodrey. She recently performed with the Bedford Baptist Singers and the Kings Chorale as the alto soloist in Karl Jenkins’ The Armed Man under the direction of Bill Perrot. This spring she will be performing the role of Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore with the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of Nova Scotia. Megan is currently studying with Janice Jackson and will be beginning a Masters of Music in Voice at the University of Ottawa this fall.

Karen Myatt - Simone Cixous (Reporter)

Graduate of The Randolph (TO) and American Musical and Dramatic (NYC) Academies. Karen was chosen to be one of BROADWAY'S RISING STARS in the Broadway Summer Series at Town Hall in New York City, directed by Tony Nominated Emily Skinner. Karen is co-founder, director and performer with The Concordia Company in LAZOS; a bilingual revue performed in Los Cabos and Mexico City. Other New York credits include Anna Darvulia in Bathory with Music Director Mark Hartman, Rita La Porta in Lucky Stiff with Company 1B and a featured performer in Gail Dennison's series: Judy’s House as Abingdon. Canadian Credits include: Bricktop in Red Hot and Cole, Casilda in The Gondoliers, Ronnette in Little Shop of Horrors, Estragon in Waiting For Godot and Jo in Independence. Thanks to Janice Jackson and Vocalypse Productions for this very special opportunity!

Janice Jackson - Margaret Trudeau
Janice is one of Canada’s foremost interpreters of contemporary vocal repertoire. She has sung over 170 world premieres of new works, many written specifically for her, and performed in modern music festivals and concert halls around the world – Beijing, Paris, Vienna, Amsterdam, Hamburg, Torino, Toronto, Montreal, and more. Jackson has been a frequent guest artist with modern music ensembles in Canada, Europe, and China, and she has made numerous radio recordings with Dutch radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She has produced and starred in 4 sold out solo shows combining contemporary music and theatre in Halifax. In 2007 her solo project Wolf Moon (a Vocalypse Production) featuring 4 dramatic solos was premiered to sold out audiences in Halifax, Nova Scotia. In March 2007 she toured North America with Victoria’s Aventa Ensemble. In September 2007 she performed in Live Art Productions’ world premiere performance of Ear I Am, choreographed by Belgium’s Barbara Mavro Thalassitis. This past October she returned from The Netherlands where she sang 4 world premieres in a production entitled “The Wahlwiller Passion”. Her 2008 concert Monologue of a Lunatic was recorded by CBC Radio 2 for the Signal. Her latest show Vonda de Ville in Temporal Follies composed by Lukas Pearse received rave reviews. She is the Artistic Director of Vocalypse Productions.

Jenn Hewitt - Stage Manager
Jenn is a theatre technician who loves it all, and can’t decide which road to take. The conclusion was to not decide, but enjoy. She has just finished her second season as the Head Technician for Neptune’s Studio Theatre, and will be entering her 5^th season as Stage Manager in Residence at the Chester Playhouse Summer Theatre Festival. She has also worked with Halifax Dance’s Young Company as Technical Director/Stage Manager (2008), Stage Managed DMV co-op’s How I Learned to Drive and has worked at Neptune Theatre as a scenic painter for the last 4 seasons. Jenn holds a degree in Technical Scenography from Dalhousie University.

Arianne Pollet-Brannen - Costumes
A recent graduate of NSCAD University, Arianne’s exploration of the fashioned body incorporates processes of deconstruction and reconstruction. Typically discarded leather footwear is taken apart to be reconfigured as clothing. Other sculptural constructions involve the recycling of rejected parts of garments. These ‘rejects’ are collaged and reconstructed with embroidery and acrylic paint to create unorthodox wearable sculpture. Her most recent costume project was for Vonda de Ville in Temporal follies, a Vocalypse Production. One thing that Arianne and Pierre Elliott Trudeau have in common is winning the Governor General's Silver Medal for academic excellence.

Victoria Williams - Lighting Designer
Victoria Williams is an up-and-coming lighting designer, living and working in the maritimes. She attended Dalhousie University for her degree in Technical Scenography. Since completing her studies, she has been working as a lighting technician and stage carpenter on productions such as White Christmas, Happy Days, The Producers, A Christmas Carol, and Rabbit Hole at Halifax's Neptune Theatre. She also toured through Europe and South America with Cirque Du Soleil's Quidam as a lighting technician. Victoria is enjoying being back in Halifax and is excited to be working with Vocalypse Productions on their production of George Elliot Clarke's Trudeau: Long March/Shining Path.

Mary Lou Martin - Director
Mary Lou Martin is a director, choreographer and arts educator who has worked all over the region and beyond. She is the Artistic Director of the Chester Playhouse Summer Theatre Festival and Creative Coordinator at Halifax Dance where she has worked for 30 years. Last fall she was on the directorial team for a production of Margaret Atwood’s Penelopiad, part of Nightwood Theatre’s Director’s Summit in Toronto. She contributed choreography for Vocalypse’s Vonda DeVille.

