The Power of One: World Classics
Artist Biographies
The Mi'kmaq Origin Story/Ktaqmkuk
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My name is Michelle Bennett, I'm 48 years old. I'm a Mi'kmaq woman from the island of ktaqmkuk, more known as Newfoundland. When I was 10 years old me, my mom and older sister moved to Norway. For 31 years I was homesick. I finally took the plunge and moved back to my island in 2015. My people and culture are so important to me. And for the first time in my life I feel like me. I'm home!
Being creative is a big part of my life. I paint, do woodburning, beadwork, sew and so much more. I'm very much connected to nature and love all life. I powwow where I dance and pray for mother earth and all her children. It's very important to me to share our culture to the people. It's so precious and beautiful. |
'Ilyas' by Leo Tolstoy
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Nabila Qureshi is an arts and humanities, and a social justice enthusiast. Her primary interests in research and volunteering are in the fields of refugee studies and disenfranchised communities, and in their equitable empowerment.
“Ilyas” by Leo Tolstoy is her first theatrical monologue performance in the Urdu language. She lives in St. John’s, Canada. |
Malin Kundang
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Zay Nova is a new Canadian country singer-songwriter, radio, and video producer based in St. John's, NL. He was born in a small village called Sempan on Bangka Island, Indonesia. Zay left his hometown at the tender age of 17 and went to Madura Island in Java to study at an Islamic Boarding School.
After finishing school in 2002, Zay moved again to the Special Region of Yogyakarta in Java to study at a university. While attending the University in that city, Zay worked as a radio producer, announcer, and audio commercial producer at a local Christian radio station. At the same time, he started a band and wrote many songs, and performed in many local events. Zay then moved to Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, in 2014 to start a new career in TV and as a radio producer, audio commercial production, and video producer. He also worked as a host for a Jakarta TV program. Zay decided to move to Canada on December 13, 2017, to start a new life and musical adventure and chose St. John’s, Newfoundland, as his home. Currently, he is working on his debut album and has released two songs: “Locked in All Night Long” (click here) and “The Lighthouse" (click here). Website: www.zaynovamusic.com Facebook: https://www.facebook/zaynovamusic Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/album/2zNkIP4csmEBbAO5iqaLnQ?si=jbzE9yOvQ3ajk8WCqBzcWQ&nd=1 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zaynovamusic/ |
Aska and the Wolf
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My name is Eldin Husic. I was born in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Former Yugoslavia. I moved to Newfoundland when I was 21 due to the war in my country.
I graduated from a university and moved to Asia soon after and spent 16 years living and working there. In 2018, I moved back to Newfoundland answering an inner spiritual call from this place. I simply had to come back. Upon returning back to St. John’s, my friends greeted me with: “Welcome back home.” I am a cultural scientist, a conceptual artist, a musician, and a comedian. I am also a business owner, a former professor of marketing, and a cultural consultant for major companies. I am currently studying Social Work, volunteering with the Association for the New Canadians, raising two teenage boys, and I am still taking giants steps towards my own self actualization. My work can be found under NewFoundBosnian at YouTube. It is my honor and pleasure to be a part of this amazing project Power of One by Perchance Theatre. I am sending love and positive vibes to all of you from my home in downtown St. John’s. -Eldin Husic. |
The Legend of the Spear and the Bead
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Yasin Maganda is a Doctor of Philosophy, his PHD is in Condensed Matter and Materials Physics. He investigates novel exotic states and spintronic applications. Yasin graduated from Makerere University in Uganda in 2010 with a Bachelor in Physics. He then went on to study at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia where he achieved his masters in physics and worked as a teaching assistant.
In 2020, Yasin completed his PHD at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, where he is currently working as a Teaching Assistant. Yasin is fluent in Lusoga, Luganda, Swahili, Kinyarwanda, French, English and Arabic. |
Why Do Chickens Scratch the Ground?
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Marissa Francisco Farahbod is a Filipino-Iranian PhD candidate in folklore at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. Prior to coming to Newfoundland and choosing to settle here, she lived in Iran, the Philippines, and the UK, navigating life anew in different contexts.
