Graduate Students
Meet some of our current and recent Graduate Students and learn about their areas of research.
Current Graduate Students
Christian Albarran
Pronouns: he/him
PhD Performance Studies
Christian is an interdisciplinary theatre practitioner combining academic work and practical Artistic director from Mexico. He established Troy Theatre Productions in 2020, since then he actively works as producer, director and actor in Mexico and in Canada.
He holds an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University and an MA in Hispanic and Latin American Culture and Production from University of Toronto.
He is pursuing his PhD degree in Performance Studies at University of Alberta. His research interests include violence, trauma and vulnerable memory of the body in marginalized communities mainly LGBTQ2+ in Mexico.
Aksam Alyousef
Pronouns: he/him
PhD Performance Studies
Aksam Alyousef is a seasoned playwright, director, and producer with extensive experience in both theatre and television. He holds an MA in Drama from the University of Alberta and is currently pursuing his PhD in Drama at the same institution. A graduate of the Higher Institute of Dramatic Arts in Damascus (1994), Alyousef launched his career as an assistant professor and journalist, contributing to the academic and cultural landscape in Syria.
In 2001, he relocated to Qatar, where he worked as a drama teacher before joining Al Jazeera Children’s Channel as a scriptwriter and producer, shaping content for a new generation of viewers. After moving to Canada in 2016, Alyousef continued to build his reputation as a theatre creator. Since then, he has written and directed many new plays, including Honey and Nuts, Souls, Hagar, F.O.B., and Adeeb. Notably, Adeeb was honoured as Best Play by the Arab Theatre Institution in 2022.
Amber Borotsik
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Theatre Practice
Amber is an Amiskwaciwâskahikan based creator and performer keenly interested in the intersection between contemporary dance and theatre practices. Amber has devised, choreographed and performed in both theatre and dance across Canada, the United States, and in Japan and South Africa. She has received three Sterling Awards as well as the TELUS Courage to Innovate award at the Mayor’s Evening for the Arts. Together with Murray Utas she founded Azimuth Theatre’s Expanse Festival and served as Festival Director for its first six years. As a creator she focuses mainly on interdisciplinary performance (Scythe, The Moon at Midnight, No Guesses Found). Her work has been presented across Canada at Neighbourhood Dance Works (St. John’s), Studio 303 and Centre de Création O Vertigo (Montreal), Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers (Winnipeg), New Dance Horizons (Regina), The Fluid Festival (Calgary), as well as various places and spaces here in Amiskwaciwâskahikan including The Brian Webb Dance Company and Mile Zero Dance. Most recently she co-directed a collaboratively created adaptation of Oderin by Newfoundland poet Agnes Walsh in St. John’s, NL and choreographed Horseplay by Kole Durnford at Workshop West Theatre.
Cody Brayshaw
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Design
Cody Brayshaw is a Theatre Designer originally from Saskatchewan. He received his BFA Honours in Theatre Design at the University of Saskatchewan in 2024 under the training and mentorship of Ken MacKenzie and Carla Orosz. Cody is entering his first year in the MFA Theatre Design program here at the University of Alberta. His practice and research is mainly focused on sustainability in theatre and ecoscenography, and he is passionate about exploring new sustainable materials, design for deconstruction, and reducing the waste and environmental impacts of theatre and other art forms.
Cody has created works with numerous theatre companies within Canada, including Persephone Theatre, 25th Street Theatre, La Troupe du Jour, and most recently the Shaw Festival. He is a founding member of the Saskatoon-based Theatre Collective Two Good Shoes Theatre, and was the Producer, Co-Creator and Designer of their award-winning Fringe Festival production of The Mooneaters by Lauren Griffin.
Lora Brovold
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Theatre Voice Pedagogy
Lora is an Edmonton based artist who has appeared on stages across Canada including the Arts Club Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre, Theatre Network, Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre, Shadow Theatre, and Northern Light Theatre. She is passionate about the creation of new work and her voice can be heard throughout Bioware’s Mass Effect and Dragon Age games series. Lora is also an educator, producer, and emerging director and filmmaker. Her film The Wounds Within: An Endometriosis Story screened at Edmonton’s NorthWestFest, Central Alberta Film Festival, Yorkton Film Festival (SK). Lora is an instructor at the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program and is a proud graduate of the same.
