Our program is empowered by a welcoming and diverse community of students with a uniquely global perspective. Together we are making things right for our communities and our future.
Registered as of Fall 2026
Alayna Battaglini is a dance artist based in Toronto, Canada. She is trained in all disciplines, with a focus on contemporary dance and performance choreography. Alayna takes interest in all forms of creative expression, with extensive training also reaching instrumental music and the dramatic arts.
Alayna has worked with a variety of dance artists in the Toronto area, and has been featured in dynamic performances choreographed by celebrated artists including Alyssa Martin (DinoLand), Louis Laberge-Cote (The Ianos Gate), and Hannah Kiel (From Me, To You, For Us). She has been a collaborator on dance film projects with Aria Evans (A Gathering), and starred as a contemporary dancer in multiple commercial productions. Alayna has also worked with international artists such as Stephanie Lake (Colossus) and Jesse Obremski (LightPrint), performing their works with renowned dance organizations at Fall For Dance North and TO Live. With a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts (with Distinction) from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Performance Dance program, Alayna brings a strong technical foundation and a deeply creative mind to the table. She holds great value in collaboration, positivity, and innovative thinking in her practice as a creator and performer.
Alayna is infinitely grateful for the influence of many teachers and choreographers that have propelled her along her journey as a dancer, and has found a sense of pride in providing the same guidance and support to young and upcoming dancers. She is excited to embark on her newest journey through York University’s MA in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies program to access new insight and creative material, and new opportunities to share her knowledge and passion for dance with others.
In her downtime, Alayna is a social butterfly, hanging out with her many friends and large Italian family! She leads an active lifestyle, with hobbies that include yoga, spin, and recreational volleyball. She is neither a dog or cat person, stopping to pet any furry friend that crosses her path. Alayna values kindness, compassion, and a good sense of humour, not only in her artistic practices but in her everyday life.
Alyssa Levac is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto, Ontario. Alyssa holds a BFA in Dance from York University and is now pursuing her Master’s in Theatre, Dance, & Performance Studies at York University. Her graduate research is focused on developing a feminist model for dance choreography and creating dance pieces based on feminist literature. The intersections of Alyssa’s identity inspire her choreographic work, and she is passionate about integrating visual and performing arts into everyday life.
Alyssa is an avid dance teacher in studio and community contexts. She is known for creating safe spaces for students of all ages to build self-confidence and express themselves. She believes in a holistic approach to dance education that promotes growth and authenticity through movement. Alyssa has been recognized for her innovative and striking choreography and strives to make work that expands her creative horizons. As her career evolves, Alyssa is dedicated to sharing her love of dance and the arts with her students.
Outside of graduate studies, Alyssa enjoys sunny dance studios, lakes, bookstores, and good people.
Ananya Balike is an MA student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies whose work moves between dance, linguistics, psychology, and creative practice. She holds a BA from Western University, where she majored in Psychology, minored in Biology and Creative Writing, and completed a French certificate. She also completed an MA in Linguistics, with research on Kannada performative utterances and the relationship between linguistic form, action, and meaning. Ananya began training in Bharatanatyam at age six and completed her Arangetram in 2018, a two-hour solo performance with live music. Her dance background spans Kalakshetra and Tanjavur styles, as well as teaching assistance and choreography in classical and fusion contexts. Her current research-creation interests bring Bharatanatyam into dialogue with linguistics, asking how gesture, rhythm, expression, and movement operate as systems of meaning. Across her academic and artistic work, she is interested in how performance can function as research and how traditions evolve via art and culture.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working on your graduate studies?
When Ananya is not working on my graduate studies, she is usually still making things. Ananya enjoys experimental and creative writing, singing, songwriting, dancing, and creating visual or digital arts and crafts. These practices give her ways to explore language, movement, and expression outside formal research. She also enjoys bringing different forms together (like writing with music, dance with storytelling, or art with reflection) because creative work is how Anaya processes ideas and stay connected to my inner curiosity, alongside my fascination with the relationship between the world and meaning-making.
Bonnie Garland (She/They) is a researcher and theatrical designer who has worked across several provinces and is a recent MFA graduate from the University of Calgary with a Design/Technical specialization. She is also an alumni of the renamed Toronto Metropolitan University with a BFA in Performance Production. Bonnie’s focus on ecoscenography in Canadian theatres has brought them to question the accessibility for arts administration to participate in environmentally friendly opportunities despite ample educational resources and templates. She believes that this is due to the current stringent economic mindset towards performance and the greater arts community. She wishes to recognize what roles in theatre hierarchy need to be driven by an environmental mandate for the maximum benefit.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
Outside of theatre and research, Bonnie is an environmentalist and spends weekends as a market coordinator for her childhood Farmers Market and works hard in her parents’ organic vegetable farm.
Christina Cicko (she/they) is an Equity Stage Manager and Lighting Designer. She received her BFA from the University of Victoria and is an artist based in Tkaronto/Toronto. Lighting design has taken her across Canada as well as the Banff Centre for the Arts, earning her a nominee for the Pauline McGibbon Award for Lighting Design While designing for the mainstage at Second City Toronto, they found a passion for stage management. Selected credits include; stage manager for Dora winning Wildfire (Factory Theatre), Dora winning Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre) presented at the Edinburgh Festival and Festival Internacional Teatro A Mil 2023 in Santiago de Chile, PuSh Festival, Luminato Festival and at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Dora nominated Unholy (Nightwood Theatre), Gertrude and Alice (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre) and Stones (Aluna Theatre and The Stones Project). Other credits include: Grace (Nightwood Theatre), The Youth & Elders Project (Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), and the world premier of Calpurnia (Nightwood Theatre). Christina has been on two CTA negotiation teams representing CAEA and was a former board member for Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
When not working on her graduate studies, Christina likes to write, entre triathlons, and go on adventures with her family.
