About Catalyst Theatre

Jonathan Christenson

Artistic Director

Jonathan is a director, writer and composer whose original musical plays have been presented at major theatres and festivals throughout the U.K., Australia, the U.S.A. and Canada. His work has been recognized with more than 40 British, Canadian and American awards and nominations, including a Lucille Lortel nomination for Outstanding New Musical of New York’s 2015 Off-Broadway season. His plays have been published by Playwrights Canada Press, Newest Press and Bayeaux Arts, recordings of his music can be found on iTunes and at Broadway Records, and his productions are featured in American Theatre, Maclean’s, CTR, PRISM International, Canada World View and All Stages. He was named one of “Alberta’s Fifty Most Influential People” by Venture Magazine and Alberta Playwrights Network chose him as one of Alberta’s one hundred most significant theatre artists of the past one hundred years.

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As Catalyst is a creation company, we do not accept script submissions. 

TRACY CARROLL

Managing Director

Tracy has worked as a director, dramaturg, teacher and producer for 25+ years and has held the Co-Artistic Director position at Concrete Theatre, a Theatre for Young Audiences touring company, as well as Artistic Associate positions at Alberta Playwrights’ Network and at the Citadel Theatre where she co-created KidsPlay@ the Citadel. She has produced several play development programs including Script Salon, a monthly series of play-readings by Alberta playwrights, EDMONten- A Showcase of Ten-Minute Plays and Peep Show! at SkirtsAfire, where she guided the development of 33 new plays written by Edmonton and area women, and has been the facilitator of the Young Playwriting Company at the Citadel and has taught regularly for the school program Writes of Passage through Workshop West. Most recently, Tracy Directed and Dramaturged The Space Between Stars by Christine Lesiak at SkirtsAfire, and Fresh Hell by Conni Massing at Shadow Theatre.

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Bretta Gerecke

Resident Designer

Bretta is the resident designer at Catalyst Theatre where she has been designing and conceiving world premieres for the past 20 years. She is a Set, Lighting and Costume Designer who creates for Theatre, Musicals, Circus and Opera. When not at Catalyst she is designing for companies such as Edmonton Opera, The Citadel Theatre, Calgary Opera, Theatre Calgary, The Stratford Festival and Cirque du Soleil. She is the recipient of over twenty-five awards including The Enbridge Award for Best Emerging Artist; The Global Women of Vision Award; Edmonton’s Top 40 Under 40, and three times short-listed for the Siminovitch Prize. She illustrated the children’s book “Maximillian’s Mistake”, represented Canada in Prague at the Scenography Quadrennial and her costume designs will be exhibited in Moscow and Beijing this year. Bretta designed a summer home on Devil’s Lake, Alberta, is a marathon runner and an Archaeological Illustrator. She lives with her husband, Nick in London, and has a beautiful step-son and god-daughter.

Jessica Glover

Associate Producer

Jessica has been Associate Producer at Catalyst Theatre since 2020. Previously, she has worked in administrative roles at the Citadel Theatre, Theatre Alberta, and the Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival. She is the co-founder of the independent theatre company Cardiac Theatre and has co-produced all of Cardiac’s projects to date. On occasion, she has also been an audio describer for theatre, a playwright (Maps to the Stars, New Works Festival), stage manager (Pompeii, L.A., Cardiac Theatre), and actor (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Edinburgh Festival Fringe). 

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