We’re thrilled to welcome Babe Waters, Ajahnis Charley, and Janis Mayers as the cohort for our 2021 Emerging Creators Unit. Led by Tawiah M’Carthy with associate Philip Geller, this year’s unit will focus on developing both artistic and producing skills, and will include a sharing at our 2021 Queer Pride Festival in June.
Babe Waters is a queer multi-disciplinary performance artist who has been described as glamorous with a dash of disgusting and “dangerously cheesy”. Inspired by late-night TV and B movies, they craft surreal & campy dreamscapes about escapism, disconnectedness and trying to fit in. Their practice is split between Toronto & Melbourne, and have brought some of their previous works across Canada, the US, Australia and New Zealand. Previous notable works include Drop Deadly Gorgeous: The Pageant, Failure, and they recently completed an artist in residence season at the Abbotsford Convent.
Ajahnis Charley is a comedy writer and performer delivering daring works that only a young debt-ridden gay could do. He wrote and directed the short documentary I AM GAY, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. He writes for satire site The Beaverton, CBC news comedy show Because News, and the CBC podcast Tony Ho. He also is an alum of Canadian Comedy Award-winning sketch troupe The Sketchersons. He has written and performed his own solo sketch show THOTS & PRAYERS and won the Producer’s Pick award at the 2020 Toronto Sketch Comedy Festival.
Janis Mayers is a Toronto born mixed race artist. Her career in the Toronto arts scene began in 2018 she was chosen for the image of the RUTAS festival, an international multi-arts festival produced by Aluna Theatre. The following year she was cast for a role in Aluna’s 2019 production The Solitudes. She was awarded a residency at the Banff Centre to develop my character with local artist Victoria Mata. Returning from training with Victoria, Janis was cast in a commissioned show at the Bentway titled: Derives, choreographed by Noemi LaFrance. In 2020 she completed a spring/winter residency at Aluna Theatre.