Troy Adams - Nelson Mandela, Roscoe Robertson, Neruda
Troy was born and raised in the North End of Halifax. He is a Dalhousie University Theatre Graduate. He is no doubt very pleased to be home again this summer and to have yet another opportunity to delve into Mr. Clarke’s words. Recent credits include: OTHELLO in Shakespeare by the Sea, DREAMGIRLS - MTC, The Grand Theatre and Theatre Aquarius, NIGHT FEVER, Theatre St.Denis and Theatre Capitol, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, Neptune Theatre, THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY, Neptune Theatre, RIOT, Neptune Theatre, WHYLAH FALLS, Eastern Front. Film Credits include: ONE HEART BROKEN INTO SONG, CBC and KARMA, Rage productions.

Marty Burt - Director
Marty is from Corner Brook Nfld originally and has been working for Atlantic Canadian Theatre companies for some time, a few of these include, Two Planks and a Passion Theatre, Festival Antigonish, Theatre Nfld and Lab, Live Bait Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, The Irondale Theatre Ensemble, and OneLight Theatre. Marty’s one man show “Mad Dog Racing” directed by Christian Murray, was chosen by Bravo to be part of their Singular series. Marty has directed at the Stephenville theatre festival, he also directed and produced Michael Best’s award winning production “Gay White Trash”. Recently Marty spent several years with “OneLight Theatre” developing and performing their new award winning production “The Veil” which was performed in Halifax, Parrsboro, Toronto, North Vancouver and Iran. Notable roles include “Gershom Born” in the World premier of Alan Coles new musical “Rockbound” based on the Canada Reads selection of the same name by Frank Parker Day, Marty’s most recent directorial work was “Vonda DeVille in Temoral Follies” by Lukas Pierce performed by Janice Jackson.

George Elliott Clarke - Libretto
A revered poet, George Elliott Clarke was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, near the Black Loyalist community of Three Mile Plains, in 1960. A graduate of the University of Waterloo (B.A., Hons.,1984), Dalhousie University (M.A., 1989), and Queen’s University (Ph.D., 1993), he is now the inaugural E.J. Pratt Professor of Canadian Literature at the University of Toronto. An Assistant Professor of English and Canadian Studies at Duke University, North Carolina, 1994-1999, Clarke also served as the Seagrams Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies at McGill University, 1998-1999, and as a Noted Scholar at the University of British Columbia (2002) and as a Visiting Scholar at Mount Allison University (2005). He has also worked as a researcher (Ontario Provincial Parliament, 1982-83), editor (Imprint, University of Waterloo, 1984-85, and The Rap, Halifax, NS, 1985-87), social worker (Black United Front of Nova Scotia, 1985-86), parliamentary aide (House of Commons, 1987-91), and newspaper columnist (The Daily News, Halifax, NS, 1988-89, and The Halifax Herald, Halifax, NS, 1992-). He lives in Toronto, Ontario, but he also owns land in Nova Scotia. His many honours include the Portia White Prize for Artistic Achievement (1998), Governor-General’s Award for Poetry (2001), the National Magazine Gold Medal for Poetry (2001), the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Achievement Award (2004), the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Fellowship Prize (2005), the Dartmouth Book Award for Fiction (2006), the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Poetry (2009), appointment to the Order of Nova Scotia (2006), appointment to the Order of Canada at the rank of Officer (2008), and five honorary doctorates.

DD Jackson - Composer / Music Director / Pianist
D.D. Jackson is a Juno Award-winning jazz pianist and composer for film and television whose work spans 12 CD’s as leader or co-leader (including two for the major label RCA Victor/BMG) featuring almost entirely original material. His most recent CDs are Serenity Song, Suite for New York (a meditation on the events of 9/11), and Sigame (all on the Canadian Justin Time Records label). Jackson performs all over the world with his groups and has also appeared and recorded with some of the most distinguished names in jazz including saxophonists David Murray, James Carter, and drummer Jack Dejohnette. He is also an accomplished classical pianist and has released a recording of Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue on Summit Records. Jackson is also a member of the Manhattan Producers Alliance, an organization of active producers, engineers and composers writing for film & t.v., and recently composed music for "The Wonder Pets" (which just won it's 2nd consecutive Emmy for "Outstanding Musical Direction and Composition"), "3rd & Bird!" (BBC Worldwide), and for Canadian Sinking Ship Productions’ television show "The Ocean Room" (for which he wrote the entire 26-episode underscore). The Canadian-born Jackson is currently a Visiting Lecturer at Hunter College in New York, where he teaches courses in Jazz and Popular Music. For more on D.D., visit ddjackson.com

Paul Simons - Rehearsal Accompanist
Paul has played with local musicians (Don Palmer, NS mass Choir and the Blue Engine String Quartet) as well as visiting artists (Moe Koffman, Shirley Eikhard, and The Shirells). Paul is a teacher at the Maritime Conservatory of Performing Arts and vocal arranger for the Novelty Salesman. He has performed with Janice Jackson in a variety of settings including a concert with Upstream last November, with the Music Room Chamber Music Society last February and his own "The Living Room Series". As a soloist he has frequently performed in the Atlantic Jazz Festival and this past may in Toronto's Distillery Jazz Festival. Paul recently toured the Maritimes with the Acadian musical La Pelagie.