When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a party animal…
Lisa Marie took the helm of Theatre Direct as Executive Artistic Director in 2019. She is also the founder and Executive Director for Theatre Direct’s national initiative Balancing Act Canada which supports parents and caregivers in the performing arts. In 2023, Lisa served as co-Curator for JUNIOR at Harbourfront Centre – Canada’s largest international children’s festival.
Lisa Marie is the founding Artistic Director Emeritus of FIXT POINT, where she led the creation and production of The Tale of a Town – Canada. Between 2014-2017, this theatre and media project toured to every province and territory in Canada gathering more than 3,000 stories through interviews in over 200 communities resulting in the creation of over 30 site-specific performances developed in collaboration with local professional artists including presentations at Theatre Passe Muraille (ON), The Fredericton Playhouse (NB), The Northern Arts Cultural Centre (NT), The Yukon Arts Centre (YK), The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre (AB), The Arts and Culture Centres of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Curtain Razors Theatre (SK), Theatre NorthWest (BC), and Victoria Playhouse (PEI), among others. In 2016, Lisa Marie co-directed the inaugural season of Main Street Ontario, an animated series on TVO inspired by The Tale of a Town, now in its third season.
Devising and directing projects with FIXT POINT include The Tale of Harbourfront Centre (Fresh Ground Commission / World Stage), The Tale of a T-Shirt (Theatre Direct / Dora Award Nominations for Outstanding Direction and Best Ensemble), Four Corners (Theatre Passe Muraille / Beyond the Walls), as well as a 7-city Canadian Fringe tour, a stint at the Edinburgh Festival and performances in Graz, Vienna and at the Prague International Festival.
Other career highlights include director of The Keith Richards One Woman Show (Suitcase in Point / Dora Nomination for Best Touring Production), Associate Director for The Double (Bad New Days w Tarragon / 5 Dora Nominations), and years of improv comedy as a cast member in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding at Second City.
Lisa Marie holds an MA from York University where she is currently a PhD candidate pursuing research in Performance Ethnography. She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris, France where she studied clown, bouffon, neutral mask, character, shakespeare/chekov and melodrama. Past posts include Playwright-in-Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, Associate Artistic Director at Jumblies Theatre, and Education & Audience Development Coordinator at Canadian Stage. Lisa Marie serves on the board of Community Arts Guild in Scarborough and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) where she also sits on the Social Justice Committee Lisa Marie is an advocate for artist parents and the proud mother of two wild children that showed up somewhere along the way.
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a kindergarten teacher and a popstar…
Kate Walker is a Toronto-based arts administrator and producer. She is a University of Toronto graduate with a double major in Anthropology and Sexual Diversity Studies.
Kate has a diverse background in the performing arts as a singer/songwriter, with extensive music and music education experience. She was the Company Manager of Common Boots Theatre for six year and has previously worked as the Associate Producer for Theatre Direct’s 2018 WeeFestival and Producer of Shakespeare in the Ruff’s Portia’s Julius Caesar and The Winter’s Tale. Kate has been the Managing Producer of Theatre Direct since 2018 and in 2022 became the company’s Managing Director.
Her favourite role to date is becoming a mum in 2021.
Susie Burpee (she/her) | Balancing Act Executive Director
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a dancer! Dreams sometimes come true!
A dance artist active in the performing arts in Canada for over 25 years, Susie Burpee is a performer, creator, facilitator, teacher, and advocate. She danced for many years with companies such as Dancemakers, Le Groupe Dance Lab, and for many Canadian choreographers including Sasha Ivanochko, Hanna Kiel, Linnea Swan, and Tedd Robinson.
Augmenting her dance training with studies in Bouffon and Character, Susie has been a creative collaborator on projects by Crow’s Theatre, Dusk Dances, Nightwood Theatre, and Soundstreams. Her work has received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for both Outstanding Choreography and Performance and she is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Dance.
Susie is a guest faculty member at many post-secondary dance training programs across the country. In 2020, she completed an MA in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies from The University of Toronto. Her academic work led to authoring the article “Disappearing Act: Dance Artist Mothers in the Gig Economy of the Performing Arts in Canada” (Demeter Press).
Mother to two young children and originally from rural Manitoba, Susie now lives in Toronto/Tkaronto, where she is an active advocate for artist caregivers.
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…an architect, a social worker, and an actor!
Margaret is a Dora-nominated actor and producer.
As Artistic Associate in the Performing Arts Department at Harbourfront Centre, Margaret was Festival Curator for HarbourKids, and Coordinator for the Hatch Emerging Artists Residency from 2011-2014. She was also part of the World Stage team from 2008-2014 and was the principal coordinator of the Toronto production of the community-led Complaints Choir.
