The Theatre SKAM Team

Images of the SKAM staff

Core Staff

Logan Swain (He/Him) – Artistic Producer

Logan is a storyteller with a burning desire to make a difference in the world by telling stories that value truth and honesty while remaining playfully curious. Specializing in Theatrical Production & Design and the creation of new work, he is passionate about bringing live performance to the stage while helping the work of his fellow artists reach its highest artistic potential. His creative interests include verbatim theatre, immersive design, and pushing the boundaries of traditional theatre practices by integrating new technology. Logan is an avid outdoorsman with Métis heritage and believes the best stories come from our lived experiences. He draws inspiration from time spent in nature and reflecting on his family’s past, present, and future.

Logan has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree with a Major in Theatre (Design Focus and Co-op Designation) from the University of Victoria, where he pursued a comprehensive theatre education with a focus on design and production. Independently, he has produced several fringe shows, including Ernie and Bethy (2018), Money on the Table (2019), Hegnimwaal (2021), and Ouroboros (2022) at the Victoria Fringe Festival. He has also toured Hegnimwaal to the Kelowna (2019) and Nanaimo (2021) Fringe Festivals.

His recent work as a sound designer includes: The Fiancée (Chemainus Theatre Festival, 2023), The Waste Land (UVic Main Stage, 2022), Bury The Hatchet (Victoria, 2022) with the Culture Den Society & Belfry Theatre, and im:print2022 (Victoria, 2022) with the Inter-Cultural Association of Greater Victoria & UVic’s Phoenix Theatre.

 

Anne Taylor (She/Her) – Managing Director – On Maternity Leave

Anne fell in love with theatre as a child at the Children’s Fest in Vanier Park in Vancouver – one whiff of a smoke machine and she was hooked! Since then, she has been the foley artist for her grade three class play, follow spot operator in the roadhouse attached to her high school, and head scenic painter in college. In her adult career, Anne has worked as a lighting designer, including a stint at Science World, a Production Manager at Vancouver’s Fringe Festival, and Stage Manager throughout Canada, including at the Globe Theatre in Regina, Chemainus Theatre, Gwaandak Theatre in White Horse, and with Patrick Street Productions in New Westminster.

Anne is a graduate of Douglas College’s Stage Craft Program, The Banff Centre Theatre Programme: Production Stage Management and Opera as Theatre, and British Columbia Institute of Technology’s NonProfit Management program.  Her favourite styles of theatre include site-specific, musical theatre, and Fringe theatre.

Branden Sugden (He/Him) – Interim Managing Director

Branden is a director, actor, and producer from Treaty 7 territory (Calgary, AB). His love for theatre developed in high school–or perhaps it was earlier, when he perfected his Alex Trebek impression at the ripe old age of 4. Or when he would find any excuse to explain to his sisters how “you could totally use that [insert flat surface] as a stage.” Naturally, Branden’s passion for innovative and immersive ways of telling stories led him to Theatre SKAM.

Branden has worked with many companies across Western Canada as an artist and administrator. He holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Victoria, with a Minor in Business. Select directing credits include: Shakespeare’s Women, (Asst. Director, UVic Phoenix Theatre), The Audition (Theatre Inconnu), Grounded (Asst. Director, Calgary Young People’s Theatre), Hey There, Mr. Moon (Periluna Collective). Select acting credits include: Dead Man’s Cell Phone, Comic Potential (UVic Phoenix Theatre), Survivors (Bema Productions), Macbeth (Calgary Young People’s Theatre), and Huck Finn (Storybook Theatre).

 

Headshot of Janine Rzeplinski

Janine Rzeplinski (They/She) – Marketing and Communications Manager

Janine fell head over heels for stories at a young age. Since then, whether in a choir, as a voice on a podcast, performing on stage, or on the page, the art of storytelling has been central to their life. Her creative work explores queer, Jewish, and disabled ontologies through time, particularly within the realms of monstrosity and fairytales. In Janine’s free time, they are an avid reader and entomology hobbyist.

She graduated from the University of Victoria in 2020 with a B.A. in History, focussing specifically on the history of sex and medicine. Their Honours thesis looked at medical and popular discourse regarding intersex people in 19th century America. As a non-profit/arts communicator, she is passionate about accessibility and vibrancy in marketing and as well as the visual art of storytelling. Her communications background is primarily in non-profit work and freelance writing. Their poetry has appeared in various publications.

 

Headshot of Janine Rzeplinski

Emily Campbell (She/They) – School Administrator

Emily has always had a love for the arts in many shapes and forms. She fell in love with theatre in elementary school and hasn’t looked back since! They graduated from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 2023 with a major in Theatre and a minor in English. Through their degree, she found a passion for technical theatre, directing, applied theatre, and teaching.

Emily has worked with SKAM in the past as a teacher, administrative assistant, and venue technician. Past theatre credits include Othello, Problem Child, Love and Information (Phoenix Theatre, Head Electrician), The Wasteland (Phoenix Theatre, Stream Director) Hello? (Rabbit From a Hat, Director).

 

 

Artistic Associates

Pedro M. Siqueria

Pedro M. Siqueira (He/Him) – Artistic Associate

Pedro [he/him] is a Brazilian multi-skilled performer, creator, and producer based in Victoria BC. Pedro’s curiosity is the ground from which he leaps into the unknown. He ignites the imagination to illuminate the path to artistic realization. Since his graduation from the Canadian College of Performing Arts in February of 2020, Pedro has been assisting the theatre community in Victoria to find ways to keep developing, producing, and creating during these challenging times.

 

Olivia Wheeler

Olivia Wheeler (She/Her) – Artistic Associate

Olivia [she/her] is a queer mixed-race, Chinese Canadian performance designer, composer, theatre technician and multi-disciplinary creator from Lekwungen and WSÁNEĆ territory. She recently graduated with a degree in theatre and minor in music from the University of Victoria. Her work specializes in sound design, composition, technical theatre, immersive performance design and puppetry.

She has worn multiple different hats during her time with SKAM, including co-producer for SKAMpede (2020), production designer for multiple SKAM Young Company productions (BacklinersEnd of Term, and The Fates), and puppet design, director and lead artist for the Halloween Pop-Up Theatre. She has been involved in productions, workshops, and initiatives with companies across the country such as SNAFU Dance Theatre Society, Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival, Alberta Theatre Projects, Vertigo Theatre, Red Betty Theatre, and the STEPS Initiative. Some of her most recent work include the research, creation, and design of EVOKE (BFA Project), the creation of Hey Girl through the conVERGE Residency (Intrepid Theatre & Puente Theatre), and sound designer for Liberated Feminist Futures (Nightwood Theatre).


 

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Meet Our Board