Having grown up in a Muslim-Catholic household with parents from vastly different cultures, she was raised bicultural and trilingual, with English being the common language between her parents. Her interest in languages and cultures further led her to learn French and Spanish. After finishing her undergraduate degree in Iran, she moved to the UK, where she pursued her studies at King's College London. There, she met her partner with whom she eventually moved to Newfoundland to start a new life in this beautiful corner of the world. Marissa then finished a second master's degree and started a doctorate program at Memorial University with the generous aid of grants and scholarships such as Amina Anthropological Resources Association Incorporated, the Institute of Social and Economic Research Doctoral Fellowship, Dr. Mariya Lesiv's SSHRC Insight Development Grant, The Helen Creighton Folklore Society Grant, and CFUW St. John's Gender Studies Scholarship. In Newfoundland, Marissa found the opportunity to study, work, teach, volunteer, and engage in various cultural and artistic activities. Cultivating new relations in this province, Marissa still maintains her cultural ties to all the places where she has lived and made important connections, however, this province has now become her home. |
Jack and the Cow
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Mark Cormier was born and raised in Cap St. George into a family of fourteen children plus his grand-parents.
"French was the language predominantly spoken at home. I attended École Notre Dame du Cap and graduated in 1973. Did a short order cooking course at Doon Lodge for one year. and then worked as a carpenter helper for a year. I then attended MUN until the spring of 1979. I returned home to teach in French which I did for the next 31 years. I retired in 2010 but was not ready to stop working. I substitute taught for the next 9 years and then finally stopped in 2019. I was involved with the French association from the time I returned home to teach. (President of the local French Association and on the board of the provincial french federation and Knight of the local Knights of Columbus) I formed a musical duo with my brother Jack and travelled to France and the United States to share our music. I produced two CDs and performed at many provincial events over the years. I am still involved with the music. I also participate in many storytelling events in the province and I still am sharing stories when the occasion arises." - Mark |
1001 Arabian Nights
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My name is Susan Eskandari, and I was born in Iran in 1995. While obtaining my bachelor's degree in education, I became fascinated by the way stories can influence us to the point that we may recall stories we heard when we were children decades later. As a result of this interest, I studied English literature for my master's degree and wrote my thesis on the theme of female education in selected modern plays.
In my master's, I began my exploration of an amazing world of literature that can offer everyone a chance to explore, experience, learn, and escape out of the world we live in. When I was finishing my master's thesis, I applied for a PhD program at MUN and was accepted. Right now I am working on a feminist study of tragic female characters in Renaissance literature to understand how those women of will were depicted as heroes. During these good sunny days, my hobby is to brew a cup of coffee for myself, grab a book, and ride my bike into St. John's amazing nature, sit somewhere and get lost in words. When Danielle Irving asked me to be a part of this project, I was overjoyed, since I cannot imagine doing anything else that interests me more than telling stories. |
The Flight of Chang-O
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Born in Taiwan and raised in Newfoundland, Tzu-Hao Hsu arrived in St. John’s with her family almost three decades ago. As a first generation immigrant, Tzu-Hao experienced her share of struggles growing up between two cultures before settling on the title of a proud Taiwanese Townie, and has continued to explore her heritage and identity through creative writing and performing arts.