Margaret joined Crow’s Theatre as Associate Producer in 2015 as part of the team that opened the new venue, Streetcar Crowsnest, hailed as East-End Toronto’s largest, most ambitious theatre space to date. At Crow’s, Margaret was part of the producing team for many productions, partnerships, and community events. She is especially proud to have developed and led Crow’s Theatre’s first programming and education series for Children and Families.
A graduate of the University of King’s College (Halifax) and the Actors Studio Drama School (New York), Margaret was most recently the Producer for the 2021 edition of the SummerWorks Exchange and is also the Managing Producer of the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA).
She is mama to two inspiring and hilarious young souls and is thrilled to be joining the Balancing Act team.
Playwriting Credits: Give ’em Hell (Theatre Direct/Prairie Fire, Please/4th Line Theatre/Peterborough Museum and Archives), Margaret Reid (Here For Now Theatre), Tryouts (Driftwood Theatre), News Play, Everyone Wants A T-Shirt!, Madeleine Says Sorry (Toronto Fringe Festival).
Acting Credits: Ministry of Mundane Mysteries (Outside the March), Knocking on Doors,Health Care: Code Blue (Mixed Company Theatre).
Creators/Playwrights Units: Interdisciplinary Residency Program (4th Line Theatre), Beyond the Bard (Driftwood Theatre).
Awards: BMO Loran Award, NOW Magazine Awards for Outstanding Ensemble and Individual Performance, Ellen Ross Stuart “Opening Doors” Award.
Training: UofT Mississauga/Sheridan College, Second City Training Centre – Conservatory, Writing, Stand-Up.
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…everything! So I pursued acting.
Meryl (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist who immigrated to Canada with her family in 2012. She studied Dramatic Arts and Psychology at Brock University and had worked in new and devised pieces with several St. Catharines-based theatre and art companies.
In 2019 she co-founded Tethered The Ghost Theatre Collective, and they recently held a workshop and two readings of the first original show, Healing Thread, which they are continuing to develop.
In 2020, Meryl completed the Empathy Squad training with FIXT POINT Arts + Media and has since developed her passion for audio storytelling; she is now co-Creative Facilitator of the Empathy Squad program with FIXT POINT.
She is also excited to have joined the Balancing Act team as Balancing Act Associate Producer this year.
Meryl is devoted to developing work that tells untold truths and empowers those that are under-represented.
When I was a child, I dreamed of…owning an ice cream store!
Alten Wilmot is an artist and producer working in theatre, film, and dance, and the founder of Unwrap Theatre.
Through their work as an actor, choreographer, writer, director, and producer, Alten has worked on projects across Canada including with institutions such as CBC, Global TV, The Harbourfront Centre, Arts Club, Theatre Passe Muraille, and Guelph Dance, as well as for companies international such as NBCUniversal and the Lebanon Film Festival.
Alten’s work has been recognized with awards including the Buddies in Bad Times’ Queer Emerging Artist Award, an ArtworxTO Emerging Artist Award, a Denny Award, as well as other nominations and shortlists. They have worked in residency with companies including The National Ballet of Canada, Obsidian Theatre, MT Space, Project Humanity, and Guelph Dance.
As a producer, Alten studied Arts Management through the University of Maryland and has worked as a Marketing Director for two IT businesses. They’ve been producing for eight years, mentored by Ray Hogg of Musical Stage Company, Pam Patel of MT Space, Laura McLeod of the Harbourfront Centre, and Lisa-Marie DiLiberto of Theatre Direct. They’ve produced for the Guild Festival Theatre for their summer 2020 season, where they completed a Digital Marketing for Theatre research project, and for Theatre Direct, including for Next Draft, the Forward March Festival, and The Assembly 2023 school tour. Alten is the founder of Unwrap Theatre, where they have produced 23 premiere productions to date.
Mezmin Bhojani (she/her) | Social Media Manager and Associate Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a professional ballerina or a teacher.
Mezmin is a student, dog-mom and Starbucks enthusiast based in Hamilton, Ontario.
She is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Early Childhood Studies Program and is currently back again for her second degree in Business Management with a Major in Marketing.
Mezmin is the little sister of TD’s very own Associate Artistic Director, but she promises that isn’t how she got the job, it was through hard work and proving herself.
Our Team
Lisa Marie DiLiberto (she/her) | Executive Artistic Director
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a party animal…
Lisa Marie took the helm of Theatre Direct as Executive Artistic Director in 2019. She is also the founder and Executive Director for Theatre Direct’s national initiative Balancing Act Canada which supports parents and caregivers in the performing arts. In 2023, Lisa served as co-Curator for JUNIOR at Harbourfront Centre – Canada’s largest international children’s festival.
