Associate Artist Company at Lunchbox Theatre

From November 2022 until June 2023, Lunchbox Theatre invited 7 emerging professional theatre artists to form our inaugural Associate Artist Company at Lunchbox Theatre, working and training in various offstage roles in our professional theatre environment. This paid program is a unique opportunity for promising artists from Calgary's next generation of theatre practitioners to train with professional mentors on productions in the Lunchbox Theatre season.

The Artist Associate Company:

Production Manager: Allison Weninger

Designer: Joy Robinson

Designer: Madeline (Madi) Blondal

Dramaturge: Heidi Damayo

Playwright: Maezy Reign

Director: Fangzheng (Nick) Wang

Stage Manager: Frances MacDonald

If you're an Emerging Artist who would like to get involved with Lunchbox Theatre, please contact us to introduce yourself. Please note that our budget is limited and we are currently seeking funding to be able to provide paid opportunities to work and train at Lunchbox. Meanwhile, we are committed to mentorship and are happy to talk, even if it's simply to offer advice!

RBC Emerging Director’s Program

From 2005 - 2019, Lunchbox Theatre was proud to offer the RBC Emerging Director Program, with the support of the RBC Foundation, nurturing the development of many talented Calgary theatre artists. That program is currently on hiatus as we rethink and reimagine how best we can continue to support the growth of Emerging Artists here at Lunchbox. We hope to announce a new program for professional development at Lunchbox soon.

If you want to support Emerging Artists, please contact Artistic Director Bronwyn Steinberg (ad@lunchboxtheatre.com) to discuss how you can contribute to this initiative.

A History of RBC Emerging Directors

2018/2019 Season: Kathryn Smith

‘Care Takers’ by Billy Cowan

Kathryn is a Calgary based director, designer, and singer songwriter. They have been working across Western Canada in arts communities since 2012, and is a proud advocate and member of the LGBTQ2S+ community. Kathryn has worked extensively in collective creation, new Canadian works, clown, and puppetry. They are a co-creator and composer for the puppet company Pape & Taper, and the director of the award winning clown duo The Tighty Whities. Apart from theatre, they are also an award winning singer songwriter under their artist name KP Smith.

Select credits: A Chitenge Story (Created by Makambe K Simamba); inVISIBLE (Handsome Alice Theatre); Million Dollar Quartet (New West Theatre) Peter Pan (Calgary Young Peoples Theatre); Benefit (Downstage Theatre); A Beautiful View, Soliciting Temptation (Sage Theatre); The After Party, Ride, Brave Girl (Lunchbox Theatre); To Dream Again, Wizard of One (Storybook Theatre); Medea (Chromatic Theatre); Equinox Vigil (Equinox Vigil Collab); Secret Garden (Theatre Calgary; Set & Costume Design Mentee). 

2014/2015 Season: Karen Johnson-Diamond

'Time Present' by Ted Atherton

Since her year as the RBC Emerging Director at Lunchbox Theatre: A New Brain (Storybook Theatre),  16 Going on 17 (Silver Stars Musical Review), Footloose (Keyano Theatre in Fort McMurray), Tony n' Tina's Wedding (Red Deer College).

 Karen was also the Director/Dramaturg for Radioland '48 (Kirsten Van Ritzen) and Never Let the Crew See you Cry  (Linda Wood Edwards) for Lunchbox Theatre's Stage One Festival. In the fall of 2017 she headed back to Keyano to direct A Christmas Carol, and in March 2018 she returned to Lunchbox to direct Miss Caledonia.  She has also acted in a number of shows in and out of Calgary, because that's her first love and forever love. Karen is the Administrative Director for ARTSTREK, a summer theatre school for teens, and is in her 18th season with Dirty Laundry -The Completely Improvised Soap Opera. 

2013/2014 Season: Jacqueline Russell

'One Good Marriage' by Sean Reycraft

Jacqueline Russell is a Calgary based clown and director and a graduate of the University of Alberta's BFA Acting program. She has studied mask, clown and physical theatre extensively at the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance (manitoulinconservatory.com).  With her co-conspirator Jed Tomlinson, Jacqueline has created two duo clown shows: The Sama Kutra &Hushabye- A Doomsday Comedy (sizzlespark.com).  Jacqueline's directing credits include: Legoland (Urban Curvz), A Christmas Carol (The Keyano Theatre Centre), One Good Marriage (Lunchbox Theatre), Weaving Yarns (Calgary Young People’s Theatre), Peg and The Yeti, Munsch-o-rama (New West Theatre), Invasion of the Pine Beetles (Evergreen Theatre) and The Underpants (Theatre BSMT). Jacqueline was the Artistic Producer for Evergreen Theatre in Calgary from 2008-2013 and  the Artistic Producer for Urban Curvz Theatre from 2011-2015. She is currently the Program Manager for InsideOut Theatre.                                                

2012/2013 Season: Valmai Goggin

'The Lover' by Harold Pinter

Valmai is now Freelance directing and teaching with various companies including Keyano Theatre, Lunchbox Theatre, Theatre Transit, University of Calgary, Calgary Opera, Evergreen Theatre, Theatre Alberta’s Artstrek.

