Angela Kemp

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting) with Great Distinction, 2011

Since graduating from the University of Saskatchewan, Angela has worked consistently as an actor, singer, and musician on professional stages throughout the province. She is also a fledgling playwright and director, and was the recipient of the 2014 SATAward for Outstanding Emerging Artist. Angela spent three years as co-host of Mom, I'm a Thespian on CFCR 90.5 fm, during which time she had the opportunity to interview visiting actors, directors, and playwrights from across Canada as well as notable local artists.

Favourite credits include: Us, A Christmas Carol (Globe Theatre); Pride and Prejudice, The Farndale Avenue ... Christmas Carol, Leading Ladies, The Sound of Music (Persephone Theatre); Tent Meeting, Chickens, Hilda’s Yard, Jake and the Kid (Station Arts Centre); Apple, Stop Kiss, Five Women Wearing the Same Dress (Live Five); Richard II, Cymbeline (YXE Shakespeare Lab); The River (Channel Theatre); Look Back in Anger (Brick and Mortar Theatre). Find her online at http://www.angelakemp.com.

Rob van Meenen

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting) with Great Distinction, 1999

After his time at the U of S, Rob went on to complete the Conservatory program at the Gregory Abels Training Ensemble (G.A.T.E.) in NYC.  Back in Saskatoon, he found a home in the burgeoning independent theatre scene; part of the core, bound & determined creators who formed Live Five. Rob has had success as a playwright (Burn, Repetitive Strain Injury) and been actively engaged with the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre for many years now as both a supporter and board member.  Some notable roles through the years include both of Shakespeare’s notorious  ‘King  Richards’ (Richard II with  YXE Shakespeare Lab & Richard III with Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan), Lee in True West, Jimmy Porter in Look Back in Anger, and Carter in the Canadian Premiere of Neil Labute’s Fat Pig (directed by Jim Guedo).  Rob has also been performing with the Saskatoon Soaps for 20 years now, thus proving he is either funny or old.

Amberlin Hsu

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Design) with High Honours, 2016

Amberlin Hsu, a former dance student of National Taiwan University of Arts, and graduated from U of S Drama BFA Design. She is a designer, choreographer, and co-producer of It’s Not A Box Theatre. Recent lighting design credits: the Death of a Salesman(Theatre Naught), Displaced(Ground Cover Theatre),  Dominion( GTNT), Les Liaisons Dangereuses(Theatre Naught), and Coarm Boy(Greystone Theatre); Recent set design: Dominion(GTNT), Les Liaisons Dangereuses(Theatre Naught), Romeo Project(Persephone Youth Theatre), Danny, King of the Basement and Under Cover(Persephone Theatre Youth Tour).Recent costume design credits: Aiden Flynn Lost his Brother, So He Makes Another (Theatre Howl), Under Cover, Danny, King of the Basement (Persephone Theatre), Macbeth (Embrace Theatre), Displaced (Ground Cover Theatre), Madama Butterfly (Saskatoon Opera Company). Co-Produce: Overhear, Project O(It’s Not A Box Theatre).

Alex Hartshorn

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting) with Great Distinction, 2011

Alex grew up Ukrainian folk dancing and has strong roots connecting her to the stories of her heritage, and along with her BFA in acting, it sparked a love of physical storytelling and creation. In recent years, she's worked as a dancer and choreographer for personal, independent and professional productions, and as a director, assistant director, playwright, and teacher. 

After obtaining her BFA, Alex went on to complete the Globe Theatre Actor Conservatory Training program at the Globe Theatre in 2012, and the One Yellow Rabbit Devised Theatre Intensive in 2014. She’s been incredibly lucky to have been assistant director to renowned director/choreographer Stephanie Graham at the Globe Theatre for three shows; All Shook Up, The Little Mermaid, and Shrek The Musical. In Saskatoon, she's taught theatre and creation classes to children and young adults at Persephone Theatre, and brought two shows to schools all across the province of Saskatchewan with the Persephone Youth Tour in 2016. Most recently, Alex debuted a new dance creation as a part of Free Flow Dance Centre’s 2018 Body Paint Cabaret called Dehradun.

Michael Martin

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting), Convocation Fall 2019

Michael Martin is a Saskatoon born actor and writer graduating from the U of S, B.F.A program in Fall, 2019. His latest Greystone credits include Mr. Lawrence - Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Harvey - Seasons Greetings, and Mr. Gloss - The Beaux' Stratagem. He was the writer and producer of A Short Trip Through the Complex at the 2017 Saskatoon Fringe. He has recorded documentary material for use in displays at the National Doukhobor Heritage Villiage and is appearing as Royce, in Queen Seraphina and the Land of Vertebraat, the 2018 production of Theatre in the Park produced by SUM Theatre. Michael has participated in workshops covering Authentic Movement with Judith Koltai and Puppetry with Oliver Smart.

