Mia van Leeuwen (co-founder of out of line theatre) is a performance artist, actor, writer, director and producer. She has spent the last decade creating everything from pervy-panty-filled peepshows, to tumultuous tangos, to sacrilegious psychedelic experiences, to a licorice whipping bloodied red nose boxer, to Roy Orbison’s forgotten daughter, to epic Madonna concerts with her very own back up dancers. She graduated from the University of Winnipeg’s department of Theatre & Film in 2002. She has worked with other independent companies and thinkers, such as Grant Guy, founder of Adhere & Deny, Brenda McLean and filmmaker Guy Madden. www.outoflinetheatre.com

Ian Mozdzen is directing Le Petit Mort. He is a performer/creator born and raised on a farm in rural Manitoba. He has studied Devised Theatre and English Literature at Simon Fraser University and the Universitiy of Winnipeg. He co-founded out of line theatre with Mia. He is also a member of The Rite Productions and has created various short exploratory works and original full-length collaborative productions based on everything from witch hunts to serial murder to self castration to Igor Stravinsky. www.outoflinetheatre.com

Nathalie Claude is working as an actress, dancer, choreographer, director and writer for more than 20 years. Her creations as an active member of the Momentum collective include: Les Filles de Séléné (1999-2001), a physical theatre for 8 women presented in a convent; La Fête des Morts (2002-2004), a theatrical event taking place in a cemetery featuring 11 actors created in collaboration with Céline Bonnier (in nomination for Best Director and Best Play at the Gala des Masques), and Limbes/Limbo (2004), a co-creation with Lin Snelling inspired by Nancy Houston’s tribute to Samuel Beckett. Nathalie also created her solo piece for three automatons and one actress (2008-2010) The Salon Automaton/Le Salon Automate in Montreal, and toured it in Quebec and in Toronto. Furthermore, she created five solo performances between 1999-2006 that had great success in Montreal, Toronto, New York, Florence (Italy), Berlin (Germany) and Lublijana (Slovenia). Since 2008, Nathalie is an artistic coach at the Cirque du Soleil. She is also a very active and in demand MC for all kinds of events and festivals. In 2009, she has been invited by the Montreal’s Fine Arts Museum to co-direct the scenography of the largest retrospective of the English pre-Raphaelite painter John William Waterhouse. Recently, in the fall of 2010, she directed at Concordia University, the opera “Doctor Faustus lights the lights” by Gertrude Stein. www.nathalieclaude.com

With a background in corporal mime, theatre and dance, Danielle Lecourtois is a multi-faceted artist. She derives her inspiration from real and fictitious characters and creates movement that is particular for its theatrical physical approach. She works by turns as a choreographer, performer, coach, actor (stage and cinema), assistant director, wardrobe master and artistic coach. In dance, she assisted choreographer Philippe Decouflé for the Bicentennial Parade on the Champs Elysées in Paris. As a choreographer/performer, she devised a double act with Peter James, Mange mon cœur en corps un peu, which was selected by Les Bancs d’Essais Internationaux. On stage, she plays character roles as much in first productions (La fête des Morts directed by Céline Bonnier and Nathalie Claude) as in repertory theatre, (Les Belles Sœurs directed by Denise Filliatrault). She has worked for many years alongside multidisciplinary artist Nathalie Derome. In cinema, she played Lotte Lenya, a musical choreographed by Ginette Laurin. She has worked on several occasions with Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon, as a virtual character in multidisciplinary productions, Le Grand Hôtel des Étrangers and Territoire Intérieure. She has worked with Cirque du Soleil since 2000, as artistic coach with the Formation Générale des Artistes on different acrobatic apparatus, as well as with the Formation Spécifique de Rôles in the Cirque du Soleil shows. In 2007, she worked on the creation of Love as performance assistant. She has also been part of the team of Artistic Advisors since 2007 and works with the students of the National Circus School in Montreal.

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