Creative Team

Rick Miller (he/him) is a Dora and Gemini award-winning writer / director / actor / musician / educator who has performed in five languages on five continents, and who Entertainment Weekly called “one of the 100 most creative people alive today”. He has created and toured solo shows such as the BOOM Trilogy (BOOM, BOOM X, and BOOM YZ), MacHomer, Bigger Than Jesus and HARDSELL; and family shows with Craig Francis and Kidoons, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Jungle Book, and Frankenstein. With Robert Lepage, he has collaborated on Geometry of Miracles, Zulu Time, Lipsynch, and on the film Possible Worlds. Current projects in development include MONEY, Andersen Fairy Tales and Rose Red - a new musical. Rick hosts an intergenerational podcast called Xing The Gap, and sometimes teaches an interdisciplinary class at the University of Toronto called The Architecture of Creativity. He lives in Toronto with his partner Stephanie Baptist and their two daughters. www.rickmiller.ca

Jeff has a lifelong passion and vision for combining art and technology to develop original works, including 7 world premieres, 6 Canada / US tours, 4 French-language world premieres, and 2 Off-Broadway runs over the past decade. His projects are inspired by a love of storytelling and innovation. Through Kidoons theatrical productions, and the many digital works on the Kidoons network, Jeff's artist collaborators help organizations to tell their stories onstage and online. Jeff works with Not-for-Profits, governmental, Non-governmental organizations, and corporate clients across Canada and the United States with a vision to inspire and empower all generations. He dedicates his work on this play to his mother, Evelyn Lord.

Aidan Ware hails from Calgary, Alberta, and is a graduate of the BFA Technical Theatre program at the University of Alberta. Upon completing an 18-month lighting practicum program at the Banff Centre, Aidan moved to Toronto where his creativity and passion for bringing new technologies to live performance have led him to work with various creative houses including Solotech, Moment Factory, TIFA, and TOlive. He was the Assistant Technical Director at Canadian Stage and Director of Production for Fall for Dance North for multiple seasons. He is currently part of a team designing a new state-of-the-art space for the BMO lab at the University of Toronto, focusing on emerging technologies and artificial intelligence in performance. He continues to freelance as a Technical Director and Lighting Designer in Toronto. Other credits with Kidoons and WYRD Productions include BOOM X (TD / Associate Lighting Designer), BOOM YZ (TD/LD), HANS: My Life in Fairy Tales (TD/LD), and upcoming projects.

David Leclerc is a motion graphic designer based in Quebec city. His creativity and problem solving skills have brought him to work on world renowned theatrical productions with Robert Lepage's Ex Machina, including The Andersen Project, Lipsynch, The Blue Dragon, La Tempête, Playing Cards SPADES and HEARTS and the opera The Tempest presented at the MET. His works also include Je Pense à Yu directed by Marie Gignac, Nick Dear's Frankenstein directed by Jean Leclerc, Bernstein's Candide directed by Sam Brown and presented at L'Opéra National de Lorraine, Vania by Marie Gignac and Rick Miller's BOOM which debuted in 2015. Since 2003 he's been collaborating on the production of the prestigious Forces AVENIR galas that recognize, honour and promote student involvement at all academic levels.

studiobionic.com

Bruno Matte was born in Quebec City and graduated from Cegep Limoilou in 2005 in audiovisual design. A music enthusiast, he began his professional career as a lighting designer for concerts. He began working with local artists, then moved to international acts ranging from Richard Séguin to Charlotte Cardin to Cypress Hill to Daniel Lanois. In an effort to expand his creative research, Bruno began working on several bold theatre productions. Whether with Ex Machina or Kidoons, he found ways to seamlessly integrate lighting with video, under very rigorous technical constraints. His spatial design exploration continued in the world of dance, where he has worked with several La Rotonde choreographers on productions such as Alan Lake and Le fils d'Adrien dance. Bruno regularly designs for the circus, which seems a natural fulfilment of his experience in music, theatre and movement. In productions ranging from Flip Fabrique or Machine de Cirque, the complexity of the work allows him to keep refining his craft. He now works as a production manager.

