Pina Macku

Pina Macku trained as a dance teacher in Switzerland and has been teaching in the Knowlton/Sutton area for 27 years. Macku and her studio have been an integral part of Tour des Arts since 1991. As well as dance & movement, Pina Macku is a multidisciplinary visual artist and clothes designer. Macku entered the theatre in collaboration with Emma Stevens in Echo Arts as a set & costume designer. True to Macku’s own anti aging philosophy she accepted the challenge of trying something new – ergo the birth of a virgin actor as Babka in 3 Old Bags.

Mary Harvey

Mary Harvey is happy to be back at Theatre Lac Brome where she was last seen in Radio Gals and Dial M for Murder.  She also played in Mrs. Warren’s Profession, Evelyn Strange, and The Importance of Being Ernest. Other credits include Very Heaven, Venus of Dublin, Tiger’s Heart and Burnt Piano at Centaur Theatre, Montreal; The Secret Garden and Wind in the Willows for Geordie Theatre Productions and Educating Rita  at Hudson’s Village Theatre. TV and Film credits include Hysteria, the Def Leppard Story, Attika,  Sherlock Holmes &  Big Wolf on Campus . Prior to Quebec, Mary was based in California and BC writing, and acting for Madhatters and English Suitcase Theatre Companies. Originally from the UK, she trained at Cambridge University and Webber Douglas Academy in London, then co-founded New Heritage Productions and Young Actor’s Classical Co. for the Old Vic. Now based in Sutton, local projects include playing in La Ligue D’Improvisation  du Village and  teaching drama in  to primary school students through  Arts Knowlton. Recent directing credits include The Trial of the Big Bad Wolf, Le Mal Joli, The Dik and Mitzi Anniversary Show, and of course Three Old Bags.

Gissa Israel

Gissa Israel trained as an actor in Montreal QC. At the age of 16 she was part of Dorothy Davis & Violet Walter’s professional troupe; performing live on stage and radio. Israel then left the theatre to raise her family and pursue other art forms such as establishing a 15-year private practice as a Psychotherapist and teacher of Concordia and McGill Universities. Her love for the theatre never waned and in 1994 she returned to the stage as both a playwright and an actor. Past shows include: Ma Where Are You? and Girl, that’s what I call myself these days. Her most current work was Treadmill,  a one-woman comedy about exercise and death. For Gissa, working together with these three dynamic women has been the best part of this very rich and rewarding experience.

Emma Stevens

Emma Stevens was classically trained in England and has been acting for 40 years. After 5 years of acting in London’s West End, Stevens moved to Knowlton QC in 1982. There she raised 2 sons while founding Theatre Lac Brome and The Knowlton Players. Over the years of directing, performing and teaching, Stevens also founded Echo Art’s Dinner Theatre and Children’s Theatre Summer Camp. During that period she presented the one woman show Shirley Valentine at the Piggery, Theatre Lac Borme and Saidye Bronfman Theatre. Recently she was seen in Montreal in a production of Pinter’s The Birthday Party. TV credits include Sherlock Holmes Sign of Four and Whitechapel Vampire, Lassie and Urban Angel. She appeared in films such as The Audrey Hepburn Story, Hysteria, the Def Leppard Story, Zoya, and in in her first supporting role in Summer House that aired on the Movie Channel early in 2008. Emma is thrilled and honoured to be working with these three gutsy and inspiring women.