Eleni Tatsis-Stewart is a Black, Biracial, Queer, multidisciplinary artist specializing in experimental movement composition. Eleni completed her BFA in Dance at York University, specializing in Choreography and Performance, and is currently pursuing her Master’s in Theatre, Dance, and Performance at York University. While attending York, Eleni became an industry member with I.E. Crew, a street dance performance company with a profound focus on Black dance (2023-2026). Eleni was an NXT Gen Emerging Choreographer for MOVMNT Collective and created “Cryptomnesia,” which debuted at Winchester Theatre (2024). Her choreographic works aim to explore what is unreal and grant freedom to the imagination, while creating collaborative works that highlight effective chaos. Alongside her artistic practice, Eleni is passionate about teaching and creating inclusive learning environments that encourage curiosity, self-expression, and confidence-building. In addition to her choreographic endeavours, Eleni has a versatile movement background across multiple genres of dance, including vernacular jazz, vogue-fem, house, tap, modern, hip-hop, heels, and contemporary.
What do you enjoy doing when you are not working on your graduate studies?
Outside of graduate studies, Eleni enjoys cooking, listening to music, watching reality TV, and connecting with genuine people.
Emily Duckett (she/they) is a Black, queer, dance artist residing in Tkaronto. Their artistic expression is profoundly influenced by their intersecting identities. Emily’s practice is based on the belief that creating and manipulating art is a communal endeavor and the idea that dance is a vehicle for de-socialization, leaving deeply embedded societal constraints behind. Since graduating from York University with a BFA in Dance and a Specialized Honors in performance and choreography in 2022, Emily has collaborated with esteemed companies such as Mocean Dance Company, Toronto Dance Theatre, Wind in the Leaves Collective, and Buddies In Bad Times Theatre. Her work was presented in The Garage’s 2024 season and York University Dance Ensemble’s showcase Here and Now. They’re newest work This Will Hurt But The Bleeding Will Stop was part of Buddies In Bad Times Theatre Emerging Creators Unit and opened their 2025 Pride Season. Called a “once in a lifetime show that became legendary in an instant”, this solo explores Emily’s relationship to their hair as a black woman living in a white world. At present, their artistic exploration centers on themes of queer time theory, decomposition, rejection, gut feelings, cravings and chaos, pleasure and paradoxes.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
When not working on their graduate studies, Emily loves to rock climb, read, and bike ride!
Erin Poole (she/her) is a free-lance dance artist and maker based in Tkaronto/Toronto. An established performer, she has collaborated, performed and internationally toured works of many esteemed choreographers. She was a company member of the ensemble at Toronto Dance Theatre for 7 seasons (2017-2024). Erin works collaboratively on projects based in visual arts, poetry, comic/narrative, and experimental music. She has been nominated for six Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Her choreographic work has been supported and presented by CLEAR Forum (2023 Mocean Dance), the ATLAS Program for Impulstanz (Vienna 2023), the Capilano Review (Issue 3.43 ‘im looking for a way to dance’), Nuit Blanche/East End Arts (2022). Erin is endlessly curious about the nature of collaboration - as a way to behold how both being together, and with self occurs. For her, dancing is the conversation and the portal to bring this practice to consciousness.
Jan is a freelance theatre professional with forty years of experience in direction, movement and choreography, dramatic and musical performance, dramaturgy, and acting instruction. Her background includes over 125 professional productions with Canada's major festivals and regional and commercial theatres, as well as film and television credits. Jan has received several national awards and nominations for her performances and has directed award-nominated productions for multiple theatres. She has actively mentored youth and young adults, many facing economic and cultural barriers, bringing a commitment to accessible, embodied performance pedagogy.
Jan’s practice increasingly centres on Movement Direction and physicality as primary storytelling tools. Her pursuit of advanced training in physical theatre — including graduate-level coursework in Switzerland (2025) — reflects her dedication to deepening both her directorial practice and her capacity to teach movement-based performance. Upon graduation, Jan hopes to continue working as a director while supporting fellow directors as a co-creative collaborator focused on actor movement and physicality, and teaching the next generation of theatre artists across universities, conservatories, and professional companies.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
Never one to sit still for too long, Jan can be found on a yoga mat, at the gym lifting something heavy, sailing Georgian Bay, gardening, or tackling the occasional extreme alpine hike. After a lifetime of dipping in and out of the restaurant business, she finally pulled the trigger on a lifelong curiosity and graduated from Conestoga College's Culinary Skills program in 2021, and hasn't stopped cooking since.
Jessica Somersall (She/Her) is a daughter, sister, actor, writer, community advocate, and people-lover through and through. She holds a BA (Hons) in Drama and Film & Media from Queen’s University, and is passionate about shaking up the world of theatre and film to better reflect the rich diversity of real communities. Jessica’s drive to tell meaningful stories stems from growing up without seeing enough faces like hers represented on stage or screen. That fire only grew during her time living and studying across Europe, in The Netherlands, where she deepened her commitment to radical performance and uplifting BIPOC narratives.
