Cameron Mackenzie (he/they)
Artistic & Executive Director
Originally from South Africa, Cameron is a Vancouver-based director, producer and drag queen. He produced and curated Club PuSh for the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival from 2013 to 2020, and is the founder and Artistic & Executive Director of Zee Zee Theatre. He has assistant directed for the Arts Club, Bard on the Beach, Centaur Theatre, City Opera Vancouver and the Vancouver Playhouse and directed for Studio 58. A recipient of the Ray Michal Award for Outstanding Body of Work by an Emerging Director for the 2014/2015 season, he has also been nominated for Outstanding Direction at The Jessie Richardson Awards. He is a graduate of Studio 58 and has further trained with Pochinko clown master, John Turner.
Mackenzie’s drag alter ego The Queen of East Van, Isolde N. Barron has been the host of numerous weekly and monthly shows as well as taught drag workshops for various ages. As the Queen Mother of the Cobalt, an East Van space she helped transform into a vital queer hub, she hosted her first weekly show Apocalypstick for two years and was a monthly fixture for five years at Queer Bash, East Van’s premiere queer dance & dress-up party. She mentored the newest crop of Drag King, Queens and Things as the head judge for the Annual Mr/Miss Cobalt Competition, for seven years. She was Vancouver’s Entertainer of the Year for 2010 and appeared on the cover of various publications including the inaugural edition of SAD Mag as well as Xtra and Beat Route. With her real life husband and drag daughter Peach Cobblah, she has co-created 20 Minute Drag School, Tucked & Plucked: Vancouver’s Drag Herstory Live On Stage, Parents Are A Drag and Parents are STILL A Drag, drag show for kids starring their son.
Bronwyn Carradine (she/her)
Artistic Managing Producer
Bronwyn Carradine is a queer administrator, theatre creator and playwright. As an artist, she’s collaborated with Zee Zee since 2015 when she was the Assistant Director on Elbow Room Café: The Musical at Studio 58. Since then, she’s worked with them as an Assistant Director: Elbow Room Café: The Musical (The Cultch), My Funny Valentine (Buddies in Bad Times), and Playwright: Nyet: Again (2017) and most recently Unexpecting (2023). She’s beyond thrilled to be joining the team of this company whose mandate is so close to her heart.
As an arts administrator Carradine focuses much of her work on building community connections and furthering equity for artists when it comes to clear & concise contracting, deliberate hiring practises, inspiring auditioners, and building more robust on-boarding. In her past role as Company Manager & Assistant to the Artistic Director at the Arts Club Theatre Company, Carradine focused on opening doors for artists by implemented programs such as: Arts Worker Rush Tickets, Industry Nights, Relaxed Auditions, Audition Childcare, as well as Write from the Wings, and the Incubator Series.
As a Playwright her theatrical works have been developed, workshopped, produced by Babelle Theatre, Pacific Theatre, Arts Club Theatre Company, Green Thumb Theatre, Zee Zee Theatre, Intrepid Theatre, Studio 58, Speakeasy Theatre, and Playwrights Theatre Centre. Carradine is a member of the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, and previously sat on the Professional Association for Canadian Theatre’s Labour Relations Committee. She is a graduate of Studio 58 and was one of the inaugural members of the Arts Club Theatre Company’s Emerging Playwright’s Unit.
In her spare time, you can find her either on the couch with her partner and their cat or running in the mountains.
Alysha Collie (she/her)
Indigenous Community Engagement Manager
Alysha Collie is a Coast Salish artist from the Soowahlie First Nation.
She works at 3 Crows Productions as an Indigenous Educational Storyteller and Filmmaker. 3 Crows Productions is dedicated to educating the future generations of both Indigenous and non-Indigenous community members through presentations, live theatre performances and documentary filmmaking.
Alysha runs her own company called The Collie Collective (@Collie.Collective on Instagram) where she focuses on decolonization and reclaiming her ancestral roots through her beaded jewelry, Salish art and weavings.
In partnership with Tightrope Theatre over two years, Alysha has raised over $3,500 for local Indigenous non-profits who support healing initiatives for the multi-generations that have been affected by the Residential School system in some of the most underserved parts of Vancouver.
When Alysha is not working, you can usually find her creating art beside her cat or nestled in the living room of her grandparent’s house.
Jordy Matheson (he/they)
Digital Communications Manager
Jordy Matheson is a theatre artist working primarily in “Vancouver” on Unceded Coast Salish territories. He is a graduate of the Douglas College acting program, and has a BA in Theatre Studies from UBC. As an actor he primarily works in improv and live comedy, performing with Tightrope Theatre, QueerProv. and others. As a playwright he has had play performed independently and through Pull Festival and Arts Club’s LEAP program. He has worked with Zee Zee Theatre since 2013, and since 2019 as the producer of all Zee Zee’s community storytelling initiatives including Human Library, the two year digital pivot to Virtual Humanity, and this year’s Rainbow Elders Collection Project. Since 2021 he has been a co-deviser and director of We Deserve to Work with the Community Living Society and Canadian Institute for Inclusion and Citizenship. When he is not on stage he is often teaching theatre to the next generation of stars for Carousel Theatre, City of Delta, and City of Surrey.
Yanting Qiu (she/they)
Storytelling Events Producer
Yanting Qiu (she/they) is a first-generation Chinese immigrant theatre creator based in Vancouver on the unceded lands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Skwxwú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaɬ nations. Yanting is a playwright, producer, translator, and cultural connector. She is a native speaker of Wu Chinese, fluent in Mandarin and English. During her studies in graduate programs at UBC Asian Studies and Theatre Studies, she served as the playwright and dramaturg for FDC (Face Drama Club), the first and only UBC student club that practices theatre in Chinese languages. She co-founded Theatre as a Second Language Society with Jaylon Han in 2019 to build a community for culturally and linguistically diverse artists and audiences. As a personal storytelling facilitator and producer, she works closely with Deborah Williams in bringing true stories to the stage since 2018, especially from immigrant and queer storytellers. Having served as the co-curator of Zee Zee Theatre’s Queer Asian Storytelling Collection in 2023, Yanting is deeply honoured to return as the producer of the community storytelling initiatives and looks forward to presenting many more amazing storytellers with their inspiring stories.
Dave Deveau (he/him)
Founding Associate Artistic Director
Dave Deveau is an award-winning writer and performer whose plays and operas have been performed across Canada and in Europe. Plays for Zee Zee include: My Funny Valentine, Nelly Boy, Tiny Replicas, Lowest Common Denominator, Dead People’s Things, Elbow Room Cafe: The Musical and Holiday at the Elbow Room Café. He has also worked with Green Thumb Theatre, Theatre la Seizieme, Theatre Direct, Tapestry New Opera Works, Buddies in Bad Times, Roseneath Theatre,the PuSh Festival and the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. He has won the Sydney Risk Prize, the Gordon Armstrong Playwrights’ Rent Award, and his plays have been nominated for 21 Jessies, 4 Ovation Awards and 4 Dora Mavor Moore Awards. He is the Co-Artistic & Managing Director of Carousel Theatre for Young People. His first collection of plays will be published in the spring through Talonbooks. His drag alter-ego Peach Cobblah can be seen hosting politics-forward drag events across the Lower Mainland. He is a graduate of York University and UBC’s MFA Playwriting program. After helping Cameron found the company 15 seasons ago Dave has officially stepped away.