Sam Chaulk
Sam Chaulk (she/her) is theatre artist and educator from Newfoundland, Canada who has been working in theatre across eastern Canada for 13 years. She got her BFA in Acting for Theatre at Memorial University of Newfoundland and her MFA in Performance Creation for Theatre at York University in Toronto. In NL, she has worked as an actor and musician at The Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival (2009) and Rising Tide Theatre (2010, 2011, 2018). While in Montreal, she was a singer/dancer in The Merry Age at the Segal Centre for Performing Arts (2013) and played Peggy in Beautiful City Theatre’s Godspell at Centaur Theatre (2012). In Toronto, studied improv intensively at Bad Dog Comedy Theatre, and produced their MyTheatre award-winning La Grande Jatte in Toronto in 2016. In 2017, she produced and acted in her play, Dear Uncle Wish at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Sam is an accomplished improviser and has performed at festivals and comedy theatres across Toronto and Chicago. Her groups have played in Big City Improv Festival (2017, 2018)and her cast-created musical improv show Canada’s Next Top Blank played in the Chicago Musical Improv Festival at iO Theatre (2018). Sam has taught classes and workshops independently, at Young People’s Theatre and CBNuit Performance Festival in Corner Brook, Newfoundland. She is currently in development with her newest creation, Influenced: a audacious solo show about what it means to be human in the digital age.
Curriculum Vitae
Formal Training
• MFA in Performance Creation for Theatre, York University, 2021
• BFA in Acting for Theatre, Memorial University of Newfoundland, President’s List, 2011
Creation and Production History
• INFLUENCED (creator). Workshop Presentation. August 2021.York University
• Dear Uncle Wish (playwright). Produced July 6th - 15th, 2017. The Theatre Centre, Toronto Fringe Festival. Theatre Enthused. Directed by Adam Bailey. Workshopped August 15th - 17th, 2018. Rising Tide Theatre. Facilitated by Donna Butt.
• Iza The Brave (co-writer). Produced July 2nd - 9th, 2016. George Ignatieff Theatre, Toronto Fringe Festival. Iza’s Productions. Directed by Mihaly Szabados
Grants, Funding and Awards
• Awarded a grant by the Ontario Arts Council via Suitcase in Point Theatre to fund activities related to INFLUENCED, February 2020
• Awarded a professional development grant from Canada Council for the Arts to attend a 5 Day improv intensive at The Annoyance Theatre, Chicago, February 2020.
• Awarded a bursary from Young People’s Theatre to participate in YPT Artist Educator’s Training, February 2019
• Bad Dog Theatre’s La Grande Jatte received My Entertainment World
MyTheatre award for best improv or sketch, 2017
• The Al Pittman Harlow Travel Award, Memorial University, 2011
Job Experience in Theatre (selected)
• Skipping Stones Theatre Toronto. Dramaturg, Rage Room. Work-in-progress, 2021 - Present
• Young People’s Theatre, Toronto. Teacher, Online Summer Drama Camp. July 2021
• Mummer’s Festival, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Workshop facilitator, Comedy in Mummering, December 2020
• CB Nuit Online Festival, Newfoundland. Theatre creation workshop facilitator, No Judgement! September 2020
• Young People’s Theatre, Toronto. Teacher, Drama School. September 2019 - Present
• Young People’s Theatre, Toronto. Teaching Assistant, Summer Drama Camp, July 2019
• Rising Tide Theatre, Newfoundland. Playwright, workshop of Dear Uncle Wish, August 2018
• Rising Tide Theatre, Newfoundland. Actor/Composer/Musician, 2018
• La Grande Jatte, Bad Dog Theatre, Toronto. Producer, 2016
• Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare Collective, Toronto. Actor/Composer/Musical Director, 2015
• Merry Age, Virtuo Danse, Montreal. Singer, 2013
• Rising Tide Theatre, Newfoundland. Actor, 2011
• Grand Bank Regional Theatre Festival, Actor/Musician, 2009
Training and Intensives (selected)
• 5 Day Comedy Writing Intensive, Movement Theatre Studio NYC, Virginia Scott, 2021
• 5 Day Physical Comedy Intensive, Movement Theatre Studio NYC, Virginia Scott, 2020
• 5 Day Bouffon Intensive, Movement Theatre Studio, New York, Eric Davis, 2020
• 5 Day Improv Intensive, The Annoyance, Chicago, 2019
• 5 Day Improv Intensive, iO Chicago, Craig Uhlir, 2018
• Musical Improv Studio Series, 2016 – 2017
• Improv Combustion Festival Workshop with Keisha Zollar 2016
• Improv Ensemble Studio Series, 2015 – 2016
• Improv Foundations 2, 3 and Studio, Bad Dog Theatre, 2014 -2015
Improv Shows and Festivals (selected)
• Canada’s Next Top Blank
Weekly run at Social Capital Theatre, Toronto. May 2019 - October 2019
Chicago Musical Improv Festival at iO Chicago, 2018
Three month weekly run, Bad Dog Theatre’s Spring Binge Series, 2017
Bad Dog Theatre’s Blockbuster Week, 2017
Big City Improv Festival, 2017
• Dreamboats
Big City Improv Festival, 2016
Three month weekly run, Bad Dog Theatre’s Spring Binge Series, 2017
Dramaturgy
• Rage Room, Collective Creation, Skipping Stones Theatre. 2020 - Present
• Ponytail, Creator Alison Blair. 2020.
Composition/Musical Direction
• Daddy What’s a Train, Rising Tide Theatre, 2018
• Dear Uncle Wish, Theatre Enthused, 2017
• Iza The Brave, Iza’s Productions, 2016
• Spur-of-the-Moment Shakespeare, Othello (scenes), 2015
• Memorial University Theatre Program’s Man of Mode, 2010
• Memorial University Theatre Program’s Twelfth Night, 2009
Producing
•INFLUENCED. Theatre Enthused, Workshop Presentation, Theatre on Film, York University, 2021
•La Grande Jatte, Bad Dog Theatre, 2016
•The Butler Did It Cabaret, The Butler Did It, 2016
•Dear Uncle Wish, Theatre Enthused, The Toronto Fringe, 2017
•Canada’s Next Top Blank (Improv), 2017 - 2019
Sam’s work has been supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