Creative writing was a passion Tzu-Hao reunited with in the fall of 2019 through participation in a series of writing workshop that led to the formation of the Quilted Collective, a group of BIPOC writers based in Newfoundland and Labrador, with whom she shares an anthology from Breakwater Books entitled “Us, Now.” Her work reflects upon memories of Taiwan as a lush island filled with colourful festivals, dramatic landscape and vivacious, friendly people; the journey, transformation and meaning of being a Newfoundlander; and how, at last, she finds herself at peace, living on the edge of the at times frigid and unforgiving North Atlantic, surrounded by the most amazing and inspiring people, who are here by birth and by choice. Currently a Business Manager, Tzu-Hao received both her Bachelor of Commerce and Masters of Business Administration Degrees from Memorial University. Prior to finding a home in the construction/equipment rental industry, she had an eclectic collection of professional experiences, ranging from an art gallery manager to a television program assistant. She is active in the local multicultural community as a host, presenter and performer, and has served on the boards of several not-for-profit organizations. When not busy presenting financial statements or juggling volunteer commitments, Tzu-Hao enjoys cuddling with her twin daughters, two mischievous beagles and her indulging husband. She dreams of travelling and showing the world to her children in the near future, but for now she is happy to introduce them to the concept of looking both ways before crossing the street. |
Quissa Heer Ranjha
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Azal Dosanjh (he/him) is a theatre artist from India, now residing in St. John's, Newfoundland. His recent directing credits include Oddities (Güd Productions, 2022), Sun in an Empty Room (GroupHug Productions, 2021), Lights Out (Theatre Perimetric, 2021), Relief (Aariz Theatre, 2021), BURROW (Eastern Front Theatre & CB Nuit, 2020 & 2021), Until Death Do Us Part (Different Strokes Theatre, 2020), and The Boor (Aariz Theatre, 2019).
He has also worked with Perchance Theatre as Assistant Director on projects such as Julius Caesar (2019), Hamlet (2021), and the currently running Power of One 2.0 - World Classics (2021). Azal is currently adapting and developing a series of political satires originally written by Gursharan Singh, in a collection entitled Tamasha. |
The Ideal Husband
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Dr. Zainab Jerrett is the Executive Director of Tombolo Multicultural Festival Newfoundland and Labrador Inc. and the Founder of We Care Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador Inc.
Zainab obtained her PhD in Folklore (1998) at Memorial University of Newfoundland – as a Commonwealth Scholar, and a Diploma in Information Technology (2000). Her Undergraduate Degree was in English and her Masters Degree was in African Literature and Diaspora Literature. Both obtained at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria. She taught Folklore as a Sessional Teacher at Memorial University of Newfoundland Department of Folklore from 1996 – 2005 and African, African-American and Caribbean Literature at the University of Maiduguri, Nigeria from 1986 – 1990. Zainab is also an entrepreneur. She is the owner and operator of Multi Ethnic Food Kitchen (a catering business) and the owner of International Food and Craft Expo Inc. |
Hamlet
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“Hi! My name is Tammy Vaters, and I currently live in Mount Pearl, Newfoundland. I was born to hearing parents and raised in Chapel Arm, Newfoundland. I lost my hearing when I was 3 or 4 years old due to chronic ear infections.
When I was five years old, I went to public school for two years. I faced many barriers, frustrations, and challenges. I struggled with not being able to communicate with teachers and students. Inside I felt hurt and shame when I was around hearing people. I cried every day when I made mistakes. I was struggling with my identity. My parents decided to send me to the Newfoundland School for the Deaf. When they dropped me off at the dormitory with Deaf/Hard of Hearing children, I was lost and did not know what was happening. I soon learned American Sign Language (ASL) and learned about Deaf culture from my Deaf/HH friends and staff. After graduating high school, I went to Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, and received an accounting degree. While at college, I met many Deaf/HH people and found my identity. It was an enriching experience for me. For 18 years I lived in the United States. I worked as an accountant for ten years in Virginia but found my job dull. I decided to move to Colorado to change my career to become a Deaf interpreter. While studying, I started working with the DOVE advocacy service for abused Deaf women and children as an outreach specialist. I also held a part-time job with Early Literacy Development's Early Education Program as an Integrated Reading Project Coordinator. In 2008, I moved to Milton, Ontario to work as an ASL preschool teacher at the YMCA, and then I worked as a Deaf and Blind intervenor (interpreter) at E C Drury School for the Deaf. When my mother became ill, I decided to move back home to be close to my family. I have been working as an ASL student assistant with Deaf/HH children for the past few years. My passion is to support Deaf/HH children and advocate for their rights. I wanted to perform this piece as a way to educate the community about Deaf values, Deaf culture, and ASL.” – Tammy V. |
Kitchen God
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Zoe Wu has a Business degree from MUN, and currently owns the "LoongWah" restaurant in downtown St. John's NL. It is the first Taiwanese style restaurant in town. Zoe's parents had a small dumpling house when she was around the age of 4 in Taiwan.
