Pam Tzeng – performer, Witness
Pam Tzeng (曾小桐) is a second-generation Taiwanese-Canadian choreographer, performer and arts worker based in Mohkinstsis Treaty 7 Territory.
Pam’s work is an evolving collection of intimate and visceral reflections on the politics of the body. She takes pleasure in extremes to craft honest and animated performances with objects. Led by her embodied curiosities, Pam graciously traverses charged thematic territories to reveal and empower unseen truths.
Pam is a commitment to offering the multiplicity of her experiences, creativity and intelligences to the work of equity and anti-oppression in the arts and cultural sector. Recent activities include: premiering and touring SHED | knowing each other as different and the same; researching conflict transformation from an artistic and embodied lens as 2022-23 Artist in Residence with Dancemakers (Tkaronto).
For more about what Pam cares about, does and has made or contributed to visit: pamtzeng.com
Quelemia Sparrow – performer, “Shannon” in Daughter
My name is Quelemia Sparrow and I’m an actor, writer and director from the Musqueam Nation in so-called Vancouver. Hay’ ce:p’qa (thank you) to Mohkinstsis, Treaty 7 territory for having hosted me.
Here are some of my previous credits: The Bakkhai/Stratford Festival, Lysistrata, Timon of Athens’/Bard on the Beach, The Pipeline Project Gateway Theatre, The Snow Queen/Globe, Our Town/Osimous, The Edward Curtis Project GCTC/NAC, Ernestine Shuswap Gets Her Trout/ Firehall Arts Centre, The Penelopiad/Arts Club Theatre, August: Osage County /Arts Club Theatre, and Where the Blood Mixes, Playhouse/ WTC. And some Film and TV stuff: Until Branches Bend, Motherland: Fort Salem, Reckoning, Tribal, Fringe, Blackstone, Cable Beach, Clouds of Autumn, Da Vinci’s City Hall, V, Unnatural and Accidental, and Da Vinci’s Inquest, for which I won a Leo Award, Best Female Guest Appearance. I do some writing, too. If you want to, check out my website: quelemiasparrow.com
Telly James – performer, “Emmett” in Daughter
(bio written via chatbot via Telly) Telly James is a talented actor known for his captivating performances on stage and screen. With a passion for storytelling, Telly has honed his craft over the years, bringing to life a wide range of characters with depth and authenticity. His natural charisma and dynamic range have earned him critical acclaim and a loyal following of fans. Telly’s dedication to his craft is evident in every role he takes on, and he continues to push the boundaries of his abilities with each new project. With a bright future ahead of him, Telly James is a rising star in the entertainment industry.
Jonathan Fisher – performer, “Leroy” in Survivor
Jonathan Fisher is Bear Clan and Anishnabe from the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory on Manitoulin Island, Ontario. He has been acting professionally for the past thirty years. Selected credits include: Almighty Voice & His Wife (Native Earth Performing Arts). Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing (Red Roots Theatre). fareWel (Prairie Theatre Exchange). A Trickster’s Tale (Theatre Direct). New France (VideoCabaret). Raven Stole the Sun (Red Sky Performance). Copper Thunderbird (National Arts Centre). Stretching Hide (Theatre Projects Manitoba). Tales of an Urban Indian (Talk Is Free Theatre). 400 Kilometers (Lighthouse Theatre). Medicine Boy (Anishnabe Theatre Performance). The Rez Sisters (Magnus Theatre). Night (Human Cargo). The Hours That Remain (Magnus Theatre). Elle (Theatre Passe Muraille). The Berlin Blues and Ipperwash (Blyth Festival). Reckoning (ARTICLE 11). Home Is A Beautiful Word (SUM Theatre). Weaving Reconciliation: Our Way (Vancouver Moving Theatre Company). This Is How We Got Here (Native Earth/Shaw Festival). The Mush Hole (Kaha:wi Dance Theatre) and White Noise (Firehall Arts Centre).
Chris Hample – performer, “Condo Cop” in Daughter
Chris Hample is honoured to have been asked to be a part of Reckoning. Chris’ acting career began in High School. He was featured in reenactments of “Crime Stoppers,”” and TV advertisements. While earning his BFA in Art, he played in bands appearing on Much Music and Breakfast Television. Taking time to teach English overseas, starting a family and earning his teaching degree, he has kept active with artistic endeavours. Chris was featured in 2011’s Lloyd the Conqueror, a comedy about LARPing, as a member of the Wolf Pack. Most recently, he played a hit man named Lollipop in the independent film Rock Bottom.
Chris is currently keeping busy combining his arts background with his B.Ed, teaching at Willow Park, a teaching through the arts school, and playing bass and song writing in his band Junkyard Slim.
Tara Beagan – Director, writer, producer
Tara Beagan is a proud Ntlaka’pamux and Irish “Canadian” halfbreed. She is cofounder/director of ARTICLE 11 with Andy Moro and based in Mohkinstsis (Calgary.) Beagan served as Artistic Director of Native Earth Performing Arts from February 2011 to December 2013. Beagan has been in residence at Cahoots Theatre, NEPA, the National Arts Centre, Berton House, and most recently Prairie Theatre Exchange. Seven of her 35 plays are published. Two plays have received Toronto’s Dora Award nominations, one win. In 2020, Honour Beat won the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama. Recent writing includes Rise, Red River for PTE (premiering in 2024 with PTE, Theatre Circle Moliere and A11), Nice White Lady for Necessary Angel, and Ride or Die for Sunny Drake Productions, produced by Downstage.