Mount Allison University Graduate In Residence 2014

Artistic Producer at Evergreen Theatre 2013-17

President – Board of Directors, Evergreen Theatre 2017-present                                                                                                                               

2011/2012 Season: Alice Nelson

'Mockingbird Close' by Trevor Schmidt

Since my time as Emerging Director at Lunchbox (2011-2012), I've directed Skin Flick, Cocktails at Pam's (Morpheus Theatre), The Underneath (Theatre Basement), Three Little Pigs (New West Theatre), Hamlet (Outreach Project with The Shakespeare Company), Aesop's Fables (Loose Moose Theatre) and The Boy's Own Jedi Handbook (Empress Theatre). I also had the amazing opportunity to direct a clown show with the humanitarian organization Clowns Without Borders in South Africa. I'm about to hit the road fall 2017; traveling from Halifax to Vancouver with Journey of a Lifetime (Quest Theatre and Heritage Park).                                      

2010/2011 Season: Anton de Groot

'Krapp's Last Tape' by Samuel Beckett

The Emerging Director’s Program was an integral part of my development as a professional theatre practitioner - it cemented my place in the community and affirmed my desire to continue working in this field. I have focused my career almost entirely on scenography and stage design - set, light, and sound to be specific. What I took away from the EDP directly informed my current practice, and provided me with a unique skillset and language to engage with directors, actors and the creative team on all of my projects. Since working as the 2011-2012 Emerging Director, I have designed for Lunchbox many times, as well as Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, Vertigo Theatre, Birmingham Repertory Theatre (England), Tarragon Theatre (Toronto), and the Stratford Festival of Canada. I have received four Betty Mitchell Awards for my design, co-recieved one with the Downstage Creation Ensemble for playwriting, and was the recipient of the Emerging Artist Award at the Mayor’s Lunch for Arts Champions. In 2015, I was the curator of the Canadian Student Exhibition at the Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, which showcased some of the best student work on an international stage, and gave me the chance to attend masterclasses and lectures by such remarkable artists as Julie Taymor, Mike Pearson, Robert Wilson, and Robert LePage. I received my MFA from the University of Calgary where I have continued to occasionally teach, and my performance installation design is set to be exhibited with the Southern Alberta Art Gallery in November 2017. I work consistently with theatres here in Calgary, where I have chosen to make my art and make my home.                                                       

Website, social media, etc: adegroot.ca, Twitter: @an_tonD, Instagram: @an_tonD

2007/2008 Season: Aaron Coates

'The Way of All Fish' by Elaine May

Since finishing the Emerging Director Program, Aaron has been working primarily as a director and writer for opera and theatre. He was delighted to return to Lunchbox to direct The After Party in 2013, as well as working on a new project in the Stage One program. He is currently the Associate Artistic Director of Cowtown Opera.                                     

2006/2007 Season: Simon Mallett

'This Is A Play' by Daniel MacIvor

Simon was the Artistic Director of Downstage, a professional theatre company he founded in Calgary that produces Canadian theatre that creates conversation around social issues, from 2004 until April of 2017. He has also worked extensively as a freelance theatre director, having directed shows at Vertigo Theatre, Theatre Calgary and Lunchbox Theatre among others. Simon has been nominated for the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Direction three times, winning the award in 2014. In addition to his directing work, Simon is now the Executive Director at the Rozsa Foundation, which supports arts organizations throughout Alberta.                                      

2005/2006 Season: Val Planche

'The Duplex' by Yan Kolk

Since then I've directed many Canadian premiers for Urban Curves (now Handsome Alice), Sage Theatre's Governor General Award winning Blood: A Scientific Love Story, Ruined for Elypsistree Collective, Annie Bakers Body Awareness for Shadow Theatre and Edward Albee’s new Home Life for Aboriginal Arts in Edmonton as well as Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon in Theatre Calgary’s Max Bell Theatre and Skylight by David Hare for their inaugural production of a new series: Up Close and Personal.  I will be directing Nick Payne’s Constellations for Alberta Theatre Projects in 2018.  

In 2015 I completed a Masters program at the University of Alberta and was awarded the Gina Wilkinson Prize.