Veronique MacKenzie Wins the 2019 Merritt Award for Outstanding Choreography.

Veronique MacKenzie receives recognition for her choreography in Kamp, presented by Eastern Front Theatre & Neptune Theatre. Kamp, a two-act musical that tells the story of a group of homosexual men, interred in a Nazi concentration camp took home several Merritt awards. 

The award adds to the growing list of her accomplishments. Veronique is a recipient of Nova Scotia’s prestigious Established Artist Awards, and two-time recipient of Live Art’s Diane Moore Scholarship for choreography. 

Véronique has presented her work across the country in a variety of festivals and productions including Toronto’s Junction Festival, The Edmonton Fringe Festival, Labrador Arts Festival and Festival Antigonish. Her status as an independent dancer has allowed her to dance for a variety of contemporary dance productions as well as develop a successful choreographic and solo performance career. Véronique most recently completed choreography for POP TV's "Let's Get Physical" (L.A.) and has worked on CBC's Mr. D, Bo on the Go, and Street Cents.

Véronique has served on faculty at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University), Neptune Theatre School, The Fountain School of Performing Arts (Dalhousie University) and Halifax Dance. She’s been a board member of Dance Nova Scotia and Keep Good (Theatre) Company. She is the Atlantic rep for the Dancer Transition Resource Centre out of Toronto.

Her eclectic background includes training in modern dance (York University and The School of the Toronto Dance Theatre), jazz and ballet (The National Ballet School/R.A.D./Checcetti/Vagonova), visual art (NSCAD), clown and Fool-work (Laban Int’l School), creative movement (Virginia Tanner School/USA) and theatre (University of NB and Theatre NB) from which she has developed a unique performance style.

Biographical information has been summarized, and can be found in full on her website, www.veroniquemackenzie.com 

Susan Stackhouse wins the 2019 Theatre Nova Scotia The Legacy Award

Congratulations to former recipient, former Talent Trust Board Member and continued supporter, Susan Stackhouse for her 2019 Merritt Award win. Susan received The Legacy Award, which honours outstanding contribution to professional theatre in Nova Scotia. 

Photo from Dalhousie Website

Susan Stackhouse is a specialist voice, speech and dialect coach as well as an actor, trained at Dalhousie University, the National Theatre School of Canada and the Central School of Speech and Drama in London, England, as a recipient of the prestigious Chevening Scholarship. 

Her teaching career began at George Brown College, in the Performing Arts Department before Susan returned to her home province, Nova Scotia as a Professor (Acting Program) and Associate Director (Productions) in the Fountain School of Performing Arts at Dalhousie University.

Susan has directed several DalTheatre productions and spent sixteen seasons with the Shaw Festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, both as a member of the acting ensemble and as a voice coach, in numerous productions. Theatre, radio and film productions have sought her talent and expertise all over the country, and for the past three years she has been associated with the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program, drawing on her extensive portfolio of performance and mentorship.

Locally, Susan has appeared in Under Milk Wood at various theatres in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, at the Neptune Theatre playing the parts of the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet and of Nat in the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Rabbit Hole for which she won the 2011 Robert Merritt Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role.

Biographical information has been summarized, and can be found in full on the Dalhousie University Website.