Guest Artists and Teachers

The Department of Drama consistently draws dynamic instructors, guest directors, artists, and designers to further enrich our students' experience.

Recently, our roster of guest instructors has included, among others, Oliver Armstrong, Nicole Bach-Labrecque, Amanda Bergen, Michele Fleiger, Dave Clarke, Frances Damberger, Jean-Pierre Fournier, Jan Henderson, David Horak, Betty Hushlak, Heather Inglis, Ian Leung, Elijah Lindenberger, Kim Mattice Wanat, Doug Mertz, Bradley Moss, Marie Nychka, Dana Tanner-Kennedy, Melissa Thingelstad, Tim Williamson, Colin Winslow, and Cindi Zuby.

Guest directors have included Micheline Chevrier, Jonathan Christenson, Marianne Copithorne, Mitchell Cushman, Brian Deedrick, Brian Dooley, Ron Jenkins, Peter Hinton, Ann Hodges, Marti Maraden, Mieko Ouchi, Trevor Schmidt, Glenda Stirling, Kevin Sutley, Liz Hobbs and Christine Brubaker.

Academic Teaching Staff

Amanda BERGEN
Email: abergen@ualberta.ca

Amanda is a graduate of both the BA Drama and MFA Directing programs at the University of Alberta. Her career as an independent director, educator and actor has included multiple successful Fringe productions, an Artistic Director/Producer position with The Capitol Theatre, and a variety of community activities. Within the Drama Department Amanda teaches 240/247, 149/150, 257 and 383. At Grindstone Theatre she works alongside talented educators bringing theatre to diverse groups of adult learners looking to hone their acting skills. Currently, Amanda's professional development interests include, stage intimacy, anti-racist theatre practices, and community storytelling.

Michele FLEIGER
Interim Director of Undergraduate Programs and BA Program Coordinator 2024-2025
Email: mb10@ualberta.ca

Michele holds a BFA in Acting and an MFA in Theatre Practice from the University of Alberta. She works to help people realize their potential to present themselves and their ideas in both functional and imaginative realms. She works with students and departments across the University devising and facilitating frameworks to encourage this with a specific interest in how best to guide International undergraduate and graduate students.

Website: sPeakPerformance.ca

Jan HENDERSON
Email: foolmoonjh@gmail.com

Jan has been a member of Drama’s Academic teaching staff since 1992, teaching in both the BA Drama and the BFA Acting programs. She has received several teaching awards, including the prestigious William Hardy Alexander Award for Excellence in Teaching and the Outstanding Collaborative Teaching Unit Award.

As Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Foolmoon Productions and Co-artistic Director of Small Matters Productions, Jan works as a writer, director, performer and master teacher in the area of Clown and Mask, and has toured nationally and internationally with an acclaimed repertoire of shows. In 2018 she received the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Contribution to Theatre in Edmonton, and she is the subject of a documentary called the The Wise Fool, which premiered at Edmonton’s Metro Cinema in 2020.

Website: www.foolmoon.org; www.smallmatters.ca

Alison MATTHEWS
Email: amatthe2@ualberta.ca

Head Voice & Text Coach for the Bard on the Beach Shakespeare Festival (15 seasons), and voice/dialect coach for professional theatre companies across Canada. Over 30 years of professional acting experience in theatre, film, television and voice-over. Founding board member of the National Voice Association/Association Nationale de la Voix. MFA in Theatre from the University of British Columbia.

Research explores the voice in performance, with a particular interest in prosody, rhetoric, tools for dialect acquisition, and Shakespeare text in performance.

Primary Teaching Areas: BFA Voice, Speech in Rehearsal and Performance, Dialects and Accents, Acting, Scene Study.

Web site: www.alisonmatthews.com

IMDB: Alison Matthews

Marie NYCHKA

Marie began her career as a dancer with such companies as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet Brazil, and Ballet de Roma working across Canada and in Italy, Brazil, New York, Florida, and the Caribbean.

For more than thirty years she has been a freelance actor, director, choreographer, adjudicator, and teacher. She teaches in both the BA Drama and BFA Acting Programs in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta where she has received several teaching awards including the prestigious William Hardy Alexander Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching (2016). She is a regular faculty member and choreographer for Opera Nuova Marie has been nominated eight times and twice received the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding Choreography. In 2016 Marie received The Nation Builders Award from the Ukrainian Canadian Committee for years of outstanding service to Ukrainian dance in Canada.

When she is not on stage, in rehearsal, or in class, you will find her riding her horse, Indy, who also loves to dance.

Colin WINSLOW
Email: cwinslow@ualberta.ca

Colin is a designer with many years of international experience, designing sets and costumes for theatres in Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada and the USA. He teaches Theatre Design, Techniques and Drawing for the Theatre.

Website: www.winslow.uk.com

Cindi ZUBY

Cindi holds a B.F.A. in Art and Education from Youngstown (Ohio, USA) University and M.F.A. in Scenography (Sets, costumes and Light Design) from the University of Nebrasaka-Lincon (USA). She designed hundreds of show in the USA, and moved to Canada in 2000. In that time has had the opportunity to work on more than 60 set designs in both the US and around Alberta. She taught Scenic Painting, Theatre Props and Set Design at both Red Deer College and MacEwan University and currently teaches Scenic Painting here at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. She is also a professional artist, musician, float builder, book illustrator (three published children’s books), creative consultant, festival producer, etc. She and respected Edmonton artist Lynette Maurice comprise the company “Zu-Ma – Talent to Amuz” – specializing in professional family events, puppets, music and entertainment.

Website: www.airedale1.wixsite.com/cmzuby