Joanna & Ewa Borkowska

Accountants

Ewa and Joanna are the mother-daughter team behind Valliant Accounting. For the last 4 years, they have worked with various non-profit organisations, charities, and small businesses to help them achieve their long-term goals. Ewa’s knowledge and experience within the non-profit and charity sector has a long history. For over 20 years, Ewa has worked as an accountant for many local non-profit organizations and charities, with a primary focus on arts organizations. She has established long-standing relationships with many of her clients and has witnessed and collaborated in their growth.

Ewa and Joanna both have a love for theatre and music that stem from Joanna’s active involvement in the dance and figure skating community at a young age. They continue to endeavor to support artists and believe in ensuring that Vancouver continues to flourish in bringing about creative and cultural experiences to the public.

Tanja Dixon-Warren

Director of Development

Tanja has been working as a freelance actor, producer, director, teacher and mentor for over 28 years and is thrilled to be CTYP’s Director of Development.  An active member of the community, with a long history of mentoring emerging artists and arts administrators, Tanja served for 15 years on the board of the Greater Vancouver Professional Theatre Alliance (GVPTA). She has also served as a board member with Quintessence Musical Theatre Projects, First Vancouver Theatrespace Society (Vancouver Fringe Festival) and was a Jury Member for the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards. Tanja has been recognized with numerous awards and nominations for her achievements in performing, producing, and business.

Randi Edmundson

19/20 Artist In Residence (Artistic Associate)

Randi is a Vancouver-based performer, puppeteer, and theatre maker with a special interest in theatre for young audiences and community-engaged theatre practice. With her fledging puppetry company, Little Onion Puppet Co., Randi has created Freddie in the Neighbourhood and Dorothy: a mother daughter memoir project, which toured to Vancouver, Kamloops, and Calgary, supported by the Festival of Animated Objects. Freddie in the Neighbourhood was also the winner of two Jessie Richardson Awards for Theatre for Young Audiences.  Randi holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the University of Victoria specializing in Acting and Applied Theatre. In 2019, Randi began working as the Artistic Associate of Project X Theatre in Kamloops, which produces an annual festival of family-focused theatre.As a lover of all things TYA, Randi can’t wait to get started on learning at CTYP and to share that learning with her communities across BC.

Randi’s position is made possible through an Early Career Development Grant from the BC Arts Council.

Danielle Florence

Communications Manager

Danielle is an arts administrator and occasional performer from Vancouver Island. She holds a BFA in Theatre, specializing in Acting from the University of Victoria. She developed a love of communications through studying Arts Marketing and subsequently working as Marketing Assistant at UVic. Following graduation, Danielle realized that she’d never really left the island, so she moved to South Korea for a year, and to London UK for 4 years after that. She comes to CTYP from Theatre Deli, via the Natural History Museum London. Danielle looks forward to helping share the story of CTYP to Vancouver’s young people!

Carole Higgins

Artistic & Managing Director

Carole has the best job in the entire world!

She has been Artistic Director of Carousel Theatre for Young People since 2001, spearheading the organization’s growth from a small theatre company to a year-round theatre that centres all of its activities around young people.

A passionate advocate for, and creator of theatre for young audiences, some of Carole’s favourite directing credits with CTYP over the years include A Charlie Brown Holiday Double Bill, James and the Giant Peach, Busytown, The Cat in the Hat, Birdbrain, A Year with Frog and Toad, Seussical, and The Big League.

Carole’s creative work has been honoured with two Jessie Awards for directing and seven nominations, as well as a nomination for oustanding actor.

Before taking the helm at CTYP, she played at regional theatres across BC as an actor, director and playwright after having made her professional stage debut as a young actor right here at Carousel in The Diary of Anne Frank  in 1994.

Carole has worked as a guest instructor at Theatre at UBC and Arts Umbrella and as a guest lecturer on TYA at several universities. She clearly remembers the magic of seeing her very first play when she was 3 years old. She is a proud dog mom to Molly and Bijou, and to her beloved Sammy who is always in her heart. She is also an avid gardener.

Holly Karpuik

Lead Theatre Technician

Holly is very excited to be coming into her second season as Lead Technician with CTYP, having worked for the organization since 2016. She grew up on Vancouver Island where she was introduced to theatre and the performing arts at a young age by parents who were very involved in their local community theatre groups. Her first theatrical production was Fiddler on the Roof, alongside her mother, brother, and father. This fostered a lifelong love and appreciation for the arts that lead her to complete a technical theatre diploma at Vancouver Island University, where she focused on stage management. Holly takes pride in any opportunity to help people bring their creative endeavours to life on stage

Natalie Lichtenwald

Audience Services Coordinator

Natalie has loved theatre her whole life, spending all her free time performing, writing, and directing in pre-professional programs and school productions, and leading her to study Theatre at the University of Victoria. She was drawn to arts administration in her studies, working and interning as a front of house manager and box office attendant at theatres in Victoria. Natalie is happy to be home in Vancouver and to have joined CTYP’s staff for the Teen Shakespeare Program in 2019, and now for the 19/20 season. She is thrilled to be part of a team that helps cultivate a love for the arts among young audiences.

