Debbie Patterson
Describer
Artistic Director, Sick + Twisted Theatre
Debbie Patterson is a Winnipeg playwright, director and actor. Trained at the National Theatre School of Canada, she is a founding member of Shakespeare in the Ruins, served as Artistic Associate at Prairie Theatre Exchange from 2012 to 2018 and was a member of the PTE Playwrights Unit. She is in demand across the country as a consultant on crip aesthetics/accessibility and as a theatremaker working in disability aesthetics. She was honoured with the United Nations Platform for Action Committee’s 2014 Activist Award and the City of Winnipeg’s Winnipeg Making a Mark Award in 2017. She was twice shortlisted for the Gina Wilkinson Prize. She is the matriarch of a family of
artists. She is a proud advocate for disability justice through her work as founding and current Artistic Director of Sick + Twisted Theatre.
She lives a wheelchair-enabled life in Winnipeg (Treaty 1) and in a cabin on the shore of
Lake Winnipeg (Treaty 2) with her partner and collaborator, Arne MacPherson.
Arne MacPherson
Describer
Arne MacPherson is a Winnipeg-based theatre maker who has dedicated his 35-years as an artist to creating live performance, starting out as an actor, then moving into theatre direction, and then into collaborative, experimental work. He has also, through his association with sick + twisted theatre, worked extensively with the Deaf and disability performance community. In 2022, he co-produced and directed Antigone, a new musical adapted from Anne Carson’s translation of Sophocles, which featured a cast of deaf, blind, disabled, and able-bodied performers.
Devised theatre/contemporary dance: EGAD!, petites danses (Marie- Josee Chartier/Gearshifting), Much Too Much to Say (Zorya Arrow/Company Link), Moving In, Moving
Out, I Trace You, You Trace Me (Weather Parade), Embargo (One Trunk Theatre), A Short History of Crazy Bone (Theatre Projects Manitoba).
In October, 2023, he performed in the world premiere of Feast by Guillermo Verdecchia, at Prairie Theatre Exchange.
Dasha Plett
Describer
Dasha is a Winnipeg-based transsexual and artist working with performance, writing, and music. As a sound designer and composer she has worked with the Stratford Festival, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Cercle Molière, Theatre Projects Manitoba, Mammalian Diving Reflex, OneTrunk Theatre, Frances Koncan, Waawaate Fobister, Debbie Patterson, and Alexandra Elliot. She is a member of IATSE local ADC659. Dasha is also one half of We Quit Theatre, a performance collective with Gislina Patterson. She loves describing for VIEW!
Sercy Ballingall
Describer
Sercy is originally from Winnipeg, where she studied theatre and film which sparked her love for play writing, live description, and other behind-the-scene things. She now lives in Montreal with her fiancé where she practices an ancient spiritual yogic philosophy alongside her community. She enjoys nature, painting, teaching yoga, and spreading spiritual concepts.
Jack Maier
Describer, VIEW Services Coordinator
Jack Maier is an actor, translator, writer, and audio describer living on Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since VIEW’s inception in 2019, Jack has described theatre, video, and dance in French and English for the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Prairie Theatre Exchange, Rainbow Stage, Shakespeare in the Ruins, Theatre Projects Manitoba, Sick + Twisted Theatre, and more. Jack is also a theatre translator and runs the English subtitles at Théâtre Cercle Molière. As a theatre artist who loves linguistics, Jack is grateful to be in a position to deeply engage with theatre and language to improve the accessibility of Winnipeg’s theatre and arts scene, and to connect with other lovers of theatre.
Elena Anciro
Describer
Based in Treaty 1 Territory, Elena Anciro has worked in different facets of the arts as an actor, arts administrator, theatre educator, audio describer and accessible performance consultant. In 2020, Elena completed the British Council of Canada / Tangled Art + Disability’s national relaxed performance facilitator training and recently concluded an access and inclusion professional development project and mentorship through the support of the Manitoba Arts Council Arts Leaders Program in 2023. She is grateful for the opportunity to help provide greater access to the arts in Winnipeg with the VIEW team!
Vivi Dabee
Description Consultant
Vivi Dabee is a lover of the arts. Her enthusiasm for literature and theatre led her to the world of academia where she studied theatre and completed her English BA (Honours) at the University of Winnipeg, and her Master’s of English at the University of Manitoba. Vivi is a vocalist, playwright, and performer. She is passionate about diversity and inclusion, accessibility, and literacy. She is co-host of the podcast The Lens: Living Diverse and is the audio-description consultant for VIEW. Vivi loves meeting people and hearing their stories. When she is not snuggled up with a good book, Vivi enjoys exploring all that Winnipeg has to offer with her family, friends, and guide-dog companion.
melannie patchwork monoceros
Describer
melannie patchwork monoceros is a poet and interdisciplinary artist exploring polysensory production and somatic grief through text/ile. Their work considers the collective qrip (queer+crip) consciousness by connecting to marvelous bodies living with complexity as sick or disabled. A Black creator of Jamaican heritage, they live in Treaty 1/Winnipeg, MB. monoceros has been awarded the JRG Emerging Artist Award for their continued pursuit, integrating technology and accessibility through film via their series “ancestoradio”. In 2021 they were awarded the Manitoba Arts Council Emerging Excellence Prize and the Arts Leader Award in 2022. monoceros’ work has been hosted by Tangled Art + Disability (Toronto), Thunder Bay Art Gallery (Thunder Bay), Gallery 1C03, Window Gallery, and the C2 Centre for Craft, Manitoba Craft Council The School of Art Gallery at the University of Manitoba (Winnipeg) as well as the Dunlop Art Gallery (Regina, SK) and Paved Arts in Treaty 6/Saskatoon, SK. In 2023, monoceros published their first book, a collection of poems titled Remedies for Chiron (Radiant Press) and is currently working on their next book and a new textile series funded through the Canada Council for The Arts.
Sarah Michaelson
Describer
Winnipeg’s Sarah Michaelson—often better known by their DJ name, Mama Cutsworth—has worked professionally in improvised theatre as a sound designer and musician since 2009. In 2013, she began collaborating with two Colombian circus performers on a wordless improvised theatre project called Speechless, which toured across Europe, North and South America, and the Middle East. Sarah also co-created and directed Midnight Radio, which debuted in Amsterdam (Compagnietheater, 2017) and was later remounted in Edmonton (Citadel Theatre, 2019). In 2023, she did sound design for her first scripted play, Palucheur, presented by Winnipeg’s Théâtre Cercle Molière. Currently, she is improvising the soundtrack for Outside Joke’s A Christmas Miracle: An Improvised Holiday Rom Com at Prairie Theatre Exchange in December 2024. Off stage, her career has spanned many years of radio broadcasting, writing, editing, and teaching. Many of her work projects focus on gender equity, 2SLGBTQIA+ community, harm reduction and disability.
Ksenia Broda-Milian
Describer
Ksenia is a set, costume, and lighting designer, theatre educator, and audio describer who is passionate about accessibility. As her theatre work is primarily in a visual medium, she was drawn to audio description as a form of balance in her practice, and is interested in experimenting with multi-sensory environments. Describing also lets this former musical theatre performer revisit her vocal skills, and with an intensive background in contemporary dance, she especially loves working on shows that involve movement! Ksenia is also a Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Professional, qualified to assess built environments using their Accessibility Certification criteria. She has designed and taught across Canada and is currently based in Winnipeg.