Production Team

Laine Zisman Newman

Conference Director

Laine Zisman Newman is a PhD student in Theatre and Sexual Diversity at the University of Toronto. She received her MA in Drama from the University of Toronto (2010) and her MFA in Documentary Media from Ryerson University (2013). In 2013 she directed and edited, “You’re Not My Target Audience.,” a documentary short that has screened at festivals throughout North America (including: DOCNOW (2013); Seattle LGBT Film Festival (2013); Reelout Queer Film and Video Festival). Zisman Newman’s creative and scholarly work has been published in Canadian Theatre Review; The Rusty Toque; Able Muse; Studies in Documentary Film; and Journal of Dance, Movement and Spiritualties (forthcoming, 2014).

 

Jessica Thorp

Assistant Conference Director

Jessica Thorp is a second year PhD student at the Centre for Drama, Theatre and Performance Studies. Her research interests include burlesque, fandom studies, and gender performativity. She has a MA in joint program Communication and Culture at Ryerson and York Universities. Jessica is also the artistic director and a performer with Nerd Girl Burlesque.