Marlene Rodgers

Community Projects Manager

Marlene loves sharing stories and bringing them to audiences, and in the new position of Community Projects Manager she’ll have the opportunity to deepen the engagement of kids, teens and adults with the stories we tell at Carousel Theatre.  Marlene has been a long-time writer, story editor and producer in the film and television industry, and an instructor of screenwriting at universities and institutions like the National Screen Institute and the Canadian Film Centre. Her own dramatic and documentary short films tell stories about family, adolescence and mental health.

Jenny Rush-Cooper

Education Manager

Jenny’s passion for theatre education and access to the arts for young people grew through her work with Shakespeare Schools Festival in the UK. She had a lot of fun leading backstage tours around the UK’s National Theatre before moving to Vancouver. Following the move, Jenny spent much of 2018 working in education with Bard on the Beach. The things Jenny loves most about working with Carousel Theatre for Young People are witnessing the joy of first theatre experiences, and the excited buzz of our drama school.

Mikaela Sanders

Audience Services & Operations Manager

Mikaela is a producer, events manager, arts administrator and front of house professional with a keen interest in participatory theatre. Previously, Mikaela worked as a Front of House Manager for La Boite Theatre Company, and contributed to the Brisbane Festival program from 2011-2016. Mikaela’s other work as a stage manager, production coordinator and venue manager include Woodford Folk Festival, Festival of Australian Student Theatre, Queensland Shakespeare Ensemble, Oscar Theatre Company, Brisbane Arts Theatre and Flipside Circus. She is a passionate advocate for the equal representation of women in the creative industries, and for the celebration and elevation of young artists.

Valerie Thai

Graphic Designer

Sarah Hudson

Board Member

Sarah has been attending CTYP’s shows since she was a child, and enjoys them now more than ever as a Mum to two young children. She practices part-time as a research lawyer, and previously served on the Board of Directors of Green Thumb Theatre.  Sarah grew up in Vancouver, and spent part of her childhood singing, dancing and acting on local stages. A big believer in the value of theatre and drama in the lives of young people, Sarah is delighted to be supporting the work of CTYP.

Stephen Robertson

Board President

Stephen is a partner in the Securities and Capital Markets Group at the law firm Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, where his practice focuses on advising clients with respect to securities and investment management industry matters. Stephen also has an affinity for the stage, having performed in the Lawyer Show’s productions of The Drowsy Chaperone, Grease, Legally Blonde, Spamalot, Guys & Dolls, A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Forum, and As You Like It.

Kathie Schwaia

Board Treasurer

Kathie is a Certified General Accountant providing accounting services to small businesses.  A Board Member of Carousel Theatre for Young People since 1982, Kathie has also served on the Board of The Mavor Moore Theatre Society since 2001. Other organizations she supports are Face the World Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy Association, the Vancouver Symphony, the Arts Club and the Metro Theatre. For fun Kathie takes Zoomba dance classes and enjoys great adventures with Brady in unexplored dog parks.

Susan Shank

Board Member

Susan’s love of theatre and the arts has spanned her entire life. So has her love for CTYP!  While securing her BA from Simon Fraser University, with a concentration in Theatre, she was working part time and the summer with CTYP. Possibly her most creative and challenging job, being a mom, brought her and her children (pretty much grown up now) back to CTYP for all the fabulous plays and programs. Susan thinks it is absolutely fantastic to on the board of a theatre company that has played a big part of her and her children’s lives. Susan is currently the General Manager of the Firehall Arts Centre and is excited to bring her many years of Arts Administration and Theatre experience to the board.

Fila Testini

Board Member

Fila was born in Italy and immigrated to Canada in 1969. With a certificate in Business Administration from Capilano College, her background includes finance, time management, leadership, event planning, health care, and food industry management. A volunteer in the arts community since 2002, Fila has been a strong supporter of Patrick Street Productions, Douglas Ballet Academy, and Theatre Under the Stars. Fila believes in being a strong role model for her two children who share her passion for musical theatre.

Roger Watts

Board Member

Roger is a partner at Lindsay LLP in Vancouver, where he practices in the fields of personal injury and transportation law. He also sits on the board of directors of Canadian Defence Lawyers, a national organization serving the insurance defence bar. Roger’s interests outside the office keep him just as busy as his law practice, having performed in nine previous productions of The Lawyer Show as well as other productions for Metro Theatre and Theatre West Van.  He also serves as a director of the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre.