Meaghen Quinn was raised in small town Cobourg, Ontario and her family still lives in her childhood home, beside the same little elementary school. Over the past two decades, Meaghen has built a second home in Windsor. She studied as an actor in the BFA Musical Theatre program at the University and throughout her career has returned to perform in Gina Lori Riley Dance Enterprise productions and later settled in the region taking on the roles of Professor and Movement Coach for the University’s School of Dramatic Art (SODA).

Meaghen has been training, instructing, and performing in Canada and in the States for over 15 years. In addition to her BFA degree, she holds an MFA in Acting from Pennsylvania State University and a teaching certification in the Michael Chekhov Acting Technique.

Meaghen also studied with leading acting, voice, and movement specialists from around the world and has continued to develop an understanding of classical text and performance styles from her time in London England, her days training with John Basil of the American Globe, her weeks studying Viewpoints and Suzuki with the Saratoga International Theater Institute (SITI), and her time training with Theatre Gargantua; a Toronto based company that uses postmodern approaches to create new work.

In 2013, as a new Professor, Meaghen had the privilege of continuing to train as a performer while also concentrating on developing her approaches to teaching. Many of her mentors were still working at the University so it was a wonderful opportunity to gain experience and guidance. During this time, she took a break from traveling back and forth to Toronto for acting jobs and, rather, applied her performance training to teaching young actors for the profession, mentoring youth from the community, movement coaching for the University Players, performing for local companies, and offering workshops to young business professionals and executives.

In addition to her teaching responsibilities, Meaghen spent multiply summers working as the Artistic Director for the Changing the Odds Program (CTO). This experience greatly affected her development as an educator, director, and as an advocate in the community. Working alongside drama and education undergraduates, the CTO team, and guest artists, she collaborated with groups of young performers in the development of new theatrical productions fuelled by current issues and their own personal struggles. Her involvement with this program, and the University, helped her nourish community relationships and make valuable connections to brave and creative organizations like The Bloomfield House, The Downtown Music Initiative, Enactus Windsor, Enactus St. Clair, WeFight, Windsor Endowment for the Arts, Arts Collective Theatre, The Art Gallery of Windsor and more.

In the summer of 2020, Meaghen began to focus her creative activity on acting, directing, and supporting new Canadian works. She was set to assist a Canadian playwright and Windsor graduate (Cassidy Hicks) workshop her new play. Meaghen was also working with Windsor students on her own project called The Ghosts of Macbeth and was preparing to play the role of Mistress Ford in Detroit Shakespeare Company’s production of Merry Wives of Windsor, scheduled to perform on both sides of the border. Or course, these projects were put on hold.

This “Covid period” challenged our brave teachers, health professionals and other front-line workers, businesses, and of course brought heartache, tragedy, and devastations to so many, here in Windsor, and around the world. As an artist who hit the pavement for years and had many doors slammed in her face, Meaghen also acknowledges that COVID is the ultimate sucker punch for artists. In reflecting back (because who could think last school year), Meaghen feels she was one of the lucky ones and has also been able to reflect, innovate, find support in the community, and be a part of multiply creative teams dedicated to creating positive change.

Meaghen feels privileged to perform in this professional production of Contact, a show that was able to bring light to multiple countries during these “dark” days. She feels grateful to help bring theatre to the streets of Windsor, while encouraging audiences to engage with their surroundings and support the local businesses. Meaghen feels Contact the Show may remind us to listen to our inner voices, to brave the storm and face our fears, to ask and receive help when needed, to take time to heal, to celebrate storytelling, and to bravely make contact with one another.

Meaghen wants to thank all of her friends and supporters at the Classical Theatre project for this opportunity; to the cast and crew of Contact Windsor; the international creators; Aoife Kennan and Richard Heap, the English speaking voice-over actors who have taught her so much about these characters; the University of Windsor and the School of Dramatic Art for their continued support; Kristen Siapas for her networking and cheer leadings skills in the early days; Sweet Scott Johnson, Momma and Papa Quinn, her mentors at the University for all of their encouragement; and of course a big thank you to the Downtown Windsor Business Improvement Association, their sponsors, partners and member businesses.

Lastly, thank you audience members! Please enjoy “Contact the Show”!

Meaghen’s most memorable roles include: Singer/Ensemble in Vox Animae (Gina Lori Riley Dance Enterprises), Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Chicago Shakespeare Company), Maria/Antonia in Twelfth Night (Driftwood Entertainment), Miss Frizzle in The Magic School Bus Live!(Paquin Entertainment, Hummingbird and U.S.A./Canadian Tour), Singer in Franklin’s Class Concert (Tanglewood Entertainment, Hummingbird and USA tour), Lady Capulet in Romeo and Juliet (Toronto Arts Centre and USA tour), Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (The Classical Theatre Project), Viola/Maria in Twelfth Night (The Classical Theatre Project), Gertrude in Hamlet (The Classical Theatre Project), Mother/Cousin in (Toronto Fringe), Frances in Frances and Marybeth, by Neale Kimmel and HeShe in “I AM Here”, a multi-media (movement based) mask piece devised by Gina Lori Riley, designed for the stage and will be adapted for film.

Originally, from Vermilion Alberta, Robbie’s career has taken him around the world. Although currently located in Stratford, Ontario, Robbie retains a sense of prairie pride and is privileged to live and work on the traditional territory of the Anishnabek, Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), Ojibway/Chippewa peoples of Canada. From the Bunka Kaikan Concert Hall in Tokyo, to the Savoy Theatre in London, to College Square in Downtown Toronto, Robbie is thankful for the varied stages he has been able to perform on, and the incredible stories he's been able to tell.

Select theatre credits include:PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT, NEWSIES (Drayton Entertainment), MAMMA MIA! (Citadel Theatre); ROCK OF AGES (The Arts Club); LEGALLY BLONDE (Savoy, West End); SHEAR MADNESS (Drayton Entertainment); (THE TEMPEST (Theatre Royal, Bath); SCROOGE (Palladium, West End); LIFT (Soho Theatre, Off-West End); MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, OTHELLO (Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan); Evita (UK Tour); DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS, J.M. BARRIE’S PETER PAN (Citizens Theatre, Glasgow); WILD HONEY (RCS, Glasgow); BITTERGIRL (Globe Theatre); OUR MAN IN HAVANA (Vertigo Theatre); ALL SHOOK UP, THE WIZARD OF OZ, FOOTLOOSE, I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE (Mayfield Theatre); VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE, IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE (Persephone Theatre); [title of show], THE CONFESSIONS OF JULIAN POE (Edinburgh Festival).

Robbie’s formal training includes a Masters in Performance from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and also a degree from Grant MacEwan University Theatre Arts program in Edmonton, AB. Robbie has given back to formal theatre training as a contract sessional tutor at the University of Saskatchewan Drama Department. In addition to attending multiple workshops on classic text, stage combat, and clowning, Robbie is an experienced cabaret artist. Some shows include WELCOME TO THE PARTY (Fringe Festival, Edmonton); ECLECTICISM (La Cite Francophone, Edmonton); CALL ME! (The Arches, Glasgow); WEST END SUNDAY (The Lucky Pig, London).

Aoife trained at Cambridge University and LAMDA. Recent credits include ‘The 4th Country’ and ‘Good Women’ at VAULTS Festival, and ‘For Services Rendered’ at the Jermyn Street Theatre. She is a writer, actor and Co-Artistic Director of Plain Heroines, a female-led theatre company.

Richard got his first paid acting job in 1985, when £50 a week really WAS £50 a week. He cut his teeth – and got his Equity card – on the small-scale touring circuit with Sheffield’s Compass Theatre Company, where roles included Prospero in The Tempest, Jean in Miss Julie, Mephistopheles in Dr. Faustus and Hamm in Endgame.

He has been freelancing for the last 20 years and has worked at The National Theatre, Sheffield Crucible, Birmingham Rep, West Yorkshire Playhouse, York Theatre Royal, Manchester Library, Bolton Octagon, Dukes Lancaster, Salisbury Playhouse, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Richmond Orange Tree and in the West End. He recently toured the UK and Ireland as Estragon in Waiting For Godot. Last year he appeared in series IV of The Last Kingdom for Netflix, premiered Jane Black’s Peggy and Bill at The White Bear and directed a play for the first time – Mary Ann Figtree’s Lost Keys and Orgasms at the Pasty Motel, which won the Audience Favourite Award at the 2019 Camden Fringe Festival.

Richard sings in the bass section of The London International Gospel Choir (internationalgospelchoir.uk), is a proud member of The Scriptreaders (www.thescriptreaders.co.uk) and of Equity, the actors’ union.