THE MEGAN NEWTON
MEMORIAL AWARD IN THEATRE
Award Recipients Past
2022 - Jaime Johnson
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Jaime grew up in Lethbridge, Alberta and proudly calls it home. She holds a diploma in Fashion Design and Sustainable Production and a Bachelor of Fine Arts in theatre tech/design. She is currently in her final year of a Master of Fine Arts degree in theatre tech/design with a focus on costume design. She is a lover of all things vintage, and you can often find her in the thrift shops hunting vintage treasures or sourcing for costume design projects. Jaime works as a Costume Designer/Head of Wardrobe/Costumer/Technician for various local professional and community theatre companies. Her artistic and creative passions centre around the theme of death and her hope is that it becomes less of a taboo subject for everyday conversation. She is currently collaborating with fellow artist, Mia van Leeuwen on the follow-up to her project How to Raise a Ghost, called Giving up the Ghost, set to debut in fall 2023.
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Congratulations, Jaime! We wish you success and look forward to hearing about your future work.
2021 - Marita Michaelis
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Marita Michaelis is a theatre performance student at Simon Fraser University’s School for Contemporary Arts. She performs in local post-punk and experimental pop bands and is an ongoing collaborator with Burn All Books in San Diego. Previously, she worked to organize arts festivals, run music venues, and facilitate workshop series. In 2022 Marita will be doing an artist residency at the Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture where she will be working on a project around caregiving, quilts and anti-carceral care strategies.
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Congratulations, Marita! We wish you continuing success in your future work.
Congratulations, Miriam! We wish you all the best and look forward to seeing and hearing your future work.
2020 - Miriam Dumitra
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Miriam Dumitra is a designer, author, and theatre practitioner completing her BFA in Theatre at the University of Victoria. She began her post-secondary studies at Fleming College where she specialized in Artistic Blacksmithing. After a year spent blacksmithing and collaborating with a youth theatre company in Austria, she returned to Canada to begin studies at UVic.
Miriam’s passion for student-led theatre grew in her first year, when she was hired as Technical Director by SATCo, the Student Alternative Theatre Company. As TD and now Assistant General Manager, Miriam is involved in showcasing student work that addresses issues important to her generation, like climate change, inclusion, and sexism. She has also been involved in a design capacity, primarily in sound design. Her recent work includes distanced recording sessions and sound designing a radio play.
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Congratulations, Emily! We wish you every success in your creative work.
2019 - Emily Dotson
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​Emily is currently an MFA student at UBC for Theatre and Film Production and design. Emily began as a studio art student in Cleveland, Ohio. After completing her studies in Paris, France, she became an award-winning painter and printmaker. Emily has recently worked with the Renaissance Theatre (Ohio), Seattle Repertory Theater (Washington) and UBC Opera (Vancouver). Her work focuses on reflecting and interpreting underprivileged characters struggles in a visualized form. For her design of Lion in the Streets presented at UBC, her was selected to be showcased at the UBC graduate symposium AVHA Art Gallery for their series, Violencia: Violence Against Bodies. Emily’s thesis will focus on the use language to visualise and shape our viewpoint of women, specifically how the work of Revolt, She Said. Revolt Again sexualises, undermines, and overpowers women.
2018 - Harold Hejazi
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Harold Hejazi is a theatre artist from Victoria, BC. While studying Humanities and Art Education at the University of Victoria he began to explore performance through hip hop, theatre improv and social practice art. After graduation, he merged his interest in art education with his passion for performance, creating immersive curatorial experiences. Recently, Harold ’s theatre work has incorporated gaming elements to create participatory performance platforms that allow audiences to explore new ways of connecting and engaging with live art.
In Spring 2018 he performed his game Conversational Karaoke in the al-Arroub Palestinian refugee camp with residents of al-Arroub. This game created an encouraging platform for participants to tell their own stories and be heard by a western audience. His current work explores themes of race and marginalization through gamified performance in a variety of modes including LARP, live art animation and live cinema. Harold is currently a student in the Live Art and Performance Studies (LAPS) Master’s Programme at the Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki in Finland.
Congratulations, Harold! We look forward to seeing more of your work.