Anna Mazurik

Major/Graduating Year: BFA Honours (Acting) with High Honours, 2016 (Walter Mills Award Recipient)

Janessa Johnsrude

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting) with Great Distinction, 2008

Janessa is a faculty member of Dell'Arte International School of Physical Theatre in California and a graduate of their M.F.A. program with a degree in Ensemble-based Physical Theatre. She teaches storytelling and cabaret and is the Associate Program Director of the Bali Program. She co-founded and co-leads Dell'Arte's Prison Arts Program at Pelican Bay State Prison, one of California's only supermax facilities. She is the Artistic Director of Glitter Gizzard, an international physical theatre ensemble that focuses on the female comedic duo and trio. She has taken her original work on tour, from off-broadway to the Library of Alexandria in Egypt and has enjoyed hosting and performing in a variety of cabarets up and down the North Coast. Janessa is guest faculty at the Zimbabwe Theatre Academy, and has taught at the The Kennedy Center and for a variety of American universities as part of the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festivals (University of Charleston, Western Connecticut State University, University of Indiana, Georgia Southern University) and in 2015, she returned to the University of Saskatchewan to teach mask classes to 3rd and 4th year students. In 2017 she was an Artist in Residence at Lookout Arts Quarry and completed project work in both in Berlin and Washington state in ensemble with Ragmop Theatre and Gifthorse (Artists of the Quarry). She is a recipient of two California Center for Cultural Innovation awards, and an Independent Artist grant from the Saskatchewan Arts Board.

As a student at the U of S, Janessa was a selected recipient of the Naomi Ruth Arps Scholarship and was the first student to participate in the international Czech Republic Exchange funded through the Gail Appel Scholarship. 

Skye Brandon

Major/Graduating Year: BFA (Acting - Honours), 2000 & MA, 2019

Skye Brandon - is an award winning actor/director who has worked throughout Canada.  After he finished his BFA degree at the UofS he quickly established his acting career, as well as creating an extensive producing resume in Saskatoon's independent theatre scene.  Skye was the first Saskatchewan artist asked to join the Stratford Festival's Birmingham Conservatory, where he went on play principal roles in multiple seasons.  Some of the theatre companies Skye has worked for include Last Exit Theatre, Theatre Naught, Wild Side Productions, Theatre Ecstasis, Dancing Sky Theatre, Persephone Theatre, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, Globe Theatre, Northern Light Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Prairie Theatre Exchange, and the Stratford Festival.  He also has worked in Film, Television, and Radio (including a CBC broadcast of Yann Martel's The Facts behind the Helsinki Roccamatios).

Skye completed his Interdisciplinary MA in Drama (with History and English) with his thesis "Shakespeare and King Henry V: Historical Research Informing Artistic Directions".

Gregory Nelson

Major/Graduating Year: BA, 1988

Gregory Nelson is an award-winning writer and producer for television, theatre and radio who has dedicated his career to creating characters and stories that are uniquely Canadian. A prolific playwright, Nelson’s works for the stage have been published and produced across Canada and have won multiple awards, including two Alberta Book Awards and first prize in the Canadian National Playwriting Competition. Nelson is currently one of Canada’s leading television writers and producers. Recent credits include writer and co-executive producer on the Emmy Award-winning series Orphan Black and on the Netflix fur-trade drama Frontier. Gregory received an Alumni of Influence Award from the College of Arts & Science in 2018.

Brenda Baker

Major/Graduating Year: BFA, 1981

Award-winning author, performer and recording artist Brenda Baker has presented her music on stages from coast to coast. After receiving her BFA from the University of Saskatchewan in 1981, she continued to study theatre and writing.

From 2000 to 2004, she was the star of Prairie Berry Pie with Brenda Baker, a national television series for children. An accomplished author, Brenda received the 1999 Saskatchewan Book Award for Fiction for her collection of short stories, The Maleness of God. Her 2015 novel Camp Outlook won both the 2015 Saskatchewan Book Award for Children’s Literature and the 2015 USA-Canada High Plains Book Award.

In 2005 she founded Kids of Note, the hit choir for children with and without disabilities who love to sing. Brenda received an Alumni of Influence Award from the College of Arts & Science in 2016.