Lisa Marie is the founding Artistic Director Emeritus of FIXT POINT, where she led the creation and production of The Tale of a Town – Canada. Between 2014-2017, this theatre and media project toured to every province and territory in Canada gathering more than 3,000 stories through interviews in over 200 communities resulting in the creation of over 30 site-specific performances developed in collaboration with local professional artists including presentations at Theatre Passe Muraille (ON), The Fredericton Playhouse (NB), The Northern Arts Cultural Centre (NT), The Yukon Arts Centre (YK), The Esplanade Arts and Heritage Centre (AB), The Arts and Culture Centres of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL), Curtain Razors Theatre (SK), Theatre NorthWest (BC), and Victoria Playhouse (PEI), among others. In 2016, Lisa Marie co-directed the inaugural season of Main Street Ontario, an animated series on TVO inspired by The Tale of a Town, now in its third season.
Devising and directing projects with FIXT POINT include The Tale of Harbourfront Centre (Fresh Ground Commission / World Stage), The Tale of a T-Shirt (Theatre Direct / Dora Award Nominations for Outstanding Direction and Best Ensemble), Four Corners (Theatre Passe Muraille / Beyond the Walls), as well as a 7-city Canadian Fringe tour, a stint at the Edinburgh Festival and performances in Graz, Vienna and at the Prague International Festival.
Other career highlights include director of The Keith Richards One Woman Show (Suitcase in Point / Dora Nomination for Best Touring Production), Associate Director for The Double (Bad New Days w Tarragon / 5 Dora Nominations), and years of improv comedy as a cast member in Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding at Second City.
Lisa Marie holds an MA from York University where she is currently a PhD candidate pursuing research in Performance Ethnography. She is a graduate of George Brown Theatre School and Ecole Philippe Gaulier in Paris, France where she studied clown, bouffon, neutral mask, character, shakespeare/chekov and melodrama. Past posts include Playwright-in-Residence at Theatre Passe Muraille, Associate Artistic Director at Jumblies Theatre, and Education & Audience Development Coordinator at Canadian Stage. Lisa Marie serves on the board of Community Arts Guild in Scarborough and the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA) where she also sits on the Social Justice Committee Lisa Marie is an advocate for artist parents and the proud mother of two wild children that showed up somewhere along the way.
Kate Walker (she/her) | Managing Director
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a kindergarten teacher and a popstar…
Kate Walker is a Toronto-based arts administrator and producer. She is a University of Toronto graduate with a double major in Anthropology and Sexual Diversity Studies.
Kate has a diverse background in the performing arts as a singer/songwriter, with extensive music and music education experience. She was the Company Manager of Common Boots Theatre for six year and has previously worked as the Associate Producer for Theatre Direct’s 2018 WeeFestival and Producer of Shakespeare in the Ruff’s Portia’s Julius Caesar and The Winter’s Tale. Kate has been the Managing Producer of Theatre Direct since 2018 and in 2022 became the company’s Managing Director.
Her favourite role to date is becoming a mum in 2021.
Susie Burpee (she/her) | Balancing Act Executive Director
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a dancer! Dreams sometimes come true!
A dance artist active in the performing arts in Canada for over 25 years, Susie Burpee is a performer, creator, facilitator, teacher, and advocate. She danced for many years with companies such as Dancemakers, Le Groupe Dance Lab, and for many Canadian choreographers including Sasha Ivanochko, Hanna Kiel, Linnea Swan, and Tedd Robinson.
Augmenting her dance training with studies in Bouffon and Character, Susie has been a creative collaborator on projects by Crow’s Theatre, Dusk Dances, Nightwood Theatre, and Soundstreams. Her work has received Dora Mavor Moore Awards for both Outstanding Choreography and Performance and she is a recipient of the K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Dance.
Susie is a guest faculty member at many post-secondary dance training programs across the country. In 2020, she completed an MA in Drama, Theatre, and Performance Studies from The University of Toronto. Her academic work led to authoring the article “Disappearing Act: Dance Artist Mothers in the Gig Economy of the Performing Arts in Canada” (Demeter Press).
Mother to two young children and originally from rural Manitoba, Susie now lives in Toronto/Tkaronto, where she is an active advocate for artist caregivers.
Margaret Evans (she/her) | Balancing Act Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…an architect, a social worker, and an actor!
Margaret is a Dora-nominated actor and producer.
As Artistic Associate in the Performing Arts Department at Harbourfront Centre, Margaret was Festival Curator for HarbourKids, and Coordinator for the Hatch Emerging Artists Residency from 2011-2014. She was also part of the World Stage team from 2008-2014 and was the principal coordinator of the Toronto production of the community-led Complaints Choir.