Zoe came here in September of 1991 for school and fell in love with this place. She did go home and worked for 4 years, but eventually came back in 1999 and found NL as a second home. |
The Mitten
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Brian Cherwick (he/him) is a multi-instrumentalist who has performed throughout North America, Europe, and the Caribbean as a soloist, with a number of folk ensembles, and as leader of The Kubasonics. With a Ph.D. in Ukrainian Folklore and Ethnomusicology from the University of Alberta, and with further studies at the National Musical Academy of Ukraine, his research has documented musical traditions of Ukrainians throughout western Canada and western Ukraine. He has composed, arranged, and conducted music for choirs, dance ensembles, film scores, and radio. With The Kubasonics he has produced eight albums featuring a distinctive mix of traditional and original music that has been the focus of a CBC TV documentary, an CBC online series, incorporated into film scores, and even featured on “Hockey Night in Canada.” His solo shows are a fascinating excursion through the world of Ukrainian folk music with a unique blend of entertainment and educational experience, spiced with a healthy dose of humour. A natural extension of his onstage banter, Brian branched out into the world of story-telling and has shared tales at the St. John’s Storytelling Festival and other festivals.
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Der Frosch von Hohenhameln
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Antje Springmann grew up in Germany on a robust diet of the Brothers Grimm and various other stories designed to terrify children into good behaviour. These days she prefers telling embellished tales about real life adventures, many of which involve animals past and present that have had a home on the farm she shares with her life partner, Dennis.
“A story or anecdote is like a postcard from the past; a wonderful way to relive events and share them with others. A good story creates a bond between the teller and listener. As a psychotherapist, my greatest privilege is being present with others as they share their life stories, and accompany them on a journey to create new, more fulfilling narratives for themselves”. - Antje S |
Lysistrata by Aristophanes
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As an actor, Anna Stassis has performed lead, supporting, and background roles in 63 theatre productions to date. She has also appeared in several television commercials, short films, tv shows, one feature film, one awareness-building video and as the co-host of a 10-part video series. As well, she has done a significant amount of voiceover and narration work. As a singer, she is sometimes a guest vocalist for traditional Greek music band, The Forgotten Bouzouk; was the lead vocalist for past Blues band, East of 61, and has performed with many vocal groups and choirs. As a dancer, she is an active member of the Latin dance community of NL, and has also dabbled in ballroom, swing, jazz, tap, Renaissance and traditional Greek dance.
These days, Anna also works for the Government of Canada, and spends a lot of time thinking about psychological safety in the workplace. This includes thinking about how we foster authentic mental and emotional wellness, positive leadership principles, and trauma informed leadership practices. She also ponders how to promote genuine diversity, equity and inclusion at the decision-making tables. Anna also has two post-secondary degrees (a Bachelor’s and a Master’s), was a prolific producer of live professional theatre in NL, is multilingual, has travelled to 23 countries, and spends a lot of time thinking about how to best advocate for global decision-making that promotes legitimately healthy economies which prioritize the inclusive well-being of all people and the planet. She also does a lot of writing, which she hopes will channel all the things she thinks about into something that will make a positive difference in the world. Her pronouns are she/her, and she identifies as a cis-gender woman. |
Long Day's Journey Into Night
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Fionn Shea (he/they) is an actor and writer from New Hampshire, and a Newfoundlander-by-choice.
His solo show Invictus primered in September of 2019, and he was a member of Artistic Fraud's TransVersing in 2016 and 2018. Selected stage credits include Private Eyes, The Jack Tales, King Lear, As You Like It, and The Stars Are Always Brighter When The Lights Go Out. His writing has appeared through Breakwater Books Publishing, as well as on New Hampshire Public Radio, CBC-NL, and in the Concord Monitor. He is currently pursuing an MA in English from Memorial University of Newfoundland. |
The Arrival of Lampião to the Sky
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Ana Claudia Pitol (she/her) has a Bachelor's degree (2011) and a Master's degree in History (2015). She has been a History teacher since 2010. She studied acting between 2018 and 2020 and acted in Romeo and Juliet (2018) and Flicts (2019). Since then, she worked as Director's Assistant at Atos Theater Company (Paraná, Brazil) under the direction of Giovana de Liz.
