Questions? Contact Francyne at franny@skam.ca!

FAQ

SKAM Young Company Cast

Aisha Haq as Nell

Aisha [she/her] is 14 years old and has been doing theatre for 6 years. Aisha is super excited to be playing Nell in The Fates. She has worked with Theatre SKAM in the past and was most recently in 7eventy 7eventy and Fashion Machine with them. She was recently in the Victoria fringe festival in Alice with Theatre Al Dente and has done many other shows with Four Seasons Musical Theatre, Kaleidoscope Theatre, Saint Luke’s players, Theatre Skam and Theatre Al Dente. In her free time Aisha dances, Dyes her hair way too much and co coordinates a BIPOC art collective.

Maya Kara as Lottie

Maya [she/her] is 17 years old, about to start her grade 12 year at Esquimalt High School and is an aspiring young actor. She started acting when she was in grade 2 and has been inspired ever since. Her first interest was improv, immersing herself into a club in middle school and later in high school competing in the Canadian Improv games where she won first place two years in a row with her team in the Junior Tournaments. Maya has also taken part in her schools drama and musical theatre productions, playing the TinMan in grade 9 and getting one of the lead roles in her schools most recent production of the musical Theory of Relativity. Maya is thrilled to be taking part in another SYC show as last year she got the opportunity to play the character Asa in the SYC production of Backliners (also written by Ellery Lamm). Maya feels so grateful to have been given the role of Lottie and can’t wait for people to get to experience the show the way her and the cast have for the past month.

Ruby Dawn Wallace as Inez

Ruby [she/her] is 16 years old and going into grade 11 at Vic High. She has been acting for the past 12 years. This is her second time being a part of an SYC summer production at SKAM, having stage-managed last year’s SYC production of Backliners. She has also performed in SKAMpede multiple times, as well as The Belfry Theatre’s Spark Festival. In 2018, Ruby assistant stage-managed SKAMs production of 7eventy 7even. In 2019 she acted in SNAFU’s production of Calling Home. At Vic High, she stage-manages the school musical and partakes in their senior drama class. Excited and honoured to play Inez, Ruby is inspired to do theatre by every great production she’s yet to see. She’d like to thank Dionysus, the Greek god of theatre for keeping this art form zesty for over 2,600 years.

SKAM Young Company Team

Ellery Rose Lamm – Playwright

Ellery Lamm [she/her] has an MFA in Creative Writing from UVIC, and often writes plays about young adults including: The Fitting Room (Overall Best Show, Bravest Show at Victoria Fringe), Summer Bucket List (Best Original New Work, Best Drama at Victoria Fringe), and Backliners (SKAM Young Company, 2020). She also writes fiction and is in the process of adapting Backliners into a TV pilot. Ellery tries to write stories about young people that she wouldn’t have rolled her eyes at as a teen.

Anna Marie Anderson – Director

Anna Marie [she/her] is a UVIC Theatre Graduate. She is the director of Victoria Fringe Productions Summer Bucket List (2019 Best Original New Work, Best Drama) and The Fitting Room (2018 Overall Favourite Show, Bravest Show). She often works with plays that deal with themes such as social justice, coming of age and mental health. In all of her work, she aims to lift the voices of young adults and empower both the artists and the audience. She is thrilled to be working with SKAM and can’t wait to work with the imaginations of the artists involved with SKAMpede and SYC show in August.

Scott Joseph Mitchell – Assistant Director

Scott [he/him] is 16 years old and rolling into his graduating year at Reynolds Secondary School. He has acted with SKAM and other theatres for many years, but this is one of his first times stepping into the world of directing. Last year Scott participated in SKAM’s youth company production of Backliners in the role of Murphy. He is excited to be stepping out of his comfort zone and to continue exploring the world of theatre in a new direction. Scott plans to continue his ventures with theatre into his career, moving soon to Toronto to continue his theatre education. He is inspired by every show he works on or see’s, and hopes to keep the magic of theatre alive in any way he can.

Olivia Wheeler – Designer

Olivia [she/her] is a mixed-race, Chinese Canadian performance designer, composer and interdisciplinary creator.  The recent graduate holds a BFA in Theatre with a minor in Music from the University of Victoria and focused on performance design, technical theatre, music composition and music technology during her studies. She has been working with Theatre SKAM since 2019 on various projects, including sound designer for It’ll Come to Me, co-producer for SKAMpede 2020, production designer for Backliners, and lead artist and puppet design for the Pop-Up Theatre’s Halloween Shows 2020. Some of her work outside of SKAM includes the sound design and music direction on multiple productions in Victoria, the design and creation of her own immersive installation EVOKE, and receiving puppetry mentorship through the conVERGE Residency with Puente Theatre and Intrepid Theatre.

Riley Schaffner – Stage Manager

Riley [they/them] is currently working on their Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Theatre at UVIC. They will be starting their fifth year there this September. Riley was first introduced to the production and management side of theatre in their first year at UVIC and has since been a part of the stage managing teams of multiple productions at the Phoenix including 7 Stories and Comic Potential. As a stage manager, their goal is to bring compassion into the rehearsal room and uplift and empower the voices of the cast and crew. Riley is thrilled to be working with SKAM this summer as a part of both SKAMpede and the SYC production in August.