For Jessica, storytelling is resistance, joy, and celebration all at once—and being an actor and writer gives her the chance to live that truth. When she’s not in grad school mode, Jessica is probably curled up with a rom-com novel, praying, baking something sweet (taste-testers welcome!), or hanging out with her family dog, Million. She believes in the power of good stories, good snacks, and good community—and she’s ready to make some really cool theatre.
Juliana Vieira is a dance artist, educator, cultural producer, and practice-based researcher. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Dance Education from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ). Since 2014, she has practiced and researched urban dances such as rebolado of funk carioca (from Rio de Janeiro/Brasil) and House Dance. She was an Artistic and Cultural Initiation Scholarship recipient in the project Counter-Choreographic Dramaturgies: Processes, Practices, and Poetics of Uprising, developed by onucleo (Center of Research, Studies, and Encounters in Dance, from UFRJ) in close partnership with the Aldeia Maraka'nà Pluriethnic Indigenous University. Within this project, she investigated expanded dance practices through decolonial, collaborative, and practice-based approaches.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
In her free time, Juliana enjoys slowing down and spending time in nature, especially at the beach.
Keara Hicks is an MA student exploring historical costuming. She would like to work to restore archived pieces and use her research into restoration and archival techniques to encourage the industry to use conservation techniques to make performance art more sustainable. She would also like to continue working to engage new audiences with theatre, studying the special stories that costumes can portray, along with how costuming and education can foster further community engagement in the performing arts.
She is a recent graduate of York University with a BFA Honours in Theatre Production and Design. Keara has also worked and studied as a stage manager. She has been a stage manager for two York University mainstage shows, along with performances in the Toronto Fringe Festival and SummerWorks Festival. She hopes to continue this work throughout her degree.
When she is not being a graduate student, Keara enjoys spending time with her friends, exploring the city, attending performances, and watching movies. She also enjoys reading, crocheting, and attempting new recipes.
Lais Beckett (she/her) is an MA student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at York University. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Creative Writing, with a minor in Psychology, from the University of Guelph, where she worked across short fiction, poetry, memoir, and screenwriting. A visual artist, photographer, and writer, Lais is expanding her creative practice into performance, driven by a fascination with storytelling across different art forms. Her work explores questions of identity, memory, and fantasy through interdisciplinary approaches.
This past year, she collaborated on a short film in Brazil—where her family is from—that explored identity, social history, and cultural connection through a video-art approach centered on urban spaces. She is inspired by artists who see creativity as a shared, accessible experience and who believe that art should be for everyone.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
Outside of being a grad student, Lais loves to doodle and dance, especially in the company of friends. She is a member of Baque de Bamba, a Toronto-based Brazilian maracatu band, where she can often be found playing at community events and street festivals. And she'll never say no to a nap.
Le Nguyen is an MA student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at York University. She recently graduated with an Honours BA from York University, having double majored in Theatre and Creative Writing. During her time in undergrad, she volunteered year after year for Vanier College Productions, a theatre company at York. Her research interests include performances of gender and sexuality, and the oft-ignored performativity of kink. Le hopes that through writing plays that centre kink as a performing tool, she can aid in demystifying and destigmatizing both kinkiness and queerness to those who have yet to understand them.
When not being a graduate student, she spends time with her parents, her friends, or she engages with one of her many, many hobbies, including (but not limited to) being an avid reader, playing video games, writing stories, wandering around Toronto in search of inspiration, adding to her stationery collection, and wire wrapping jewellery.
Lisa Randall trained as an actor and has a background in movement, singing and writing. Lisa’s play, The Sorauren Book Club received the Patron’s Pick Award at the 2022 Toronto Fringe Festival. Lisa acts in commercials, TV/web series and films and recorded two CDs of original compositions as a singer/lyricist.
As museum administrator of Todmorden Mills Heritage Site with the City of Toronto for the past four years, Lisa develops inclusive activations with artists and communities. She created the popular ‘After Dark: Spirit Tour’ an outdoor, theatrical immersive that delved into grief and remembrance through various cultural lenses while interpreting the histories of this site.
Lisa worked for 25 years in social and settlement services where she focused on partnerships with the arts. Lisa has a diploma in Theatre from Studio 58, Langara College, a BA in Social Development Studies from U of Waterloo, a Master’s of Arts in Integration from Athabasca U and International Yoga Teacher Certification. Lisa facilitates theatre/improv camp for adults and co-leads retreats.
Past board membership: Studio 180 Theatre and The International Centre for Women Playwrights.
When she is not being a grad student Lisa loves to take long walks by the Lake, sing and spend time with family over meals and games.
Marcel Stewart is a father, award-winning actor, director, writer, educator, arts administrator, oversharer, and Co-Curator of FOLDA (Festival of Live Digital Art). Whether directing a play, writing an essay, facilitating a workshop, or building an immersive performance, he is drawn to work that asks people to think with their hearts. His artistic practice lives somewhere near the intersection of theatre, storytelling, emerging technology, and hanging out long enough for a question to turn into a project. Instead of treating digital tools as the destination, Marcel is interested in how they can deepen our relationships with one another. His work often combines performances that encourage audiences to become active collaborators, challenging the traditional model of spectatorship where people are expected to sit quietly in the dark and simply receive the performance. Marcel has worked with theatre companies across Canada and internationally, and his writing has appeared in Canadian Theatre Review.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
When I'm not a graduate student, I'm usually living in my head, building LEGO with my kids, or unsuccessfully trying to stay awake through another episode of The Office.