Chelsea Payne Evason
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Design
Chelsea is an MFA design student here at the University of Alberta, in her 1st year after successfully completing her qualifying year. Chelsea holds both a Bachelor of Arts Theatre, and a Bachelor of Arts Music Studies degree presented by the University of Guelph, ON.
Originally from Orangeville, Ontario. Her work includes Lighting assistant for War of Worlds by Orson Welles, Lighting Designer, and Co-crew head for The Remarkable Flight of Marnie McPhee by Daniel Karassik, Master Electrician, Lighting Designer for Taunton House by Megan Van Der Merwe. As well as the Master Electrician and Lighting Designer of Plaything, an Opera done in collaboration with Musique 3 Femme, as well as, many more. She has also worked with music ensembles for a number of years to achieve effective sound staging of orchestral performances, competing nationally with a classical bands receiving high silver, gold, and bronze medals.
Emilia Fox Hillyer
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Theatre Practice
Originally from Massachusett and Wampanoag land, colonially known as Eastern Massachusetts, Emilia is a first-generation settler on Treaty 6 territory. She got her big break in elementary school, performing basketball tricks at halftime shows for organizations like the Orlando Magic, Miami Heat, and Harlem Globetrotters. Then, she was in a musical about how many servings of fruits and vegetables you should eat every day (five!). Nowadays, Emilia is a performer, puppeteer, educator, multi-instrumentalist, and proud founding member of Boston's Fork & Shoe Theatre Cooperative and the band pUbeRtykiDs. She is currently pursuing an MFA in Theatre Practice at the University of Alberta. In her spare time, Emilia likes to pickle things, reflect on transgender phenomenologies, and play with cardboard.
Lyudmyla Honcharova
Pronouns: she/her
PhD Performance Studies
Lyudmyla Honcharova performer, theatre-maker from Ukraine that works internationally and in different styles and genres. In her works, she strives to break boundaries and explores new forms and means of theatre expressiveness. She is a performer at Subpoetic International. Lyudmyla is a co-founder of the Public Organization Neoteric Institute of Acting, Lviv, Ukraine. Also, she is researcher and actor training instructor. Her last research project was in Sri Lanka where she explored the Sri Lankan Martial Art Angampora and actor training. Currently, she is pursuing a Ph.D. in Performance Studies at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on South Asian Martial Arts and actor training methodologies. Lyudmyla received her MA in Acting Degree from Institute of the Arts Barcelona (Liverpool John Moores University) and MPhil Degree from University of Visual and Performing Arts, Colombo. Also, she has BA in Acting Degree from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine.
Sarah Jackson
Pronouns: she/her
PhD Performance Studies
Sarah Jackson is a PhD student in the third year of her Performance Studies program at the University of Alberta, and the recipient of a SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship. Her research encompasses visual culture, gender and performance, burlesque, archival practices, and feminist theory. She is a designer with a master’s degree in visual design and an award-winning and internationally acclaimed burlesque performer. Her PhD research investigates often-overlooked and discarded performative moments of women’s stage acts in the music-halls of London. Specifically, she will be exploring British illustrator Dudley Hardy’s Gaiety Girl posters (ca.1893-1899) through a post-structural semiotic analysis of archival resources, historiographical discourse, and contemporary burlesque performance, drawing on feminist theory throughout.
She has won four awards from the most prestigious burlesque competition in the world – the Burlesque Hall of Fame in Las Vegas – including “Most Dazzling” and “Most Classic” in 2024, and 2nd Runner-Up M-Exotic World in 2025, making her the current reigning Duchess of Burlesque! A performer, choreographer, researcher, and producer, she thrives in the arena of live theatrical cabaret creation. Her most recent creation is The Two Coupe Society.
Photo credit: Brendan Roy Photography
Rory Jewiss
Pronouns: he/him/they
MFA Theatre Design
Rory Jewiss is a theatre designer originally from Treaty 20 in Peterborough, Ontario and has grown up and resides on Treaty 6 Territory in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. He grew up making elaborate creations with LEGO bricks and is taking that passion and turning it into a career.
