Staff and Board

Beatriz Pizano

Artistic Director
beatriz@alunatheatre.ca

Beatriz Pizano is an actor/director/playwright and the founder and Artistic Director of Aluna Theatre. Over the last two decades, she has built Aluna into an international company recognized for its unique approach to creation, its daring political work, and its experimentation with multiple-language productions. Her bold creations, in English and Spanish, are marked by a distinct theatrical language drawing from the heritages, cultures, and languages from across the Americas.

She has been the recipient of numerous awards including the John Hirsch Prize, the Chalmers Fellowship, K.M. Hunter award, 100 Colombianos and Colombiano Estrella. She is the first Colombian actress to win the Toronto Critics award and a Dora for her performance in Blood Wedding. She has been recognized twice by the Colombian government (President Santos and President Duque) for her work as a promoter and a mentor to the Latinx artists living and working in Canada. In 2019 she was named TD Bank’s 10 Most Influential Hispanic Canadians. In 2023 she received the Trailblazer & Lifetime Achievement Award from the Canadian Latinx Theatre Artist Coalition (Caltac).

She has written and directed a number of award winning and touring productions for Aluna, including: For Sale, Madre, La Comunión and has co-created touring productions such as What I learned from a Decade of Fear, The Refuge of Freidel, and The Solitudes. Her TYA play, La Maleta, has been produced by Roseneath Theatre touring extensively across Canada and the US, and earning numerous accolades each time. In 2022 Playwrights Canada Press published her one woman show Dividing Lines | Líneas Divisorias.

She is passionate about her work as a playwright, dramaturge and director. In 2019 she was the senior playwright at the Banff Centre’s Playwright’s Lab. She also continues to be a guest speaker and lecturer at York University, UofT, Glendon College, Sheridan College and others.. Her writing challenges Eurocentric approaches to theatre creation. She is a fierce activist who creates spaces and opportunities for racialized artists and playwrights.

“Colombian-born Beatriz Pizano is one of Canada’s important Latin-Canadian writer/directors.” — Paula Citron, Classical 96.5 FM

Trevor Schwellnus

Artistic Producer
trevor@alunatheatre.ca

Trevor is a Toronto-based Scenographer – designing sets, lighting, and video for performance with independent artists. He has developed his approach to direction and dramaturgy through Collaborative creation in a designed environment at Aluna, leading the creation of Nohayquiensepa (Nooneknows) and What I learned from a decade of fear. His design work for Aluna’s La Comunión, Madre, and For Sale launched him on his artistic path. One of his chief obsessions is the intersection of design, dramaturgy, and cross-cultural art-making.

Trevor has collaborated in theatre and dance with Modern Times, Jumblies, Fixtpoint, Cahoots, The Theatre Centre, Buddies in Bad Times, Independent Aunties, Obsidian, Tarragon, Small Wooden Shoe, One Reed, Marie-Josée Chartier, Ame Henderson / Public Recordings, selfconscious Theatre, Dancemakers, Theatre Passe Muraille, and others. He has 6 Doras (of 17 career nominations), a Harold, and a Children’s Choice Award. In 2015 he was shortlisted for Canada’s Siminovich Award.

Maria escolán

Associate Artistic Producer
maria@alunatheatre.ca

María Escolán is a theatre artist and producer from El Salvador living in Toronto. Recent workshop showings of her work in development La Mujer Fragmentada have taken place in Toronto with Aluna Theatre’s CAMINOS Festival, in San Salvador with Asociación Cultural del Azoro,in Victoria BC with Intrepid Theatre’s UNO Fest, and in Vancouver, BC with rice & beans theatre. Past collaborations include live translation performance in Pequeños Territorios en Reconstrucción with Teatro Linea de Sombra, Assistant Directing/Performance with Nightwood Theatre’s Children of Fire at Aluna Theatre’s Rutas Festival 2022 in Toronto, and Assistant Directing Peace Country with rice & beans theatre. María holds a BFA Degree in Theatre Performance from the School for Contemporary Arts, Simon Fraser University and a BA Degree in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice from the University of British Columbia.

