Staff

Daniel Carter

Daniel Carter (he/him) is a theatre artist and arts manager. Previous to his current role at Buddies, Daniel was Interim Programming Director and Community + Education Programmer. He has worked with various organizations in managerial and administrative roles including SummerWorks Performance Festival, Theatre Direct, CN Tower and Visual Arts Mississauga. Daniel served as General Manager of Paprika Festival from 2018-2021, where he led the company into a period of unparalleled financial and operational growth, introducing a number of new partnerships and funding to the company. As an artist, Daniel has worked with Buddies in Bad Times, Pandemic Theatre, The AMY Project, DopoLavaro Teatrale, and Shadowtime Productions. He was a member of Factory Theatre’s The Foundry, and House + Body’s Playwrights Initiative. Daniel holds degrees and certificates from McGill University, University of Pennsylvania, and Humber College, where he currently sits on their Arts Administration and Cultural Management Program Advisory Committee.

What’s a treasured queer artifact of yours? 
My friend gifted me a Keith Haring wristwatch that belonged to her gay uncle who passed from HIV/AIDS. She didn’t really know him and so felt okay to give it away; but there was something so impactful about receiving this. Perhaps it was the intrinsic connection queer people share. Perhaps it was the feeling of being responsible for carrying on a legacy of culture, knowledge, and history. Perhaps both.

What’s your earliest memory of Buddies?
I had just finished a shift at my then-workplace, and was meeting my then-partner outside Buddies (which I thought was just a club at the time). And I was waiting on one of the benches in the park, and overheard one of the clubgoers say “Bitch, you can walk and smoke.” Side note: I really don’t go out much, and my then-partner would always say “I’m going to Church on Church” — and I didn’t know that was a bar, and always thought they were going to mass at 10 PM.

Rebecca Vandevelde

Rebecca Vandevelde (she/they) is an arts worker based in Toronto; working as a freelance lighting designer and production manager; often taking small indie shows on tour; and sometimes making/curating events, spaces and installation-based experiments with Art is Hard. Rebecca is a member of Means of Production, a collective of Production Managers and Technical Directors. Some highlights include: lighting/touring for Pandemic x Rumble x Theatre Passe Muraille Take D Milk, Nah?, PM/producer for Suvendrini Lena’s Theatre Centre Residency Project Here Are The Fragments., PM for Soundstreams x Signal Two Odysseys, lighting for Aluna Solitudes; PM/SM/touring for Quote Unquote x Why Not Theatre Mouthpiece; curator/lead artist for Theatre Passe Muraille’s Crapshoot Series; PM for the Fringe and Next Stage Theatre Festivals

Conrad McLaren

Conrad McLaren (he/they) is a queer theatre artist with a focus on the technical and logistical side of the creative process. They are starting their first season at Buddies at the beginning of the 22/23 season. He is responsible for the technical aspects, limitations, and coordination of production components within the main theatre space. They are a multi talented troubleshooter, tinkerer and locator of lost items. He has been actively reconnecting with his culture and relatives here in Canada, after living in the United States (Tucson and Chicago) for 14 years.

What’s a treasured queer artifact of yours?
My most treasured artifact is a book I received as a high school student from one of my extracurricular activities teacher. The Book is a first edition copy of The Color Purple By Alice Walker from 1982. I was 16 when I received this well read and worn copy. I have read it every few years as a reminder of the happy ending and the found family that was fostered within its pages. 

What’s your favourite spot in the city?
My favourite places always exist with context, vibes, and company. I have never had a favourite spot. I have been to too many places in the world and in this city to rank which spot in the city is my favourite. However I have spots that I love to go to at certain times of day and year. Trinity Bellwoods Park and High Park in autumn, during the early morning hours, when the sun changes the sky into an unimaginable array of colours that contrast with the different colours of the foliage. Kensington market before noon, anytime of year. The Lakefront on a winter’s day, clear skies, the snow and ice particles blowing over the frozen lake, my breath freezing on my eyelashes obscuring my view. 

Aidan Morishita-Miki

Aidan (he/him) is an arts administrator, stage manager, and plant dad. He’s worked in various capacities with companies including Red Dress Productions, Boys in Chairs Collective, Re:Current Theatre, Ars Mechanica, Hart House Theatre, and SummerWorks. Recently he also worked as a managing producer for FIXT POINT Arts and Media, coordinating various aspects of the company’s The Tale of a Town project. He started volunteering at Buddies in 2012 and has stuck around since.

What’s your favourite spot in the city?
There are lots but one is the east side of Riverdale Park up on Broadview. It’s been the site of first dates, a last date, and I also got baptized on the church at the top of the hill. Riverdale’s where my dad’s family first lived when they moved to Toronto, so it’s got a special place in my heart. It’s also one of the best views of the city skyline. Honourable mentions go to the capybara pen at High Park Zoo and Nirvana (RIP) at College and Bathurst.

What’s your earliest memory of Buddies
I think the first time I came to Buddies was at a club night as a hardly-out gay in my undergrads, with a couple of girls I was in a musical with. Mostly what I remember is that partway through the night, they asked me to point out “the type of guy I was into”. I pointed out a tall, handsome guy, and before I knew it they had brought him over to me. I was mortified. I don’t think I went back to Buddies as a club until after I started working here.

Julia Weinland

Julia (she/her) is continually surprised at just how long she’s been working in theatre. She started as a Front of House volunteer in Ottawa in 2004 and hasn’t looked back since! Some highlights of her career include 8 years in Patron Services for the Canadian Opera Company and National Ballet of Canada, 7 years managing venues with Toronto Fringe, 5 years coordinating entry with TIFF, and one whirlwind tour down under as a Box Office Supervisor for Adelaide Fringe 2019. Julia also fills her time working as a stage manager or ‘kittening’ at various drag and burlesque shows around the city, and enjoys singing in a community choir.

What’s your favourite spot in the city?
Honestly probably my couch. At the end of the day, I’m a pretty big homebody and love curling up in front of the TV with my kitty (Kendra, ginger tabby) and a special someone.

What’s your earliest memory of Buddies?
Probably volunteering for ArtAttack! in 2012. I had moved to the city the year prior and was already immersed in the world of queer burlesque, volunteering at shows to cover my ticket price – one of the burlesque babes also happened to be the Special Event Assistant at Buddies at the time. Mostly I remember a whirlwind night of glitter and glam, and the feeling that I was where I was supposed to be.

Natasha Ramondino

Natasha Ramondino (she/her) is a queer actor, creator, and arts worker. She has performed with companies such as Convergence Theatre, fu-GEN Theatre, Shakespeare BASH’d, and 4th Line Theatre (to name a few), as well as in productions at the Toronto Fringe/Next Stage Festivals and the Paprika Festival. Driven by a discussion of feminist and 2SLGBTQ+ themes, her artistic focus has more recently been on fostering community and care. She is an alumni of Nightwood Theatre’s Young Innovators Program and a graduate of the Theatre and Drama Studies Program at Sheridan College and the University of Toronto Mississauga. 

What’s a treasured queer artifact of yours?

I own a copy of the recent reprinting of JEB’s “Eye to Eye: Portraits of Lesbians”. It’s a groundbreaking collection of photographs first self published in 1979 at a time when publishing a book with this content was incredibly risky for everyone involved. To me, it’s exposure I didn’t have growing up- a glimpse into the stories and lives of queer women from all sorts of backgrounds and life experience. It’s proof of our existence, specifically during a time of little to no visibility.

What’s your favourite place in the city?

Such a tough question, but probably the Toronto Islands. I love Hanlan’s Point, and walking the boardwalk from Centre Island beach to Ward’s. Honourable mentions go to Riverdale Park (favourite skyline view), the Toronto Reference Library, Kensington Market, and the Glad Day Bookshop.

Chase Hiebert

Chase (he/him) is a theatremaker and arts administrator with roots in Victoria, Calgary, and now Toronto. In Victoria, he worked with many companies including Theatre SKAM, Intrepid Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, and Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre. Working with Buddies is a delightful introduction to the theatre scene in this city!

What’s your favourite place in the city?

There’s a little spot by the Humber Bay Arch Bridge at the end of a walking path—it’s the perfect place to people-watch from afar, to feel connected to the city and also somehow distant from it. Having moved here just days before the first covid lockdown, this pile of rocks by the water made me feel at home (and miss the Pacific a little less). 

What’s a treasured queer artifact of yours?

A few years ago, I took a spontaneous trip to New York with a friend and accidentally managed to be there for NY Pride. We saw some beautiful theatre, met amazing people, and I got a little bandana that reminds me of the joy of belonging to the queer community. 

