The Team
Nicola Harwood was born and raised in the Central Interior of British Columbia where she learned to holler loud and hold on tight. She holds a BFA and an MFA in creative writing and is the recipient of several Canada Council grants, playwriting awards and writer/artist residencies. Her passions include creator-driven works, political work, absurdist comedy and community-based arts practice. She has taught for major theatres in the Bay Area including the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Magic Theatre and the East Bay Centre of Performing Arts as well as for San Francisco State University, the University of Victoria and for Selkirk College. Current theatre /writing projects include the Squaw Hall Project with urban ink productions of Vancouver, a community-based theatre project on racism in the Central Interior of BC, KHAOS, an opera commission with composer Don MacDonald, Buffalo Girls, an absurdist comedy based on mannish women from BC history and FLAME a multi-artist, community-based Altar project. Recently completed projects include Letters From Lithuania a site-specific play set in Stanley Park with Mortal Coil of Vancouver, BOOM! a multi-artist site-specific installation project in Nelson, BC; Loco Phantasmo, a comedy about madness and Dog Heart, a memoir about bad children. She is currently Co-Artistic director of Twin Fish Theatre (www.twinfish.ca) and Executive Director of the Oxygen Art Centre an artist run centre in Nelson, B.C. (www.oxygenartcentre.org) where she washes dishes, floors and toilets just like when she was sixteen and a waitress at the Dog and Suds in Williams Lake.
Don Macdonald has a varied musical background that includes experience as a performer, conductor, educator, and composer. He is currently the department head of the Selkirk College Contemporary Music and Technology Program in Nelson, BC where he also heads the composition department.Throughout his musical life composition has been Don’s main focus and his credits include commissioned classical works, arrangements and compositions for CD recordings and scores for award winning film and television. He has received two Genie nominations and 5 Leo nominations for his work in Canadian film and most recently his score for “Fido” won the prize for best soundtrack at the Gerardmer Film Festival in France. Commissioned works have been performed and recorded by ensembles in Canada and abroad for ensembles including choir, orchestra and concert band. His vocal background includes being a founding member of Musica Intima and Chor Leone two of Canada’s premiere vocal ensembles, freelance work with the Vancouver Chamber Choir, and solo work with a variety of ensembles including the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra. His conducting experience includes positions as Assistant Conductor of the Vancouver Bach Choir, Musical Director of the Simon Fraser University Choir and studio conductor for film and T.V. sessions. He has played saxophone alongside artists such as Dee Daniels and Mike Stern and has performed on violin for numerous CD recordings and live shows.
Vocalist Allison Girvan appears on each of the audio demos posted on this site. See her website for bio information. Allisongirvan.com
