Creative Team
Created by Lynda Hill and Thomas Morgan Jones
Inspired by the story by Thomas Morgan Jones
Concept, Dramaturgy and Direction by Lynda Hill
Original Design by Kelly Wolf
Original Music by Nicky Phillips
Lighting Design by Jennifer Lennon
Puppetry by Mike Peterson and Eric Woolfe
2025-26 Company
Puppeteers: Shaharah Gaznabbi, Kira Hall, Afsaneh Zamani, and Andrew Young
Director: Lynda Hill
Lighting Direction by Sarah Mansikka
Stage Manager: Mya Martinez
For the WeeFestival
Artistic Director: Lynda Hill
Company manager: Ariane Burtin
Meet the Puppeteers
Shaharah Gaznabbi (They/Them) lives in the realm of the interdisciplinary. They are a Queer-Guyanese ACTRA Actor, Playwright, Puppeteer, Comedian, Deviser, Dramaturg, Drag Artist (you name it!) based in Toronto. They were an Artist-In-Residence at Tarragon Theatre as a recipient of the Ellen Ross Stuart Award where they workshopped their play “Lost Scribe”, which they began writing as part of Tarragon Theatre’s Young Playwrights Unit. Shaharah received The Neurodiverse Review’s Birds of Paradise Emerging Talent Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2023, where they presented their solo-show “What Can Indian Look Like? Can It Look Caribbean?”. They have also most recently received TO Live’s “Best of Fringe”, as well as the Canadian Green Alliance’s “Greenest In The Fringe” at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2025 for their solo puppet filled musical comedy show “My Pet Lizard, Liz: The Shakespearean Existential Crisis that Led to his Ultimate Demise”. Shaharah is incredibly excited to be performing in Old Man and the River, their second show with WeeFestival!
Kira Hall (they/them) is a Jim Henson Company-trained puppeteer and voice performer. Kira was in the original ensemble of Old Man and the River during its development and earliest productions, and they’re tickled to be back in a new role! For almost a decade, Kira has played pink cat Cottonball on CBC Kids’ host programs Studio K (Kidscreen Award winner: Best Hosting Team) and Hey Joojo!. They also feature on Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock (Apple TV+) as Princess Gorg, Measure Doozer, Brio the Troubador, and other minor roles. Other recent TV/film puppetry includes The Boys, Gen V (Amazon Studios), Gary’s Magic Fort, Silly Paws (CBC), Out of the Hands of the Wicked, Of May. Recent theatre credits include PHANTASMAGORIA 3D (Eldritch Theatre), The Howdy Doo Show – Part DUH! (Eugene O’Neill Theater Center) and The Little Prince: Reimagined (Puzzle Piece).
Andrew has a strong passion for puppetry, clown, and non-verbal storytelling. Working in many facets of theatre, Andrew’s performances and designs have taken him across Canada, the US, and Hong Kong. His creations have been showcased at the National Arts Centre, the Banff Centre, Festival de Casteliers International Puppetry Festival, Nuit Blanche North, SummerWorks, Toronto Festival of Clowns, Night of Dread, Edge of the Woods Theatre Festival, WeeFestival, and Puppets Up! International festival. Previous credits/collaborations include SNAFU, Theatre Direct, Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia, Snack Music Collective, Small Pond Arts, Theatre by the Bay, Theatre SKAM, Artichoke Heart, Bruce County Playhouse, Festival Players of Prince Edward County, Moon Dinosaur Theatre. When he isn’t working on theatre, Andrew is often found covered in saw dust or stomping around in the woods. Special thanks to his lovely wife, Kathleen, back in Victoria, BC.andrewgyoung.com.
Afsaneh Zamani is an award-winning theatre director, puppeteer, and performer, holding a B.A. in Dramatic Arts and Puppetry and an M.A. in Research Arts from Iran.
She has created and performed numerous theatre, objects and puppetry works roote in rituals and folk stories and has showcased her work at international festivals across Asia, Europe, and North America, earning critical acclaim and international awards.
Her practice is also shaped by her training in puppet therapy, blending artistic expression with emotional and social healing.
Since moving to Canada, Afsaneh has developed and performed puppet works at the Tirgan Festival, Concrete Cabaret, the Aga Khan Museum and ROM, and has collaborated with MABELLEarts, Jumblies Theatre, and WeeFestival.
Meet the Creative team
Lynda Hill – Director and Co-Creator
Lynda is a director, dramaturg, arts educator, curator, and creative producer with a passionate belief in the transformative power of arts in the lives of young people and the right of every child to experience and participate in, arts and culture. Read her full bio here.