A graduate of the University of Saskatchewan with a BFA in Theatre Design, Rory is returning to academia after working in production for several years. Pursuing an MFA in Theatre Design, his interest is in storytelling through objects, and how the how and why of their creation can aid in telling those stories.
Selected credits include Set for Mustard (25th Street 2025), Props for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan (2022, 2024, 2025), Props for The Art of War (Hardly Art 2024), Lighting for The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine (Two Bees 2023), and Lighting for The Velveteen Rabbit (Persephone 2023).
Brock Keeler
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Design
BC-born and now based in Edmonton, Brock is a theatre designer working across set, lighting, and projected media. He is in the final year of the MFA Theatre Design program at the University of Alberta.
Selected credits: Indecent (Set & Projection, Studio Theatre), Everybody (Lighting, Studio Theatre), Through the Leaves (Costume, BLT), The Circle (Lighting, BLT). Upcoming: His thesis production, Tartuffe (Studio Theatre, February 2026) Set & Lighting Design. Portfolio: brockkeeler.com
Zhuohao Li
Pronouns: she/her
PhD Performance Studies
Zhuohao Li is a dramaturg, performer, calligraphy practitioner, and Chinese–English translator. She is a PhD candidate in Performance and Theatre Studies in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta. Her research investigates the saturation of Lyricism in Chinese calligraphy and contemporary dance in terms of performers’ training methods, choreography, and mise en scène. Under the umbrella of Lyric Aesthetics, she is exploring the interconnectedness between ideogram writing, image, emotion, and body movement. She also works as a Co-editor-in-chief of Intonations, an interdisciplinary online journal run by the graduate students in the Faculty of Arts.
Colby Mackenzie
Pronouns: she/them
MA Drama
Colby Mackenzie (they/them) is a scholar currently based in Edmonton. Colby is a first year graduate student at the University of Alberta in the Master of Arts degree in drama, and is also a graduate from the UofA Bachelor of Arts program with a major in drama
They are a scholar interested in the intersection of religion and performance specifically focusing on Canadian stages. Their thesis is an exploration of the differing ways in which religion is performed on various Canadian stages. Colby is continually influenced to learn, grow, and explore by their late grandfather and hopes to cultivate the wonder of higher education in future scholars.
Emily Marisabel
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Directing
Emily is an Alberta-based theatre artist who has directed and produced for several theatres across Canada and is also the founder and artistic director of Light in the Dark Theatre, a company dedicated to telling stories of hope and healing. In 2018, Emily was awarded the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award for her work with Light in the Dark Theatre and her practice of utilizing live theatre to incite positive change and build community. Emily is currently an MFA Directing Candidate at the University of Alberta and has been awarded the 2025 Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC) for her research in developing trauma-informed rehearsal practices and establishing new ways of creating care-forward spaces for theatre audiences and artists.
Liam Monaghan
Pronouns: he/him
PhD Performance Studies
Liam Monaghan is a writer, theatre artist, emerging scholar, and educator. His proposed doctoral dissertation is an innovative history of architecture and performance in Canada from the late 19th- to mid-20th-century. More broadly, his interests include playwriting, dramaturgy, and new play creation; fin-de-siècle and modern theatre and drama; queer cultural history; critical and cultural theory; and research-creation methods. He has been awarded a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship—Doctoral by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (2026—29), among other awards.
Liam’s plays have been performed in festivals and theatres across Canada and his essays have appeared in publications including Canadian Theatre Review, HowlRound Theatre Commons, and Alberta Views. His current artistic project is The Light of Other Skies, an adaptation of the lives of architect Arthur Erickson and his partner, interior designer Francisco Kripacz. It will be produced by Liam’s indie arts company, Memory Box Theatre, in Spring 2027. Strange/Familiar, Liam’s autofictional play on the themes of adoption, family, and queer belonging, was awarded the Sharon Pollock Prize by Alberta Playwrights' Network, and his artistic work has been funded by the Edmonton Arts Council and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
Liam has an established career as an educator, spanning youth community teaching, sessional instruction, and over six years of full-time experience as a postsecondary writing centre specialist and instructional designer at various institutions. He holds a B.A. (Hons.) and M.A. in English and an M.F.A. in Theatre Practice.
