Our Teachers
At GTS, our classes are taught by some of Geordie’s favorite Montreal theatre professionals because we believe that kids deserve to learn from the best! Here are some of the talented people who are teaching for GTS this year.
Charity Adzie
Charity Adzie (she/her) is an actor and creator born and raised in Montreal. After graduating from the Professional Theatre Program at Dawson College in 2020, she participated in Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program. Favourite credits include Holmes/Maeve Sullivan in Blue Stockings (Dome) and Voices From The Pandemic (Tableau D’Hote/Segal). She recently facilitated a Geordie/Desta Mental Health Workshop for 10 black youths alongside Dr. Lisa Ndejuru and Cindy Balan. Charity is passionate about participating in art that is accessible, challenging, joyful, and vulnerable. She is very excited to bring her love for the theatre and improvisation to her students.
Ravyn Bekh
Montreal-born and Dawson Dome-raised, Ravyn R. Bekh is an emerging creative with fierce intentions towards acting, writing, and directing. Taking her first steps into the community with Geordie Theatre has been a truly life changing experience.
Ravyn aims to bring to life those homegrown stories of grime and grit and heart. She hopes to tell these stories with the optimism and natural beauty she has found life to be full of.
Samantha Bitonti
Samantha Bitonti (she/her) is an actor, creator, and instructor with a passion for embodied movement and dramaturgy. She has a BFA in Theatre Performance from Concordia University, and enjoys crafting characters through her love of clown. A sense of play, spontaneity, and risk is at the core of her work. Samantha’s artistic pursuits include introducing classical music to kids through puppetry, clown, and storytelling (Platypus); investigating heightened text and our relationship to Shakespeare in contemporary playing (Repercussion Theatre); and teaching drama at Geordie Theatre School, cultivating creativity for young people. Samantha is a critical thinker, an advocate for community, and a keen observer of the power of storytelling.
Nathan Bois-McDonald
Nathan Bois-McDonald is a 2023 graduate of the Dawson College DOME program, holding both the Willy and Beryl Moser Award for exceptional acting ability and the Cynthia Hendrickson Memorial Award for his collaborative spirit. During the past summer, Nathan had the privilege of performing in Repercussion’s enthralling touring production of “Cymbeline.” Now immersed in Montreal’s dynamic artistic community, Nathan eagerly seeks opportunities to share his passion. He’s deeply grateful for the support of his mentor, Laurent Pitre, and the guidance of his incredible acting coach, Bryan Doubt. This Fall, Nathan had the pleasure of working with a wonderful team and shadowing a true creative guru, Xavier Huard, as Assistant Director for “AlterNatives.” He’s honored to have contributed to this play in unceded territory Tiohtià:ke/Montreal. Catch him in the spring of 2024 in the McGill Savoy Society’s production of “Princess Ida.” Nathan extends his best wishes for your well-being and that of your loved ones. You can also find Jake teaching theatre at various schools across the city, including Montreal Children’s Theatre, Geordie Theatre School, and Segal Academy. He is deeply passionate about theatre education as a way of encouraging self-expression among young people, and allowing them to discover their capacity for teamwork, empathy and play!
Casey Marie Ecker
Casey Marie Ecker (she/her) is a queer multidisciplinary artist with many feathers in various caps. Born in Manhattan, New York, her love of the arts was generational. Her mother, a classical trained singer, had Casey in ballet classes at the age of 4! She was accepted into Fiorello H. LaGuardia for Visual Arts and graduated with her Regents diploma in 2013. From there, her love for theater and performance only grew. She began to pursue Musical Theatre and went on to study at AMDA NY. After graduating, Casey worked in their film department as a Camera Operator/Technician. Some of her performance credits include: The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Mainline Theatre), A Little Bit Pregnant (Toronto Fringe Festival), Reefer Madness (Contact Theatre), The Space Between (Montreal Fringe Festival), The Philadelphia Story (City Island Theater Group)
Since moving to Tiohtià:ke (Montreal), Casey has acted in three Fringe Festivals, worked on national commercials for Petco, Pacific Foods and Coffee Mate! Her latest television credit is Zoey on Fox’s new cop procedural “Alert” in episode 3. During the pandemic, she turned to writing as a form of therapy. Casey is currently working on an adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” set in current day Montreal! She debuted the opening scene with the Young Playwrights Unit (2022-2023), a program for young writers associated with the Playwrights Workshop Montreal organization! As a former ballet teacher, she is delighted to be working with children again and helping to expand their imagination with Geordie Theatre School!