Thomas Morgan Jones – Co-Creator
Thomas is an award-winning artist who has worked across Canada and internationally as a director, playwright, dramaturg, instructor, and movement coach. He is currently the artistic director of Prairie Theatre Exchange in Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Nicky Phillips – Original Music
Nicky is an award-winning composer and lyricist. She is currently a member of the BMI Lehman Engel Advanced Musical Theatre Workshop where she was awarded the Jean Banks Award for outstanding achievement in Musical Theatre. An alumna of the Johnny Mercer Songwriters Project, Nicky was mentored by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Craig Carnelia. Her work has been showcased at Lincoln Center, 54 Below, Don’t Tell Mama, The Laurie Beechman Theatre and The New York Theatre Barn. Musicals include: The Journey That Saved Curious George (ASCAP/Stephen Schwartz Workshop, Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Colony at Goodspeed Musicals, Canadian Music Theatre Project); The Last Party (Toronto Fringe Festival); Stagefright (Prospect Theater’s Musical Theatre Lab); In Between (Bravo Academy); BecomingTussaud (In Development); In Flanders Fields (Smile Theatre, Lunchbox Theatre, Betty Mitchell nomination). Original Music for plays include: The Snow Queen (Theatre New Brunswick); Buyer and Cellar (Alberta Theatre Projects); Old Man and The River (Theatre Direct, Dora nomination for Outstanding Production); Jane Eyre, The Penelopiad and The 39 Steps (Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre). Nicky is a proud member of ASCAP where she was awarded an ASCAP Plus Award.
Kelly Wolf – Set and Costume Design
Kelly Wolf is a Theatre Maker, a Set and Costume designer and an Artist Educator who is interested in exploring the ways that design can augment the theatrical experience. She has created designs for many theatres across Canada ranging from small independent companies to the major festivals. Recent work has taken her into the realm of site-specific theatre creation. Kelly has worked in collaboration to create four new pieces of site specific theatre with her company Open Heart. One Small Drop, inspired by the textile workers of the Imperial Cotton Company. In Sight investigated the effects of a stroke and perception at the Art Gallery of Hamilton. HERE, took Kelly to Barton St in Hamilton to explore gentrification and change in that neighbourhood. Most recently, Conversations around the Table, and I Really Wish You Knew Me, challenging our views of people who are experiencing homelessness in Hamilton.
Jennifer Lennon – Original Lighting Design
Jennifer Lennon is a Toronto-based lighting designer for live performance. Recent design credits include: Walk Me To the Corner: An Evening with Brent Carver (Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company), GAIA (The Dance Migration), The Container (Theatre Fix), Die Fledermaus (Opera 5), Bombay Black (Factory Theatre, Dora Award), Banana Boys (Factory Theatre), The Twelve-Pound Look (Shaw Festival), and Stupidhead! A Mucisal Cmoedy (Disorganized Productions). She also acted as lighting coordinator for Theatre Direct’s 2016 WeeFestival of Theatre and Culture for Early Years. She is delighted to be back helping to make magic with Old Man and the River.
Mike Peterson – Puppetry and Performer
Mike’s career began on Fraggle Rock in 1984. He has since performed
around the world with such companies as Mermaid Theatre, Neptune Theatre, Kaleidoscope, the Edinburgh Puppet Company, Poland’s Teatr Arlekin, and Theatre Beyond Words. Film and television credits include Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth, Emily of New Moon, The Mighty Jungle, Toopy & Binoo Vroom Vroom Zoom, and the Emmy nominated pre-school series Miss
Persona. Mike created and performed in As You Puppet at YPT, and he frequently teaches the performers at TAP: Teaching Awareness Though Puppetry – a charity organization that uses puppetry to promote kindness.
As a teacher and puppetry consultant Mike has worked alongside Graham
Whitehead at Mermaid Theatre, Allen MacInnis at YPT, Lynda Hill at Theatre Direct, and Seanna Kennedy, director of the first Canadian production of Avenue Q at Lower Ossington Theatre. Most recently, Mike
directed The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show for Joseph Patrick Presents. He is currently developing a tabletop puppet show for Shaw Festival, in
collaboration with Alexandra Montegnese.
Eric Wolfe – Puppetry and Performer
Eric Woolfe is an actor, playwright, puppeteer and magician, and the Artistic Director of Eldritch Theatre, a Toronto Company specializing in horror plays using puppetry, live actors, and parlour magic. His work for Eldritch Theatre includes Space Opera Zero!, The Harrowing of Brimstone McReedy, House at Poe Corner, Frankenstein’s Boy, The Haunted Medicine Show, Madhouse Variations, The Babysitter , The Strange & Eerie Memoirs of Billy Wuthergloom, Dear, Grendelmaus, and Sideshow of the Damned. Some of his other credits include Old Man and the River (Theatre Direct), The Comedy of Errors (Humber River Shakespeare), The Glass Menagerie, Ghosts (Touchmark Theatre) Rocket & the Queen of Dreams, (Roseneath Theatre). Little Shop of Horrors (Canstage),and Timon in Disney’s The Lion King;
His film and TV acting credits include Fatman, American Gods, Heroes Reborn, Defiance, Murdoch Mysteries, Haven, Hemlock Grove, The Listener, Transporter, Certain Prey, and most notably, George Romero’s modern zombie western masterpiece, Survival of the Dead.
Old Man and the River was developed and premiered by Theatre Direct as part of the 2014 WeeFestival of Arts & Culture for Early Years. Since then, it has performed for thousands of children and their families in Toronto, throughout Ontario and across Canada.
Thank you to our supporters and funders!
