2025 Cohort Practitoners
TAIJA SHONEÉ CHUNG
Playwriting Practitioner
TAIJA SHONÉE CHUNG is a Jamaican-Chinese multi-disciplinary artist, based in Toronto. A passionate actor, mover and creator, she's enthusiastic about work that explores our perception of others and ourselves in this ever-changing world — who we are when we are at our most vulnerable, when we are trying to make a buck or when we think we are alone. Taija has had the distinct honor of being a part of playwright units supported by Paprika Festival, Theatre Passe Muraille, Diaspora Dialogues, Obsidian Theatre and Factory Theatre. She looks forward to amplifying her voice as an artist, both as a performer and a playwright. When not creating art, Taija can be found brushing up on her Swedish language lessons, watching films, or singing loudly in the shower.
SUMIA JUXUN
Playwriting Practitioner
Sumia Juxun is an elder sister, poet, and educator currently based between Tkaronto, Rotterdam and London. Her work often explores themes of memory, movement, and the cyclical process of leaving, as well as the rituals of departure. She has received recognition for her work, including winning the FourHubs' 2018 Poetry Prize being shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize in 2022 and being shortlisted for the Creative Future Writers’ Award in 2024.
Juxun is also the co-founder of SAWTI (2018-2022), a project that promotes East African literary and artistic expression. Her work is interdisciplinary, and she frequently engages in public readings, workshops, and performances that delve into acts of refusal, grief, and dreaming, as seen in her contributions to events like the Poetics of Refusal series.
JEDIDIAH MUGARURA
Arts Education & Playwriting Practitioner
Jedidiah Mugarura is a storyteller descended from the people of Nkore.
ABI AKINLADE
Performer Practitioner
Abi Akinlade is a Nigerian multidisciplinary artist based in Toronto. She is a recent graduate from the University of Toronto, holding an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Drama. Currently represented by AMI Talent Agency, she has performed in both film and theatre productions and is completing a 9-month pilot program with The Watah Theatre’s Black Theatre School as well as a journalism fellowship with Inkspire. Her freelance work, including personal essays and reviews, has most recently been published in Toronto-based magazine “She Does The City.” She is also one of the minds behind Crochet Gardens, a small business that she co-founded to use fibre artistry as a creative outlet. Through her passions for film, literature, theatre, and many more art forms, she seeks to uncover an even deeper sense of identity, honour her heritage, and use storytelling as a form of catharsis and connection.
KITOKO MAI
Performer & Multi-disciplinary Practitioner
Kitoko Mai (they/them) is a Congolese-Canadian multidisciplinary artist ( storyteller, poet, director, designer, performer, writer and facilitator) with a penchant for developing socially conscious, playful work that draws from lived experiences and imagined responses to the world we all live in. Their work is rooted in anti-oppression, accessibility, dreams, and having fun. They are invested in designing processes for creation informed by disability justice and anti-capitalist principles that uplift community. Their first film work, in which they were a co-writer, lead performer, and co-producer, Thriving: A Dissociated Reverie, was selected for screening as part of the shorts program at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Kitoko is also a member of the Literal Bimbo's collective, creating DIY zines by and for sex-workers. They are the co-lead for an anti-capitalist multi-arts collective, called Femmepire, currently producing “The Fruits The Fruits That Rot In Our Bellies” an afro-surrealist play about a surrogate who is haunted by ghosts.
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SUE-TANYA LEE
Producer Practitioner
Sue-Tanya Lee is an Afro-Jamaican theatre producer and creator who is interested in developing works by artists from marginalized communities and creating space for new and innovative multidisciplinary work that pushes boundaries and challenges conventional storytelling in bold new ways. She is currently an Apprentice Producer and Production Weaver with the Black Theatre School founded by d’bi.young anitafrika. Associate Director: LULU (Toronto Fringe Festival, 2025). Producing credits include: Bitty-Bat & Friends (Toronto Fringe Festival, 2025); Neptune With A Fish (Paprika Festival, 2025); Star People (Leigha Lee Browne Theatre); The Refugee Hotel (Leigha Lee Browne Theatre).
