Katie Avery
… is Created Independently’s Musical Director
Katie received her musical training at U of T, earning a Bachelor’s Degree in classical violin in 2010. As a classical musician, she has performed with the Peterborough Symphony, the Pardis Orchestra and in the fall of 2011 she will be joining the Greater Toronto Philharmonic Orchestra. Growing up in Guelph Ontario, she was an avid participant in the local theatre scene, participating as actor, dancer and musician in various different theatre companies. In Toronto, Katie is a member of the Ismailova Theatre of Dance Company. She has also recently released a CD with her all girl folk-fusion band, Beneath the Ice (CD Baby) (MySpace) (iTunes). Katie works for Created Independently as Daughter of the Dust’s musical director, and lead the band during the workshop production in August 2011.
Helen Kotsonis
…co-founder and Artistic Director for Created Independently.
Helen graduated from Queen’s University with her BA in Drama in 2009. After moving to Toronto she co-founded Created Independently with Patrick Whistler, and together they produced their first installation, Trash Talk, which was exhibited at Labspace Studios throughout December 2009. Helen then produced and designed the short filmsWorst People (Kingston Canadian Film Fest 2011) and That Thing You Watch, two satirical comedies written and directed by Patrick Whistler and Paul Kehs.
In 2011 Helen produced and directed Created Independently’s first theatre production,Daughter of the Dust, a country musical written by and starring Robin Sharp. It opened at the Bread & Circus theatre to full houses and received glowing a glowing review from Moonie on Theatre (http://www.mooneyontheatre.com/2011/08/27/review-daughter-of-the-dust-robin-sharp-and-helen-kotsonis/#more-8575).
While not working on Created Independently’s projects Helen is a freelance arts worker. She was an artistic intern for Jumblies Theatre in 2009-2010, which lead to her co-directing It Happened In My Apartment for their offshoot project, Arts4All. Helen also works as a designer for theatre and film in Toronto. Past credits include the shadowcast production of Blue Velvet (Fringe ’09), Let Me Entertain You (Rhubarb ‘10) and The Bright Idea (Fringe ’11). Helen has worked on numerous shorts, music videos and features, including as the Production Designer on Bruce McDonald’s short film Envy in 2010. It was played on Canadian television as part of BravoFACTS! seven deadly sins programming, and has been screened at numerous festivals.
Erin Marchak
… has been known to develop & design websites for artists and filmmakers in the GTA. Her website can tell you more.
Robin Sharp
… is a writer / director / performer for film and theatre who was born and raised in downtown Toronto, Canada.
He majored in drama at Etobicoke School of the Arts and film production at York University; his theatre credits include writing and directing High Art and Lick Her in 2006, two one act plays presented at the Rivoli.
In a theatre/film hybrid Robin directed the first ever shadow-cast of the film Blue Velvetfor the 2009 Toronto Fringe Festival. Eye Weekly gave it a four star review, writing that the show “(extended) the life of the classic 80’s film with profundity and passion.” Robin recently directed The Bright Idea for the 2011 Fringe festival, and appeared in a 2010 production of The Rocky Horror Show.
In 2011 Robin starred in Created Independently’s production of Daughter of the Dust, an original country musical that he wrote and co-produced with Helen Kotsonis. It played to full houses and Mooney on Theatre described it as a “country musical masterpiece”, praising Robin’s songs as “intelligent, clever, hilarious, and well-composed”. Robin is working with Created Independently to remount the project in 2012. In the meantime he continues to perform as Trixie Dixon at various events, and is working on the post-production of his debut feature film, The Missionary Position.
Patrick Whistler
…is a screen writer from Toronto. He co-founded Created Independently with Helen in 2009 and wrote The Worst People, co-wrote and directed That Thing You Watch and was one of the artists involved in Trash Talk.
Patrick served as the story editor on the CTV/Bravo documentary series Yonge St. and wrote Envy - a BravoFACT! short directed by Bruce McDonald. He currently has a number of feature project in development, including adaptations of Michael Turner’s novel The Pornographer’s Poem and Michael Ondaatje’s The Collected Works of Billy the Kid.
COLLABORATORS
Bruce William Harper
…works as a Film Technician in the motion picture industry whilst also juggling his career as a film director and cinematographer. He has written and directed three award winning short films and has been the cinematographer on a number of short films, music videos, corporate videos, and the web series Team Epic. Bruce has most recently shot for the Canadian Film Centre and has worked with all five current directors in residence. He has also worked with Created Independently as their Director of Photography on The Worst People in the World and That Thing You Watch. You can check out his website to see more of his work at www.brucewilliamharper.com
Lukasz Kurek
…has worked with Created Independently as a Sound Designer for The Worst People in the World and the editor on That Thing You Watch. He is also a documentary filmmaker, and has several of his own projects underway with his collective Reel Wolf, which you can learn more about on their website www.reelwolf.com