AndreW barrett

Artistic PRODUCER (he/him)
ANDREW@IMPULSETHEATRE.CA

Andrew is a queer multidisciplinary theatre artist based in Victoria, BC. He is a creator, performer, teacher, director, and administrator. He is a recipient of a BC Arts Council’s Early Career Development Grant and he attended One Yellow Rabbit's Summer Lab Intensive in 2016.

He has worked for and been affiliated with numerous companies in Victoria over the past seven years, including the likes of Theatre SKAM, Atomic Vaudeville, Intrepid Theatre, and SNAFU Dance Theatre. He has operated as the Communications & Marketing Officer at the Canadian College of Performing Arts since December 2018. As a teacher, he has taught theatrical movement and creation for SKAM's SKAMpede Young Company and its School of Performing Arts, the Pacific Design Academy’s Acting for the Screen program, and has done workshops through Impulse Theatre, for the poets of Victoria Festival of Spoken Word, and the students of the Gulf Islands School of the Performing Arts, for which he is an alumni.
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EMILY PIGGFORD

ArTISTIC ASSOCIATE (SHE/hER)

Vancouver-Island born and Toronto-based, Emily is a Canadian Screen Award-nominated actress from a childhood of dance, singing, instruments, writing and musical theatre, then university years of mainstage performance and alternative theatre creation, and a current career of predominantly film and TV.

She toured internationally in Canadian Stage’s, HELEN LAWRENCE, and participated in theatre workshops to develop and showcase new work with the likes of Tarragon Theatre and Outside The March. Recent screen credits include THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY (Netflix), Steven Soderbergh/Lodge Kerrigan’s THE GIRLFRIEND EXPERIENCE (Starz), and the action-fantasy series, WARIGAMI (CBC Gem). Emily also produced and starred in D.W. Waterson’s internationally award-winning digital series, THAT’S MY DJ. She has been in five projects that made their world premiere at TIFF and most recently appeared opposite Academy Award winner Louis Gossett Jr. in THE CUBAN. Emily plays Esther Ishikawa in THE SOUNDS, a thriller series filmed over four months in New Zealand, starring Rachelle Lefevre, directed by Peter Stebbings, (CBC/Acorn TV, Fall 2020). She holds a BFA in theatre from the University of Victoria and is an alum of the Canadian Film Centre Actors Conservatory.​

Fall 2021 STAFF

MATILDA COBanlI,
​ASSOCIATE PRODUCER (SHE/HER)
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Born in Victoria and now based in Brussels, Belgium, Matilda is a queer dance artist whose practice spans performing, collaborative dance-making, facilitation, screen dance, and dramaturgy. She studied contemporary dance at Modus Operandi (CA), The Royal Conservatoire Antwerp (BE), and is a graduate of the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (AT). ​

MELISSA TAYLOR, 
FESTIVAL COORDINATOR (SHE/HER)

Melissa is a white person with blond hair. She is looking into the camera with a slight smirk on her face.
Melissa currently resides and works as a playwright, actor and director in Lekwungen Territory (Victoria, B.C). A longtime collaborator of Impulse Theatre, her work has been featured in past Peek Fests and last summer in HIVE: Flight Paths (Vancouver). She completed her MFA in Playwriting at UVic in 2017.

JESS AMY SHEAD,
​MARKETING AND OUTREACH COORDINATOR (SHE/HER)

Jess is a white person, staring into the camera with a serious look on her face. Her wavy brown hair frames her face.
Jess immigrated to what is currently called Canada from South Africa when she was two years old. Now, she is part of the ongoing occupation of unceded Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) territory (Vancouver). Jess is a multidisciplinary theatre artist and administrator, with a focus on ASL/English Theatre, Puppetry, Theatre for Young Audiences, and Site-Specific Performance. 

TIFFANY TJOSVOLD,
ACCESSIBILITY COORDINATOR (SHE/HER)

Tiffany is a white person with long wavy brown and blonde hair and is wearing a royal blue shirt. She is looking into the camera with a big smile on her face, surrounded by nature.
Tiffany is a multidisciplinary artist and arts educator whose practices are rooted in movement and play. She is a chronically ill individual whose experience informs her desire to create accessible artistic spaces. Tiffany is also the founder of Embrace Arts Foundation, a multidisciplinary arts organization for individuals of all abilities.