Megan De Sousa is a theatre practitioner and educator specializing in devised theatre, collaborative creation, and youth performance. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre (Devised Theatre) and a Bachelor of Education (Junior–Intermediate) both from York University. Megan has worked as a drama teacher and acting coach, facilitating theatre with students from early childhood through adolescence. Through her MA studies, her research interests explore youth devised anthology theatre as both a pedagogical and performative structure, particularly how collective creation can support youth and young adults in articulating individual and shared identities.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
Outside of her graduate studies, Megan is a competitive powerlifter who competes at the national level. She is also an avid reader, of all genres. Alongside her graduate work, Megan works as both an elementary and secondary school teacher.
Melissa Del Sal is an MA student of the Theatre, Dance, and Performance program. Melissa is interested in adaptation theory, and the ways that stories change across different mediums. She is especially interested in theatrical adaptations of literary works, from the page to the stage, as well as storytelling through dance. She holds a Specialized Honours BA in English from York University as well as a Certificate in Children’s Literature, where she completed an undergraduate research project. Her four years studying English literature has allowed her to read a wide array of novels, short stories, poems, and plays across various time periods and cultures.
Melissa also has a long history with dance and the performing arts. She is trained in various styles of dance, but her personal favourite is contemporary. She has competed in several regional, national, and international dance competitions throughout her dance career. She currently works at a children’s dance studio in Vaughan as a dance instructor and assistant to the Artistic Director. When she’s not working or studying, Melissa loves reading, painting, doing puzzles, and spending time outdoors. She also loves to travel – her favourite part about travelling is trying new food.
Sophie is a MA student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at York University. They are passionate about community organizations, recently working as a youth worker in a program that supports marginalized youth in overcoming barriers to education. They hold a bachelor's degree in Anthropology and Sociology from Concordia University in Montreal where they were raised. They are deeply interested in exploring abolitionist practices stemming from community care work, with a focus on the intersections of queer joy and gender liberation. They look forward to exploring during their Master’s different theatre, dance, and performance techniques to engage with critical social issues that also invite the audience to imagine alternative futures.
Outside of school, Sophie loves to do sketch comedy and improv. They have a comedy duo named ‘shey/they’ that bases scenes on experiences of queerness. Other than this, you can find them spending time in nature, playing the saxophone or roller derby, cozying up with a book or movie, and spending time with loved ones!
Highlights:
Active in Community Theatre as an actor and director with a number of award-winning productions. (Quonta, ACT/CO 1980-1990)
Founder and President of Arts Council of Elliot Lake and District (1982)
Honours BFA (Directing) York University 1994
Graduate BEd University of Toronto 1995
Specialized Training Viewpoints and Suzuki (Anne Bogart and Siti Company)
Theatre Faculty Etobicoke School of the Arts 1997-2017
Director twelve major full-scale productions and over fifty studio and class shows
Educator overseas English and Drama - London and Dublin 1982/83
Adjudicator ACT/CO
Other Activities:
I am an active member of Grandmothers to Grandmothers (Stephen Lewis Foundation)
I swim regularly and love walking in nature with my husband and our pup Frankie. I love all types of theatre, music, and art and have recently started writing poetry.
The absolute best times are spent with any or all of my eight beautiful grandchildren!
Registered as of Fall 2026
Supervisor: Magda Kazubowski-Houston
Dissertation Proposal Title: Documenting Futures: A multimodal performance ethnography with migrants in Toronto
Alireza Gorgani is an artist who has been playing with combining theatre, activism, music, creative writing, film and other things since 2005. He holds a master’s degree in Theatre Directing from the University of Tehran. He is currently pursuing spanning ethnography, migration, and politics, towards a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
In my view being a grad student is not a duty, so my interests and joy continue within and outside of my research as I steadily enjoy being engaged with art and people.
Supervisor: Patrick Alcedo
Collette “Coco” Murray is an award-winning artist-scholar, dance educator, and performer experienced in arts education, community arts engagement, and arts research in Afrodiasporic dance vernacular. Murray pursues a PhD in Dance Studies, holds a Master of Education, Honours BA in Race, Ethnicity & Indigeneity, and a Certificate in Anti-Racism Research and Practice from York University, and a Sociology BA from the University of Toronto. Miss Coco Murray is her mobile dance education business, and she is the artistic director of Coco Collective, a multidisciplinary, intergenerational team of artists offering culturally responsive art programming using African and Caribbean arts. Murray is published in dance media, educational resources, and academic journals. Murray is the recipient of the 2022 Racial Justice Award for Creative Arts from Urban Alliance on Race Relations for advancing the importance of cultural arts and anti-racism work in dance and the 2019 Community Arts Award from Toronto Arts Foundation for transforming local communities with access to arts and culture. Murray’s dance background is in West African, Caribbean folk, and stilt-walking. Murray serves as the Chair of the Board of Directors for Dance Umbrella of Ontario, a National Council member of the Canadian Dance Assembly, on the Board of Directors for Arts Etobicoke to bring equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonizing lens to lead their organizations.
