Pi Theatre: The Role of the Artist Provocateur

Geoff Olson is a Vancouver-based writer, editorial cartoonist and public speaker. His writings on science, popular culture and politics have appeared in The Globe and Mail, The National Post, Adbusters, The Georgia Straight, Common Ground and This magazine. Olson's political cartoons have appeared in Maclean’s magazine and newspapers across Canada. He is a regular contributor to The Vancouver Courier, and has supplied commentary to both CBC Radio North and CBC NewsWorld. An article series on consumerism from Common Ground, The Deadly Spins, has been used as course content of several US and Canadian colleges. Olson has given talks on journalism at Langara College and Simon Fraser University, and once taught astronomy at the Gordon Southam Observatory and in the Vancouver School System. Montreal-born artist Omari Newton is a professional actor, writer, Slam poet and MC whose work can be found on television, film, stage or radio. His stage work in Quebec has earned him a number of favourable reviews and awards. Some career highlights include a best supporting actor nomination (soiree des masques) for his work in the Centaur Theatre's production of Joe Penhal's "Blue Orange" (Christopher). The play also went on to win best English language production. Television audiences may know him as Lucas Ingram on showcase's Continuum or Larry Summers on Spike TVs Blue Mountain State. He is a proud Graduate of Concordia University's Communication Studies program. Hi most recent work as a writer is original Hip Hop theatre piece "Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of." which is currently in preparation for a national tour. The play was nominated for a Montreal English Theatre award for best original script.Jamie Hilder is an artist and critic based in Vancouver. He received a PhD in English from the University of British Columbia for a dissertation on the International Concrete Poetry Movement. From 2011-13 he held a SSHRC postdoctoral research fellowship in the Information Studies department at the University of California, Los Angeles. He has shown and published work in the United States and Europe, and maintains an active collaborative practice with Vancouver artist and educator, Brady Cranfield.Ndidi Cascade, who is of Nigerian-Italian-Irish-Canadian heritage, is a Vancouver born and based hip hop vocalist. She is also a songwriter, recording artist, educator and program facilitator. Ndidi has showcased her music across North America and internationally– from classrooms to stadiums, and her music has been featured on Much Music and MTV Canada. She has shared the stage with talents such as Femi Kuti, Digable Planets, The Mad Professor, De La Soul, K-OS and K'naan. Ndidi Cascade also facilitates workshops that use hip hop, spoken word and dance as a medium for healthy self-expression. She is the founder of the “Word, Sound & Power” and “Elementalz” education programs, which are designed to raise awareness of the origins of the hip hop movement. Ndidi is also a World Music Education independent school teacher, and she is currently touring with her group Metaphor, showcasing interactive hip hop shows in elementary and high schools around B.C.Cherise Clarke is a Vancouver-based visual artist and performer whose work is informed by deep ecology and radical feminism. In 2009 she had her first solo show, a series of 22 feminist posters called Feminstration: You Draw Like a Girl, and in 2010 curated a month long arts festival, EcoMadness!!! Humans Are Killing the Planet and I Feel Fine. Much of her work has found a homebase at Gallery Gachet in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, where she facilitated the Gallery’s first annual World Mad Pride Festival in 2006, using the framework of "madness" to confront and contest societal norms. In 2012 she was involved in the Occupy Vancouver encampment, where her artwork adorned a Community Newsletter passed out at political gatherings to out and name her violent male stalker, drafted with an adhoc group of ten women that worked to expose and creatively address the issue of gendered violence within activist communities. She is currently at work on a series of large-format oil paintings addressing ecology and myth, as well as street art campaigns contesting the pipelines, and was recently chosen to co-illustrate a book of short stories by controversial author-environmentalist Derrick Jensen. She trained formally in Theatre at UBC, and in addition to visual art practices professionally as a stage actor with such Vancouver companies as Arts Club, Felix Culpa, Neworld, and Blackbird. She is currently working with Pi Theatre playing Cate in the upcoming production of Sarah Kane's Blasted.