Donna-Michelle St. Bernard (aka Belladonna the Blest) is an emcee, playwright, and agitator. Works for the stage include Reaching For Starlight, Cake, Sound of the Beast, A Man A Fish, They Say He Fell, Salome's Clothes, Gas Girls, Give It Up, The Smell of Horses, and The First Stone. She is co-editor with Yvette Nolan of the Playwrights Canada Press anthologies Refractions: Solo and Refractions: Scenes, editor of Indian Act: Residential School Plays. DM is the creator of the 54ology and artistic director of New Harlem Productions.
Mike Payette is an award-winning director, educator, and actor who has appeared with some of Canada’s finest theatres, including the Citadel, Vertigo, Banff Centre, Segal Centre, Centaur, the Grand, Factory, Neptune, and the National Arts Centre. A frequent guest artist at the National Theatre School of Canada, some of his memorable works as a director include Harlem Duet (Black Theatre Workshop), Hosanna (Tableau D’Hôte Theatre / Centaur), Around the World in 80 Days and Reaching for Starlight (Geordie Theatre), the Canadian premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy (Centaur, later with Canadian Stage / Arts Club), Cockroach (Tarragon), Sensitivity (Obsidian Theatre / CBC Gem, as part of 21 Black Futures), the Quebec premiere of Héritage (A Raisin in the Sun) (Théâtre Duceppe), along with national tours of The Tashme Project (Tashme Prod / Centaur / Factory / Firehall) and Lorena Gale’s Angélique (Black Theatre Workshop / Tableau D’Hôte / National Arts Centre / Factory / Obsidian). He was the co-founding artistic director of Tableau D’Hôte Theatre, past assistant artistic director for Black Theatre Workshop, and was the artistic and executive director of Geordie Theatre before becoming artistic director of Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, where he now resides.