When I am not being a graduate student, I’m working on my artistic businesses, advocating, and traveling.
D. Halpern (they/them) is a playwright and PhD student in the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance at York University. They hold an MA in Drama from the University of Alberta, where their SSHRC-funded research concerned performance as resistance within a model of capitalism where the pharmaceutical and pornography industries work in tandem to construct gendered and sexual subjectivities and co-opt the desiring body. They are currently interested in further exploring and expanding upon one chapter from this work, examining the activistic importance of grief and the role it takes in identity construction. D. has presented their research at several conferences, including a personal exploration on the interplay between grief and puppetry at the Association for Theatre in Higher Education, the depiction of refugees in nautical themed art at the Canadian Association for Italian Studies, and the consequences of staging queer spaces at the inaugural conference for the University of Alberta’s Gender and Social Justice Department.
The most recent staging of D.’s work was a production of The Immaculate Perfection of F**king and Bleeding in the Gender Neutral Bathroom of an Upper-Middle Class High School, appearing as part of One Yellow Rabbit’s 2024 High Performance Rodeo.
Outside the context of theatre and academia, D. enjoys most things horror, the laughter of their friends, boxing, and rabbit holes that further inflame a probably healthy distrust of the CIA.
Supervisor: Sarah Bay-Cheng
Dissertation Proposal Title: Game Play: Participatory Theatre in the Ludic Century
Derek is a PhD student interested in the ways that games forge connections and support storytelling. He received a BA (Hons.) and BEd from Queen’s University before completing an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University. For his dissertation, Derek is analyzing participatory theatre using a game-design framework to understand the rules governing collaborative play. Understanding the risk and vulnerability audiences may face when asked to assume agency in a performance setting, Derek is particularly focused on approaching his studies with a lens of care.
If you’ve got board game/TRPG/video game recommendations or just want to chat, feel free to reach out to derekmanderson@rogers.com
When I’m not being a graduate student, I enjoy hosting game nights, watching movies/TV/theatre, going for a walk with some catchy music and/or eating too much chocolate.
Supervisor: Magda Kazubowski-Houston
Sodienye Waboso Amajor is a Dora Nominated Nigerian Actor, Writer, Performer and Mother who lives and works in Ontario. Dienye has played roles such as Puck in Shakespeare in Action’s adaptation of “A Midsummer Nights Dream”, Memory in Theatre Directs “Binti’s Journey” *, Gigi in New Harlem productions, “Gas girls” *, Beka in Volcano Theatre’s Africa Trilogy “Shine your Eye” * Luminato, June 2010 reprising her role as Beka in a Canstage/ Volcano Theatre’s production of “Another Africa” Canstage 2011 and Harriet Tubman in “The Power of Harriet T” YPT 2013. Dienye holds a master’s degree in Theatre and Performance studies from York University with a keen interest in Pre-Colonial African Theory and Development. She currently works with Suitcase in Point Multi arts company as the Arts Mentorship Program director. Dienye is a published writer whose work can be found on the online publication She Does the City. She is also currently developing a new visual and photographic work titled “Rest” which seeks to prioritize and localize the exploration and imagery of Black bodies in a state of Rest. Dienye intends to continue her studies as a PH. D candidate in the Theatre and Performance program at York University, 2023.
In my village there is a circle
In the circle there is a square
In the square there is a hut
In the hut there is a secret
In the secret there is story
In the story there is magic
In the magic
Blackness is at the centre
In the magic
Blackness is at the centre"
Eija Loponen-Stephenson's artistic and academic work is predominantly concerned with exploring the relationship between human movement and urban architectural design. Through sculpture, performance, and writing she examines how the entropic forces of urban decay and development affect the choreography and felt experience of everyday city life. Eija’s proposed PhD research project in the TDPS Program at York University investigates how performance-based methods can challenge the givenness of everyday movement patterns and institutional standards for ethnographic research and its dissemination. She is particularly inspired by practices such as parkour and site-responsive dance which repurpose urban spaces, highlighting their unrecognized potential, creating new ways of inhabiting them. Questions central to her work are: How might “misreading” or intentionally "misusing" architectural spaces reveal new understandings of the built environment? How can individual and collective movement in public urban spaces function as a tool for invention, intervention, and activism?
Eija holds a BFA in Sculpture and Installation (with distinction) from the Ontario College of Art and Design University (OCAD U) and an MA in Art Education from Concordia University where she held the Joseph Armand Bombardier CGS Masters SSHRC Scholarship.
When she is not being a graduate student Eija likes to work on her other creative endeavours such as throwing elaborate dinner parties, creating costumes and sets for weird independent theatre productions, or hosting her fake talk show Vito’s Hotspot (named after the one and only Vito Acconci).
Supervisor: Laura Levin
Dissertation Proposal Title: Performance of Hospitality: Tongue & Identity in South Asian Visual Art & Culture
Hurmat Ul Ain is a Canada-based, Pakistani artist and art educator. She is a PhD student with the Theatre & Performance Studies program at York University. She holds an MFA in Performance Art from the School of Art Institute Chicago where she was studying as a Fulbright Scholar. Ain is interested in discourse on identity and representation in Media and Arts. Her practice is interdisciplinary and collaborative. Through her practice, she explores image, and gender roles in the context of socio-political rules of acceptability and sacrilege. She researches food and hospitality through cooking and sharing. Her solo and collaborative work has been showcased widely on international art forums in the US, UK, Germany, Spain, Dubai, China, Australia, Hong Kong, India, and Pakistan.