(Photograph by Zachary Ayotte.)
Thea Patterson
Pronouns: she/her
PhD Performance Studies
Thea Patterson, is a choreographer, performer, dramaturge, and researcher currently based in Tiohti:áke/Montreal. Her practice revolves around an acute set of questions around the nature of objecthood, perception, vitality, and time. She has Masters from DAS Choreography (Amsterdam 2016) and is PhD candidate in Performance Studies at the University of Alberta where she was Co-editor-in-chief of Intonations, an online Graduate run journal from 2019-2021.
Her work Silvering (2020) was presented at Mile Zero Dance (MZD) in Edmonton as one of the first live ZOOM shows of the pandemic and her work Un-nevering, was presented in 2025 at the Festival Transamerique (FTA) in Montreal and at MZD.
Abigail ‘Ameley’ Quaye
Pronouns: she/her
PhD Performance Studies
Abigail Ameley Quaye is a Ghanaian Theatre Artist nurtured by her grandmother in a town called Tema. Her first degree was at the School of Performing Arts in the University of Ghana with a major in Theatre Arts and a minor in Music.
In 2015, Ameley developed an affinity to unconventional writing methodologies such as Automatic writing. She pursued an MFA in the same university where she conducted research on Automatic Writing and unconventional writing methodologies. In September 2016, she came to University of Guelph for an exchange program where she had the rare opportunity of being mentored by playwright Judy Thompson. Ameley believes in the creative fluidity and leverage that plays lend to exploring stereotypes and experimenting with methods of social change through dialogue. Thus, her creativity leans towards enhancing the effectiveness of creative works in challenging status-quo, social reforms and enhancing positive political action. Questions surrounding the effectiveness of creativity led her to pursue another master’s degree in Gender and Social Justice in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department here at University of Alberta with a research focus on decolonised data representation methodologies.
She is currently a PhD student in Performance Studies in the Drama Department. She is being supervised and mentored by Prof. Stefano Muneroni. Her current research focus is on Women and negotiated performance spaces through the lens of postcolonial resistance. She locates her works within Afrocentric paradigms, indigenous philosophies and pedagogies, postcolonial politics, and decolonial thoughts.
Photo credit: Joseph Livingstone Koduah
Giulia Romano
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Directing
Director Giulia Romano (she/her) is a performer, creator, writer, and educator. Currently based in amiskwacîwâskahikan (colonially known as Edmonton), Giulia is a graduate of the University of Alberta, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Drama and a Bachelor of Education. She is currently an MFA Directing Candidate.
A passionate theatre maker, Giulia has a deep affinity for new works, classical text, devised creations, and movement-based, collaborative productions. Her directing practice is rooted in innovation, with a strong focus on developing and staging original pieces in close collaboration with emerging playwrights.
In addition to her work as a director, Giulia is deeply involved in theatre administration, having collaborated with organizations such as Theatre Network, Common Ground Arts Society (Found Festival), Opera NUOVA, and ABBEDAM Productions.
Sarah Rose
MFA Theatre Practice
Sarah Rose is a director and dramaturg who has worked internationally in New York (Off-Broadway), Toronto (Playwrights Guild of Canada; Shifting Ground Collective), and Vancouver (Pacific Theatre; Vancouver Fringe). Awards include the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center Scholarship, and Broadway World Vancouver Awards for Best Director (Professional) and Best Play (Professional) for Danny and the Deep Blue Sea (Studio 16). Sarah is an alumna of the Advanced Directing program at the National Theater Institute, and holds a Bachelor of Arts from the University of British Columbia. A faculty member in Voice at the Vancouver Academy of Music S.K. Lee College, Sarah teaches and adjudicates across pre-college, collegiate, and graduate programs. Sarah is a certified teacher with the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Institute for Vocal Advancement, and is currently a Linklater Teacher Trainee. A Master of Fine Arts Candidate in Drama at the University of Alberta, Sarah serves as Consulting Director for Tartuffe and Assistant Director for Deserters this season at Studio Theatre.
