Our Instructors

Daniel Libman has spent his entire life in professional theatre, film and TV. He trained 2 years at Montreal’s Dawson College, then in the 4 year BFA Acting Conservatory at University of Alberta, plus a final year training under Julliard Head of Drama and Broadway Director Michael Langham at the Stratford Festival Young Company.

Daniel is one of a select number of Canadian theatre professionals who have also worked often in New York. For example, in September, 2022, he was back in New York City directing a public reading of one of his plays for Voyage Theater Company. And Daniel has acted at virtually all the theatres in Alberta, as well as many across Canada. 

And he continues to work in film and TV.  He co-wrote and co-directed the Indie film, Burned, (with former student Vera Neverkevich) which won awards at Film Festivals in Italy, Thailand, Norway, Houston and Romania. (Click on the button below to watch the film).  He is also co-writing a new feature film with Vera called Polynia, which was recently accepted into the prestigious Stowe Story Labs. Daniel and Vera were there this past fall.

Daniel recently attended the world premiere of the Feature Film Faultline,  starring as Warren Maclean. He played the recurring role of Orton "Roy" Ballard (opposite Andrew Garfield) in the acclaimed Disney/FX series Under the Banner of Heaven  and had a major supporting role in the feature film Rent a Groom, recently released. He also played Blake McMillan in the first season of the TV series Tribal. And in May 2024, he was back on-camera, playing Simon in Hallmark's A Dickens of a Christmas.

He’s had major supporting roles in American feature films, acted with Academy Award and Emmy Award winners, guest-starred on TV series and Movies-of-the-Week, and spent 10 years on the National Council of ACTRA (the national union of Professional Film and TV Performers) besides serving 6 years on the National Council of CAEA (“Equity”; the stage performers union).

Daniel's plays have been seen across North America (50+ productions and counting); in Calgary at ATP, Quest, Ground Zero & Lunchbox; in Edmonton at the Citadel, Workshop West, Chinook & The Fringe, and in the U.S. in Chicago, L.A., St. Louis, Pittsburgh and several times in New York. His play, Intermission, premiered at the Clurman Theater in Theater Row on Times Square, and a New York production of his play Cote Saint Joe is now in planning for 2025, which he will also direct.  He has created musicals for ATP, the Charlottetown Festival, Lunchbox, the Globe Theatre, the Edmonton Fringe and Workshop West, and performed in musicals at Theatre Calgary, Workshop West and Lunchbox. Daniel has also directed many times in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg, and was Playwright-in-Residence at Workshop West (Edmonton) and ATP (Calgary).

Daniel first taught at the Saidye Bronfmann Centre (now called the Segal Centre) in Montreal, and then ran the Writer’s Group at ATP, from ‘89 to ‘94. In the mid-90s he ran - and taught at - the Theatre Calgary School, and then founded and ran the EPCOR CENTRE Theatre School (now: Arts Commons); in 2005 he left to found Quest Theatre School. In 2010 he established Calgary Actors’ Studio, with almost 5000 students so far.

Daniel Libman’s teaching experience also includes the drama departments at University of Calgary, University of Lethbridge, Red Deer College and Mount Royal University as full-time instructor, visiting professional and/or workshop provider and through Calgary Opera's Let's Create an Opera program. He has also taught hundreds of specialized drama workshops in the CBE & the CSSD, and continues to teach in Calgary schools as artist-in-residence. And he's very proud of having such excellent Musical Theatre Instructors and Acting Instructors at CAS as well! See below.

Links (more about Daniel Libman):

Global TV News Interview - end of SAG-AFTRA Strike

IMDb

Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia

Daniel & Andrew Garfield in promo for "Under the Banner of Heaven"

Mark grew up in Calgary and graduated from the Theatre program at Mount Royal College (yes, it used to be a College, and it had a wonderful Theatre department).  

He is the artistic director of HeARTbeat Theatre, a touring children's theatre company that he co-founded in 2016. Mark is currently touring HeARTbeat Theatres'  4th production 'Hear, There Be Dragons!' to schools across Alberta and BC. 