When I am not being a graduate student, I love to spend time with these two awesome boys, my partner, and our toddler. When I am not exploring the city with my family, I am usually teaching myself a new sewing technique. I like to start projects I don’t usually finish. I am also a horror fiction and film fan.
Supervisor: Magda Kazubowski-Houston
Irfana Majumdar is a director, performer, and filmmaker. Her main interests are devising and collective creation, physical and vocal training practices, cross-cultural work, and the decolonization of Theatre and Performance Studies. She studied theatre at the University of Chicago, and has also trained in Corporeal Mime, Suzuki and Viewpoints, Clowning, and many forms of body work. She has learnt vocal classical Hindustani music since childhood. She has made three documentaries. Her debut feature film, Shankar's Fairies (2021), was selected and awarded at many film festivals around the world. She is the artistic director of the NIRMAN Theatre and Film Studio in Varanasi, India.
What you like to do when you aren’t being a grad student
When she is not being a grad student, Irfana is bringing up her two children with her husband. This involves drawing and painting, building towers and forts, performing magical feats against (and sometimes with) dragons and ogres, rolling and climbing, telling stories, cooking, reading, dancing, singing, and sleeping.
Supervisor: Laura Levin
Dissertation Proposal Title: Activating the Hypersurface: The Art of Worldbuilding in Digital and XR Performance
Jayna Mees (she/her) is an artist-scholar who specializes in dramaturgy and devised theatre. Jayna holds an MA from the Centre for Drama, Theatre, & Performance Studies at the University of Toronto and a BA in Theatre from York University. Situated at the intersections between immersive performance and critical disability studies, Jayna’s current doctoral research examines access aesthetics, practices, and politics within digital and virtual forms of immersive media. Some recent projects include: accessibility coordinator for the SummerWorks Performance Festival (2021 -22), and assistant dramaturg for SpiderWebShow’s VR production of You Should Have Stayed Home (2022).
When I am not being a graduate student, I enjoy dancing, playing the piano, baking, horseback riding, playing video games, and hiking.
Supervisor: Marlis Schweitzer
Joy received her Master’s at the University of Toronto’s CDTPS in 2021. Focussing on Ira Aldridge and Michael Chekhov, she hopes to explore a PhD in multilingual performance and the pressures artists face when forced to relocate due to geopolitical stressors.
When I’m not being a graduate student, I’m hanging out with the family, which includes her hubby and son, their two cats and their dog, who usually engage in chaos and hilarity, while pottering around in the garden brings peace of mind. Every once in a while, she manages to see local theatre to find inspiration. She has been a professional actor for the last thirty years.
Supervisor: Laura Levin
Laurel Green (she/her) is an artist and researcher who creates invitations to participate and provocations for change. She is a nationally recognized dramaturg and creative producer of new work, from world premiere plays to gameful performances, digital experiences, and community activations. Recent projects include: Remixed a technology-enabled deep listening experience that explores how we instigate change, asses.masses a custom-built video game designed to be played live by a theatre audience, Yarrow Collective pollinator gardening installation series, and Arte Urbana’s Storytellers of the Future residency in Bulgaria.
As a PhD Candidate at York University in Theatre & Performance, Laurel’s doctoral research integrates participatory performance, games, and strategic foresight frameworks inviting communities into creative acts of co-innovation to imagine sustainable futures. She is interested in experience design, dramaturgy, arts leadership, technology, methodologies for creation, and interdisciplinary collaboration. She was a Research Associate for the SSHRC-funded project Performance in the Pacific Northwest with the University of Victoria, and co-author of Seeding the Future (This is Not a Metaphor) Creative Acts of Public Gardening in Canadian Theatre Review’s Vol. 197 on Participation. Laurel holds an MA in Drama from the University of Toronto, and a BA with Honours from York University. She is a Connected Minds Trainee.
When she’s not a graduate student, Laurel likes to travel, play games, see shows, sing in choirs, and explore neighbourhoods.
Supervisor: Patrick Alcedo
Dissertation Proposal Title: Theorizing Safety: Examining the Philippine Pole Dance Community and Practices of Safety
Liza is a dance scholar from the Philippines, where she has been part of the pole dance community since 2015. Her research on the pole, in part, seeks to amplify the voices of the pole community whose experiences of gender and urbanity are deeply entwined with Philippine and Asian culture. She completed her MA in Literary and Cultural Studies at the Ateneo de Manila University, where she taught courses in research and literature.
