PTC is pleased to announce that Jess Amy Shead joins us as our Community Engaged Producing Intern from October 2018 – July 2019. Expanding her experiences in access and inclusion work at the Vancouver Fringe, Jess Amy will help PTC to formalize and publicize the inclusion protocols we have developed since our ACK Lab project with JD Derbyshire. While developing her producing skills with our WrightSpace and Unscripted programs, Jess Amy will study ASL, and attend the Awakening Deaf Theatre Conference in Montreal and the SOUNDOFF Festival in Edmonton. These experiences will enrich both her creative and producing practices. She will also receive support in developing the project Otosan with Shizuka Kai and Randi Edmundson. We are grateful to the BC Arts Council for making this internship possible through the Early Career Development grant.

JESS AMY SHEAD immigrated to Canada from South Africa when she was two years old. She now lives on the unceded, traditional territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations. She is an actor, creator, producer, and arts administrator, with a focus on site-specific micro-performance, puppetry, theatre for young audiences, physical theatre, and collaborative creation. She has created her own work, most recently The Somewhere Cedar, which was co-presented at the rEvolver Festival by Upintheair Theatre and The Only Animal. She has worked as an actor at The Globe Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Chemainus Theatre, The Belfry Theatre, and Theatre SKAM, among others. She just completed her fifth year as Artist Services Coordinator at the Vancouver Fringe Festival, and was the Artist Services Coordinator for Full Circle First Nations Performance’s Talking Stick Festival for one year. She is a graduate of The Canadian College of Performing Arts, and completed the Pacific Theatre Acting Apprenticeship in 2016. She is the co-recipient of two Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, and a Vancouver Fringe Artistic Risk Award.