Meet the Creative Team
June Cupido
Director, Story Weaver
Truth and Illusion is a soul-searching exercise as it takes an intense creative process for someone to come up with a heartfelt monologue. As a story weaver and Jungian Coach, June asked the performers to dig deep. June calls the complete process of crafting the narrative response: Deep, Dark, and Delicious. As each performer processes their world inside, they can discover enlightenment. This method is inspired by the three main stages of the "Hero’s Journey", a narrative pattern identified by Joseph Campbell, world-celebrated mythologist. The teachings of Joseph Campbell serve as the inspiration for the production. He asserts that storytelling and myths relate to our search for truth, meaning, and significance. According to Campbell, we all need to tell our personal story and, most importantly, to understand our story. He encourages us to view parts of our lives as heroic journeys – to find out what excites us and make that the basis of our quest. We invite you to accompany the performers on their journey.
After spending 36 inspiring years in post-secondary education developing leadership programs to help students find a sense of purpose and social direction, June's focus now is to continue to create provocative theatre experiences that guide the integration, acceptance, and compassion for others through increased understanding of what another has experienced or is experiencing.
Michael Mulrooney
Musical Director/Composer
Michael Mulrooney studied piano, conducting, and voice at University of Toronto and has pursued an eclectic musical career centred on theatre. He has served as musical director, conductor, pianist, arranger, and/or composer on over 200 theatrical productions of every conceivable shape and size. During the mega-musical boom of the 90s, he participated in the development of Livent’s award-winning productions of Kiss of the Spider Woman, Show Boat, and Ragtime. Conducting credits include Starlight Express (Bochum, Germany), Les Misérables (Toronto and Canadian Bilingual Tour), Kiss of the Spider Woman, Sunset Boulevard, (Toronto), and Show Boat (Toronto and New York). Recent musical direction credits include Musical of Musicals (the Musical) for Mirvish Productions, Billy Bishop Goes to War at several Ontario regional theatres, and, for the Smile Theatre Company, Extraordinary and A Christmas Carol, the latter of which recently completed a virtual tour of Ontario on Zoom. Outside the theatre, he works as music director for Grace United Church in Burlington and as an adjunct professor at Sheridan College.
Heidi Lange Composer, My Own
Heidi is a singer, teacher, writer and actor, balancing a varied teaching schedule of vocal, piano and musical theatre instruction. She sings jazz and pop regularly in and around Toronto, as well as performing theatrically. In 2020 and 2021, she ventured into the world of audiobooks and has had the pleasure of narrating 4 titles for At Bay Press. In 2018, she founded Unsung Collective Arts, an arts production company with inclusiveness and representation as the central mission. Heidi's first album, Later, was released in 2008, comprised mainly of her original songs. Her second album, Let Your Honesty Shine, a tribute to Paul Simon was released in 2020https://static.wixstatic.com/media/ce0cae_c6d255e6d4c94194a84130aea389f08c~mv2.jpg
Allison McCaughey Choreographer
THEATRE: You can see Allison performing at the Shaw Festival in this season's production of My Fair Lady. Other credits include five seasons at the Shaw Festival, two Season with the Stratford Festival, Theatro Proscenium, Drayton Entertainment, Theatre Aquarius, Capital Theatre, Stage West Calgary, Neptune Theatre, and Second City.
FILM/TELEVISION: The Boys, American Gods, Warehouse 13.
DIRECTOR: A Grand Night for Singing; Shaw Festival.
CHOREOGRAPHY: Shaw Grounds, A Grand Night for Singing; Shaw Festival, Marathon of Hope; Sheridan College, Little Mermaid Jr, The Wizard of Oz; Capitol Theatre, The Little Price; Creativiva, School of Rock, James and the Giant Peach; Bravo Academy.
Allison graduated from the Sheridan College Musical Theatre Performance Program and holds an MFA in Choreography from York University.WEBSITE: allisonmccaughey.com
Kayleigh Mundy
Stage Manger
Kayleigh is a young and enthusiastic CODA BIPOC Stage Manager and Theatre Technician. She is a 2023 graduate of Sheridan College's Technical Production Program.
Her past works include: Emerging Festival Producer for the 2024 Toronto Fringe Festival, Apprentice Stage Manager for Infinite Life (Coal Mine Theatre), A Poem For Rabia, 3 Fingers Back (Tarragon Theatre), Stage Manager for The Untitled Video Game Project (Pickles Theatre Company presented at the GreenHouse Festival), An Incomplete List of All the Things I'm Going To Miss When The World Is No Longer (Toronto Fringe 2023), When You Close Your Eyes Workshops (Makeshift Company) and PA/Lighting Board Operator for Otihew (Shakespeare In Action)
Kayleigh is very excited to work on the 2024 Fall run of Truth & Illusion.