When I’m not being a graduate student, I relish in the feeling of being a “bad dancer” by joining popping and K-pop dance classes with no expectations that I will be magnificent. Also, BTS! <3
Supervisor: Marlis Schweitzer
Dissertation Proposal Title: The Year I Learned to Write Plays: Writing Race, The Fornes Method and Creative Freedom
Marilo Nuñez is a Chilean Canadian playwright and director. She is the 2018 recipient of the Hamilton Arts Awards for Established Theatre Artist and has been shortlisted for the KM Hunter Artist Award in Theatre twice. She is the recipient of the prestigious Graduate Fellowship for Academic Distinction and the Susan Crocker and John Hunkin Scholarship in the Fine Arts among countless other grants and scholarships. She is currently a member of Natural Resources, Factory Theatre’s playwright’s unit for established writers. She is writing a play for Milagro Theatre in Portland Oregon which will premiere in January 2020. She has been a member of the Playwright’s Unit at Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Aquarius, Cahoots Theatre Company, Nightwood Theatre and Alameda Theatre Company. She was Playwright-in-Residence at Aluna Theatre in 2016 and was McMaster University’s first Playwright-in-Residence in 2018. She was founding Artistic Director of Alameda Theatre Company, a company dedicated to developing the new work of Latinx Canadian playwrights. She is a graduate of Ryerson Theatre School, has an MFA in Creative Writing from University of Guelph and is currently obtaining her Ph D. in Theatre & Performance Studies from York University where her research focus will be race and racism in Canadian theatre.
When she’s not being a grad student she likes to write, run with her dog, do Bikram yoga and hang out with her husband and two daughters.
Supervisor: Marlis Schweitzer
Dissertation Proposal Title: We Have Always Been Jugglers: A Nonmodern Approach to Circus
Morgan holds a BA in Drama from Queen's University and an MA in Theatre and Performance Studies from York University. Her research interests include circus studies and new materialism. She hopes to write her eventual dissertation on juggling and she is an active member of the North American juggling community. In Summer 2017, Morgan created and performed a solo street performance in which she juggles knives and high heel shoes on a five-and-a-half-foot unicycle. In her spare time, she tries to discover every coffee shop and ice cream parlour Toronto has to offer.
Supervisor: Laura Levin
Paula John is a multi-disciplinary artist and scholar based in Toronto. She has been exhibiting her work (including photography, film, painting, printmaking, textiles, installation, and performance) since 2003. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Photography and, a Master of Fine Arts degree in Documentary Media from Ryerson University, and a Master of Arts degree in Communication and Culture from York University. Some of the themes explored in her work include, gender, sexuality, feminism, and performance. Paula is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Theatre and Performance Studies at York University.
I don't know if I ever really cease being a grad student, but in my spare time I like to read (for pleasure), make art, craft, garden, and spend time with my cats.
Dissertation Title: Performing Charlatans: The Theatricality of Quacks, Spiritualists, Mediums and Psychics
Rachel Rusonik (she/her) is a PhD student in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at York University. Her primary research interest lies at the intersection of theatre audience studies, political performance, and productions that occur in public settings, with a particular interest in the gap between what politically motivated theatre intends for its audiences and what those audiences actually do with it. Rachel holds a BAH with Distinction from Queen’s University and an MA from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. In addition to her scholarly work, she is an active theatre practitioner, having directed productions at Buddies in Bad Times’ Rhubarb! Festival and served as an Assistant Production Manager at Kingston’s Kick and Push Festival.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
Outside of her research, Rachel can be found with a book (Fantasy, Memoir, or Lit Fic), a fresh baked muffin (chocolate chip), or someone else's dog (personal dog pending, hopefully). She loves hosting tea parties for her friends and hiking when the weather cooperates and she feels confident about her odds against local wildlife encounters. Dog parks are a particular weakness: she does not own a dog, but has found that nobody asks about it when she watches from the side (bench preferred). If you have a dog to lend or just want to chat, please don’t hesitate to reach out to rusonikr@yorku.ca.
Supervisor: Magda Kazubowski-Houston
Dissertation Proposal Title: Voice-Note Ethnography: Women's Songs and WhatsApp Practices in Rural North India
Rajat Nayyar is a filmmaker, anthropologist and a PhD student at the Department of Theatre, York University. His research interests are: everyday forms of resistance, verbal performative traditions, community archives, fiction and performance as a practice in producing collaborative audio-visual ethnography. Rajat is the founder of Espírito Kashi, a media project working on finding new embodied and critical ways of engaging with Intangible Heritage of rural India. His recent film, Kashi Labh, on the social aesthetics of dying in Kashi, India’s holy city, continues to reach newer audiences, conferences, film festivals, as well as private institutions. The film facilitates an intimate space for discussing dying, death and end-of-life care.
When not being a grad student Rajat likes Cine-mon, Cine-tu, Cine-wed.....
Some of my paintings, poetry, cooking recipes and stories from spiritual adventures are on my blog.
Ray hails from St. Thomas, Ontario, a place known primarily for a dead elephant and the birthplace of Rachel McAdams. He holds a BA and MA from Western University and has been a passionate theatregoer and theatre participant for as long as he can remember. He aims to focus on studying adaptation practices in Canadian theatre and weighing the economic, cultural, and historic complications that influence a production. While a fan of Shakespeare, part of his research is to interrogate the continued relevance of the Bard and consider that his theatrical afterlife might be a colonial holdover prohibiting the decolonizing of Canadian theatre. Another area of interest is analyzing how the Canadian identity is shaped through stories that get adapted for domestic and global audiences. My obsession for all things Canada is partly inspired by my current role as a contributor for the Literary Review of Canada’s digital publication Bookworm, where I regularly review new stories written by Canadian authors and hopefully excite others to explore what domestic talent can offer.
When I am not being a grad student or anyone else, I like to wander wistfully, read leisurely, and cook/eat/drink merrily. Besides that, I enjoy watching good movies, LOVE watching bad movies, check out theatre when possible, and will find any excuse to do karaoke.