Julie Phan 潘家雯

Julie Phan 潘家雯 feels empty inside. If this McGill dropout was a piece of art, she would be the world’s biggest rubber duck in the Toronto Harbour. She is a Hoklo- Vietnamese writer, actor and exotic dancer based in Toronto and Montreal and recent graduate from the National Theatre School of Canada in playwriting. She is best known for disappointing her father and her work with fu-GEN asian theatre company (double bill, fearless).

What’s your favourite spot in the city?

I love places for their people. Even as people have moved on, my memories of these people are still associated with these places. Some that come to mind: Brimz Hat Store in Kensington, GoodGood on the Esplanade, Brass Vixens on Queen, and recently Hanlan’s Point Beach on Toronto Island. 

Who is one of your queer icons/heroes?

This is more of a shout out to my queer Asian community in Montréal and the team over at Sticky Rice Magazine led by the iconic Viet Tran– I met a lot of really amazing queer, Asian folks at the Fierté events hosted by Sticky Rice this summer and they did a really great job at bringing us together during the pandemic and it was amazing to finally get to meet everyone in person and see people do their thing, whether it was performing, hosting, dj-ing or martial arts. Everyone in this community is an icon, but a special shout out to my dearheart Komodo, for performing the most touching, queer and Chinese reverse strip-tease I’ve ever seen.

headshot by Tien Chang (@sklervy)

Al Thomas-Hall

Al/Alison (they/any) is an interdisciplinary writer, designer, and artist based in Toronto. In 2022, they had the pleasure of sound designing two original musicals, Killing Time: A Gameshow Musical & Perfect Bowl of Pho and stage managing for the Just For Laughs comedy festival. They’re now excited to be creating and facilitating the boundary pushing of queer spaces today. They love working with new and emerging artists as well as getting to know all players, big and small, in Toronto’s queer performing arts scene.

What’s a treasured queer artifact of yours?

My most treasured queer artifacts are the ones I’ve inherited from queer elders from various aspects and times of my life. Over the years I’ve been extremely fortunate to inherit a small collection but my favourite has to be the pottery tools. I was lucky growing up that my parents’ social circle included a number of lesbian couples. The closest pair of whom I was the flower girl for their wedding in the early 2000s. Linda was a fellow non-profit/arts worker and lifelong potter and I was lucky to have her influence in my life in any capacity. When she died in 2019, her loss was felt by an entire community. I was incredibly lucky to inherit her personal pottery tools which I still use to this day. I like to think that they allow her to continue to influence me and my practice.

Who is one of your queer icons/heroes?

One of my biggest queer icons currently is Tanya Saunders, the woman who originally opened the cubby hole, a lesbian bar in New York. The story goes that her family fled nazi Germany and settled in New York in the thirties. Since it wasn’t safe to be out, she lived with her wife across the hall from a couple of gay men. They would switch apartments and partners whenever family or visitors came by. In the eighties she eventually went on to open this bar, creating the safe space she was missing and extending it to everyone she could. She was known for regularly buying pizza for her patrons and intentionally connecting new community members with elders, connections that are vital to the survival of our communities.

Paul Therrien

Paul is a freelance musician, playing drums and percussion as an accompanist. With the advent of MP3’s, file sharing and the demise of CDs, he continues to play part time, but has shifted into work in building renovations, expanded into building technologies via George Brown College training and then into property management. He has spent the last fifteen years at Artscape supporting over a thousand artists by providing them with safe and affordable housing and creative spaces. Paul does volunteer work for some local Tenant Advocacy groups and, as a hobby, does tropical plant maintenance for himself and friends.

Jacob Lin 林鴻恩

Jacob Lin 林鴻恩 (he/him) is a Taiwanese-Canadian theatre artist based in the Tkaronto Area. He specializes in Playwriting, Sound / Lighting Design and Producing. Jacob is an alumni of both the Foundry and Foremen at Factory Theatre, the Kitchen Creators Unit at fu-Gen Asian Canadian Theatre and TENT at Toronto Fringe. He has also worked with theatre companies such as Tarragon Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille, Paprika Festival, Toronto Fringe, Crow’s Theatre, Aluna Theatre and Cahoots Theatre. Some credits include: Post-Democracy (Tarragon Theatre), Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Crow’s Theatre) and Cast Iron (Factory Theatre). When Jacob is not working he enjoys finding space for new plants in his small room!