Daniel Hickie
Daniel is a theatre creator, animator, teacher, learner and aspiring everything.
Daniel is the great grandchild of a cinema owner and an apple farmer. The grandchild of nurses and quilt makers. The child of teachers and talkers. The sibling of brilliant hearted adults. And the parent of a joy ball.
Daniel’s family left Ireland and France many years ago to find the great southern land, Gadigal Land, Wiradujuri land. Daniel grew up on the land of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation (Sydney, Australia), surrounded by sun stroked skin, salt water and big Christmas feasts. Daniel completed a Bachelor’s Degree in Theatre making at the Australian Institute of Music, but inherited big boisterous storytelling from his community.
Daniel moved to unceded Kanien’kehá:ka land, Tio’tia:ke (Montréal) for love. Since arriving here, Daniel has worked with young people to make theatre, teach theatre, perform theatre and more. Daniel has worked in this capacity with the Segal Centre, Geordie Theatre, the ELAN Artists Inspire Project, the LEARN I Belong Project, The Montreal Children’s Theatre, The Vancouver International Children’s Festival and others.
In 2019, Daniel co-founded a theatre collective, Young Hearts Theatre, which looks to tell stories for the young and young at heart. We follow a story to where it needs to go. Outside. Into a cave. Using puppets. Singing loud.
Daniel brings the full weight of past story telling with him and loves SO MUCH to hear about others too – so if you have anything to share, let me know!
Roxane Loumède
Andrew Sawyer
Andrew Sawyer (he/she/they) is an interdisciplinary artist based in tiohtia:ke. Having been on stages since a young age, Andrew finds home in the creative process and loves developing that passion amongst others. They’re very happy to be teaching with GTS. Andrew holds a BA in Film Studies from Carleton University and a BFA in Acting from Concordia University and is attaining their DEC in Early Childhood Education. Andrew has performed in, directed, and written plays and is the current Artistic Producer of The Rose Festival, an multidisciplinary arts haven for queer creators in tiohtia:ke. Their own artistic practice revolves around developing their imaginal world and bringing it to life: “I write stories, sing songs, and listen to my body”. You can find examples of their work on tevinescence.com
Murdoch Schon
Murdoch Schon is a nonbinary director, puppeteer and educator. Born and raised in Treaty One Territory (Winnipeg), they have been involved in the Tiohtià:ke (Montreal) English theatre scene for almost a decade. They believe that theatre is a necessary space to practice community, risk-taking and imagination. Murdoch’s work has been seen recently at FOLDA, Theatre Direct, and Centaur Theatre. They have been teaching theatre at summer camps, and schools for the past five years. Murdoch is a graduate of the National Theatre School directing program and has a BFA, Specialization in Theatre and Development, from Concordia University.
Jackson Thouret
Jackson is a graduate of Concordia University’s Acting for the Theatre program, having graduated with distinction in 2021. Even as a toddler his love of acting was evident. Jackson would dress up as his favorite superheroes, accompanying his family to the grocery store in full costume, and never breaking character. He continues to bring this childlike sense of play, enthusiasm, creativity, and dedication to every new project he develops. Jackson’s goal as an artist is to present audiences with immersive stories that they can see themselves in and help foster a better future for our world built off a basis of Love, Compassion, and Understanding of one another.