Rita is an emerging artist with experience working with large groups on musical productions. She is a Canadian and Italian citizen, influenced and inspired by her dual cultures. As a drama teacher of over thirty years, she believes in the importance and power of the arts. Rita is a contributing author to the 4th edition of Social Perspectives on Death and Dying, she wrote Chapter 8, “Death Education and the Arts”. She holds a BFA in Theatre from York University, a BEd from Brock University, and an MA in Interdisciplinary Studies from York University specializing in Italian Studies, Music, and Theatre. In September 2026, Rita will begin her PhD in Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies at York University.
What do you like to do when you aren’t being a graduate student?
When not being a graduate student, Rita goes thrifting for unique pieces to add to her collection of jackets, dresses, tops, pants, accessories, and shoes! Before shopping, she enjoys a daily workout and matcha.
Supervisor: Magda Kazubowski-Houston
Sasha Singer-Wilson (she/her) is a Tkaronto based multidisciplinary artist of Ashkenazi Jewish and European descent who works in performance, theatre-making, creative writing, music, and facilitation. With a practice rooted in the project-specific exploration of creative form and process and the tensions and play between them, her work explores climate justice, place, caregiving, ritual, intergenerational relationships, and the voice. Curious about how we might centre care, relationality and decolonization in scholarship, creation and performance, Sasha teaches Voice and Speech at the Centre for Indigenous Theatre and York University, and has facilitated workshops and taught courses with organizations across the country. A graduate of the Acting Conservatory at York, Sasha has an MFA in Theatre and Creative Writing from UBC, and is currently a PhD student in Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies. When not in student-mode, Sasha likes riding her bike, exploring nature, potlucks with her friends and family, and dancing with her five-year-old kid.
Supervisor: Danielle Robinson
Dissertation Proposal Title: Embodied Encounters: Sensing Cueca with Movement and Memory
Sebastián is a queer artist and academic who was born in what is known as Santiago, Chile, which is on the traditional territory of the Mapuche peoples, Wallmapu. Sebastián grew up on unceded Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) territory and currently resides in Tkaronto. He has a BA in Psychology from Simon Fraser University and an MA in Dance from York. With a focus on cueca, the Chilean national dance, his doctoral research explores the relationship between movement and memory, or the memory/memorial dimension of the inscription of gesture. This investigation inquires how the repetition of gestures, postures and movements are embodied and remembered, and how these embodied memories might reiterate social norms and ways of moving in the world. He is also interested in in-between/borderland identities; multi-media artistic practices and processes; and the relationship between men and pointe.
When I’m not being a graduate student, I like to eat cake, hang with my cats, watch music videos, make friendship bracelets, draw, listen to music, read and cook.
Recipient of the 2022 Susan Crocker & John Hunkin Grad Scholarship in Fine Arts, Indo-Canadian filmmaker and multi-media artist Shabnam Sukhdev is a first-year PhD student in Theatre and Performance Studies.
Supervisor: Mary Bunch
I view my Indo-Canadian identity as being in flux. Let me try again: I am a multimedia artist and professional educator, with a strong background in documentary filmmaking. My research pathways are interdisciplinary, examining the interrelationships between individuals, families and societies, at the intersections of sociological, psychological and critical disability models of inquiry. In my work, I am consciously investigating the cultural dynamics of patriarchy that manipulate mental well-being and inclusion. My MFA thesis film Unfinished (2022) about my daughter's mental health inspires my PhD research that investigates disturbances and barriers within families that render them 'dysfunctional', diminishing their identities and position in the mainstream. I want to delve into an animated examination of spontaneous performance that can inspire emotional authenticity while opening newer avenues of communication and harmony. By challenging historical perceptions of race and disability, in my research, I want to examine theatre informed by critical improvisation to guide intra-cultural tolerance and social inclusion. I aim to work with South Asian communities to develop alternative models that can be adapted across diasporic communities. Apart from my research, I like to spend time with my family, including Dobby, my pooch. To de-stress, I must meditate, walk, watch films (and sense-less TV shows), listen to music and dance. I also love acting, so if you have a role for me, do let me know!
Shira Leuchter is an artist and researcher who makes intimate performances that explore collaboration as a dramaturgical alternative to conflict. Her award-winning live art performance Lost Together reimagined grief as a communal experience, and has been produced widely by festivals and companies since 2018. She has received large-scale commissions from organizations like Harbourfront Centre and the Gardiner Museum.
Shira is interested in how meaningful performer-audience collaboration can reconfigure relationships of care and offer 'rehearsals' for broader social co-creation. She is currently a Guest Co-editor (with Lisa Marie DiLiberto) for an upcoming issue of Canadian Theatre Review on "Care." She's a past contributor to Canadian Theatre Review, and writing about her work has been featured in American Literary History, Theatre Research in Canada, and in Play: Dramaturgies of Participation by Jenn Stephenson and Mariah Horner. Shira is a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada (Acting), and holds an MA from York University and a BA from the University of Guelph.
In her spare time, Shira likes to take in art, go on winding walks, visit thrift stores, and collect rocks with her husband Chris and children Calla and Geneva.
Learn More
The Graduate Program in Theatre, Dance & Performance Studies at York is an exciting environment to pursue innovative, socially engaging, career-ready education. Contact our Graduate Program Assistant to learn more.