Brandon Shalansky
Pronouns: he/him
PhD Performance Studies
Brandon is a theatre, film, and media researcher specializing in horror studies and metamodernism. He is currently working on his PhD at the University of Alberta, studying the intersections of horror and performance.
Joel Tan
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Voice Pedagogy
Joel Tan is a Singaporean actor. Since graduating, he has worked as a professional actor in theatre and film, hosting and voiceover work. He is currently invested in telling Singaporean stories and expanding the local repertoire. He also strongly advocates for local languages, mainly showcasing the multilingualism unique to Singapore on our main stage. He speaks Singlish, English, Mandarin, Hokkien, Cantonese, and basic Japanese.
Joel is also a performing arts educator specialising in actor training and voice and speech coaching. He has coached students from primary school to adulthood. His pedagogical approach focuses on demystifying 'talent' into actionable, step-by-step exercises to develop a student's craft. This can involve acting exercises and speech science to bolster understanding. As an educator, he works towards enhancing the quality of performing arts education in Singapore.
James L'Hirondelle Viveiros
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Practice
James L'Hirondelle Viveiros is a dance artist of mixed Cree Metis and Portuguese descent with a performance career spanning over 25 years, most notably with Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard. He graduated from Grant MacEwan University’s musical theatre and dance programs in 1998 and has performed in theatre, film, and choreographic works worldwide. In 2009, James and his fellow dancers received a Gemini Award for Best Performance from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for the Chouinard company’s film bODY_rEMIX/les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBErg. In 2015, supported by the Conseil des Arts et des Lettres du Québec, he studied with Ohad Naharin of Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv.
James recently completed independent directing studies at The National Theatre School of Canada. As an educator, he offers contemporary dance and performance workshops to a diverse range of performers, including actors, dancers, circus artists, yogis, hockey players, and opera singers.
Alongside creating and collaborating with artists across Canada, James frequently travels to share his passion for movement at schools, universities, and arts institutions. He is currently back in Edmonton pursuing a Master’s in Theatre Practices at the University of Alberta.
Photo: Justine Latour
Pengfei Wu
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Practice
Pengfei (Jeffrey) Wu is a director and playwright from Mainland China, currently pursuing his MFA in Directing at the University of Alberta. He holds an MFA in Film from Chongqing University.
His artistic journey has brought him to major theater festivals across China, including the Wuzhen Theatre Festival and the Beijing Fringe Festival, where he has created works across diverse theatrical modes such as realism, avant-garde, environmental, and documentary theatre.
As both a director and playwright, Wu’s practice centers on excavating individual life experiences and engaging with pressing social concerns. He is deeply committed to theatre as a reflection of human life, believing that genuine performance—whether in text or physical expression—can transcend languages and cultures.
In the rehearsal room, Wu emphasizes collaboration over instruction, co-creating with actors to allow performances to grow organically. His work is guided by perpetual curiosity, compassion, and creativity, with the conviction that theatre carries the responsibility of responding to the present.
Huirui Zhang Su
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Directing
Huirui 晖睿 is a Chinese-born interdisciplinary theatre artist whose practice spans directing, writing, curation, and dance. A tea-lover who trained in Chinese traditional dance since youth, she champions experimental work that interweaves movement, devised creation, multilingual and cross-cultural narratives. Previously based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal, Huirui received a B.A. from McGill University. She is currently the first-year MFA Directing candidate at University of Alberta. She co-founded Wild Sheep Collective with Hwaan Han and Elsa di Paola. Her artistic development includes Public Recordings' What’s Collective? Performance Project, ARTISTA and Nested Circles at Imago Theatre, Black Theatre Workshop’s AMP program, and Infinithéâtre’s artist residency. Notable works include They Must Have Smoked (Calgary Fringe), the bilingual production of Rhinoceros In Love (Mainline Theatre), Good Morning, Townville! (McGill English Department), and The Sages of Chelm (Segal Centre for the Arts). As past leader and current board member for Cheng Huai Art and Culture Association, she also explores the intersectionality between art and technology.
