Whether she’s touring across the country with the award-winning show, First Métis Man of Odesa, or helping form the largest Indigenous playwriting unit in Canada with Pemmican Collective, Sheiny Satanove is all about making jobs in theatre.
Growing up immersed in the Vancouver stage scene and seeing her family involved in community theatre, Satanove quickly learned that there was always a shortage of jobs for artists.
“I thought it was kind of sad. Everyone’s working so hard to book these jobs, but the jobs only exist if someone helps make them exist.”
But after she moved to Edmonton, it didn’t take long to put productions together.
In her first year as an undergraduate at the University of Alberta, a group of friends came to her wanting to put on a showing of The End of Civilization, by George F. Walker, at the Fringe.
“I was like, ‘OK, well, let’s all learn together.’”
Today, Satanove is the managing director of Punctuate! Theatre — the same name she pencilled in for her group’s first Fringe show. While the company has grown and toured across the country, for Satanove, there’s nothing better than seeing Edmonton artists at work.
“When all of the elements really work, when they all come together, when you’ve got a good script and great actors and a great director and great designers, there’s a certain kind of magic.”
This article appears in the Nov/Dec 2024 issue of Edify
