Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill

(she/her) Theatre Calgary debut. Previous theatre credits include: Dear Evan Hansen (Mirvish); I am William, Freedom 2.0 (Stratford); Jerusalem (Outside the March/Crow’s); Trout Stanley (Factory); Light, Girls Like That (Tarragon); Other Side of the Game (Obsidian/Cahoots). Shakura has also appeared in Grand Army (Netflix); Coroner (CBC); Private Eyes (Global). She is a graduate of Sheridan's Music Theatre college program. Shakura thanks her agent, Michael Marino at Noble Caplan Abrams, Chelsea, and her mom for their unwavering support, the creative team and crew, as well as Ray for trusting her with Billie. What a little moonlight can do. IG: @badgalkooks

(he/him) Theatre Calgary debut. Yanick is a Canadian singer, multi-keyboardist, composer and sound designer. He released a gospel album at the age of seven and went on to play Young Simba in the Ed Mirvish production of The Lion King as well as a myriad of other roles in theatre and TV. Yanick has studied classical piano performance at Western University, and toured internationally, releasing four albums with his highly acclaimed group After Funk. He has recently been featured on The SOCIAL and you can often hear his music playing on CBC radio. Yanick recently got back from a seven month trip to Dubai where he was band leader for the Exposonics, the World Expo 2022 resident band. He also released a few video projects; A Tribute to Donny [Hathaway] an artistic contribution to mental health and race awareness and Celebration and Revelations, a virtual concert that tells the narrative of black people through music. Follow on YouTube or Instagram: @funky_yan.

Mojave (or ‘Mr. Mojave’ as his fans lovingly call him) is thrilled to debut his acting career as ‘Pepi’. Mojave has been showcasing his talents for friends and family in backyards for over a decade, in exchange for his favourite treats, chicken, and cucumber slices.   Mojave’s favourite tricks to perform are his signature ‘ballerina dance’, and his aggressive ‘super paw’ – which comes out only if it’s a REALLY good treat. Perhaps Mojave is best known for bringing joy to humans, and stealing the hearts of everyone he meets. Mojave is honored to put his heart and paws into Pepi’s character, as Billie Holiday’s canine partner in crime. IG: @mrmo.jave

(he/him) Theatre Calgary debut. Ray is an award-winning artist known for creating virtuosic, visually stunning, viscerally moving theatre. He has over 25 years experience in the most celebrated opera, dance, and theatre companies across Europe, The United States, and Canada. He is currently Artistic Director for The Musical Stage Company, Affiliate Artist at Neptune Theatre, and the founder of Prime Mover Theatre Company. From 2012-2017 he was Artistic Director of Rainbow Stage. Directing credits include: Controlled Damage (The Grand Theatre), Dixon Road, Starwalker (Musical Stage Co), da Kink in my Hair (Arts Club); Cats, The Producers, Sister Act, Shrek, Little Shop of Horrors (Rainbow Stage); Five Guys Named Moe, Dreamgirls (Neptune Theatre); Love and Information, An Enemy of the People, Damn Yankees and Chicago (Sheridan College). He has choreographed for the Shaw Festival, the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Segal Centre Montreal, and more. @rayhogg2021, @primemovertheatreco, rayhogg.com, primemovertheatreco.com

(he/him) Theatre Calgary debut. Jonathan is a Chilean-Canadian music director, copyist, and performer. He is thrilled to be exploring the life of the profoundly influential artist Billie Holiday. In his own work, Jonathan brings a collaborative and story-focused approach to musical direction, with a passion for interrogating material through new lenses. He is also an avid supporter of new theatrical stories and has helped to develop some of the foremost music theatre being made in Canada. When not in rehearsal, he can be found experimenting with sounds on his small collection of synths. Selected credits include Dixon Road, Blackout, Caroline, or Change, Dr. Silver (Musical Stage Co.); Sunday In The Park With George (Eclipse Theatre); Drama 101, and Polly Peel (Toronto Fringe). He is forever thankful for his family in both Chile and Canada for their support - saludos y abrazos a todos!

(he/him) Theatre Calgary debut. Brian is an award-winning designer based in Toronto. Recent credits include: Jukebox Hero (Jubilee Auditorium, Mirvish); Dixon Road (Musical Stage Company); Sound of Music, Kinky Boots, Rocky, Newsies, Billy Bishop (Drayton Entertainment); April Fools, Indecent, Bad Jews, Million Dollar Quartet (Segal Center); Titanic (The Grand); The Last Five Years (Neptune Theatre); Never Not Once (Theatre Aquarius); The Great Divide (Harold Green); Jersey Boys (Thousand Islands Playhouse); and dozens of shows Off-Broadway and across The United States. Brian holds an MFA in Set Design from the Yale School of Drama and a BSc in Architecture from McGill University.

