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Matthew Samms

Matt hails from beautiful Corner Brook! They are beyond thrilled to be joining To The Girls With Stephenville Theatre Festival as their Head of Sound.

Just recently, Matt wrapped up an incredible summer at Gros Morne Theatre festival in Cow Head, where they also assumed the role of Head of Sound. Alongside that, Having the opportunity to design sound for two remarkable shows, “Bingo Ladies” and “Saudade.”

Matt is incredibly passionate about all things sound and finds immense joy in creating immersive experiences through music and sound effects.

Heather Braaten

Heather Braaten*

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Heather Braaten is honored to return for her seventh season as the Artistic Director of STF. An award-winning professional theatre director and playwright, Heather has specific interests and expertise in the fields of musical theatre, new play development, large ensemble physical theatre as well as devised theatre. She has directed over 50 professional productions across North America and has held upper management positions with several companies during her career.

Most recent direction credits include: Let’s Dance, 9 to 5, Disenchanted, The Theory of Relativity, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Honky Tonk Laundry, American Idiot, The Last Five Years, Spring Awakening, We Will Rock You, Little Red Riding Hood, Urinetown, Cinderella a Ratical Retelling, For The Pleasure of Seeing Her Again, Evita, Next to Normal.

Heather has extensive experience in the areas of artistic direction, company management, tour management and producing. She has also directed and taught post-secondary theatre students at St. Lawrence College and The Randolph Academy. She is Newfoundland and Labrador’s representative with the Professional Association of Canadian Theatre (PACT), as well as sitting on the Board of Directors as the chair of professional development for the Association of Professional Theatre Newfoundland and Labrador (APTNL).

Heather is thrilled to welcome an amazing company and crew to the 45th Stephenville Theatre Festival Season and thanks the STF Board of Directors for their amazing contribution to live theatre in NL.

*appears courtesy of the Canadian Actors Equity Association

Amelia Hironaka

Amelia Hironaka*

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Amelia is thrilled to be returning to Stephenville for her 6th season with STF! She is a performer and choreographer originally from Calgary, and now calls Corner Brook home.

Since last summer she has been on tour in Western Canada and performing in Vegas Live (Mayfield Theatre) and Escape to Margaritaville (Theatre Calgary).

Past credits with STF include: Blue Champagne (Dot), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Ensemble), Rock ‘N’ Fables (Choreographer), Urinetown (Soupy Sue), We Will Rock You (Bruce Springsteen), Avenue Q (Choreographer), Cinderella: A Rat-ical Retelling (Choreographer), Pianoman (Choreographer), Rocketman (Choreographer), The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Choreographer), Honky Tonk Laundry (Katie Lane Murphy), Keep An Eye On Summer: The Music of The Beach Boys (Choreographer), 9 to 5 (Ensemble), One Hit Wonders and All Time Greats: The Dinner Theatre Game Show (Choreographer).

Big love to Ben, Alli, Andrew, Heather, Mom, Dad, Cat and the entire DaCosta team for their unconditional love and support! A huge thank you to the Dunphy’s for making it feel like coming home every summer! Thank you to the cast and crew for all their hard work and passion in making these shows come to life! Enjoy the season!

*appears courtesy of the Canadian Actors Equity Association

Laird MacDonald

Laird MacDonald

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Laird has been working in the entertainment industry for 25+ years. He has been the production manager, technical director, and set and lighting sl designer for 7 seasons. He is an award – lighting, and video projection designer. And has been nominated multiple times for shows he has worked on.
 
He wears many hats for STF and actually loves to buy and wear hats but prefers only one or two professional hats at a time. 
Faith Young

Faith Young

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Faith is excited to be celebrating 5 years of involvement with STF this summer for the 45th season. Over their time at STF, Faith has gone from selling 50/50s and stage managing off-season productions such as “It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play” (2017) and “Seussical Jr.” (2018) to having taken on roles such as Head of Props and Assistant Stage Manager on the premiere of “To The Girls” (2021), and Stage Management on various STF summer productions.

Faith is feeling right at home this summer Stage Managing Balloonacy and The Great Canadian Songbook Challenge! Faith has studied at the Memorial University School of Fine Arts at Grenfell Campus, pursuing a BFA in Theatre. Select credits include: Stage Manager – Anything to Declare (2023), Head of Props – Hedda Gabler (2022), The Winters Tale (2022), Sound and Projections Operator – Picnic at Hanging Rock (2022).

Recently, Faith has won Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centers “U-Compete” alongside Cassandra Munroe for their short play “Inconvenient Attraction”, which will be featured in St. John’s Shorts 2023 as a reading.