Don Giovanni Creative Team
Vojin Vasovic
Projection Designer
Melissa Morris
Director
Chris Humphrey
Lighting Designer
Lin-Mei Lay
Stage Manager
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Ness Wong
Assistant Stage Manager
Amanda Eason
Head of Wardrobe
Sara Baruffaldi
Costume Designer
Biographies
Melissa Morris
Director
Melissa Morris is a director, actor, singer, musician, musical director, composer, playwright, and educator. She is a graduate of both the Music and Drama departments at Queen’s and attended Australian National University. Melissa’s career has taken her across North America and the Caribbean, where she has had the pleasure of working at Chemainus Theatre, Drayton Festival, Theatre Orangeville, Port Hope Festival, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Stirling Theatre, Upper Canada Playhouse, Orillia Opera House, Gravenhurst Opera House, Theatre Collingwood, and Theatre Kingston and on a cruise ship. She was Resident Musical Director/Composer at St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival for 10 seasons and has directed and musical directed at different companies in Canada. Her one-woman musical, Sweetheart by Dean Burry, recently had a successful premiere in Kingston and online. Melissa composed music for the off-Broadway hit Evil Dead the Musical, which continues to run internationally. She is a proud faculty member at Queen’s University, and runs her own private vocal studio, teaching and coaching singers and actors of all ages. Upcoming: Musical Director for St. Lawrence College’s Cabaret, Vocal Coach for Nightwood Theatre’s Urinetown, Annie Kenney in world premiere of Lancashire Lass by Leslie Arden at the Watershed Music Festival.
Vojin Vasovic
Projection Designer
Vojin Vasovic is a film director and producer. He finished Master of Arts studies at Centre of Theatre, Drama and Performance Studies at the University of Toronto and bachelor studies in Film Directing at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade. He is the recipient of many awards for directing, writing and animation. His films “Twice Upon a Time”, “Just For The Record”, etc. were selected at more than 150 film festivals winning more than eighty international awards and distribution by HBO channel. He is a producer and director at To Blink Animation studio, and creative director of Animond - private investment fund for animation. He is teaching film directing and animation at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade.
Chris Humphrey
Lighting Designer
Mr. Humphrey is the Houseman at Arts and Letters Club, the Rental Supervisor at Alumnae Theatre, and the Technical Consultant at St. Anne's Parish Hall.
Returning to pre pandemic projects with TCO and "Cinderella" with Alexander Showcase Theatre and "The Sorcerer" with MADS.
Also returning to Iqaluit for the "Alianait Festival" this summer.
Lin-Mei Lay
Stage Manager
Lin-Mei is a multidisciplinary theatre practitioner. She has taken on various theatre production roles from technician to designer to props builder before settling into stage management. Lin is happy to be back working with TCO on this production of Don Giovanni. She is the winner of the inaugural MyTheatre Award for Outstanding Stage Management (2015). Prior to this, Lin has worked in the IT industry for 15+ years. She is a proud graduate of Humber’s Theatre Production Program. (www.linkedin.com/in/lilay)
Select SM Credits: 2015, 2016 Dora Winner, The Chasse-Galerie (Red One: PSM; Kabin / Storefront / Soulpepper: Apprentice SM); Eugene Onegin (Highland Opera Studio); La Traviata (Opera York; MSO: ASM); The Merry Widow (Opera York); Retreat (Hart House); The Chance (Leroy Street); Stupid F**king Bird (Bird Collective: SM / Props); Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Red One); Divine (Red One / Summerworks 2017); Othello (Ale House: PSM).
Other Credits: The Story (Common Boots: Head of Props); The Good Doctor Holmes (Tanagra Collective: LD); A Drop of Water (Slice of Pi / FringeTO 2015: LD); We Walk Among You (Artichoke Heart: Head Puppet Builder); Cinéma Vérité! (RUFF 2015: Puppet Builder / Designer); Language (Assistant Production Designer).
Upcoming: The Magic Flute (Opera York, Richmond Hill) March 3 & 5
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Ness Wong
Assistant Stage Manager
Ness is a multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto and is a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. Their focus is on stage management, arts administration, and music education. In recent years, he has had the fortune of working with the Canadian Opera Company and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, along with the University of Toronto. In her spare time, Ness loves reading science fiction/fantasy and watching wuxia/xianxia dramas.
Select SM Credits: Carmen (Canadian Opera Company 2022, Apprentice SM); Don Giovanni (Toronto City Opera 2023, ASM); Cavalleria Rusticana (Toronto City Opera 2022, ASM); Romeo and Juliet (Shakespeare in Action 2022, Apprentice SM); Miss You ‘Til Tomorrow (University of Toronto Drama Centre 2022, SM); Spring Awakening (St. Michael’s College Troubadours 2022, SM | Best Production Stage Management 2021-2022).
Other Credits: Salome (Canadian Opera Company 2023, Production Assistant); Toronto Symphony Orchestra 2022, Community Engagement & Education Assistant; Tosca (Toronto City Opera 2022, Production Assistant); The Theory of Relativity (St. Michael’s College Troubadours 2021, Music Director); Street Scene (University of Toronto Opera 2018, Cellist).
Amanda Eason
Head of Wardrobe
Amanda Eason has been designing and sewing costumes for over 20 years. She is retired from a long career as a York Region High School Music teacher, where she also taught English & Family Studies. She still plays the Clarinet with various groups.
Amanda has been the Costume Designer for various local Opera and Theatre companies over the years, including : Toronto City Opera, Opera York, Bravo Academy and The Curtain Club. She enjoys all periods of design in fashion and loves making the setting come alive on stage.
Sara Baruffaldi
Costume Designer
Sara Baruffaldi is an Italian/British costume designer and Wardrobe supervisor with more than 20 years of experience in the Theatre and Film industry.
She started her professional path with Opera and Ballet at La Scala Theatre in Milan where she developed her proficiency in costume making and vision in designing. Sara has worked in opera, ballet, music videos, theatre, film and youth theatre in Italy, France, England and Canada.
She has designed costumes for dozens of theatre productions, including Don Giovanni, La Cavalleria Rusticana, Sweeney Todd, Lés Misérables, Macbeth, Hecuba, A midsummer night’s dream, Mnemonic, Dissocia, Animal Farm, Jane Eyre and has worked with award winning film directors such as Erika Errante and Sean Cisterna and a large variety of British and Canadian film productions.