2017 - Jen Quinn
Jen Quinn is a Director, Dramaturge, Curator, Producer and Administrator who has just started a Graduate Diploma program in Management of Cultural Organizations at HEC Montréal. She holds a BFA from the University of Victoria’s Theatre Department where she studied Directing, Design and Production Management. Hailing from the West Coast, Jen has worked with a number of Victoria based theatre companies, including William Head on Stage, where she taught workshops to inmates of a minimum security prison. Jen has participated in the Director's Lab North and was a part of the Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Ensemble. For four years, Jen was Head Administrator of Freestanding Room, where she founded, curated and produced the ShortStanding Festival of Short Performances. Her direction for Composite Theatre Co.’s I’m Not Here at SummerWorks earned her an Honourable Mention in the Canadian Stage Award for Direction. Jen’s work with Imago Theatre (first as Artsitic and Administrative Assistant in 2016/17, then as Director of Margaret Atwood’s The Penelopiad in Imago’s Her Side of the Story: Revision to Resist series) has played an integral role in Jen’s continued development of an intersectional feminist art practice.
Congratulations, Jen! We know we'll be hearing more about your work.
2016 - Leah Hiscock
Leah is in her third year of the University of Victoria's theatre program, studying theatre production and management with a minor in business. She is currently stage manager for the MFA Project Crave, student representative for Theatre SKAM, and theatre representative for Vikes Nation, a new position to integrate theatre into athletics events at UVic. Other recent activities include work with Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, Victoria Symphony, Victoria Conference Centre, Theatre SKAM, Belfry Theatre, the Maritime Museum of BC, and a several applied theatre pieces to aid immigrants, nurses and students in the community. Leah was assistant stage manager for the Phoenix Theatre's recent production of Wild Honey. Through her studies and experiences she has discovered a passion for the production of experimental, innovative, community-building theatre, and its power as a tool for expanding beliefs and exploring controversial subjects.
Congratulations, Leah! And best wishes in all your future endeavours.
2015 - Raili Boe
Raili Boe is in her 3rd year of the BFA Technical/Design program at the University of Lethbridge. She is the artistic director and one of the founders of Haven Theatre Society in Edmonton. Raili works in a variety of areas behind the scenes from design to construction and stage management. Recent credits include costume construction for Weldon Rising (U of Lethbridge), stage manager for Oklahoma! (Opera NUOVA), assistant stage manager for Dead Man Walking (Opera NUOVA) and stage manager for Unlimited (U of Lethbridge). Currently Raili is assistant prop designer and set dresser as well as costume construction for Carrie the Musical at the U of L. Additionally, for Haven Theatre Society she fills many roles, from costume and set design to director to poster hanger. Recent Haven credits include Crossroads, Lust & Cigarettes and Dive. Check out https://www.facebook.com/haventheatreyeg/ for more information about Haven Theatre Society.
Congratulations, Raili! We wish you success and hope to hear more about your work in the coming months and years!
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2014 - Megan Stewart
Megan Stewart is a theatre artist beginning her second year of the Master of Fine Arts program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Simon Fraser University. She creates theatre in many different capacities: as a performer, director, and writer of devised theatre productions, installations and performances; as well as being a proud facilitator of the creation of original, site-specific theatre in her home community through her work as the Co-Founder and Festival Coordinator of the Island Fringe Festival in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Megan completed her BA at McGill University in Montreal. Discover more about Megan Stewart and her work on her website - http://www.meganblythe.com/
Congratulations, Megan - we wish you all the best in your current studies and beyond!
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2013 - Erin Valentine
Erin Valentine is in her final year of the BFA Stage Management program at the University of Alberta. Recent U of A credits include Machinal, The Missionary Position, and Adult Entertainment, and she has stage managed additional productions in Nextfest, the Edmonton Fringe, the Expanse Movement Festival, and with Opera NUOVA. This season, she is a production assistant on The National Elevator Project (Theatre YES), stage managing Three Sisters (Broken Toys Theatre), assistant stage managing Love’s Labours Lost and stage managing When the Rain Stops Falling (U of A). Additionally, she is the Treasurer for the U of A New Works Festival, and the Volunteer Coordinator for The Works Art & Design Festival.
Congratulations, Erin - we wish you continued success and look forward to seeing more of your work.
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