Founder
Lola
Rasminsky started Beyond the Box™ in 1998 as a natural extension
of the Avenue
Road Arts School,
which she founded in 1993. Trained in both Philosophy and Music Education,
she is interested in the theory that connects learning in the arts with learning
in business. A frequent contributor to the Globe and Mail, she writes mainly
about the creative process in organizational settings. She is an accomplished
speaker and, in 2004, she was a
presenter at ideaCITY, Toronto's 3-day creative
symposium. In November 2006, Lola received
the BELL Trailblazer Award at the RBC
Canadian Woman Entrepreneur Awards. In 2007, she was honoured with the Toronto
Mayor's Arts Award and in 2008, she became a Member of the Order
of Canada. She now sits on the Boards of the Ontario Trillium Foundation and Theatre 20.
President
Bob Presner comes
from the creative world of film and television. As former president of Film
Finances Canada and vice-president of Motion Picture Guarantors, he was involved
in more than 500 projects: feature films, MOWs, TV series, and documentaries
including films directed by Tony Scott, David Cronenberg, Deepa Mehta, Robert
Lepage and Atom Egoyan. Bob is a founding member of the Quebec Chapter of
the Directors Guild of Canada. In a previous lifetime, Bob was a folksinger
entertaining in Montreal's finest coffee houses.
Faculty
Jack Langedijk is an accomplished actor, director and producer who starred in the smash musical: We Will Rock You. You may have also caught him in Universal Pictures' Darkman III, or on television in Sue Thomas: F.B. Eye, or in The Rudy Guiliani Story. He has his BFA from York University and has developed and runs leadership and creativity workshops for Ontario school boards. Jack was the Artistic director of Theater Aside, the Association of Producing Artists, and Repercussion Theater in Montreal. His greatest passion is to make a difference in peoples' lives by creating positive change.
Linda Kash, actor, director and stand-up improv artist, is best known as television's Philadelphia Cream Cheese angel. Linda has appeared on Seinfeld, Cybill, Everybody Loves Raymond, Third Rock from the Sun, and Ellen, and her feature film work includes Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and Ron Howard's Cinderella Man, starring Russell Crowe.
Naomi Snieckus is a gifted actor, stand-up comedian, and improv artist. As a graduate of Second City in Toronto, she has taught in many venues and performs regularly at such prestigious events as Moses Znaimer's ideaCITY. Naomi recently starred in the long-running hit show: The Second City Reloaded.
Casey Sokol is Associate Professor of Music, Faculty of Fine Arts, at York University. He has toured in Europe, Japan, the USA and Canada as a piano improviser. His dozens of recordings frequently air on CBC Radio, in Canada, and on radio stations as far away as Japan.
Pierre Trudel has appeared as a series regular on Supertown Challenge for the Comedy Network, and in Faites le Deux, a SRC series showcasing the best in French-Canadian comedy. He admits to being part of the comedy trio Men in Tights, and is seen regularly at Mysteriously Yours, the Toronto murder mystery dinner theatre.
David Warrack is the award-winning founder and conductor of the Canada Pops Orchestra, as well as a performer, writer and producer. He has written 52 shows that have been produced professionally including Rob Roy, which premiered recently at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He has been musical director for more than 200 productions, including Shenandoah on Broadway.
Jocelyne Zucco is seen on stage: The Cemetery Club, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, De Beaux Gestes and Beautiful Deeds; on television: Urban Angel, The Associates, Due South, Doc and Falcone; in feature films: Funkytown, Love, Sex and Eating the Bones, Guilt By Association, Sister Mary Explains It All and Pendant ce Temps; and in the documentary: Zucco: a Semi-True Story.