Staff Biographies

Peter Jorgensen

Peter Jorgensen is an actor/ director/ choreographer/writer and musical theatre aficionado based in Vancouver. Recent directing credits include Oklahoma! and Guys and Dolls (Chemainus Theatre), Little Shop of Horrors (Persephone Theatre), Bat Boy: the Musical, The Full Monty and Into the Woods (Patrick Street Productions), and The Emperor of Atlantis (City Opera Vancouver).

As an actor Peter has appeared locally in the Arts Club productions of Beauty and the Beast, Dirty Blonde, Dial M…for Murder, Dames at Sea, Forever Plaid, and She Loves Me (Jessie Nomination: Outstanding Performance). At the Gateway Theatre he has appeared in Guys and Dolls, Leading Ladies, Lend Me a Tenor, Dads: the Musical, and Forever Plaid (Jessie Award: Outstanding Ensemble Performance). He has also appeared at Bard on the Beach in Cymbeline, at the Playhouse in No Great Mischief, with Touchstone Theatre in Mimi, or a Poisoner’s Comedy and with Carousel Theatre he starred as George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (Jessie Nomination: Outstanding Performance). With Royal City Musical Theatre he starred as Harold Hill in The Music Man and as Julian Marsh in 42nd Street.

As a writer he collaborated on the book and lyrics for the new musical Abracadabra, wrote and produced his one-man cabaret To Broadway and Back (Jessie Nomination: Outstanding Original Script), and wrote a new adaptation of Orphee Aux Enfers entitled Offenbach’s Orpheus: Gone to Hell!.

Peter is the founder and program director of the Arts Club Musical Theatre Intensive, director of the Metropolis Glee Choir, and a private voice coach. www.peterjorgensen.com

Katey Wright

Katey Wright has been a professional performer for over 20 years. Standout performances include the roles of Viola in Twelfth Night (Bard on the Beach), Claire in Proof (Manitoba Theatre Centre/Citadel Theatre), Constance in She Stoops to Conquer (Grand Theatre, London / Playhouse Theatre Co.), and Lea in Strawberries in January (Touchstone Theatre). From the musical theatre canon, Katey has played a range of starring roles including Lucy Brown in The Three Penny Opera (Belfry Theatre, Victoria / Arts Club Theatre), Mary Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life (Chemainus Theatre, Chemainus), Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors (Arts Club Theatre), Amalia in She Loves Me! (Arts Club Theatre, Stanley Stage), and the title role in Little Mercy’s First Murder (Touchstone).

Appearances over the past few years include the Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Patrick Street Productions), Susan in Company (Arts Club – Stanley Stage), Vicki in The Full Monty (Patrick Street Productions), and Barbara Fawcett in The Constant Wife (Arts Club – Stanley Stage).

Katey has extensive film and TV credits and is a busy voice-over performer with hundreds of radio commercials to her credit, as well as animation, video games, and the great pleasure of reading fiction on the CBC for series like Between the Covers and The Breakfast Serial.

A co-founder of two successful theatre companies prior to Patrick Street Productions, Katey has also worked as a publicist and administrator, and she has directed, written, and participated in collective creations. Katey has devoted countless hours to volunteer work in Vancouver’s theatre community, spending 12 years as an elected regional rep and national councillor for Canadian Actors’ Equity Association, and three years as President of the Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Society (having served an additional 6 years on the Jessies’ board). She has been a member of Theatre Cares Vancouver since 2001. www.kateywright.com

Chris Allan

Chris Allan was born and educated in Vancouver and his ambition from the age of six was to work in the theatre. At the time he was growing up there were no drama schools or established university departments so in 1960 he dropped out of UBC and went to London, England to work in the theatre and learn about the profession first hand.

His first jobs were backstage in various West End theatres, starting as a Dresser at the Victoria Palace and then moving to the Savoy Theatre where he became the lighting board operator for several large scale productions including two musicals directed by Noel Coward. In order to make a living he decided to try to get work as an actor/singer and auditioned for a tour of The Belle of New York. He was hired and toured throughout Britain. Other singing work included two series of Stars on Sunday for Yorkshire Television, two Royal Command Performances at the London Palladium, and roles in Cabaret (Liverpool Playhouse) and Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Salisbury Playhouse, Glasgow Opera). In the 1970s Chris gradually eased out of performing and into stage management. London shows Chris worked on include Amadeus and The Crucible (Royal National Theatre) and the West End productions of Chicago,A Little Night Music, Irene, Beyond the Rainbow, Male of the Species and Cats. Directors Chris has worked with include Laurence Olivier, Trevor Nunn, Peter Hall, Noel Coward and Harold Prince.

Chris returned to Vancouver in 1986 and has continued stage management work – for the Vancouver Opera, the Playhouse Theatre Company, Carousel Theatre and the Arts Club. Chris is currently writing a play about an extended family surviving the Twentieth Century (from New Year’s Eves 1899 to 1999) in a clapboard house in Vancouver’s East End.