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Ed Farolan Founding Editor

Ed studied Philosophy and Letters in the late 60s at the University of Madrid, and later did graduate work in Hispanic Studies at the University of Toronto. Afterwards, he specialized in Theatre and Media in the United States, and went on to do some professional acting for stage and screen. He also wrote stage as well as screen plays. In 1985, he founded the Montreal Experimental Theatre and then the following year, moved to Vancouver . He developed a Theatre Programme for the Langley School District in 1987, and later taught Acting at the VCC Langara and Downtown campuses. His one-act play, The Caged Dream, was produced at the Vancouver Fringe in 1993 by the Vancouver Experimental Theatre, and the following year, he directed Elmer Wiens' Critical Paths also for the Fringe. His collection of plays, Hexalogia Teatral, was published in Spain in 2011.


John Jane Webmaster

John is originally from Britain but has also lived in South Africa, Thailand, and China and has now been living happily in Vancouver for over twenty years. He has worked as a teacher, an engineering technologist, a technical writer and a soldier. While John's background is essentially technical, he comes from a theatrical family, having a cousin in film and television and a mother who performed in British vaudeville. His main interests are theatre and music.


Don Alexander

Don teaches Geography at Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo. He is very passionate about music of all kinds. When he has time, he plays guitar and writes songs, and has a special love for jazz. He has written a number of music reviews for various publications over the years.

recent reviews Caravan Stage Company: Nomadic Tempest | Arts Club Theatre: BOOM


Sharon Cairney

Sharon's childhood home was filled with many souvenirs of her father’s Vaudeville tap dancing career, although she did not inherit the “dancing gene” herself. During her thirty years as an elementary school teacher in the Coquitlam School District, Sharon was most inspired when teaching art, drama, creative writing and poetry. She is a big fan of Vancouver's many festivals, with the International Writers Festival and International Jazz Festival being two of her favourites. Sharon enjoys spending her free time either visiting art galleries or getting outdoors to go cycling with her friends.

recent reviews PuSh Festival: Portraits in Motion


Patricia Cassidy

Born and raised in London, England, Patricia loves film, art, literature and architecture. She has lived and worked in many countries and has completed film and fine art studies in Vancouver. Patricia has narrated documentary films, and interviewed several well known novelists, including crime writer Michael Connelly (The Poet) and Arthur Golden (Memoirs of a Geisha). In a perfect world, she would love to have visited, or better still, been a part of, Gertrudes Stein's Paris salon with Hemingway, Picasso, Marcel Duchamp and F. Scott Fitzgerald dropping by.

recent reviews Frida Kahlo: Art, Garden, Life | Judy Collins and the Tucson Symphony Orchestra


Darren Cordeiro

Darren was born in Chilliwack where his parents exposed him to diverse forms of art from a very young age. At the age of 18, he moved to Montreal where he completed a degree in Marketing at Concordia University. Studying the way that people think and behave always intrigued him. He enjoys seeing how artists transpose these thoughts into their own personal forms of expression. Living in Montreal for over 15 years allowed him to be immersed in the rich culture that a bilingual speaking city offered. Back in Vancouver, he enjoys the culture and art that the West Coast brings.

recent reviews Vancouver Queer Film Festival | Vancouver TheatreSports: Oh Canada |Studio 58: 42nd Street | Fighting Chance: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee | Vancouver TheatreSports: Christmas Queen | Internatonal Day of the Dead | The Frank Theatre Company: Walt Whitman's Secret


Melanie Ewan

Melanie was born in Vancouver and grew up in an environment of multicultural arts and experiences. This, along with being raised in a family of dynamic and creative individuals, has led her to a lifelong love of, in particular, music and theatre. Growing up she took part in musical productions, concert band, choir, jazz choir, and attended as many community arts productions and events that she could get her hands on. Though her current educational pursuits at Simon Fraser University have led her in to the field of health sciences and personal fitness, she avidly maintains her love of the arts. Outside of school, Melanie is an amateur photographer, and an aspiring world traveller who leads various local annual fundraising events and volunteers with environmental sustainability projects. Her future plans involve finding a way to fuse her love of community, wellness and the arts.

recent reviews Bard on the Beach: Romeo and Juliet | Theatre West Van: Fawlty Towers


Maria Figueiredo

Maria's love of live theatre was inspired by her mother who directed musicals when teaching high school graduates. From an early age, Maria has been fascinated with people's stories, history and drama. She has lived briefly in India, grew up in Kenya and has lived in Vancouver for the last 40 years. She taught for over 30 years, having a passion to develop students' reading proficiency through stories, poetry and acting. She has travelled extensively visiting China, Australia, Europe and Russia. Every country that she travelled to, has added to her appreciation of the variety and beauty of the universal language of music and artistic performance.