IMPULSE THEATRE BOARD OF DIRECTORS

clayton baraniuk,
​​​Director (he/hIM)

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Clayton Baraniuk has a rich history on the West Coast, growing up in the Comox Valley and working with Vancouver Island companies like Theatre SKAM, Gotta Getta Gimmick, and Intrepid Theatre. He has been Company Manager for the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, Associate Producer for National Arts Centre English Theatre in Ottawa, and is currently the Artistic Producer of Electric Company Theatre in Vancouver. Over his career, Clayton has engaged with artists and projects across Canada and beyond, including co-producing the NAC Cycle projects on Indigenous Theatre and Deaf, disability and Mad Arts.

Pamela Bethel,
​​President (she/her)

Pamela stands with her arms crossed. She smiles with her eyes closed. She wears a black button up shirt and her hair is swept up.
Pamela divides her time between being a multidisciplinary artist and a childbirth educator/doula. She is heavily involved in the Victoria arts scene and is excited to be the inaugural President of Impulse Theatre.  In her spare time, she eats and sleeps.  
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pamelabethel.ca

Holly Brinkman,
​director (she/her)

Holly wears a cozy patterned sweater and smiles straight ahead.
Holly is a teacher and storyteller who moved to Victoria in 2014. She has a bachelor's degree from McGill University and a teaching degree from the University of Victoria. She tries to bring drama and storytelling into the classroom at every opportunity. ​

Maia crockett,
​​secretary (she/Her)

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Maia is a graduate of the Canadian College of Performing Arts, where she is currently employed as an administrative assistant and graphic designer. She has worked as an actor, projection / sound designer, and/or stage manager for several companies in Victoria, including CCPA, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Atomic Vaudeville, hapax theatre, and the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival. 

Nathan Gauld,
director (he/him)

Nathan stands in front of a graffiti covered wall. He wears a jean jacket and has his hands in his pant pockets. His shoulders are slight raised as he smiles.
Nathan currently works as an Event Manager for the City of Victoria. He has more than 11 years of experience in event management, organizing large-scale events and experiential marketing programs across the country. Nathan is a “big picture” person with an ability to visualize the possibilities at hand and connect people and ideas to produce winning strategies.
 
He was a founding board member for the Unity - Gay Straight Alliance Conference, connecting and educating teens from the Greater Toronto Area for 3 years.  

Janet Munsil,
​​​Director (she/her)

Janet has short dark hair, glasses with a black frame on top, and has a yellow and grey herringbone print scarf. She smiles with her lips closed.
Janet Munsil is a playwright, and a graduate of the UVic Theatre (BFA) and Writing (MFA) programs. She has written over a dozen plays including That Elusive Spark, The Ugly Duchess, Influence, and Be Still. From 1992-2016, she was the festival producer and Artistic Director at Intrepid Theatre in Victoria. Recently she was an Artist-in-Residence at UVic’s Centre for Studies in Religion and Society. Her directing projects include Girl in the Goldfish Bowl at Langham Court Theatre, Born Yesterday for Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, and Twelfth Night and Love's Labour's Lost for the Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival.

Christopher Vickers,
​​Treasurer (he/Him)

Christopher is wearing sunglasses, a blue jacket and is eating a banana. In the background there are other people, trees, and event tents
Christopher Vickers has been doing improv and theatre since he was a brace-faced cherub. Most recently he’s worked with Atomic Vaudeville, Paper Street Theatre, and co-created a bizarre monthly children’s show for adults called Come & Play with Ryan and Chris. He co-wrote and starred in RifflandiaTV––doing interviews, sketches, and hosting the festival. Christopher is a graduate of Vancouver Film School’s full-time acting program and has been in many features, short films, music videos, and commercials. Through the process of recovery, he stepped away from performing and now sits on Impulse Theatre’s board of directors. He is currently studying Creative Writing at UVic.
Impulse Theatre lives and creates on the traditional and unceded territory of the lək̓ʷəŋən Peoples,.
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