FLAVIA MARTIN

Studio Coordinator
alunaspace@gmail.com

Flávia F. Martin (she/her) is a Portuguese-born Stage Manager based in Toronto.Selected recent and not so recent credits include: Through The Eyes Of God (Theatre Passe Muraille), The Wind Coming Over The Sea (Blyth Festival), Blind Dates (Theatre Passe Muraille), No One’s Special at the Hot Dog Cart (Theatre Passe Muraille), On the Other Side of the Sea (Aluna Theatre), New (Necessary Angel), Rubble (co-production between Aluna Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille), Beautiful Renegades (Peggy
Baker Dance Projects). When she is not stage managing, Flávia can be found answering the Aluna Studio emails.

Josh Marchesini

Marketing Manager
alunaoutreach@gmail.com

Josh Marchesini (he/him) is a trilingual (English, Spanish, French) Salvadoran-Canadian writer, artsworker and event/theatre producer based in Toronto. Josh has worked in various organizations including À Deux Mains / Head & Hands, Teesri Duniya Theatre, Canada’s Theatre Museum, Theatre Passe Muraille and The Theatre Centre. His writing has appeared in venues like Articulation Magazine, articule, Vie des Arts, Centre Skol des arts actuels and Mass Culture / mobilisation culturelle. He is a proud alum of Our Bodies, Our Stories, a performance creation and arts leadership program, mentored by multidisciplinary Kama La Mackerel. Recently, he participated in Generator’s 2025 Artist Producer Lab and was a Mentee for Communicating the Arts’ 30 UNDER 30 Global Mentorship Program. He holds a Graduate Certificate in Arts Administration & Cultural Management from Humber Polytechnic and a BA in Art History from McGill University.

Uchenna Egbuna

Digital Marketing Coordinator
alunaoutreach@gmail.com

Uchenna is a multidisciplinary performer and creative with a degree in Dramatic Arts from Brock University. After graduating in 2019, she returned to her home country of Nigeria to experience the entertainment industry firsthand before later relocating to Los Angeles, where she spent four years developing her work across acting, theatre, photography, and visual storytelling. Alongside performance, her background includes digital marketing, stage management, and production assistance. Passionate about storytelling in all its forms, Uchenna is excited to join Aluna Theatre this summer and contribute to a collaborative, culturally driven artistic environment while continuing to grow as an artist.

Priscila Gonzalez

Production Assistant
priscila@alunatheatre.ca

Priscila González (she/her) is a queer Colombian-Canadian theatre artist based in Tkaranto. She recently graduated from York University with a BFA, specializing in Devised Theatre and Performance Creation. Priscila loves working both backstage and onstage, as long as she is a part of telling important stories. She is an experienced actor, director, writer, producer, and stage manager. In her personal work, she strives to create multilingual pieces that explore what it means to be a first-generation immigrant.
Past credits include: Snacey! (Writer, Director, Producer) in Toronto Fringe Festival 2026, She Kills Monsters (Assistant Director) in Theatre@York 2024, Snacey! (Playwright, Performer, Producer) in Toronto Fringe Festival 2024, How to Drink Mate (Performer) in Paprika Festival 2024, Radium Girls (Production Manager) for Theatre@York 2023.

Alex Grozdanis

RUTAS Production Manager
grozdanisalex@gmail.com

Alex is an emerging interdisciplinary artist from Toronto. With design and technology at the helm of creation, Alex’s work focuses on memory, nostalgia, and perception. Alex’s interests lie in creation and curation of performance based art and interactivity. Some of her select credits include: Projection Designer ZEITGEIST, Producer A Girl in a School Uniform (walks into a Bar) (A Front Company X Pickles Theatre Co), Technical Director & Tour Manager 2021 Dir. Cole Lewis (Guilty by Association), Projections Designer Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Bow tie Productions), Technical Director The Division Dir. Andrew Kushnir (Tarragon + TMU 2022), Producer and Technical Director VELVETHEAD (Pickles Theatre Co 2022), Projections Designer VELVETHEAD (Que(e)ries? Festival 2022). Alex is also a freelance technician and production manager installing theatre, events, and exhibits all over the GTA.