Karen Fitzgibbon

Karen Fitzgibbon has been a reviewer with Review Vancouver since 2010. Previously she volunteered for BC Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Theatre Calgary, Street of Dreams (Calgary) and was a Partner in the Popov Gallery. Karen is a semi-retired Multimedia Designer, does writing for websites and marketing, and has written various other articles throughout the years. She is also a fine artist with shows in both Vancouver and Calgary and her works have been sold internationally.


Erin Jane

Ontario-born Erin Jane moved to North Vancouver at a young age with her older sister and parents. After completing a literature & politics degree at UBC, she moved on to experience the art & culture that New York and Montreal had to offer. She has now returned home to Vancouver where she continues to search for inspiration and meaning in performance and art. When not reading, writing, or snacking, Erin can be found trying to tame a strong-willed beagle mix or scouring the local farmer’s market for seasonal things to juice or roast.

recent reviews Arts Club Theatre: Angels in America Part Two | Ensemble Theatre Company: A Prayer for Owen Meany | Theatre under the Stars: The Drowsy Chaperone | Pacific Theatre: Outside Mullingar | Patrick Street Productions: A Little Night Music | Arts Club Theatre: Angels in America Part One


Nancie Ottem

Nancie has had a life long interest in theatre and dance. Her interest in theatre started as a young girl writing and producing marionette shows for children living in her neighbourhood. She holds a degree in Canadian Studies and this multi-disciplined degree has furthered her interest in Canadian theatre and the arts. For her, it is magic experiencing the art of the stage, whether it be theatre or dance.

recent reviews To.Be.Announced: 1/2/3 Edition | Ballet BC: Nutcracker | Ballet BC: Program 1 | Matchmaker Productions: Concierge of Vancouver | Out/Innerspace Dance Theatre: Major Motion Picture


Elizabeth Paterson

A retired librarian, Elizabeth developed web-based catalogues for libraries in the Burnaby School District. She has lived and worked in England and in London, Ontario, where she studied Classics and English at the University of Western Ontario. She plays recorder with the Pastime Consort, is Librarian and Webmaster for the B.C. Recorder Society, reads avidly, and attends as many concerts, operas, and plays as possible.

recent reviews Bard on the Beach: The Merchant of Venice | UBC Opera: Ariadne auf Naxos | United Players: The Game of Love and Chance United Players: The Train Driver | Pacific Opera Victoria: The Magic Flute | Vital Spark: Mary Queen of Scots got her Head Chopped Off | PuSh Festival: Macbeth | Salish Sea Early Music Festival: A little Evening Concert for Louis XIV


Susan Peake

Susan has the distinction of being a true Vancouverite - born and raised. She holds a MSc in TESOL (Teacher of English to Speakers of Other Languages) and has spent most of the past eight years teaching/coordinating for Capilano College in Mainland China. She is currently teaching in both the ESL and the Communications Departments at Capilano College in North Vancouver. She began attending musicals and live theatre as a child, developing an appreciation for the art form that continues today.

recent reviews The Cultch: Dylan Thomas-Return Journey


Cassie Silva

Cassie is a psychology graduate from the University of the Fraser Valley and a former children's theatre director. She has written for travel websites, newspapers, and magazines, and has had stories featured in several non-fiction books including the Chicken Soup for the Soul series. She is passionate about international travel and volunteer work, and recently visited an SOS Children's Village in rural Peru as a visiting journalist where she wrote an article commending their work for the Vancouver Sun. She is a playwright and recently worked with an award-winning children’s author on the stage adaptation of her novel. Cassie loves Vancouver's arts scene and enjoys attending events, live theatre, concerts, and musicals in her spare time.

recent reviews Theatre Under the Stars: Hairspray


Christian Steckler

Christian's long-time passion has been contact and immersion with various cultures and their artistic traditions. His professional career began as a community development advocate for New Canadians in the 1970s. From there, his interest in arts and culture took him to life in Arctic Canada, where he taught for five years, and became an avid collector of Inuit art. He has also taught in China and Qatar, and has traveled extensively in Africa, South America and various other parts of the world. From his childhood, Christian has been interested in theatre, art and artistic performance, and enjoys the cultural scene wherever his travels take him. He presently teaches college prep English at Capilano University.

recent reviews United Players: Mr. Foote's Other Leg | Bard on the Beach: The Winter's Tale | Staircase Theatre: The Hunger Room | Home Between Crossings (book review) | Arts Club Theatre: As I Lay Dying