Beagan is a Dora and Betty nominated actor, recently appearing in Theatre Calgary’s Little Women as well as Vertigo’s The Extractionist. Most recently Beagan was nominated for directing her play The Ministry of Grace for Making Treaty 7. Along with protégé Joelle Peters, Beagan is the 2020 laureate of the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre.
Andy Moro – Director, producer, DOP
Current/Recent Theatre: Ministry of Grace (MT7/ARTICLE 11), Gaslight (Vertigo), Pisuwin (Atlantic Ballet Theatre). Extractionist (Vertigo); the F WORD (Downstage, Alberta Theatre Projects); Ministry of Grace, Reckoning, ROOM, Declaration, Deer Woman (ARTICLE 11); Little Women, Honour Beat (Theatre Calgary); Hookman (U of C/Chromatic); Last Epistle of Tightrope Time (National Arts Centre/Neptune); Post Mistress, Rez Sisters (RMTC); Unnatural & Accidental Women (NAC); Blackhorse (Caravan Farm); The Herd (Citadel/Tarragon); Frozen River (MTYP); Third Colour, War Being Waged (PTE); Time Stands Still, O’Kosi (MT7); SkyDancers (Anowara Dance); Raven Mother (Dancers of Damelahamid); Finding Wolastoq Voice (Theatre New Brunswick); Blood Water Earth, Blood Tides, The Mush Hole (Kahawi Dance Theatre). Upcoming: Last Epistle of Tightrope Time (Tarragon/NAC), Sleuth (Vertigo), Rise, Red River (PTE/TCM/A11.)
Daanis Demeria – Makeup artist, Daughter
Instagram: @daanis_d
Facebook: Dolled Up By Daanis
My name is Daanis Demeria – Blue Feather Girl. I am from Tootinaowaziibeeng Manitoba. I grew up in Winnipeg, Manitoba but have resided in Calgary for the past 11 years and call Alberta my home. I enjoy working and/or helping out in the community, meeting people and making new connections. I was fortunate to be a part of Reckoning as a makeup artist. Makeup is something I have always been passionate about but starting pursuing work in the industry about 3 years ago and am excited to learn more and make more wonderful connections going forward.
Tia Taurere-Clearsky – Camera operator & editor
Tia Taurere-Clearsky is Māori from the Ngāpuhi/Te Aupōuri Nations of Aotearoa (New Zealand), lives on Coast Salish Territory of Turtle Island (North America/Canada) and was born in the Koolin Nations (Melbourne Australia). Tia emmigrated to Coast Salish Territory Turtle Island to be with her husband Curtis Clearsky, who is of First Nations Blackfoot/Anishinaabe Nations.
One of her passions is striving to create International Solidarity by building synergies between Indigenous, Activists and Creative communities. She believes in working towards Tino Rangatiratanga, Self Determination for all peoples, through Creative Resistance, Creative Communications. She has skills in multimedia production, critical analysis of the world we live in today and a deep respect for our Earth Mother Papatūānuku .
Tia’s production company Whaea Productions is named after the Māori word Whāea. Whāea is a mother, an aunty, a teacher, an older woman who is nurturing, caring, a knowledge keeper and a leader in the community. https://www.whaeaproductions.com
Jeff Chief – Costumes for Witness & Survivor
Jeff Chief is Cree from Onion Lake First Nation on Treaty 6 territory in Saskatchewan and currently lives in Saskatoon. Jeff has been a costume stitcher, cutter, and costume designer in theatres across Canada. His recent design credits include Iago Speaks (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan), The Rez Sisters (Royal MTC), Flush, Life After Hockey (La Troupe du Jour), Cottagers and Indians (Persephone Theatre), The Gift (GTNT), Being Here: The Refugee Project, Ministry of Grace (Belfry Theatre), Kronborg: The Hamlet Rock Musical (Confederation Centre of the Arts), Honour Beat (Theatre Calgary), Hedda Noir (Theatre NorthWest), Le Wild West Show de Gabriel Dumont (National Arts Centre), Ipperwash (Blyth Festival).
Melody McKiver – composer, Witness
Melody McKiver’s (they/them) musical work integrates electronics with Western classical music to shape a new genre of Anishinaabe compositions. A proud member of Obishikokaang Lac Seul First Nation, is a member of the Mizi’iwe Aana Kwat (LGBTQ2S+ Council) within the Anishinaabe Nation of Treaty #3. They are the 2020 recipient of the Canada Council’s Robert Flaming Prize awarded annually to an exceptionally talented young Canadian composer, and a recurring invited participant in the Banff Centre for the Arts’ Indigenous Classical Music gatherings. Melody is currently a faculty member at the University of Manitoba.
Paul Chaput MA, PhD – Original Collaborating Elder
Paul is Métis from the Red River in Manitoba. Like his mother, he attended Dubuc, a Roman Catholic residential school in the village of St. Adolphe, operated by the francophone Sisters of the Cross. Fortunately, students living in the village returned home each day. Paul was the Aboriginal consultant for the creation and the delivery of the curriculum to train 37 former judges and lawyers as adjudicators for the Canada’s Alternate Dispute Resolution (ADR) process, an alternative to the Indian Residential School’s litigation process. Paul facilitated all sessions in which former students recounted their experiences of abuse while attending residential schools.
Paul recently completed his PhD at Queen’s using film to return academic findings back to the Six Nations community. His film: Planting Stories, Feeding Communities, can be viewed at http://www.plantingstories.ca/ The password is: PlantingStories . Two of his CDs were nominated at the Aboriginal Music Awards for “best folk album” and “best male vocalist.”