Team & Board — the frank theatre

Our Team

Fay Nass

ARTISTIC & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Pronouns: She/He/They

Fay Nass is a community-engaged director, writer, dramaturg, innovator, producer and educator. They are the Artistic Director of the frank theatre company and the founder/Artistic Director of Aphotic Theatre.

Fay has over 17 years of experience in text-based and devised work deeply rooted in inter-cultural and collaborative approaches. Fay’s work often examines questions of race, gender, sexuality, culture and language through an intersectional lens in order to shift meanings and de-construct paradigms rooted in our society. Fay’s work celebrates liminality and trans-culturalism, and blurs the line between politics and intimate personal stories.

Fay’s work has been presented at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, SummerWorks Festival, Queer Arts Festival, the CULTCH and Firehall Arts Centre. Her readings and experimental work have been presented at various conferences and artist-run galleries in Spain, Berlin and Paris. Their co-creation project Be-Longing was part of the 2021 New York international Film Festival, NICE International Film Festival and Madrid International Film Festival.

Their most recent credits include: co-creating Be-Longing (the frank theatre), co-directing Trans Script Part I: The Women (the frank theatre and Zee Theatre at Firehall Arts Centre), directing She Mami Wata & the Pussy WitchHunt (the frank theatre at PuSh Festival 2020), co-directing Straight White Men (ITSAZOO productions at Gateway Theatre), and dramaturgy for Camera Obscura (Hungry Ghosts) (the frank theatre & QAF). Fay holds an MFA from Simon Fraser University. Currently, they are doing the Artistic Leadership Residency at the National Theatre School of Canada.

As an artistic leader and a practitioner, Fay has deep and involved relationships—both creative and organizational—with a wide spectrum of artists across generations and stylistic practices. As an educator and facilitator, their philosophy and pedagogy are rooted in anti-racism and anti-oppression.

Anais West

ARTISTIC PRODUCER
Pronouns: They/He

Anais is a queer & trans writer, producer and performer. They are also a settler of Polish descent, based on occupied xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

Anais’ work is multidisciplinary: through hybrid art, they grapple with the multiplicity that exists in gender, sexuality, culture and self. As a writer, their projects include the video-play hybrid Kill Your Lovers, (Buddies In Bad Times Theatre’s Rhubarb Festival, Toronto, and the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYC), the slam poetry musical Poly Queer Love Ballad, (Queer Arts Festival, the frank theatre and Zee Zee Theatre, Vancouver, and Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto), the theatrical short film Underground Absolute Fiction (Rumble Theatre’s Tremors Festival, Vancouver), and the site-specific performance The Café (ITSAZOO, Aphotic Theatre and PuSh Festival, Vancouver.)

Anais was the 2023 winner of the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition, the 2018 winner of PTC’s Fringe New Play Prize, and he’s been nominated for two Jessie Richardson Awards, including Outstanding Original Script. Their writing has been published in This is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience with Playwrights Canada Press.

As an actor, they have performed with the French Theatre at the National Arts Centre, the Firehall Arts Centre, Savage Society, Théâtre la Seizième, the Only Animal, Rumble Theatre and more. With the frank, Anais recently co-produced White Girls in Moccasins, I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me, She Mami Wata & the Pussy WitchHunt, and Be-Longing.

Maria Zarrillo

MANAGING PRODUCER
Pronouns: They/Them

Maria Zarrillo (they/them) is a queer, non-binary, Vancouver-based Arts Manager with a background in producing, stage management, project/event management, consulting, advocacy, marketing, publicity, and audience services. They have worked with a variety of companies and communities in these capacities both locally and nationally. In addition to their role as Managing Producer at the frank, they are the Interim Managing Director of Rumble Theatre. Maria is a graduate of both Studio 58’s production program and the University of Winnipeg with a major in Theatre & Film and a minor in Human Rights. They are now pursuing a Master of Arts in Justice Studies at Royal Roads University. Maria's research looks to Queer Utopian Theory to address inequities in the Canadian theatre sector.

Patricia Trinh
YOUTH PROGRAM PRODUCER
Pronouns: She/He/They

Patricia Trinh is a queer, genderfluid, interdisciplinary, Chinese-Vietnamese-Canadian, theatre artist; with a background in playwriting, directing, performing and producing. A graduate of UVic Phoenix Theatre. Trinh’s artistic practice investigates cross-disciplinary synthesis as active ingredients in live storytelling; weaving dialogue based text with contemporary movement, against the backdrop of silhouette light design, visceral projections and narrative soundscapes to dissect intersectional identity. They approach theatre as the most direct vessel in which we can share with one another our humanity. Creative highlights include: June 2018 Trinh directed and produced the premiere of their play Probability [rEvolver Festival;] founding Dusty Foot Productions: an interdisciplinary, female/non-binary centric, theatre co. September 2019 Trinh directed and produced their play Red Glimmer [Vancouver Fringe]. October 2020 Trinh directed a workshop presentation of an excerpt of their latest play in development Attachments [Tremors Festival,] with the support of Canada Council for the Arts. Dusty Foot Productions focuses on creating queer, non-binary/female identifying, IBPOC leading role opportunities by shining light on new work with intersectional stories at the forefront. Trinh has been at the helm of the frank theatre’s Telling It Bent program [a writing program for queer, trans, Two Spirit and questioning youth] since 2019, with the support of BC Arts Council. Trinh is ecstatic to officially join the frank theatre team as TIB’s Program Producer fall of 2021.

