Arkady Spivak
Arkady Spivak attended York University, Glendon College until 2000, working on a BA in Theatre and Business.
In 2003 Arkady founded Talk Is Free Theatre. Since then the company has produced 96 productions in Barrie and toured nationally and internationally. Talk Is Free Theatre won a prestigious Dora Award for its co-production of Assassins, which was also seen in Toronto and at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg.
In the fall of 2018, Spivak produced the largest theatre experience in the world, entitled The Curious Voyage. It was the 3-day long journey, in which each patron became the protagonist of their own story, and was transported, quite literally, between Barrie and London, UK. This spring Spivak has created and is producing WOW, a multi-disciplinary collection of immersive art, making it the first festival of its kind anywhere in the world.
Derek Kwan
Derek Kwan is an actor, singer, and theatre creator working at the intersection of theatre, music and movement in a number of forms including opera, clown, and puppetry. His career has taken him across Canada and the globe, from London, England, to performances in Czech Republic, Mexico, Japan, Thailand, Taiwan, and China. Derek received a Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical as well as a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Outstanding Male Performer, Musical Division for his portrayal of Boursicot in Mr. Shi and His Lover. Performance highlights include: (theatre) a Deaf/hearing integrated production of The Tempest (Citadel Theatre), a Mandarin adaptation of the children’s classic The Blue Bird (Theatre de la Sardine, Taipei), Blood Weddings (Modern Times/Aluna, Toronto), the first male-identified performer of I, Claudia (Theatre Ignite, Taipei), the outdoor winter promenade show Tails From the City (Common Boots Theatre, Toronto); (opera/music theatre) celebrating Toronto’s first multi-cultural neighbourhood in The Ward Cabaret, an apocalyptic animal cabaret The Cave (LUMINATO/Toronto), an immersive Sweeney Todd in London, England (Talk is Free Theatre), Mr. Shi and His Lover (touring to Ottawa; Yokohama, Japan; Guanajuato, Mexico; Macao, China), Play of Daniel (Toronto Consort), The Lesson of Da Ji (Toronto Masque Theatre).
Michael Torontow
Michael’s career has spanned almost twenty years and has taken him across Canada, the United States and to the UK and Australia in a wide range of roles, mostly in stage musicals. Trained in classical and operatic singing, his favourite roles include Sweeney in Sweeney Todd, Link in Hairspray (Toronto premiere), Sam in Mamma Mia!, Giuseppe in The Light in the Piazza and Homer in Floyd Collins. Michael starred in a one-person interactive play, Every Brilliant Thing, which continues to tour internationally. He is passionate about mental health and is currently writing his first musical, which deals with addiction. Michael made his directing debut with Into the Woods, currently scheduled for a major revival.