Willilish’d

Thule van den Dam (she/her) is a musician specializing in creating interdisciplinary new works using composition, text, and performance. She is a queer immigrant and settler currently based in Vancouver on stolen Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh territories. Her artistic collaborations include Mammalian Diving Reflex, Double Edge Theater, Bard On The Beach, United Players, and The Library Performance Collective. She is ½ of the duo As And When, currently developing Willilish’d with support from re:Naissance Opera, Playwrights Theatre Centre and What Lab. 

Hayley Sullivan is an actor and musician, immigrant and settler. Recent theatre credits include: CLUE (Theatre NorthWest), An Ideal Husband (United Players), East Van Panto: Robin Hood (Theatre Replacement), The Hound of The Baskervilles (Theatre NorthWest), The Mousetrap (Theatre NorthWest), Hedda Gabler (United Players).

Melanie Yeats (she/they) is a live performance maker whose practice blends joy, rigour, and embodied, consent-based methodologies. She has dedicated over 25 years to the performing arts community, working in theatre, opera, dance, and music; as a dramaturg, intimacy director, director, and performer. Melanie has collaborated with companies including re:Naissance Opera, Music On Main, Tara Cheyenne Performance, Bard on the Beach, Carousel Theatre for Young People, and many more. She holds a BFA in Theatre from SFU and co-leads Playwrights Theatre Centre. She lives on unceded stolen territories of the the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Samira Banihashemi (she/they) is an electronics-based musician, audio engineer, and designer specializing in theatre and live performance. Their work spans composition, sound design, and technical direction, with a focus on creating immersive sonic environments. Their recent roles include Audio Engineer and Technical Coordinator for the Small World Music Festival and Global Toronto, Stages Coordinator for Sunfest, and Technical Director/Stage Manager for Corpus Dance Projects’ internationally touring show La Bulle. Their design work was featured in the Canadian National Exhibition at the prestigious 2023 Prague Quadrennial.

Sarah K. Finn (she/they) is a multidisciplinary writer, performer, designer and director based in so-called Vancouver, BC. Working with physical theatre, puppetry, video, immersive design and humor, their live performance and films trouble human-centric narratives and explore relationality amid uncertainty. Finn’s work has been presented in Canada, the Czech Republic, Japan; and the U.S., at PICA (Risk/Reward Festival), La MaMa ETC, Anthology Film Archives, Mabou Mines, and The Brick. She has received support from the Brooklyn Arts Council and MAP Fund Micogrant, and held residencies at Mabou Mines and Object Movement. They are currently an Exquisite Pressure artist at What Lab with The Only Animal. Finn trained at École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq and holds an MFA from Simon Fraser University. She collaborates as a video and puppet designer, dramaturg, performer and producer. @sarah.k.finn

Alexandra Caprara (she/her) is a queer interdisciplinary artist from Toronto, Ontario, whose practice is grounded in performance making and design. She has worked internationally as a director, performer, and designer for lighting and video projection, and has presented her work across Canada alongside companies such as WorkMan Arts, New Works Dance, Theatre Replacement, and GoodWoman Dance. Select credits include lighting design for “Hot Dyke Party” (High Performance Rodeo) and “Middletown” (Pacific Theatre); direction and creation of “Ultra Violets” (re:Naissance Opera); devised performance in “A Hunger Artist” (Prague Quadrennial 2023); and projection design for “A Silent Howl” (Dancing on The Edge). She currently resides in Vancouver where she recently completed her MFA in interdisciplinary arts at Simon Fraser University. alexandracaprara.com

Moya O’Connell is a director, an actress and an educator. 

Most recently she adapted, directed and produced (a) Winter’s Tale for her new theatre company The Ecstasy. She won the 2025 Jessie Richardson award: Outstanding Direction Large Theatre for her production of The Dark Lady by Jessica B. Hill for Bard on the Beach. She was a recurring ensemble member of the Shaw Festival of Canada for eleven seasons and Bard on the Beach for nine seasons. (Hedda Gabler, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Philadelphia Story, Middletown, Coriolanus, Ophelia, Lady Macbeth among many others) Moya has a an MFA in directing from the University of British Columbia and is the Senior Instructor of Acting and Voice and Vancouver Film School.