The Company

Ross Manson, Artistic Director
ross@volcano.ca

Ross Manson is an actor, director, and translator, and the founding Artistic Director of Volcano ("The best independent theatre company in Toronto" - NOW Magazine). Volcano specializes in projects that explore compelling social and artistic territories in innovative ways, often inventing multi-disciplinary styles of performance or development tailor-made to the idea at hand. Ross has directed nearly 20 shows for Volcano, which have earned 33 Dora nominations (Toronto's stage awards), 11 wins, 2 Governor General award nominations, The Carol Tambor Foundation "Best of Edinburgh" award, a Scotsman Fringe First Award (Edinburgh), the Amnesty International Freedom of Speech Award shortlist (Edinburgh), the NOW Peoples Choice Award (Toronto), The Dublin International Fringe Best Design award, and a Chalmers National Play Award (Canada). Ross has twice been nominated for a Dora award in directing, once in acting, once in playwriting, and several times in producing (winning once for Best Direction - shared with Kate Alton, once for Best New Play - shared with Kate Alton and the Four Horsemen team, and twice for Best Production). He is the winner of both a Harold award for community service, and a KM Hunter Award for excellence as an emerging theatre artist. He was also a finalist for the 2009 Rita Davies and Margo Bindhardt Cultural Leadership Award in Toronto.

The majority of theatrical works Ross has built with Volcano are original, experimental and Canadian, although international theatre also features strongly in the programming. His work has been presented by the Traverse theatre (Edinburgh), PS 122 (New York), the Magnetic North Festival (Canada), Germany's LiteraturFest (Berlin), the Dublin International Fringe, Festival Arts Azimuts (Rwanda), the Push Festival (Vancouver), GCTC (Ottawa), the Tarragon theatre (Toronto), the Theatre Centre (Toronto), the Factory theatre (Toronto), among others. Ross has also directed for CanStage, Overall Dance (in Toronto and at the Canada Dance Festival), the Svenska Theatre (Helsinki) and the Blyth Festival in rural Ontario.

Ross has translated three plays from German: Woyzeck (staged in 1993); The Third Land (staged in 1994 by Volcano) and The Caucasian Chalk Circle (a project led by Richard Greenblatt, with new music by John Millard, staged at Waterloo University under the direction of Alex Follis in 2008).

As an actor, Ross has appeared in film, television, radio, and in leading roles at over 20 theatres across Canada and the USA. He has worked for such directors as Ireland's Joe Dowling; England's Jonathan Miller; American Blanka Zizka; and, in Canada, for Richard Rose, Daniel Brooks, Bill Glassco and Jackie Maxwell, among many others.

In 1995, Ross founded Go7, the Arts Pass; a subscription and marketing organization for independent theatre, music and dance. Go7 was in place in Toronto from 1995 to 2003, and inspired a host of similar organizations across Canada. From 1994 to 2004, Ross ran an eclectic new works cabaret called Short Stuff at various bars around Toronto. Short Stuff showcased high-level work from local artists in film, fiction, poetry, drama, music and dance. in 2007, Ross joined the programming team for ArcFest (the first human rights arts festival in Canada). Finally, Ross is also the co-founder of the Wrecking Ball, a political theatre initiative in Toronto designed to bring a political point-of-view more fiercely onto Toronto stages (www.thewreckingball.ca).

 

Meredith Potter, General Manager
meredith@volcano.ca

Since graduating from the Western Australian Academy for Performing Arts with a B.A. (Arts Management) in 1994, Meredith has worked in cultural organizations and performing arts companies in both Canada and Australia. She was awarded the 1995 Andrew Noblett Arts Marketing Fellowship at the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust, during which she was seconded to the 1996 Adelaide Festival of Arts. She was General Manager of Patch Theatre Company, a professional theatre for young people, for three years before moving to Toronto in 1999. After working as the Administrator of Artists' Services for two years at the Dance Umbrella of Ontario, Meredith joined CORPUS as General Manager from 2001 - 2004 and produced the Dusk Dances festival from 2002 - 2008. She is currently director of her own company, Meredith Potter Arts Management, where her clients include Peggy Baker Dance Projects and, since September 2005, Volcano.

 

Meaghan Davis, Metcalf Foundation Arts Management Intern
meaghan@volcano.ca

Meaghan Davis was born in Toronto and raised in Whitby, Ontario. She holds a Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, where she earned First Class Honours in English Cultural with a minor in Political Science. While in Montreal, Meaghan was involved in producing, designing, and administrating at McGill's Tuesday Night Cafe Theatre, the Arts Undergraduate Theatre Society, and Players' Theatre (one of Montreal's oldest English-language theatre companies). In Toronto, Meaghan spent three seasons at the Luminato Festival, first as the festival's Sponsorship Intern in 2009 and then as the Development Coordinator for two subsequent festivals years. Her most recent theatre project was How Coyote Was Swallowed by the Sandia Mountains, a one-act play for the 2010 Toronto and Montreal Fringe Festivals. How Coyote was nominated for the Cirque du Soleil ® Best Original Creation award at the Montreal Fringe.

 

 

Board of Directors

Marlene Stirrett-Matson
Volcano Board President, appointed October 12, 2010
Director Corporate Services, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation
Joined 2009

Nicole Day
Volcano Board Treasurer
Accounting Supervisor, Native Child and Family Services of Toronto
Joined 2006

David Vella
Volcano Board Secretary
Director, Board and Executive Relations, Toronto International Film Festival
Joined 2011

Shelagh Carnegie
Lawyer, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP
Joined 2009

Bongi Damoyi
Foundation Committee Chair and Board Member of the Rotary Club of Toronto Beach
Joined 2011

Miriam Fernandes
Actor
Joined 2011

Barbara Gordon
Actor
Joined 1994

Sally Han
Cultural Development Officer, City of Toronto
Joined 2006

Glen Johnson
Lawyer, Torys LLP
Past Board President
Joined 2005

Chris Lorway
Director, Festivals and Performing Arts, Lord Cultural Resources
Joined 2011

Suzanne Porter
Producer, outer margins design
Joined 2011