Beth Graham - Playwright

Beth Graham is a playwright, actor, and dramaturg. Her plays have been professionally produced across the country and internationally. In 2015, her play, The Gravitational Pull of Bernice Trimble, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award and a recipient of the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Alberta Literary Award. Beth's other plays and collaborations include The Drowning Girls (co-writer), Weasel, Pretty Goblins, Dora Maar: the wicked one (co-writer), and Working It Out. She is a former Lee Playwright-in-Residence at the University of Alberta and Dramaturg-in-Residence at Workshop West Playwrights Theatre. Her latest play, Mermaid Legs, premiered at the 2024 Skirtsafire Festival, received four Sterling Awards, and will be published by Playwrights Canada Press in the fall of 2025.

Annette Loiselle is an actor, director, teacher, producer and writer working in theatre for over 35 years. She is the Former Artistic Director and 2012 co-founder of SkirtsAfire and co-founder and 25-year Artistic Associate of Freewill Shakespeare (FWP), both beloved Edmonton festivals. As a director she is most proud of the multi–Sterling Award winning productions of Mermaid Legs and The Blue Hour for SkirtsAfire. As an actor, some favorite roles/productions include Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing (Sterling Nomination), Elizabeth in Richard III (Both FWP), Fly Me To The Moon, Shadow Theatre, Rabbit Hole ATP Calgary, It’s a Wonderful Life, WCT Kamloops, Strike The Musical, Workshop West, A Christmas Carol, The Citadel Theatre, and Little Women the Broadway Musical, Rosebud Theatre. Most recently Annette was seen in After the Trojan Women with Common Ground/Alma Theatre and she looks forward to a return to Rosebud for their summer musical, Dream. Annette has 2 Sterling Awards, is a top 3 finalist for a Christopher Plummer Award of Excellence in Shakespeare, a 2019 Global Woman of Vision Award and a 2022 Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal. She is thrilled to be a part of Springboards working on Beth Graham’s play.

Melissa MacPherson is an Edmonton born actor who has been lucky enough to work in and around the city for a couple of decades. She is a proud (almost) graduate of the Grant MacEwan theatre arts program, a recently minted backyard bird feeder enthusiast, and she is very excited to join the Springboards festival this year!

Some favourite shows she has worked on include: The Tempest (Freewill Players), The Invisible: Agents of Ungentlemanly Warfare (Catalyst Theatre), Grease (Mayfield Dinner Theatre), Letters in Wartime (RibbitRePublic), Noises Off (Citadel Theatre).

Cody Porter is a Canadian actor, instructor, director and collaborator working in Theatre and Film. Recently seen in Northern Light Theatre's Angry Alan, other notable performances include Sterling Nominated: The Flying Detective (accidental humour co.), Tragedy: a tragedy (Blarney Productions), This Lime Tree Bower (Forces of Chaos), and outstanding independent production nominated Betrayal (Broken Toys) and Days of Wine and Roses. He directed and later performed the World Premiere version of Richard Kemick and Lindsey Walker's Amor de Cosmos: A Delusional Musical, and early this season had debut performances in The Tempest at Freewill Shakespeare Festival and Civil Blood with Thou Art Here.

You may have also seen him as a cast member of the legendary Die-Nasty improvised soap opera or in the Netflix hit Painkiller. Cody is thrilled to be jumping into Springboards again this year. The opportunity to experience work as it develops remains one of the most rewarding aspects of theatre practice and he is grateful for the chance to participate in the evolution of our cultural tapestry.