The Afterword

A Postscript to the Last World

The Afterword aims to give young creators a chance to share their thoughts about their current work and life – a snapshot that captures the shifting, evolving context of the arts in the time of COVID-19. We’re interested in the idea that in any sudden contextual shift within quotidian life, there are always words left unsaid, stories untold.

This project captures the thoughts, fears, hopes, and ambitions of 9 young Canadian creators. It is a chance to make peace with the world being left behind and imagine the world that is emerging.

The Afterword is co-produced by Wallis Caldoza and Madison Lymer.

Wallis Caldoza (dramaturg and performance lead) is a dramaturg and artist-researcher pursuing her PhD in the Social Justice Education department at OISE at the University of Toronto. Her research works at determining how to prevent Othering in tertiary academic institutions using quotidian dramaturgy. Selected credits include: research as a graduate assistant for Dr Kathleen Gallagher’s SSHRC-funded project Audacious Citizenship (University of Toronto, 2019-2020), playwriting for Beyond the Bard (Driftwood Theatre, 2020), playwriting for Trafalgar 24 (Driftwood Theatre, 2019), postgraduate induction workshop facilitator (Royal Central School of Speech and Drama (RCSSD), 2018), collaborative writer and scenographer for Armen Avanessian & Enemies #33 Corresponding with ghosts – A staged reading with music on the legacy of debt (RCSSD and the Volksbühne Berlin, 2017 – 2018), founder and facilitator of A Space: 48 Hours at Queen’s University (2017), dramaturgy intern at CAHOOTS Theatre (CAHOOTS Theatre, 2016 – 2017), and stage manager of the Young Company’s touring production of Violet’s the Pilot (The Thousand Islands Playhouse, 2016). Wallis also holds an MA, with distinction, from RCSSD for Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy and a BAH from Queen’s University.
Festival Producer Madison Lymer has worked in various roles with SpiderWebShow and FOLDA since 2017. Alongside her work with SWS she works as the Sales Coordinator and Data Analyst for VAULT Festival, a performance festival based in London (UK) which supports over 600 works in development annually across disciplines. In the past, Madison has also worked as a Stage Manager and Event Coordinator for various Canadian entities. Most recently she completed her MA from Goldsmiths at the University of London in Arts & Politics and is interested in performative politics and the intersection of arts organisations within governments.
​Mariah Horner is an artist based in Kingston, Ontario. Selected credits include: assistant directing Unholy (GCTC, upcoming), directing Hana Hashimoto: Sixth Violin (Thousand Islands Playhouse, 2019), assistant directing Behaviour (GCTC/SpiderWebShow, 2019). She works on digital content with SpiderWebShow’s foldA. She is the Festival Director of CFRC’s Shortwave Theatre Festival and helmed Kingston’s Storefront Fringe Festival from 2016-2018. Co-founding the Cellar Door Project with Devon Jackson in 2013, Mariah has produced 15 original site-specific works in Kingston and Ottawa. Mariah played Kate Unger in George F. Walker’s HBO Canada Series Living in Your Car. Mariah has an MA in Theatre Theory & Dramaturgy from uOttawa and has been published by SpiderWebShow, Visit Kingston, Canadian Theatre Review, the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

Frank Donato is a lighting and video designer born, raised and currently based in Ottawa, ON. His practice is continually evolving as he continues to explore the intersection of digital media and live performance. Past design credits include: Daisy (GCTC, Ottawa) Notes of Hope (ICOT, Toronto), The Revolutions (SpiderWebShow, Kingston), Plucked (Summerworks, Toronto). When not designing his own work, Frank is proud to assist his mentors and colleagues working for organizations such as the Stratford Festival, Canadian Opera Company, and the Luminato Festival. Frank is a graduate of the Production program at the National Theatre School of Canada.
Naseem Loloie is a Toronto-based filmmaker and picture editor with experience in scripted, documentary and commercial productions. A graduate of Queen’s University’s Stage and Screen program and Humber College’s Post Production intensive program, Naseem has worked on various commercials and music videos for clients like Mazda, RBC, Jessie Reyez and Shawn Hook. As a member of the Director’s Guild of Canada, she currently works as an Assistant Picture Editor in feature films and television series. As a director and editor, her narrative and documentary shorts have been awarded and screened at festivals like the Canada Shorts Film Festival, Kingston Canadian Film Festival, Yellowknife International Film Festival and Bristol Independent Film Festival. Naseem is passionate about the power of visual storytelling and hopes to continue collaborating with talented creators!  
Jess Andrews is a London-based theatre-maker, puppeteer and dramaturg born and raised in Saskatoon. In 2011 Jess left the land of living skies for rainy Cardiff where she obtained a degree in Drama (Theatre and Media) from the University of South Wales. She has since studied at the University of Arts in Târgu Mureș, Romania and received her Master’s in Theatre Criticism and Dramaturgy from London’s Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. As an Associate Artist for Little Bean (the first and only Cantonese children’s theatre company in the UK) Jess has performed in the UK and across Hong Kong. In 2019 her semi-autobiographical show When He Fell made its international debut at the Taipei Fringe Festival. 

Jess would like to thank Gail Andrews and Matt Letty for their participation in this project.
Dawlari and Corwyn Windolph– Dawlari, grade 9, and Corwyn Windoph, grade 7, are Atikemak/Woodland Cree/German and Dene youth based out of Regina, Saskatchewan but living out of Banff, Alberta. Dawlari and Corwyn are both homeschooled with a land-based education, and have participated in films as a way to learn and build their understanding of careers within documentary filmmaking while taking a journey to learn their culture, history and family ties. Dawlari and Corwyn were featured in short documentaries released by the National Film Board Lifegivers: Honoring Our Elders and Children, 2007, and more prominently, Stories Are in Our Bones, 2019. They are a featured in The Beacon Project: Stories of Qu’Appelle Valley, 2020, that will be released on CBC Gem on Indigenous People Day 2020. Currently, they are working with their mother, Janine Windolph, to develop a short documentary with the National Film Board called Our Maternal Home: Waswanipi with production planned in the spring of 2021. Lastly, Dawlari and Corwyn were actors in a performance called TransActions Memorial that took place at Performing Turtle Island in 2015.
Jacob Ballantyne is a Kingston based Artist/Playwright.  Having earned high school credits in Drama and participating in Drama Club during his elementary school years, Jacob grew a deep passion for acting and writing. 
In 2014 Jacob was cast in Judith Thompson’s Production of “Rare”, directed by Kathryn McKay and produced by Peerless Productions. Two years later he collaborated with Kathryn McKay and David Archibald to write his first play, ” Down Syndrome by the Dozen”. The success of this project won Jacob a guest in residence position at Queens University for the academic year 2017/18. Under the guidance of Jeff McGilton and Madison Lymer of 5th Company Lane, Jacob performed the lead role in “Brother Brother” by Megan Greeley and also starred in his own play “Baby Uncle”.

With thanks to the wonderful Mariah Horner, Frank Donato, Naseem Loloie, Jess Andrews, Jacob Ballantyne, Dawlari Windolph, and Corwyn Windolph for their contributions to this project.