I’m a writer, performer, writing instructor, and occasional cartoonist. What ties my passions together? I love to create “aha” moments of shared insight and empathy between people. A frequent theme in my work is the primal human drive for connection and belonging. I also enjoy leveraging humour to challenge people’s perspectives on contemporary behaviour, culture, and socio-political issues. I want to make audiences think and feel and come out unable to see things quite the same way as before.

​

Collaboration

​

I love good collaboration. That's one reason I'm drawn to writing for film and theatre. My happiest experiences have involved building a respectful, open, and energizing environment where people with different, but complementary skills and talents can produce interesting work together.

​​

Additional influences: Music and Visual Art

​

While I primarily work as a writer, both music and visual art are part of my creative process.

 

Music often inspires my writing, and I love figuring out how to incorporate music and sound into productions.  I'm a classically-trained mezzo soprano, but mostly sing jazz and pop, often with an amateur band called "The Allmosts" (misspelling intentional). I play piano reasonably well. I play violin terribly. My listening tastes are eclectic: Bach, animé theme songs, mid-century jazz, Gavin Bryars, Olivia Rodrigo, 80's New Wave, Anglican choral music, early 2000s alternative, funk, etc.

 

I also draw inspiration from a wide range of visual art styles, from early Flemish oil portraits to Hiroshige to German Expressionism. When I write, I sketch to develop characters and imagine scripts embodied on stage.

​

Transferable lessons from past work

​

Before turning full time to creative work, I taught at the University of Toronto: drama, academic writing, business communication, and engineering design. I also wrote for a medical magazine. Every new job gave me an opportunity to enter a new environment with its own values, language, practices, and ways of seeing the world. I'm grateful for these experiences because they have taught me to keep stepping out of my comfort zone, be brave, be curious, be humble, and never ever stop learning. It keeps life interesting.

​

Training & Education

​

Ph.D., English (drama specialty), University of Toronto

Writers Reading (Playwriting) Group with Andrea Scott, Vault Creation Lab, 2026
Indie Film-making with Sook-Yin Lee, Expect Theatre, 2025
Expanding from Playwriting to TV Writing with Anusree Roy, Expect Theatre, 2025
Writing & Designing Podcast Drama with Chris Tolley, Laura Mullins, Tarragon 2025
Making the Actual Theatrical with Marcia Johnson, Tarragon Theatre, 2022
Dramaturgy Workshop with Beverly Cooper, 2022
Playwriting Writers’ Intensive with Beverly Cooper, 2021
Screenwriting, Toronto Metropolitan University, CE, 2002-03
Acting Master Class with R.H. Thompson, 2022
Film and Sound Editing, Toronto Metropolitan University, CE, 2003
Vocal Training/Singing with Susan Crowe Connelly, Anne Relyea
Piano Royal Conservatory of Music, Grade 8 piano

Karate, purple belt, Toronto Academy of Karate

​

​

​

​