Margaret joined Crow’s Theatre as Associate Producer in 2015 as part of the team that opened the new venue, Streetcar Crowsnest, hailed as East-End Toronto’s largest, most ambitious theatre space to date. At Crow’s, Margaret was part of the producing team for many productions, partnerships, and community events. She is especially proud to have developed and led Crow’s Theatre’s first programming and education series for Children and Families.
A graduate of the University of King’s College (Halifax) and the Actors Studio Drama School (New York), Margaret was most recently the Producer for the 2021 edition of the SummerWorks Exchange and is also the Managing Producer of the Festival of Live Digital Art (FOLDA).
She is mama to two inspiring and hilarious young souls and is thrilled to be joining the Balancing Act team.
Madeleine Brown (she/her) | Next Draft Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…in charge.
Madeleine Brown is a playwright and actor.
Playwriting Credits: Give ’em Hell (Theatre Direct/Prairie Fire, Please/4th Line Theatre/Peterborough Museum and Archives), Margaret Reid (Here For Now Theatre), Tryouts (Driftwood Theatre), News Play, Everyone Wants A T-Shirt!, Madeleine Says Sorry (Toronto Fringe Festival).
Acting Credits: Ministry of Mundane Mysteries (Outside the March), Knocking on Doors, Health Care: Code Blue (Mixed Company Theatre).
Creators/Playwrights Units: Interdisciplinary Residency Program (4th Line Theatre), Beyond the Bard (Driftwood Theatre).
Awards: BMO Loran Award, NOW Magazine Awards for Outstanding Ensemble and Individual Performance, Ellen Ross Stuart “Opening Doors” Award.
Training: UofT Mississauga/Sheridan College, Second City Training Centre – Conservatory, Writing, Stand-Up.
Website: www.thatmadeleinebrown.com
Meryl Oocha (she/they) | Balancing Act Associate Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…everything! So I pursued acting.
Meryl (she/they) is a multi-disciplinary artist who immigrated to Canada with her family in 2012. She studied Dramatic Arts and Psychology at Brock University and had worked in new and devised pieces with several St. Catharines-based theatre and art companies.
In 2019 she co-founded Tethered The Ghost Theatre Collective, and they recently held a workshop and two readings of the first original show, Healing Thread, which they are continuing to develop.
In 2020, Meryl completed the Empathy Squad training with FIXT POINT Arts + Media and has since developed her passion for audio storytelling; she is now co-Creative Facilitator of the Empathy Squad program with FIXT POINT.
She is also excited to have joined the Balancing Act team as Balancing Act Associate Producer this year.
Meryl is devoted to developing work that tells untold truths and empowers those that are under-represented.
Alten Wilmot (they/he) | Associate Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of…owning an ice cream store!
Alten Wilmot is an artist and producer working in theatre, film, and dance, and the founder of Unwrap Theatre.
Through their work as an actor, choreographer, writer, director, and producer, Alten has worked on projects across Canada including with institutions such as CBC, Global TV, The Harbourfront Centre, Arts Club, Theatre Passe Muraille, and Guelph Dance, as well as for companies international such as NBCUniversal and the Lebanon Film Festival.
Alten’s work has been recognized with awards including the Buddies in Bad Times’ Queer Emerging Artist Award, an ArtworxTO Emerging Artist Award, a Denny Award, as well as other nominations and shortlists. They have worked in residency with companies including The National Ballet of Canada, Obsidian Theatre, MT Space, Project Humanity, and Guelph Dance.
As a producer, Alten studied Arts Management through the University of Maryland and has worked as a Marketing Director for two IT businesses. They’ve been producing for eight years, mentored by Ray Hogg of Musical Stage Company, Pam Patel of MT Space, Laura McLeod of the Harbourfront Centre, and Lisa-Marie DiLiberto of Theatre Direct. They’ve produced for the Guild Festival Theatre for their summer 2020 season, where they completed a Digital Marketing for Theatre research project, and for Theatre Direct, including for Next Draft, the Forward March Festival, and The Assembly 2023 school tour. Alten is the founder of Unwrap Theatre, where they have produced 23 premiere productions to date.
Mezmin Bhojani (she/her) | Social Media Manager and Associate Producer
When I was a child, I dreamed of being…a professional ballerina or a teacher.
Mezmin is a student, dog-mom and Starbucks enthusiast based in Hamilton, Ontario.
She is a graduate of Toronto Metropolitan University’s Early Childhood Studies Program and is currently back again for her second degree in Business Management with a Major in Marketing.
Mezmin is the little sister of TD’s very own Associate Artistic Director, but she promises that isn’t how she got the job, it was through hard work and proving herself.
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