Salamander's Board of Directors

Anne Marie Creskey, Chair
Publisher, Embassy Newspaper, The Hill Times

Jessica Kochhar (Treasurer)
Treasury Manager, Brookfield Renewable Power Inc.

James Bradford (Vice-Chair / Secretary)
Actor

Alison Atkins (Director)
President, Avenir Leadership Institute and Consulting

Winnie Carruth (Director)
Barrister of Middle Temple Inn of London, England

Kirk Ferguson (Director)
Group Director, Corporate Affairs, Canada Health Infoway

Terry Flaherty (Director)
Technician, School of Industrial Design, Carleton University

Patrick Gauthier (Director)
Artistic Intern, Great Canadian Theatre Company

Patrick is a multiple award winning Ottawa-based theatre creator. Playwriting credits include Tourist Things (Theatre la Catapulte / Magnetic North Theatre Festival), 8 Words That Ruined My Relationship (Gruppo Rubato), The Churchill Protocol (w/ Kris Joseph; Gruppo Rubato), The Man Who Went to Work One Day and Got Eaten by a Bear (Gruppo Rubato). As a director, Pat's recent credits include Criminals in Love (Encore! Theatre), Conservatives in Love (Leave the Pants at Home Equity co-op), The Learned Ladies, The Maids, and Agatha (all at Theatre UBC) and Edward Albee's Listening (Gruppo Rubato).

Patrick has a B.A. in Theatre from the University of Ottawa and an M.F.A. in Directing for the Theatre form the University of British Columbia. He is also a founding member and Artistic Director of Ottawa creation-company Gruppo Rubato, and is a member of GCTC's 2008/09 Playmaker's Society. In 2009, Patrick was our Interim Managing director, and now is part of our Board.

Christopher McLeod (ex-officio)
Artistic Director, Salamander Theatre for Young Audiences

Chris' first involvement with "serious theatre" was in 1985, when he originated the role of Don Jones in David Carley's Hedges.  He has an Honours in Theatre Directing from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Fine Arts (Theatre Directing) from the University of British Columbia.  He has been seen on stage with Odyssey Theatre's Isabella's Fortune and was Director in Residence for a Company of Fools.  Unfortunately, the Fools still have no residence.  He did manage to direct Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from Shakespeare, Shakespeare Does the Seven Deadly Sins and Foolius Caesar. Chris has been the Artistic Director of Salamander Theatre since 2001. He is married to a wonderful woman and is the father of two awesome sons.

Natalie Dalton (ex-officio)
Managing Director, Salamander Theatre for Young Audiences

Natalie joined Salamander in December 2004. Until that date, Natalie was the General Manager for Odyssey Theatre where she did intense work on fundraising, marketing, staffing and general running of all administrative aspects of the company. This experience has prepared her well for her position in Salamander, as has her experience as Artistic Director, writer, producer and actor of The Fringe. The Fringe is a community theatre in the Ottawa Valley that Millett created with a partner in 1996 that continues to produce non-traditional theatre with young casts. The Fringe is a community-focused troupe that combines young enthusiasts with veteran artists and workshops to give learning opportunities to cast and crew while creating original works that range from the annual Spirit Walk to an adapted A Midsummer Night’s Dream and various murder mysteries. In 2008, she wrote one of Salamander's newest plays Rhythms of the Sun and became a new mother of a beautiful baby boy!