Highway 1: Stories from Far and Wide recounts a three-person road trip from Toronto to Tofino. Through fast-paced direct address, physical and auditory theatre, elaborately magical stage directions, and music, the trio shares the experience of driving nearly-cross country and how it shaped and shifted their relationship to the world around them.
Production Photos, Drayton Arms Theatre, November 14th, 2021
Photos by Amelia Oliva
Creative Team
Keauna Miller and Emily Jane King, Playwrights
Keauna Miller is a writer and performer from Vancouver Island, Canada.
A graduate of Toronto’s Randolph College for the Performing Arts, she worked remotely during Covid as Caroline in Intimate Spaces (Natalie Chuck), and as Rosalea in Furpose and Punction (Aly Gouveia/Paprika Festival).
Prior to Covid, she could be seen as a dancer with Diva Diverse, and in a three person partially improvised take on Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (Dale Boyer/Canada’s Wonderland). She is currently living in Paris, France.
@Keauna.Miller on Instagram and Twitter
Emily Jane King is a performer, writer, and speech coach from Winnipeg MB, based in Vancouver, BC.
She is a graduate of the Studio 58 acting program, and apprenticed in Voice and Speech with Brad Gibson (Head of Voice, Studio 58) and Alison Matthews (Head of Coaching, Bard on the Beach).
Recent credits include The Collector in Mx by Lili Robinson (The Cultch) and Sarah Jean in Infinity by Hannah Moscovitch (Volcano Theatre). She is a voice instructor with Viva Voce Speech Arts and Vancouver Film School.
Keauna and Emily met at Studio 58 in Vancouver, where they debuted their first co-written comedy song in 2016: an ode to their teenage selves, Oh My God, What if I’m Not Straight? Since then, their work has expanded and includes the Zoom-based covid creation, Just Trust Us: What Would Have Been the Show of a Lifetime and a new fairy tale musical, The Sisters Wild.
Kay Brattan, Director
Kay is director, dramaturg, producer, and stage manager from Toronto, Canada. Kay’s theatre training comes from the prestigious Theatre Performance programme at Humber College in Toronto where she studied as an actor. Kay is a graduate of East 15’s Directing Programme where she was awarded an MA with distinction in theatre directing. She has also studied with GITIS International in Moscow, Russia, in partnership with East 15 Acting School. Directing credits include Lysistrata (how.dare.collective. Toronto Fringe 2017, Best Ensemble Nominee, My Entertainment World Awards 2017), Wake Up and Smell the Coffee (LowDown Theatre Company), The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea (Alumnae Theatre Company, New Ideas Festival 2018), CARMILLA (Montreal and Toronto Fringe, 2018), Mustard (Little Lion Theatre Company, The Drayton Arms Pub Theatre, 2020) and What You Will, or Twelfth Night (Little Lion Theatre Company, Tea House Theatre, 2020). As an assistant director, she has been a part of The Things That Were There (Valerie Christiansen, Theatre Festival Pending at The Hen and Chickens Theatre, 2019), King Lear (Jeremy Mortimer, East 15 Acting School, 2019), Brazen Head (Matt Harrison, East 15 Acting School, 2019), The AB Project: The Return (David Glass, David Glass Ensemble, 2019), and as an associate director on Accidentally Muslim (AMP Productions, Edinburgh Fringe 2019). (kaybrattan.com)
Valentina Turtur, Designer
Valentina Turtur trained in Stage Design at the Rome Academy of Fine Arts.
She has designed for screen and theatre both in Rome and London. Theatre credits include: Set & Costume Design for "What you Will" for Little Lion Theatre Company; Set Designer for "Shuga Fixx vs the Illuminati" for Guttersnipe Theatre; Set Design for "Baby Bear", "Little star" (shows for babies), "The land of Nod", "The Abominable Snowman" and "Little Red Riding Hood" for Moon on a Stick Productions (touring shows); Set Designer for "Uncle Vanya", "A Doll's House" and "Metamorphosis" (touring shows) for Theatrical Niche Ltd; and Set Designer on "Treasure Island" for Iris Theatre which has been awarded with the Offie Award 2017 as Best Production for young people (8+) .
Her work for screen includes Short, Feature films, commercials and tv series and it has also been awarded at the Depth of Field Int. Film Festival with the Excellence in Set Design Fall 2016 award.
Rebecca is currently living in London after graduating from East 15 Acting School. Recent credits include Viola in What you will/Twelfth night edited and directed by Kay Brattan, Thai in Mustard written by Kat Sandler, Lily in The Skriker written by Caryl Churchill, puppeteer in Lux written by the cast and Nurse in Blue Dodo by franko figueiredo-stow.
Sarah Parker, Olivia
Sarah Parker is an Actor, Fight Performer, Singer and Writer. Sarah graduated from the Acting and Stage Combat course at East 15 in 2020, after training in up to 10 weapon systems and a variety of physical disciplines including Aikido, Gymnastics and Archery; she is an extremely energised and physical performer with a love for fitness. Sarah enjoys playing a wide range of characters; her credits include performing with the Australian Shakespeare Company in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ at Kew Gardens in Summer 2021, Peter O’Toole in ‘O’Toole’s Macbeth’ written by Tom Mallaburn, and Sir Andrew Aguecheek in ‘What You Will, or Twelfth Night’ directed by Kay Brattan. Sarah’s passions include Shakespeare and classical texts, physical comedy, singing and writing/devising her own work.
Jack Powell, Marc
Jack is a recent graduate of Mountview where he studied musical theatre. He has been passionate about performing from a young age and is excited to start as a professional in the industry. He is very grateful for the opportunity to work so closely with new writers as he enjoys the process of collaboration and development that comes along with new pieces.