Lark & Whimsy Theatre Collective
Chris Baker (Producer/Performer) is an actor, producer and co-founder of Lark & Whimsy. For Lark & Whimsy, he produced Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun, written and performed by Janelle Hanna at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2017, and the world premiere of Salt, a new Canadian play, by Erin Vandenberg at the Alumnae Studio Theatre in September, 2016. His acting credits include: The Nutcracker Story Time (The National Ballet of Canada), Deadmouse: The Musical (Toronto Fringe), Jelly Belly Makes Garbage Delight of Alligator Pie (Carousel Players), Forty-Second Street (Drayton), Mayday (Cineflix), Murdoch Mysteries (CBC), Reign (CBS), InSecurity (CBC), Supernatural (WB), and Psych (NBC). Other: Chris produced Matthew MacFadzean’s first short film, Dorothy’s Secret, (winner of the People’s Choice Award - Scenic City Film Festival) currently licensed by CBC’s Canadian Reflections, and his own short film, SPUN, which was selected to screen as part of the NSI’s Online Short Film Festival.
Janelle Hanna (Performer/Playwright/Producer) is a Toronto-based actor, educator, and short sassy woman. Most recently she appeared as Patsy in the Factory Theatre/Thousand Islands Playhouse production of Prairie Nurse, a role which earned her a Best Featured Actor nomination from Broadway World Toronto, and a My Entertainment World Critics’ Pick Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Prairie Nurse is also a part of the Play Me Podcast’s new season, which is sponsored by CBC Radio. This past summer Janelle was one of Now Magazine’s 15 Artists to Watch at the Fringe with her appearance in Briana Brown’s Robert, a role which required her to learn how to play the bagpipes in only 2 months time. Her first self written solo show Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun premiered at the 2017 Toronto Fringe, and was one of Torontoist’s Top 5 Picks of the Fringe, was a Mooney on Theatre Rave Review and Staff Pick, and Janelle was given an outstanding performance nod from Glenn Sumi at Now Magazine. Janelle will be remounting this show at the Edmonton Fringe Festival in August of 2019. Janelle is a graduate of the Masters in Acting program at York University, where she currently teaches as part of the undergraduate acting faculty. She is also a graduate of the joint acting program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto Mississauga (Theatre Erindale). @janellemhanna
Briana Brown (Director/Dramaturge) is a playwright and theatre director based in Toronto. Selected directing credits include: Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun (Lark & Whimsy, Toronto Fringe), Salt (Lark and Whimsy, Toronto), Wait (Theatre SKAM's Skampede, Victoria), The Way Back to Thursday (Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto, In Tune Festival, Vancouver), Pitch Blond (Next Stage Festival), and assistant directing the Canadian premiere of True Love Lies with Brad Fraser. Selected writing credits include: The Concessions (Touchstone Theatre, Vancouver), which earned a Jessie Award nomination for Outstanding Original Script, Almost, Again (2010 Best of Fringe Toronto, published in Out on a Limb anthology), and Cassandra (2006 Canadian Fringe tour, 2007 Winnipeg's FemFest, published in One for the Road anthology). She was an invited participant in the Stratford Festival Playwright's Retreat, the Thousand Islands Playhouse Playwright's Unit, and recently completed a residency with Driftwood Theatre. The play she developed there, Robert, was shortlisted for the Playwright’s Guild Stage West Pechet Family Comedy Award. This past summer Briana was one of 25 directors selected from around the world to participate in Directors Lab North, held annually in Toronto.
Erin Vandenberg (Playwright/Producer) is a Toronto based playwright, screenwriter and co-founder of Lark & Whimsy Theatre Collective. As a playwright and screenwriter, her work has been selected for Glasswater Theatre Company’s Potluck Play Reading Series in 2012 and 2014, as well as Women On Screen’s inaugural Short Film Incubator in 2014. Her full length play Salt was produced by Lark & Whimsy in 2016 after being shortlisted for Tarragon Theatre’s 2013 RBC Emerging Playwriting Competition and for Nightwood Theatre’s 2014 National Play Reading Series, part of the Groundswell Festival. In 2017, Erin stage managed for fellow collective member Janelle Hanna’s wonderful Bad Baby Presents: Rules Control the Fun at the Toronto Fringe Festival. She also produced the 2018 Toronto Fringe hit Robert, written and directed by collective member Briana Brown. Currently, Erin is developing two new plays - one, a full length piece, A Trick with the Light, is being developed with Pat the Dog Theatre (the script won third place in Pat the Dog’s 24-hour playwriting competition), and the other, a one-woman show, Levity, received a Recommender Grant for Theatre Creators from the Ontario Arts Council. Erin holds a BFA in Acting from Ryerson University and an MFA in Creative Writing and Playwriting from the University of British Columbia. You can find her on Twitter @Erin_MFA.
Get in Touch
…by emailing us at larkandwhimsy (at) gmail (dot) com, liking our facebook page, Lark & Whimsy Theatre Collective, or following us on twitter @Lark_and_Whimsy and instagram @lark_and_whimsy.
Collective members also include: Geoffrey Armour (actor), Gabriel Cropley (designer), Cosette Derome (actor, fight director), Philippa Domville (actor), Lucy Hill (actor), Brittany Kay (assistant producer), Jacob Kay (assistant director), Rob Kempson (director), and Anna Treusch (designer).