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

Interim Co-Artistic and Managing Director

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

Marketing and 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!

Shizuka Kai

Interim Co-Artistic and Managing Director

Holly Karpuik

Lead Theatre Technician, Waterfront Theatre

Holly is very excited to be Lead Technician for The Waterfront Theatre 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

Melissa Oei

Education Manager

Melissa is a theatre actor and emerging director who has performed with many companies across Western Canada. For CTYP she has appeared in Seussical, Love You Forever and More Munsch, Arthur Boy King, We Three, and Aesop’s Fables (Jessie nomination for Outstanding Ensemble).  Melissa has also been an instructor with CTYP’s drama school and Teen Shakespeare Program for many years. Melissa is a graduate of the conservatory acting program at Studio 58.  She was born, raised and currently lives in Vancouver on the traditional and unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Tanya Schwaerzle

Production and Venue Manager

Tanya is a Vancouver-based Equity Stage Manager and Choreographer.  She has been fortunate enough to work with many companies including; Arts Club Theatre Company, Bard on the Beach, Touchstone Theatre, and many more. She feels very fortunate to have travelled across Canada working and showing the great work created in Vancouver.  Tanya holds her BFA: Stage Management Degree from the University of Alberta and her BGS: Extended Minor in Theatre from the University of the Fraser Valley.

Last season Tanya was fortunate to stage manage Peter Pan, which was her 4^th show at CTYP.

Valerie Thai

Freelance 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.