2025 Artists-in-Residence
TYRA BANDA
Performer - In - Residence
Tyra Banda is a queer black artist based in Toronto, Ontario. She got her first taste of Theatre when she pursued a BA in drama at the University of Alberta. While in Edmonton she was part of Rapid Fire Theatre, as well as multiple Edmonton Fringe shows (Chuckle Ruckus, Big Stupid Improv Show, Theatresports). Tyra moved to Toronto in 2019 for a degree in Comedy Writing and Performance from Humber College, where they currently teach at. Also during that time she became part of Bad Dog’s Featured Players (season 7), and still performs and teaches weekly with the company. She has performed as a cast member of Second City's "Improv All Stars", and is an eighth of Toronto's most well behaved improv troupe, "LIttle Miss Normal".
KAYGENI
Performer - In - Residence
KayGeni is a Toronto based multidisciplinary creator and storyteller originally from the Bahamas. She is known for her work in performance, writing, and visual arts often sharing personal experiences through an honest and vulnerable approach. Her work and music is heavily influenced by the colours, textures, vibration and cultural tapestry of her home country, The Bahamas. Prominent themes of whimsical Afro femininity, striking shapes and vibrant colours can be felt in her work. KayGeni is passionate about amplifying the voices of Black and POC children through art. Outside of her work as an artist and performer, she develops and facilitates Creative arts workshops intended to build confidence through creative expression.
Recently, she started Skool of Magik- a creative art practice specializing in the Magik of creativity, where she facilitates personalized lessons in finding one’s voice through art.
LAMESHA RUDDOCK
Producer - In - Residence
Lamesha Ruddock is a cultural producer, performance artist, and historian specialising on 20th-century Black British feminist history. She is Creative Director of Blemme Fatale Productions where she creates theatre and events that empower through Black diasporic storytelling. With Arts Council England support, she continued research in Toronto on Jamaican Patois. She is alumnae to Battersea Arts Centre Next Gen Producers, Black Theatre Workshop’s Artist Mentorship Program and Afrika Outbound and is currently with Luminato Festival and BAND Gallery. Lamesha also serves on the boards of Alumnae Theatre and Paprika Festival.
CANDICE DIXON
Costume Designer - In - Residence
With a background in fashion design and merchandising, Candice founded SugaCayne as a part-time creative outlet.
SugaCayne is a Caribbean Carnival Arts and production collective based in Toronto, that brings a unique carnival design aesthetic and "mas-building" experience to local and international Caribbean carnivals. They have been creating intricately designed costumes in Toronto, Cayman Islands, Miami, Chicago and Trinidad since 2010. Candice is now the proud creator and instructor of the first Carnival Arts course offered at an accredited university in Canada through Toronto Metropolitan University (Fashion at the Creative School).
JOSEMAR
Performer - In - Residence
Josimar Tulloch, known artistically as Josemar. Born in the vibrant island of Jamaica, he began his artistic journey using buckets, sticks, pots, and pans to make music. That early love for rhythm and storytelling shaped him into a modern-day Renaissance artist—a Singer, Songwriter, Photographer, Actor, and Muay Thai Champion. A JUNO-nominated artist, his work is rooted in self-expression, healing, and transformation, blending movement, music, and narrative to inspire and connect with audiences.
KABRENA ROBINSON
Performer - In - Residence
Kabrena Robinson is an award-winning Afro-Jamaican Queer multidisciplinary storyteller, performer, children’s book author and youth mentor. Currently an Artist-in-Residence at the Black Theatre School, Kabrena is also an emerging biomyth monodramatist, developing her first solo performance work that explores themes of immigration, identity, cultural tradition, and ancestral wisdom. Born and raised in Jamaica, Kabrena has been captivating audiences on stages across the Caribbean and North America since the age of nine. Her expansive creative practice spans theatre, poetry, journalism, and authorship, making her a dynamic voice in both literary and performance spaces. Kabrena's work centers marginalized stories with honesty, tenderness, and transformative power. She believes in the power of story to heal, liberate, and connect.