Creating & Recreating: Authenticity in Speculative and Historical Drama

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Description

The work of skilled artists, designers, and technicians can take us on a journey through time. In this panel, presented by NABET 700-M UNIFOR, costume designers, make-up artists, hair stylists, and prop masters speak to what goes into imaging the future and re-creating history when designing speculative fiction and period pieces. Our panel will explore the references, research, adaptability, and accuracy that go into transporting a viewer to the past and future.

Date
Thursday, April 7, 2022
Time
12:00 PM - 1:00 PM (EDT)
Session Day
Tuesday
​Showrunner / Creator / Executive Producer, The Porter

Annmarie Morais is the showrunner, creator and executive producer on CBC's The Porter. Her inaugural feature film How She Move was a 2007 Sundance Film Festival Selection and received worldwide release. Her work in television has proved equally noteworthy, writing for such major networks as CBS, SyFy and Global TV. In 2019, Annmarie brought her creative talents to BET’s groundbreaking scripted series American Soul, penning three episodes on The life of Don Cornelius and his famed “Soul Train” empire.

Costume Designer

Playing dress up, telling stories, shopping and making people laugh while trying to solve the puzzle of costume designing a show are Joanna Syrokomla’s top list favourite things ever. Credits include Murdoch Mysteries S12-15, The L.A Complex, Little Italy, Whatever Linda, lots of indie things terrible and not, and being one of the founders of CAFTCAD and the CAFTCAD Awards.

Props Master / Producer

Samantha Little is a Props Master and a Grammy and Juno nominated producer of music and film. She has worked for over 20 years on a variety of shorts, online and television series, features, as well as numerous recordings. As a props master and builder, she excels at supporting artistic visions from development to successful completion. Samantha and her production company Little Productions have a focus on female identifying led productions, as well as raising the voices of indigenous storytellers. Her most recent work includes a short film Nocturne Falls directed by Dennis Nicholson and the short thriller On The Water directed by Karis Malszecki. In development are a film by Jane Moffat, Little Toil of Love starring Jayne Eastwood and directed by Gail Harvey, and a lifestyle tv series highlighting sustainable urban living.

Hair Designer

Shirley Bond is currently the Hair Designer on Murdoch Mysteries. Shirley has a passion for period hairstyling that she developed after spending a decade learning to build and style wigs while working in the theatre. Before moving to TV and film, Shirley spent several seasons at the Shaw Festival and worked on Livent productions including Joseph, Sunset Boulevard, Showboat, Ragtime, and as Head of Wigs on Phantom of the Opera. In 1999, Shirley began her television career with the series, Highlander: The Raven which included constructing pieces and wigs for the title character’s flashback sequences. This translating of historical looks still excites her.

Moderated by:

Actor / Singer / Writer

Chantel Riley is a Canadian-Jamaican singer, songwriter, and actress known for her lead role as “Trudy Clarke” in the Canadian hit series, Frankie Drake Mysteries. She also starred as “Angela Cooke” alongside Suits veteran Gina Torres in the Suits spin off series Pearson.


Chantel kicked off her acting career after attending an open call in Toronto and landed her first gig playing “Nala” in Disney’s The Lion King in Hamburg, Germany. For this, her first major role, she learned the entire play and lyrics in German. After a successful one year run, Chantel returned home to Toronto and was immediately offered an opportunity to play this role on Broadway. In the summer of 2012, she made her debut in New York City and spent four years bringing this well-loved character to life. While performing on Broadway, Chantel also landed her first film role playing “Quincella Nickerson” in the critically acclaimed Jesse Owens biopic, Race.


Chantel is also known for her recurring role on the SyFy series, Wynonna Earp and appears as “Layla Hassan” in the Assassin’s Creed Origins video game. In 2021, she released her EP called “I AM” and officially launched her kids boutique called Sweet Riley! You can take a peek @lovesweetriley on Instagram. Currently Chantel is the voice of Lucy in the upcoming animated series Daniel Spellbound and the League of Alchemists. Others project yet to release include the Jeremy Lalonde directed comedy Blue Iguana and the film Colorblind directed by Mostafa Keshvari.

NABET 700-M UNIFOR