APPETITE - Creative Team

Sarah Sanford (director / co-creator) is an actor, director and teacher based in Philadelphia. A member of the internationally-acclaimed Pig Iron Theatre Company since 2002, she has performed in six company works including the Obie Award-winning Hell Meets Henry Halfway; Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days/365 Plays at the Public Theater in New York City; and the Joe Chaikin-directed Shut Eye in Edinburgh, Poland, New York and Philadelphia. With Pig Iron, Sarah has toured across the United States and Europe. She has also performed with New York’s The Riot Group, in Edinburgh and London, England. For her work in Philadelphia Theater, Sarah was short-listed for the 2008 F. Otto Haas award for Best Emerging Theater Artist.

Other Philadelphia acting credits: The Life of Galileo (Wilma Theater), The Government Inspector, La Ronde, Othello (Lantern Theater), A 24-Hour The Bald Soprano (Brat Productions), Hedda Gabler (Mauckingbird Theater), and Jo Stromgren’s The European Lesson for the Phila Live Arts Festival. Sarah has also performed with acclaimed Toronto theatre company Volcano (Dora Award-winning The Four Horsemen) in Vancouver and Victoria.

Sarah graduated from Swarthmore College and École Jacques Lecoq in Paris and has taught physical theatre in New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, California, and Poland.

Claire (performer / co-creator) is an active Toronto theatre artist who works extensively in creation-based performance with credits including Katherine Mansfield, Chekhov’s Heartache (Theatre Smith-Gilmour/Factory), A Fool’s Life (Ahuri Theatre) and Defenestration (La Corporacion Columbia de Teatro in Bogota, Columbia). Claire is the co-Artistic Director of tiny bird theatre with Jenny Young. She was the recipient of the Crow’s Theatre Emerging Director Award for Raising Luke (Summerworks 2008) and her play Inanna was voted ‘Most Outstanding Production’ by NOW Magazine (Fringe 2004). Additionally, Claire has performed for Tarragon Theatre, Independent Aunties/Cooking Fire, Buddies in Bad Times, Lyndesfarne, Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People and Theatre Columbus.

Claire also works extensively with youth. She is in demand as an instructor and is the founder and co-Director of The AMY Project (Artists Mentoring Youth) with Weyni Mengesha. The group will present its fourth annual show at the Factory Theatre in May.

Claire is an Artistic Associate at the Canadian Stage Company in 2009 and the Associate Director of its second Festival of Ideas and Creation. She is a graduate of Studio 58 in Vancouver and will next appear in the Crows/Soulpepper co- production of Antigone.

Adam Lazarus (performer / co-creator) is a Toronto-born and -raised actor, director and teacher. As an actor, Adam most recently appeared in Convergence Theatre’s smash hit Yichud/Seclusion and Crow’s Theatre production of Darren O'Donnell's [boxhead] at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. He has directed and co-created many award-winning clown, bouffon and character-driven shows, including Rachelle Elie's Joe: The Perfect Man (Best of Ottawa Fringe 2008); Jesse Buck's Bubkus (current Cirque Du Soleil performer); Shawn Hitchens' Homogenius; and Melissa D'Agostino's Lupe: Undone (Best of the Toronto Fringe 2008).

Adam is a sessional instructor of acting at The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS) and the University of Toronto. He is a regular facilitator of physical theatre workshops for professional and non-professional artists, including consultations for Theatre Passe Muraille, Apostle of Hustle, Buddies in Bad Times, DanceMakers, Tapestry New Opera Works, The Canadian Stage Company, Volcano, and Mike Kennard's The Hollow. Adam also co-produces the annual Toronto Festival of Clowns.

Linnea Swan (performer / co-creator) Originally from Saskatoon, Toronto-based dance artist Linnea Swan is a graduate of Main Dance Place (Vancouver) and The School of Contemporary Dancers (Winnipeg). Throughout her career she has performed with many of Canada's leading dance companies and artists including Ruth Cansfield Dance, TRIP dance company, Dancemakers, Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers, Serge Bennethan, Rachel Browne, Lesandra Dodson, Susanna Hood, D.A. Hoskins, Claudia Moore, and Yvonne Ng. She is featured in the short film Fabric, and the Bravo!FACT Slip. She just returned from a month in Pond Inlet, Nunavut where she was working on the collaborative creation of Night with Human Cargo Theatre. Night will premiere at the NAC in January, 2010. She is also a member of the Exchange Rate Collective, and rehearsal director for The Dietrich Group.