We are delighted to welcome Samantha Bitonti to the Platypus puddle! Combining her love of clown, puppetry, music, and Theatre for Young Audiences, Samantha is eager to bring to life your favourite characters from How the Gimquat Found her Song, Presto, Mambo! and Rhythm in your Rubbish. Samantha calls Montréal home, and loves to spend her days playing Shakespeare with Repercussion Theatre, and cultivating creativity for kids aged 4 to 99 as a drama teacher with Geordie Theatre School. It’s no wonder bringing something classical to the hearts and minds of young people is right up her alley! Asking questions and getting to the heart of a story is what she’s all about: believing firmly that curiosity and connection lead to joy and abundance. Samantha loves acting, singing in the car, her friends and family, her cat Tilly, and ice cream. See you at the theatre! Her background in theatre, voice, film/TV, clown, directing, and teaching (phew!) makes her the perfect person to bring our beloved Platypus Theatre characters to life. Welcome Samantha!

We are also thrilled to welcome Colin Winn to the Platypus puddle! Colin is from Victoria and he wears lots of hats. He has worn his Acting Hat since the late 70’s with companies like Kaleidoscope, Story Theatre and The Belfry, then in Toronto, Sydney, Tokyo, New York and all over, with shows like The Number 14, The Overcoat and Lord of the Rings. He wore his Acrobat Hat when he toured with Cirque du Soleil to Los Angeles and Paris and all over. Later, with Cirque he wore his Clown Hat at Royal Albert Hall in London and in Moscow, Buenos Aires and all over. He wore his Playwright Hat when he wrote For Art’s Sake, Man From the Capital, Don Quixote (an adaptation with Peter Anderson) and The Apple Orchard, for which he also wore his Composing Hat. Lately he’s been wearing his Painting Hat a lot in Magog, Quebec, where he lives. His Grumpy Hat is gathering cobwebs at the back of his closet, but his new Platypus Hat feels pretty good!

Danielle Desormeaux has been mesmerizing children as a member of the Platypus Theatre touring company for more than 20 years! She has performed as the Gimquat in How the Gimquat Found Her Song, Corky in Bach to the Future, Emily in Emily Saves the Orchestra, and a clown in Rhythm in Your Rubbish, a production she helped create. She has been a favourite with our audiences and partner orchestras, and a cherished friend to all of us at Platypus Theatre. We will miss Danielle as she heads off to pursue exciting new adventures, and we wish her the very best in this next chapter of her life.