Currently, she still works in the same theater company as a remote producer, assisting in the research and applying for funding in Brazil. Ana Claudia also has a Youtube Channel, Histórica, where she talks about History for kids in Elementary School. |
The First Full Moon: Play, Hope, Kindness
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Jaehong Jin is trained under the master of Korean Farmer's Music in Pilbong village and is designated as one of the heirs of Farmer's Music in Korea. He founded Newfoundland Samulnori in 2018, to share the joy of Korean Music with intention to enhance the awareness of the Korean cultural heritage across Newfoundland.
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Jelani Wa Jelani
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Ntombizodwa Mercy Muyanga (she/her) is a grandmother from South Africa who loves story telling. Mercy used to love the evenings as a child when all the children would sit outside around a fire and one of the elders would tell them folktales about animals, people and giants/ogres. Mercy’s piece is in Xitsonga, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa. Xitsonga is Mercy’s mother tongue but she was fortunate to grow up in a neighbourhood where people spoke all the different languages, so she is fluent in all of them.
“At school I fell in love with Shakespeare and loved to recite some of it to my parents who would always look at me with puzzlement because they had never been to school and did not understand a word I was saying. I love words, and love singing, and love dancing.” – Mercy M |
The Vinland Saga
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Ethain Arsenault is from the small town of Souris, Prince Edward Island. He has worked as a heritage interpreter at National Parks and Historic Sites across the country. Five years ago he started working at L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site as a member of the Viking crew, where he became storyteller, saga man, apprentice blacksmith and pillaging enthusiast.
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The Legend of Boya and Ziqi
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From “the Great Wall” to “the Rock”, Jing Xia is a professional Chinese zheng (guzheng) player based in St. John’s, Canada. Xia started learning the instrument at six years old and completed her bachelor’s degree in guzheng performance in 2013.
Since moving to Canada in 2015, her musical interest has expanded from traditional, folk, and contemporary guzheng music to new musical possibilities through intercultural, improvisational, and experimental music-making. Xia has played with various renowned musicians and musical groups, including Paul Bendzsa, Mei Han, Shanneyganock, Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra, and Dutch Roadrunner ensemble. She has been active in the multicultural musical scenes in North America and performed in diverse musical events, including Sound Symposium, George Street Festival, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Driven by a passion to share Chinese culture and promote intercultural exchange, Xia formed the Light Wind Ensemble, the first Chinese instrumental group in Newfoundland, in 2019. Besides her musical practices, Xia is currently a PhD candidate in ethnomusicology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. |
Le Coq Fâché
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Navel Sarr is originally from Mauritania. He studied computer science in Senegal before moving to Canada to continue his studies in Montreal. He spent 11 years in Quebec and Saskatchewan before moving to NL five years ago to work as the IT Manager for Conseil scolaire francophone provincial de TNL - CSFP.
After moving to NL, Navel decided to reach out and connect with other Africans, and those of African descent, to help them feel just as “at home” as he does in NL. He created SARFest-the St. John’s African Roots Festival in 2018 with the added objective of introducing the people of NL to African and afro descent cultures through the arts. |
Sedna: Goddess of the Sea
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Deantha Edmunds is an Indigenous artist. As Canada’s first and only Inuk classical singer, Deantha is a multi-award winning performer and is much in demand as a singer, actor, writer of poetry and song, and collaborator in both Indigenous and non-Indigenous projects. She is also a member of the Canadian Opera Company’s Circle of Artists.
In the fall of 2021, Deantha sang at the opening ceremony of the Frankfurt Book Fair, the world’s largest and oldest book fair, at which Canada was the guest of honour, and Her Excellency Mary May Simon, the Governor General of Canada was in attendance. In 2020, Deantha represented the province of Newfoundland and Labrador in Against the Grain Theatre’s streamed video-performance Messiah/Complex, accompanied by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The project received international acclaim. Upcoming projects include recording Deantha's collection of original songs, “Connections” with string quartet. She recently finished writing the libretto for her opera Ingutak which will be the first opera sung in English and Inuktitut. |
