2024 Dramaturges

INTRODUCING OUR 2024 DRAMATURGES!

MIKAELA DYKE

Mikaela Dyke is a performer and writer from St Johns. After graduating with her MA in dramaturgy from the University of Toronto, she toured the Fringe theatre circuit through North America as a solo performer. Her first show Dying Hard - based on Elliot Leyton's interviews with the St Lawrence miners - gathered both critical and audience acclaim. She continued to develop work for the festival circuit and for the genre-defying Circlesnake Productions while performing in scripted dramatic work both solo and with other companies. She began an extensive career in comedy and has performed in cabarets and comedy clubs in cities all over, including New York, Orlando, Winnipeg, Vancouver, Toronto and St. John's. She's appeared at JFL42 in Toronto with The Wonder Show and as a guest of Tony Ho. She co-created the absurdist nightmare webseries Good Morning, Tonight! and continues to work in both live and recorded mediums. Her dramaturgical work spans a breadth of genres and focuses on each work as a unique process. She's currently lying down.

Mikaela will be the dramaturge for Brynn Cutcliffe's play Waiting for Her.

SHARON KING-CAMPBELL

Sharon King-Campbell is a theatre and literary artist based in Ktaqmkuk, colonially known as Newfoundland. Her plays Original and Give Me Back have reached audiences throughout Newfoundland and Labrador and mainland Canada, and the Canadian premiere of Dayboil was the winner of 6 Robert Merritt Awards. Sharon has been privileged to offer dramaturgical support to Bernardine Stapleton on woman, naked, Vanessa Cardoso Whelan on Saudade, and Kiersten Noel and Timothy Matson on hope. Her collection of poetry, This Is How It Is, was published in 2021, and Dayboil is due out in 2024, both with Breakwater Books. Sharon holds a BFA and a MA from Memorial University, where she is currently pursuing her PhD.

Sharon will be the dramaturge for August Carrigan's play Tea for Two.

MODELINE LONGJOHN

Modeline Nicholas Longjohn is a freelance writer and a Postdoctoral fellow in Bioinformatics at the Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She also obtained an MSc in Cancer Biology from Nottingham Trent University, and a BSc (Hons) in Genetics from the University of Liverpool.
Modeline research interests are in cancer biomarker discovery, with a focus on liquid biopsy and Multiomics approaches. Honours include BHCRI CRTP award, runner-up at the Mun SGS 3MT competition in 2018 and YWCA woman of distinction in science and engineering. Modeline has authored scientific writings, editorial articles, and published works of fiction (under a pseudonym).
She is currently working on a collection of short stories, to be published soon. Modeline gives back to the community via regular volunteering including as a run organizer for the Terry Fox run in St. John’s, NL, and the Canadian Red Cross.

Modeline will be the dramaturge for Nicole Obiodiaka's play Beauty Beyond the Norms.

NATALIE MEISNER

Natalie Meisner is a LGBTAIQ2S+ playwright and poet who was born and raised on the Mi’kma’ki / South Shore of Nova Scotia and began her work in the indie theatre and spoken word poetry scenes of Halifax. After studying literature and theatre at Kings/ Dalhousie, she trained as an actor at the National Theatre School then headed west coast for a MFA in Creative Writing at UBC, and Ph.D at the University of Calgary. She has seven full-length books in various genres to her name and was Calgary/ Mohkinstsis' 5th Poet Laureate. She is a wife, a mom to two great boys, and a full professor of creative writing at Mount Royal University where she loves helping other writers find their voice.

Nathalie will be the dramaturge for Susan Kelsey's play Goldstar Girlfriend.

BERNARDINE (BERNI) ANN TERÁZ STAPLETON

Berni Stapleton is a playwright, author, skit-artist, and actor. She was born in North West River, Labrador and grew up on the south coast of Newfoundland. She has spent her career making beautiful theatre in unexpected places. She was a Siminovitch Playwright Prize finalist in 2023. She is the recipient of the prestigious Rhonda Payne Award for Theatre. She is the founder and Artistic Director of Girl Power Inc. an indie feminist theatre company devoted to the queer-hands and creators of the outer reaches. She has had almost forty plays professionally produced.
Her plays include Offensive to Some, first developed as part of the NAC’s English Theatre Program the Playwright’s Circle in 1996. It is produced regularly to this day. The Antidote for Life: Memory, Madness and Beagles, is an autobiographical exploration of madness in the arts. New works in progress include the feminist queer imagining Ophelia Swims and the upcoming podcast The Haunted Doorbell. Berni was writer-in-residence at Memorial University in 2019 and has taught an Introduction to Playwrighting course there. Her books include Love, Life, with Breakwater Books, the newest yet unpublished Brazil Square about the once iconic boarding house district of St. John’s, and the writing guide How to Write a Play and Have Fun Without Hardly Even Trying or How to Finish Your Best Worst First Draft or Prepare to Throw the Pasta. She lives in St. John’s with rescue beagles Georgie Girl and Tiggy Duff.

Bernardine will be the dramaturge for Sharon King-Campbell's play Factory Girls.