Mark has performed for many local Theatre companies including Shakespeare in the Park, Theatre Junction, The Shakespeare Company, Mob Hit Productions, The Banff Centre for Performing Arts, Dark Forest, Quest Theatre, as well as being a street performer at Heritage Park for multiple seasons.  His film/tv credits include roles in Honey, I Shrunk The Kids- the tv series (Disney), Ratz (Showtime), First Wave (Space Channel), Big Sound (Global TV), Avalanche Alley (Avalanche Picture Inc), Jeremiah (MGM For Showtime), Carolina Moon (Lifetime Television), Bootcamp (Nomadic Pictures), and Damnation (Universal). He has also performed in commercials for Molson Canadian, Ford, and Dairy Farmers of Canada. 

Mark is looking forward to being involved in a summer program that he wishes was around when he was young enough to take it!

Originally from Calgary, Troy has been performing on stages across Canada, and  internationally, for over ten years. A graduate of the Randolph College for the  Performing Arts (Triple Threat Award recipient), Troy has extensive performing  and teaching experience in all three disciplines of Musical Theatre; character  through dance, acting, and music.

Beyond performing, his teaching experience  ranges from setting competition numbers, to international youth programs, to  choreographing full length musicals. Troy’s classes focus on the importance of  storytelling through movement, and organic behaviour, with a strong technical  base - from beginner to professional! 

Some credits of interest include: Mamma Mia, Anne of Green Gables  (The Charlottetown Festival), Evita (Vancouver Opera), We Will Rock  You (International Cast/RCCL), Peter Pan In Wonderland, Sleeping  Beauty (Ross Petty Panto), West Side Story (Rainbow Stage),  Footloose (Drayton Entertainment), Cannibal! The Musical  (Panasonic Theatre), Moby Dick; North American Premiere, The  Inventor; World Premiere (Calgary Opera), And The World Goes ‘Round  (Stage West Calgary).

Selected Theatre Credits: Sherlock Holmes and the American Problem, The Mousetrap (’15), In the Heat of the Night (Vertigo Theatre); The Santaland Diaries, It’s a Wonderful Life: Radio Play, The Surrogate (Lunchbox Theatre); Scent Bar (Ghost River Theatre);  München Jetzt!, In and Out of Love, Radioheaded 2: A Listening Party to Watch (One Yellow Rabbit); Twelfth Night (The Shakespeare Company); Much Ado About Nothing (Theatre Calgary); Christmas Stories, Beneath the Ice, Bird Brain, and many others (Quest Theatre). 

When not on the stage, Devon is a residency theatre artist with Trickster Theatre - and other theatre companies; he’s also recently written and voice directed an upcoming videogame, Flight of the Technolites, for Zügalü games. 

 Trevor Rueger has been an actor, director, writer and dramaturge for over 30 years. In 2011 he received the Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for his performance as Billy Bibbit in Theatre Calgary/Manitoba Theatre Centre’s production of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. As an actor, he’s been seen at Theatre Calgary, Lunchbox Theatre, Sage Theatre, Vertigo Theatre, Stage West, and the Garry Theatre. 

His directing credits include When Girls Collide, Columbo: Prescription Murder and Columbo Takes the Rap for Vertigo Theatre, Ai Yah! Sweet and Sour Secrets, Life After Hockey and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) for Lunchbox Theatre, Heroes for Sage Theatre, SHE and Matadora for Trepan Theatre, Medea and 33 Swoons for Rocky Mountain College and Courage for Lost Boy Productions. 

For 20 years he was an ensemble member and writer for Shadow Productions. He has written five produced Theatre for Young Audience plays. Trevor was also an original ensemble member of Dirty Laundry and for 10 years was the chair, writer, and producer of the Betty Mitchell Awards.

Ian Robertson is a  pianist and voice coach originally from Halifax, Nova Scotia. He completed a B.A  in Music and a Masters of Music in Performance at the University of Western Ontario. He has performed across Canada, the United States, Holland, Belgium, and in Dubai. In Calgary, Ian has music directed and performed for Stage West  (Legally Blonde, I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change), Front Row Centre Players, Cowtown Opera Company,  Cappuccino Musical Theatre, Morpheus Theatre, Storybook Theatre, and Simply  Theatre, and in 2015 was the recipient of the “Best Musical Director” award by  Calgary-ACTS for Gilbert and Sullivan’s Ruddigore  with Morpheus Theatre. He  continues to teach and perform as both a classical pianist and a music director for opera and musical theatre.