Music producer / composer / sound designer/ songwriter / musician Creighton has worked with some of Canada’s best-known recording artists, and written and produced music for TV, jingles, theatre and film. Composition and sound design for theatre include The Importance of Being Earnest (NAC), Scott Thompson's The Lowest Show On Earth, The 39 Steps and A Few Good Men (Theatre Aquarius), Frost/Nixon (Canadian Stage), Tuesdays with Morrie (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company), Salt-Water Moon, Jitters, The Norman Conquests (Soulpepper) and Rick Miller’s BOOM. Music producer/writer and post audio supervisor for CBC Kids TV show UKULELE U. Writer/producer of songs and themes for animated TV series (Beyblade, Barbie, Bakugan & Care Bears)

Originally from Montreal, Yannik Larivée trained at the National Theatre school of Canada and at Central Saint-Martins in London. Based in Toronto, he works extensively throughout Canada and Europe.  Selected production credits include: Salome for Edmonton Opera; Die Fledermaus at Nurenberg Staatstheater; Die Entfuhrung Aus Dem Serail for the Opera National du Rhin, France; Barbe-Bleue for Opera Zuid in the Netherlands; Watch Her, Wolf’s Court and Monument for the National Ballet of Canada; One of Three for American Ballet Theater, New York’s Lincoln Centre; Dreamland for the Royal Swedish Ballet; Castle Nowhere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden; The Flood Thereafter for Canadian Stage; Tancredi, Don Giovanni and Renard for the Canadian Opera Company; Dangerous Liaisons, The Odd Couple, Houdini, Amadeus (Critics Circle Award), I Am My Own Wife and Hedda Gabler for Montreal’s Segal Theatre; Simpl and Interiors at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa; Past Perfect, John&Beatrice and Wild Mouth for Tarragon Theatre ; Vida at the Royal Alexandra; and Teatro Nacional de Cuba in Havana. yanniklarivee.com

Craig Francis (he/him) is a writer, director, illustrator, and multidisciplinary creator. His shows have toured Canada and the US, including Off-Broadway in 2016 and 2019. A founding member of The 20K Collective, Craig co-created Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, Game of Clones, and Jungle Book and with Rick Miller; and Frankenstein with Miller and Paul Van Dyck. He's a producer, dramaturg, and stage manager for Miller's solo trilogy (BOOM, BOOM X, and BOOM YZ) in Canada, the US, France, and Taiwan. Craig co-directed a workshop of the musical Blocked (TheaterWorksUSA), and is a mentor of emerging artists, including co-authoring Redwood Avenue with Andrea Friesen. New projects include CYNIC, Andersen Fairy Tales, and Rose Red. Craig is a speaker on LGBTQA2S+ issues. He performed improv comedy with Just For Laughs, CBC, CTV and Showtime, and his animated videos with Kidoons and not-for-profits are installed in museums in six provinces. Craig lives in Montréal, has illustrated several books, and voiced animated series.

Laurel is excited to be back working on the BOOM Trilogy, with such a fantastic team! Select credits include: BOOM (Theatre Calgary, Thousand Islands Playhouse, & 59E59,) Jersey Boys, Legally Blonde, Rock of Ages, Avenue Q, The Producers, Game Show, 39 Steps, Chicago, Spamalot, Young Frankenstein, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Stage West,) Sound of Music (Western Canada Theatre,) Annie & Fiddler on the Loose (Drayton Entertainment.)  Laurel has also taught stage management at the University of Lethbridge. She would like to thank her family and friends for their unending love and support.

Ravi is an award-winning actor, director, and the Artistic Director of Toronto's Why Not Theatre, and created productions that have played in over 20 cities worldwide. Acting credits include the Dora Award-winning SPENT and A Brimful of Asha. His company was in residence at the Theatre Centre when he developed I'm So Close (winner of Spotlight Award at SummerWorks 2009). He has assisted notable directors Daniel Brooks, Richard Rose and Jennifer Tarver. Ravi directed Nicolas Billon's triptych (Greenland, Iceland and Faroe Islands) entitled Fault Lines, which was awarded The Governor General's Literary Award for Drama 2013. In 2011 Ravi was a member of the DiverseCity Fellows program, which aims to diversify leadership across sectors in Toronto. Ravi is on the programming committee for the Daniels Spectrum, the artist advisory committee for ArtReach Toronto and the Board of Directors for the Laidlaw Foundation. He was awarded the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award, is a resident artist at Soulpepper Theatre Company and was the inaugural Artistic Director-in- Residence at the Theatre Centre.