THE BOARD OF WONDER

Andrew is a queer multidisciplinary performing artist based on the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-Speaking Peoples/Victoria, BC. He is a creator, choreographer, performer, director, educator, administrator, and founding Artistic Producer of Impulse Theatre.

He received his BFA in Theatre from UVIC, and studied Arts and Cultural Management through Macewan University. He has worked as a producer, choreographer, operations manager, and more, with such companies as the Belfry Theatre, Intrepid Theatre, Theatre SKAM, and CCPA. He was a 2020/21 Artist in Residence at Dance Victoria, and was the recipient of the 2022 City of Victoria Creative Builder Award.

Julia was born in Birmingham, England, and grew up in Beaconsfield, Quebec. For many generations both her maternal and paternal families have had strong ties to the Performing Arts. In 1993 she moved across the country to BC. A few years later she began creating and writing theatre with Victoria’s own Theatre SKAM. For over twenty-five years, Julia has worked as a professional actor in theatres across Canada. In 2007 she and her partner, Dirk Van Stralen, created Juno Productions. Under that umbrella, they have toured their multi-award-winning play, Jake’s Gift to over 250 communities across Canada, including stops in the US, the UK and Normandy, France. When not on the road, Julia lives in the tiny hamlet of Wells, BC, located on Lhtako Dené Territory (Cariboo-Chilcotin), where she is the Director of Presentations at the historic Sunset Theatre. Over the years, Julia has had the pleasure of being a Board Member for The BC Touring Council, The Sunset Theatre Society, and for Electric Company Theatre. She is thrilled to be joining the Board for WONDERHEADS, whose work and creativity she has admired since the beginning.

Based in Boston, Nathaniel is a queer, Cali-Rican theater artist.

He is the founding Artistic Director of Naked Empire Bouffon Company, which began in San Francisco in 2009 with an activist mission to devise hilarious, cutting, and visually-provocative satires to catalyze urgent discourse. Since then, Naked Empire has toured across the continent with award-winning new works and training intensives becoming North America’s premier bouffon company.

As an actor, he has worked with Shakespeare Orange County, Son of Semele Ensemble, Cornerstone Theater Company, The Dell’Arte Company, Thrillpeddlers, We Players, and Cutting Ball Theater.

Beyond the stage, his work has also focused on social justice in the workplace and in performance pedagogy. Some of his activism is featured in this recent Howlround series and this American Theater Magazine piece.

Currently, he is an Assistant Professor of Comedic Performance at Emerson College and he has served as the Director of Physical Comedy for the Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, Movement Designer at UC Berkeley, core faculty of the SF Clown Conservatory, and guest faculty at the Juilliard School.

Born and raised in Victoria, Jen is so grateful to be based on the land of the Songhees and Esquimalt nations. With a BFA in production from the University of Victoria, she has spent the past twenty years working primarily as a Stage Manager for theatres across the country, notably for the Belfry Theatre and Theatre Calgary, among many others. The other part of her career has been as a theatre administrator – General Manager of Theatre SKAM 2001-2008, Associate Producer and Financial Manager of Electric Company Theatre, 2008 to present. She is currently working as the Finance Officer & Stage Management mentor at the Canadian College of Performing Arts.

Nicole Malcolm is an arts administrator, storyteller, and creativity facilitator whose work now takes place primarily on the traditional lands of the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations in Victoria, BC. Presently Director of Marketing & Communication for Pacific Opera Victoria, she is also Co-Vice President on Intrepid Theatre’s Board of Directors, sits on the Executive Committee and Regional Awards Committee for Pro Art Alliance of Greater Victoria, and is a member of OPERA America’s Communications Council. Nicole’s passion is creating spaces and opportunities for artists and community to find joy and good health through the shared moments of learning, exploration, and understanding that art and storytelling spark. In 2005, she co-founded Hectik Theatre in Regina, SK., an indie company with a mandate to create opportunities for emerging prairie artists and to present edge-pushing experiences that challenged audiences and artists to explore the boundaries of theatre. Her commitment to creating bridges for artists – from training to working, as well as moving between disciplines – was recognized in 2008 when she was nominated for both the Regina Mayor’s Business Awards Innovation in the Arts Award as well as YWCA Regina’s Women of Distinction Young Woman of Distinction Award. Until 2014, she worked in stage management, festival coordination, lighting design, and technical direction with companies including Youth Ballet Company of Saskatchewan, New Dance Horizons, Nightwind Theatre’s Aboriginal Youth Playwrights Festival, Saskatchewan Playwrights Festival, Ballet Victoria, City of Victoria, Intrepid Theatre, TedX Victoria, the Victoria Spoken Word Festival, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, Banff Centre, and Pacific Opera Victoria. One of two invited Canadian participants in OPERA America’s 2017 Leadership Intensive in NYC, she is proud to be a queer, 2nd generation Canadian/Métis woman, and honoured to be a mentor, and life-longer learner, in the arts. Having completed End of Life Doula training through Douglas College in 2020, she is now studying at the Canadian International Institute of Art Therapy to become a Therapeutic Arts Practitioner. Nicole was celebrated as the University of Regina Theatre Department’s Distinguished Alumni in 2021. With over 20 years of experience in improvisational theatre, she speaks and teaches on the application of improv skills for non-performers. Recent Speaking / Facilitation Engagements: Royal Roads University (for students from the Master of Arts in Intercultural and International Communication program), the Association of Fundraising Professionals – Vancouver Island & Toronto chapters (Improv Skills for Fundraising Professionals); John Howard Society (Celebrating Strengths & Interpersonal Communication); Women Leaders in B.C. Technology (Presentation & Communication Mastery at Flip the Switch: Women in Tech Mastermind Intensive); University of Victoria’s Peter B. Gustavson School of Business (Teamwork in Ideation & Creative Thinking). Current / recent creative projects include: Storyteller & Improv / Public Speaking Instructor with Paper Street Theatre co.; Drag King Justin Fever; Dramaturge for Dave Morris’ improvised play 52 Stories (Intrepid Theatre’s UNO Fest 2022 & Victoria Fringe 2024); Dramaturge & Lighting Designer for Tony Adam’s tony wrestles a stranger (Intrepid Theatre’s Incoming Fest 2024, Upintheair Theatre’s revolver Festival 2024); Lighting Designer on Isaiah Bell & Sean Guist’s The Book of My Shames (Intrepid Theatre, Opera Kelowna, Regina Symphony Orchestra, Pacific Opera Victoria); Lighting Designer for Impulse Theatre’s soft spaces (Intrepid Theatre’s Incoming Festival– awarded Outstanding Production Award by the Greater Victoria Regional Arts Awards, 2023) and Joy Project (2024-25); Playwright of an in-development folklore collection, featuring the storytelling/movement/puppetry piece When Lightening Strikes, originally developed as part of Story Theatre and Impulse Theatre’s 2021 Wee Peeks showcase of new works.