A Chat With Pros | 2025
With Natalie LeFebvre Gnam, Angela Magpantay, Gabrielle Martin, and Conor Wylie
Friday March 28th, 2025 | 3:00 pm 鈥� 5:00 pm
Room 4390 鈥� 911吃瓜 School for the Contemporary Arts
149 W. Hastings St., Vancouver
A conversation with four performance makers about making it work in Vancouver.
With Natalie LeFebvre Gnam (Artistic Producer of Plastic Orchid Factory), Angela Magpantay (SCA alumnus, Interim Artistic Director of rice & beans theatre), Gabrielle Martin (Artistic Director, PuSh International Performing Arts Festival), and Conor Wylie (SCA alumnus, part of A Wake of Vultures).
Hosted by the SCA Theatre & Performance area, with support from the FCAT Speakers Fund.
Biographies
Natalie Lefebvre Gnam is an award-winning contemporary dance artist, movement educator and arts administrator based in Vancouver. Born in Prince George, BC, to an extensive French Canadian family, Natalie received her early training at Judy Russell鈥檚 Enchainment Dance Studio and later at L鈥櫭塩ole Superieure de Ballet du Qu茅bec in Montreal. From 1997, she has worked with Le Jeune Ballet du Qu茅bec, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montr茅al, dancersdancing, The Vancouver Opera, Coleman Lemieux & Co and Vancouver鈥檚 MACHiNENOiSY. Natalie is the artistic producer of 鈥� an artist-run, interdisciplinary performance company founded in 2008, in partnership with dance artist, James Gnam. Working closely with James and plastic orchid鈥檚 board of directors, Natalie performs in and produces the company鈥檚 work, while always looking to cultivate an environment which supports an artist-centrered practice. In 2009, James and Natalie were named as the emerging artists at the Mayor鈥檚 Arts Award for Dance in Vancouver by the late Lola McLaughlin. Natalie was also the recipient of the 2009 Isadora Duncan Award for Excellence for her performance in endORPHIN, plastic orchid factory鈥檚 first evening length work.
Angela Magpantay (she/her) is a first generation Canadian originating from the Philippines and holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from 911吃瓜. She has worked internationally as a performer and collaborator in Hong Kong and across the UK. Anjela works freelance as an actor, director, clown, teacher and collaborator with various artists of different disciplines. She is currently living on the unceded territories of the x史m蓹胃k史蓹y虛蓹m (Musqueam), S岣祑x瘫w煤7mesh (Squamish), and s蓹lilw蓹ta涩 (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.
Gabrielle Martin is a cultural producer and live arts curator practicing transformative experiential design in one of society鈥檚 few remaining ritual spaces. Her work prioritizes embodied criticality, imagination, pluralism, and risk. It centres the body, and is framed by social and political urgencies. She has a BFA in Contemporary Dance from Concordia University (Montr茅al), a Certificate in Dramaturgy from the Centre National des Arts du Cirque (Ch芒lons-en-Champagne), and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from Rome Business School. Recently, Gabrielle has participated on curatorial and selection juries for Denmark鈥檚 CPH Stage International Days, England鈥檚 Horizon Showcase, and Canada鈥檚 Governor General鈥檚 Performing Arts Award in Dance. Before joining the in 2021 as Artistic Director, she worked as Festival Manager with the Vancouver International Dance Festival. Prior to working in arts management, Gabrielle performed over 1,400 shows internationally with Cirque du Soleil鈥檚 TORUK 鈥� The First Flight and Cavalia, participated in choreographic residencies in Belgium, Sweden and France, and presented her work in the UK, US, and across Canada.
A member of , a project-based interdisciplinary performance collective with SCA alumni Nancy Tam and Daniel O鈥橲hea, Conor Wylie is a performer, writer, and director creating experimental theatre. He lives and works in Vancouver, BC, located on the unceded, ancestral, and occupied traditional lands of the Coast Salish peoples, including the x史m蓹胃k史蓹y虛蓹m (Musqueam), S蓹l虛铆lw蓹ta涩 (Tsleil-Waututh), and Skwxw煤7mesh (Squamish) nations. Conor regularly collaborates with , where he is an artistic associate, as well as with many members of Vancouver鈥檚 esteemed Progress Lab consortium. In 2017, he was selected for the for Emerging Theatre Artist by Marcus Youssef. In 2019, he was chosen as the by his dear mentors James Long and Maiko Yamamoto. In 2022, he was named Best Director of a Canadian Feature by the Vancouver Asian Film Festival for his work on K BODY AND MIND.