Christopher Duthie is a Calgary-based playwright, actor and theatre creator. His plays and collaborative creations include A Dinner Party (Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama 2020 Shortlist, Calgary Critics Award Best Original Play);  SensoryBox and SensoryBox TYA with Eric Rose (Ghost River Theatre, Young People’s Theatre); Of Fighting Age with Col Cseke and David van Belle (High Performance Rodeo/Verb Theatre/Glenbow Museum); and n00b (Y-Stage Vertigo Theatre). He is the co-founder of Bad Knaps Theatre Collective who premiered A Dinner Party in 2019.   

Christopher has been acting professionally in theatre for more than a decade in productions with One Yellow Rabbit, Ghost River Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Vertigo Theatre, Lunchbox Theatre, Quest Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects and others. He is represented by Details Talent for film/tv/voiceover, recently in FX’s Under the Banner of Heaven, Road West Pictures’s Ties That Bind and SunCross Productions’s The Children of Ar. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Guelph and a BFA in Drama from the University of Calgary.   

Originally from Edmonton, where he studied Musical Theatre at Grant MacEwan University, Eric now calls Calgary home. He has been working professionally all over Alberta’s stages for the last 11 years. He has been nominated for one Sterling award, two Calgary Critter awards, and two Betty Mitchell Awards.

Eric taught musical theatre for two years at Arts Commons summer camps as well as teaching Shakespeare, classical text, and song writing workshops through their Arts Learning programs. He has hosted and instructed audition workshops for Storybook Theatre and Ambrose College.

Select theatre credits Include: The Secret Garden, Mary and Max, Twelfth Night, One Man, Two Guvnors, A Christmas Carol (all at Theatre Calgary); In Flanders Fields, Lest We Forget, That Men May Fly, Dads in Bondage (at Lunchbox); Touch Me: Songs for a (dis)connected Age(tc UP CLOSE w/Forte Musical Theatre), Jeremy de Bergerac (Forte); Evil Dead: The Musical (Hit and Myth Productions); Romeo and Juliet, A Christmas Carol (at the Citadel); The Soul Collector, Vigilante (Catalyst);  & Romeo & Juliet (The Shakespeare Company).

Watch Eric in this scene from Theatre Calgary's The Secret Garden

 Iam  Coulter is an actor, director, teaching artist, and arts administrator serving  as Workshop Director for Morpheus Theatre and Executive Creative Director  of Iam Shakespeare, a company devoted to actor training and playing  Shakespeare in ways that empower and uplift.

As  an actor Iam has performed with Citadel Theatre, Shakespeare & Company,  Theatre Calgary, The Shakespeare Company, Vertigo Mystery Theatre,  and Alberta Theatre Projects. She served as artistic producer of The  Shakespeare Company in Calgary for 8 years during which time she directed  many Shakespeare productions including Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, Twelfth  Night, Henry VI part iii, As You Like It, The Taming of the  Shrew and Macbeth, in addition to Goodnight Desdemona, Good  Morning Juliet (Ann Marie MacDonald) and The Queens (Normand  Chaurette) Iam  was also the director of the Calgary premiere’s of both The Graduate  (Echo37 Theatre) and Shakespeare in Love (Morpheus Theatre). 

As  a teaching artist Iam has worked with Rosebud School of the Arts, Morpheus  Theatre, Artstrek, Rocky Mountain College, Company of Rogues and of course  Calgary Actors' Studio, in addition to private coaching and Shakespeare  Performance Intensives. She holds her BFA from the University of Calgary and has  trained extensively (including completion of the conservatory program)  with Shakespeare & Company in Lenox MA where her areas of  specialization include Text and Clown. Iam  Coulter is also a member of the TEDx YYC Speaker's Coaches team. Iam  is delighted to be returning to the Calgary Actors' Studio team this summer.

Aimée has spent her entire career working with children and young adults - first as a music specialist and then as an Administrator in both Elementary and Elementary/Junior High school settings in Calgary. She has always valued the importance of the arts in child-centred learning and has encouraged her staff and students to teach and learn creatively through the arts. As a Principal, she provided leadership to create Fine Arts programs at two schools in the Calgary Catholic School District.  In 2012, she received an award as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals. 

Aimée has her ARCT in piano performance. She is an experienced and enthusiastic accompanist, working in many settings. She has collaborated on countless projects, from directing school musicals to creating two original operas with Calgary Opera’s ‘Let’s Create an Opera’ program. She enjoys collaborating with other talented and creative musicians to create original works. 

Aimée is excited to join the SummerACT team and looks forward to meeting, coaching and supporting young artists who are passionate about discovering and developing their musical talents.