Artistic Director

Ann Merriam’s career, spanning three decades, has centered around education, personal excellence and community-building through the Performing Arts.

As the founding Artistic Director of the Performing Arts program at Wexford Collegiate School of the Arts, she mentored students who have gone on to study at Julliard, the Boston Conservatory, University of Toronto and New York University, and continued their careers on the stages of Soulpepper Theatre, Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival and Broadway. In addition, graduates have been cast as regulars on series’ by Netflix, Disney, HBO, CBC, and received roles in television and feature film as both leads and supporting roles in: X-Men, Goliath, Vampire Diaries, Degrassi, and many more.

Professionally, Ann’s work as a director has been produced at Theatre Passe Muraille, Roy Thomson Hall, the National Arts Centre, and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Her award-winning Wexford Gleeks were the subject of Global TV’s 6x9: The Real Glee, and the TVO documentary Unsung: Behind the Glee directed by Moze Mossanen, award- winning director of You are Here: A Come From Away Story.

Recently, Ann became the new artistic director for the company B.L.A.C.K. (Building a Legacy in Acting, Cinema & Knowledge) created by Shamier Anderson and Stephan James, two international Canadian actors. She is also in the midst of collaborating with CBC on a brand new initiative with emerging Canadian artists.

Edge of the Sky was born out of Ann’s distinguished career in leadership and also, her recognition that young raw talent needed support to bridge the gap to a vibrant and viable career in the Arts. She dedicates the next chapter of her career to creating that pathway.

Ann holds a Bachelor of Music Education (U of W) and a Masters of Theatre Education (NYU).

Instructor

Masini McDermott, was born and raised by a single mother in east end of Toronto. As a little girl, she began singing in the church choir and fell in love with performing.

In her teenage years, she went to Wexford Collegiate School of the Arts after auditioning to be in their Musical Theatre Program. After studying at Wexford, Masini moved on to study at Sheridan College in their BA in Musical Theatre. Once she completed her first year, she made the decision to take a break from the arts and study in George Brown College’s Hospitality Tourism and Leisure Program. In the midst of her studies the inspiration to create again emerged when, she met and sang with Grammy and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson. This meeting encouraged and reminded her to use her talents to uplift herself and others by way of the arts. So moved and inspired by this meeting, Masini went on to create a one woman show entitled, ‘One Night Only Live’ at The Daniel Spectrum Theatre in downtown Toronto. This show propelled her into many audition rooms which allowed her the ability to perform in many spaces across Canada and internationally. Since then, Masini has been a part of Toronto’s Fringe Festival (Edge of The Sky Theatre Company’s Summerland & True North Mix Tape), Bubble Baz (Barbara Johnston’s one woman Show), Disney Cruise Line (Believe, Wishes, Magic), The Color Purple (Neptune Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Royal Manitoba Theatre), The Grand Holiday Show (The Grand Theatre), Grow (The Grand Theatre London) along with various Film/TV roles like; Life In A Year, 1UP, In The Dark, Dear David, Lazy Legs. While Masini enjoys performing onstage and sometimes off, she also loves the creative process. The opportunity to contribute creatively behind the scenes, and has arose in working on Musical workshops with incredible creatives in which she believes will create safe spaces for all to tell wonderful stories in the future. Backed by her agents at Grand Wave Entertainment, Masini has been seen in many rooms and has been provided the opportunity and space to grow as an artist and a black woman in this ever-evolving industry.

Instructor

Eric Andrews grew up a very shy child just outside of Toronto in modest town we call Brampton. He broke out of his shell in high school when he was cast in the lead role of Rosencrantz in “Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead.”

He quickly became enamoured with performing and at seventeen years old he started his training in the comedic arts with a focus in improv and stand up comedy.
He attended Humber College for Comedy: Writing and Performance and has since been working in the entertainment industry for over 15 years.

During his time performing he's achieved some excellence winning a Canadian Comedy award for Best New Stand-up and being crowned Sirius XM’s Next Top Comic. He’s also also won Best comedy at the Toronto Fringe Festival for his one man show “Audience of One.”

Eric along with all his live performances has worked on many TV shows including being a series regular on Discovery's Channels "Prank Science" as well as featured on other shows such as Amazon Prime’s "The Boys” and “The Romanoffs" , FX's "What We Do in the Shadows" and Disney’s “The Next Step”. He continues to this day to work and grow in all aspects of the industry.

Instructor

Shannon Hamilton is an artist and educator who works out of Toronto. Her career focusses on acting for TV/film - whether it be voicing characters through animation or working on camera herself. Shannon has voiced characters on Teletoon, Universal Kids, Sprout, Cartoon Network and CBC Kids, and is perhaps best known for her work on the award-winning CBC Kids show The Moblees. Shannon over the last few years has taken an active interest educating young artists and has worked as a guest artist at Etobicoke School of the Arts, Wexford School for the Arts, Randolph Academy, The Royal Conservatory of Music, Teen Fringe, and Edge of the Sky Theatre. She loves working with young artists and cultivating their skills to work in a variety of artistic mediums.

Instructor

Originally from Barrie Ontario, Matt studied acting and received his BFA from Ryerson University in Toronto and has been acting on stage and on screen ever since. He is a contracted arts educator and acting teacher in performing arts schools, after school and summer programs, and recently has been directing a program in theatre exploration with Community Living Toronto for adults living with intellectual disabilities. Matt has been a Program Coordinator with Lakeshore Arts since September 2019. Selected film credits include working with director Roger Avary (Pulp Fiction) on his recent feature film Lucky Day, also recently with Carlo Liconti in his new action film, Charity. Selected television credits include the Murdoch Series, TV movies Home for Harvest and Country Crush, and The Carmilla Series. Matt has also appeared on stages throughout Canada from Charlottetown P.E.I. to the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, in various plays and musicals; Riff in West Side Story being one of his favourite parts to play.