Recent graduate students
Reyna Álvarez
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Theatre Practice
Reyna Álvarez is a theatre artist born in Santo Domingo Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, Mexico. Reyna identifies as muxe, an indigenous Zapotec identity that does not conform to gender binarism. Reyna holds a BFA in Dramatic Arts from Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, and currently she is in her second year of the MFA Theatre Practice program, researching gender, sexual identity and ethnicity. She is also focused on the process of reconciliation and acceptance of both her femininity and indigeneity.
Reyna Álvarez, orgullosamente muxe de Tehuantepec para el mundo | Aristegui Noticias
Beshel Francis
Pronouns: he/him
MFA Theatre Practice
Beshel recently completed his MFA degree in Theatre Practice with a specialization in Community-Based Theatre at the University of Alberta. He is an Ebonylife Creative Academy-trained screen actor and an alumnus of Del-York Creative Academy. Holding a B.A. in Theatre and Film Studies, he is an accomplished actor, choreographer, singer, voiceover artiste, and community theatre practitioner. With over a decade of experience in the theatre and film industry and community development, Beshel has graced the stage in numerous productions and has received several awards for his performances.
He is the Artistic Director of the Ribbon Rouge Foundation, where he recently completed their inaugural Jabulani Arts Festival. This festival aimed to empower and provide a platform for underrepresented communities, specifically African, Caribbean, and Black artists in Edmonton through arts. Beshel is a committed and reliable individual with a zeal and drive to evoke social change. His passion for the arts and dedication to community empowerment reflect his ongoing contributions to both the cultural and social fabric of his community.
Photo credit: Ameley Quaye
Ken Matthews
Pronouns: he/they
MFA Theatre Design
Ken Matthews is a theatrical designer originating from Red Deer Alberta. They completed their BFA in theatre design in Victoria, BC, before coming to UofA for their MFA in Production Design. As a theatre artist, Ken has had the opportunity to design for the Phoenix Theatre’s productions of Spring Awakening (Set) and Vinegar Tom (lights), the Freewill Shakespeare festivals 2023 productions of Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night (lights), Shadow theatres 2024 production of Tiny Beautiful Things (lights), as well as various productions at the university of Alberta. They are also a proud member of the Associated Designers of Canada, and IATSE 210. His research aligns more in the realm of how food intersects within theatrical productions, and how impactful of a roll food can play within a production.
Oghenevwede Oturuhoyi
MA Drama
Vwede is a Nigerian-born Theatre Artist, Film Maker, and Singer. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre Arts from Nigeria. He is a second-year MA student in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta. He is interested in Feminist Theatre, Feminism, and Gender-based Violence.
Valentine Ukoh
Pronouns: he/him
MA Drama
Valentine Ukoh (he/him) is an MA Drama student at the University of Alberta. He is a professional actor, director, and producer for radio, film, and television
audiences.
He's written quite a number of research works and papers, one of which is "From Script to Screen: The Functions of a Director," among others. His teaching interests revolve around Media and Mass Communication, while his main research interest centers on the functionality of Theatre for Development as a Tool for Change in the Community.
Since 2014 till date, Valentine runs and manages a professional Theatre Company known as Vally Art Kingdom, with over 10 shows to his credit in Nigeria and Canada.
The multiple award-winning director is a creative and highly skilled content creator who also works with students and academics to turn their brilliant ideas into exceptional performances.
Alissa Watson
Pronouns: she/her
MFA Directing
Alissa Watson is an adventurous prairie artist and educator, born and raised on Treaty 1 Territory. Her theatrical work is inspired by her passions for movement, music, and comedy. She is a founding member of the clown duo, The Red Nose Diaries, and Winnipeg's all-female bouffon ensemble, The Talentless Lumps. She also sings and plays washboard with the sweet and cheeky, Fu Fu Chi Chi Choir.
Alissa holds a Bachelor of Music and Bachelor of Education from Brandon University and is the proud recipient of the 2020 Distinguished Young Alumni Award. Most recently, she was awarded a Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada to explore creating equitable rehearsal spaces through the application of feminist clown strategies.
Fall 2025 Alissa completed her MFA in Directing with The Moors by Jen Silverman, October 10-18, 2025. Alissa directed Munsch Upon a Time at Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg December '25 and her adaptation of Robert Munsch’s The Paper Bag Princess will be presented at Carousel Theatre for Young People in Vancouver, Spring 2026.