Adonis Critter King

ASSOCIATE PRODUCER
Pronouns: They/Them

Adonis Critter King is a Black, queer, trans/non-binary, interdisciplinary artist, spoken word poet, theatre creator, writer, director, producer, dramaturg, and educator, living and working on the unceded lands of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Their arts practice is rooted in social justice as daily practice, revolution as habit that starts in the home, and QT2BIMPOC safe space curation. Their poetic works explore the cringey horrors of the everyday, the unsettling nature of becoming, and the joys and complexities of mad and disabled QT2MBIPOC life. Their theatrical works use afro-surrealism, visionary fiction, and immersive experience to explore the difficult choices we must make to liberate our futures.

Adonis was the 2016 Youth Poet Laureate of Victoria, received the 2017 VACCS Community Recognition Award, and is the 2020 recipient of the Witness Legacy Award for Social Purpose and Responsibility Through Art.

Their writing (select) has been published in 21 Black Futures with Playwright’s Canada Press, Here! Magazine, Poetry is Dead, and The Language of Family: Stories of Bonds and Belonging with the Royal BC Museum.

Their most recent directing credits include: Picky, Peasy, and Nappyhead (Obsidian Theatre) Monica vs. the Internet Tales of a Social Justice Warrior (VACT & WHYNOT Theatre) and The Newcomer (Ay Caramba! Theatre). Select assistant directing credits include: How Black Mothers Say I Love You (The Frank Theatre Company) Of the Sea (Obsidian Theatre & Tapestry Orchestra) and Choir Boy (Canadian Stage).

Adonis is currently facilitating Telling it Bent: a youth writing program with The Frank Theatre, Vines Youth Jam: World Building for Revolution an 8 week interdisciplinary writing program with Vines Art Society, and The Lily Pad a QT2BIMPOC writer’s circle. They are a dramaturg for The Parallel Project, and are currently working on Reborn Livid: a spoken word visual album, and Dreamweavers, an immersive children’s play with Story Theatre.

Our Board

Bahareh Shigematsu

BOARD CHAIR
She/Her
Bahareh Shigematsu is grateful to work and play on the ancestral and stolen territories of the Coast Salish peoples. She was born and raised in Tehran and speaks Farsi, Turkish, French and English. She has worked as a costume designer, produced an independent feature film, as well as music videos for Persian recording artists. She has worked with Vancouver Asian Canadian Theatre since 2014, as an Artistic Associate, as well as Production Manager for the MSG Lab play development workshop series.
Alva Tang

BOARD SECRETARY
She/Her
Alva Tang is a fundraising professional that has always had a passion for the arts. She believes The Frank Theatre is doing amazing work — work that she wishes she would have had around her growing up as inspiration. She believes this work is powerful, captivating, and incredibly impactful. She is happy to use her skills, experiences, and connections to bring artists the opportunity for more queer representation on our stages, and contribute to our vibrant LGBTQ2S+ Community.
Linda Gorrie

TREASURER
She/Her
Linda Gorrie has been working as a professional arts administrator since 1984, most recently as administrative director of Playwrights Theatre Centre (1998-2013), director of finance and administration for the Vancouver International Film Festival Society (2013-2017) and business management consultant to the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and grunt gallery (2004-present). She participated in the Banff Centre School of Management Arts Management Program (1987), was a member of the Executive Director’s Learning Circle (Vantage Point) and was awarded the Mary Phillips Prize at the 2005 Jessie Theatre Awards. She served as treasurer of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) (2005-2015), and chairperson of the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation (2008-2015).
Kathleen Mullen

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
She/Her
Kathleen Mullen (she/her) grew up queer in Edmonton, Alberta and the San Francisco Bay Area. For the past 20+ years she has contributed to the planning and execution of film and art festivals nationally and internationally as curator, programmer, and arts manager. Since 2014, she has been involved with the Seattle Queer Film Festival produced by Three Dollar Bill Cinema as the Festival Director leading the artistic and operations of the 28-year-old festival. Along with SQFF, Kathleen currently works with the Whistler Film Festival, Vancouver Latin American Film Festival, and Make Believe. Kathleen continues to consult with filmmakers and organizations through her company Letter K Media.
Other festivals that Kathleen has programmed for include: Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Inside Out Toronto LGBT Film Festival, Planet in Focus, Vancouver International Film Festival, and Boston Museum of Fine Arts. She loves supporting other filmmakers, up and coming festival programmers, and the new generation of arts administrators. She co-teaches the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival class at Simon Fraser University. Kathleen has written and directed the films you wash my skin with sunshine, Sleep Lines, Button OUT!, and Breathtaking, her award-winning mid-length documentary that screened internationally and won the Audience Award at the Canadian Labour International Film Festival.
Ben Lange

BOARD MEMBER AT LARGE
He/Him
Ben Lange (he/him) moved from Germany to Canada at the age of 14 and has spent the last 7 years in marketing and communications. Throughout his professional career, he has performed a wide variety of key functions related to digital marketing, media purchasing, and creative development.
Before starting his current role at Rocky Mountaineer, he worked with local arts organizations such as the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and Vancouver Pride Society amongst others. He focuses on marketing through developing and nurturing partnerships to reach beyond existing audiences.