(she/her) Theatre Calgary design debut. As a design professional for the past 15 years within the Theatre and Film industry, Adejoke is passionate about design, creating, and telling beautiful stories through imagery. She received her formal training through the Red Deer College Theatre Studies program and the Banff Centre, as well as her Bachelor of Design from Toronto Metropolitan University (Formerly Ryerson University). Recent Design works include: My Life with the Walter Boys (Netflix); CHAD (CBS); Tribal (APTN).  Although she has spent many years in the film industry her first love is for the theatre. Adejoké’s very first professional work experiences in the industry were right here at Theatre Calgary as an ambitious 19 year old, so she is extremely honoured to come back “home” to create something beautiful with her peers.

(he/they) Theatre Calgary debut. Logan is a Toronto based theatre artist specializing in theatrical design and live stream creation. Their work has taken them across the country and they are eager to see what journeys lie ahead. He is excited to be working with Theatre Calgary for his first time, and with this exciting work. Recent works include: Alice in Wonderland (Bad Hats Theatre); Dixon Road (The Musical Stage Company); As You Like It/Dream In High Park (Canadian Stage Company); William Shakespeare’s As You Like It: A Radical Retelling by Cliff Cardinal and Orphans for the Czar (Crow’s Theatre).

(he/him) Theatre Calgary debut. A member and past board member of the Associated Designers of Canada, Wade designed sound and video elements for the Canadian Exhibition to Prague for PQ2015, and served as a juror for the selection of the Canadian exhibition to PQ2019. Most recently he served on the World Stage Design 2022 Jury. Wade has designed and toured productions across Canada and internationally, including designing works for the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, the Citadel Theatre, L’Uni Theatre, FreeWill Players, and Catalyst Theatre. With Catalyst Theatre, he created sound designs for original productions of The Blue Orphan, Frankenstein, Carmen Angel, Nevermore, Hunchback, The Soul Collector, and Vigilante. Wade is an award-winning Canadian designer, live sound engineer, technician, and university educator based in Edmonton. An alumnus of MacEwan University Music, Recording, and Theatre Production programs, he has been an instructor and Sound Designer for MacEwan University for over 28 years.

(she/her) For Theatre Calgary: A Christmas Carol (2020-21), TC Returns, The Louder We Get. Select credits include: Heaven, Calling Out Christmas!, Flight Risk (Lunchbox); Kim's Convenience (Alberta Theatre Projects/ Arts Club); La Traviata, Rigoletto, Everest, Hansel & Gretel, The Brothers Grimm, Filumena, Turandot, South Pacific (Calgary Opera); STRUCK (Ghost River Theatre); Assassinating Thompson (Lunchbox/Inside Out); All That Binds Us (Azimuth); There Goes the Bride, 80’s Solid Gold 1 & 2, Spamalot, Chicago, Love Train, Gameshow (Stage West); The Thin Man, The Hollow (Vertigo); A Love Letter to Emily C, A Chitenge Story, The Tall Building (Handsome Alice); Make Love Not Art (Inside Out). Kennedy is a proud graduate of the University of Lethbridge's Technical Theatre Program, and is thrilled to be back at Theatre Calgary!

(she/her) For Theatre Calgary: Honour Beat. Elsewhere: The Herd (Citadel/ Tarragon); Banff Centre’s Opera in the 21st Century program; The Fiancée, A Brimful of Asha, Tempest, Hadestown, Redpatch, Mamma Mia!, Sense and Sensibility, Million Dollar Quartet, West Side Story, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Avenue Q, One Man, Two Guvnors, Make Mine Love, Spamalot, and Private Lives (Citadel); Sexy Laundry, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, Super Groovy 70s, Six Dance Lessons in Six Days, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Mayfield); Fever Land (Teatro La Quindicina); Makings of a Voice, The Blue Hour (SkirtsAfire); Disgraced (ATP); Hamlet, Merry Wives of Windsor, Merchant of Venice, King Lear, Midsummer Night’s Dream (Freewill Shakespeare); Salt Baby (Globe); Songs My Mother Never Sung Me (Concrete Theatre). Sang Sang is excited to be back at Theatre Calgary, working on Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill!