2025 Company

Theo Brown (they/he) is a Gander-born artist and actor. Previously involved in their local theatre company, Beyond the Overpass, Theo has held roles in a litany of exciting performances, such as Sweeney Todd, The Wonderettes and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. His love of the arts reflect in his passion for theatre, vocal performance, piano, and traditional art mediums. Off the stage and canvas, Theo recently completed their B.Sc. (Honours) in Behavioural Neuroscience and is set to start the medical program at Memorial University’s Faculty of Medicine. They can’t wait to showcase YPC’s summer productions alongside such a stellar cast of artists!

Finley Cavanagh is 17 year old performer who just finished his last year of high school and is preparing to attend mun in the fall; doing a double major in music and business. You may have seen him in previous productions such as Young Scrooge in Peter MacDonald Productions bi-annual “Scrooge the musical” or in one of the many HHM performing arts shows. He is so excited to be performing with the young people’s company this summer and hopes you enjoy!

Sally is a graduating student of Holy Heart Highschool, and is pursuing a fine arts degree in theatre at Memorial University. Sally has acted in Holy Heart’s Mainstage productions of Miracle on 34th Street, The Quiet Place, Anne of Green Gables, and a play with her theatre arts class called Our Place. She has also been part of the Holy Heart improv team, and performed in the regional Canadian Improv Games the past two years. Sally is excited to be a crew member with the Young People’s Company and learn new skills and grow her experiences!

Charlotte has been singing with Shallaway Youth Choir since 2017 and is part of the Lauda Neurodiverse Ensemble, where she has performed many solos and was invited to perform at Harbour Voices Music Festival. She played the lead role of Emily Thompson in Best Kind Productions’ Sidewalk Dandelion and participated in the Lauda documentary I Like the Way You Think. Charlotte has performed with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra in their Hallowe’en Spooktacular concerts. This year, she was awarded the Lady Cove Peggy Allen Bursary and played the female lead in Jill Dreaddy’s The Crossword Puzzle. Charlotte studies musical theatre with Evan Smith and Meghan Herder.

Connor Fagan is a 20 year old artist currently pursuing a degree in Music Theatre Performance at Sheridan College. Select theatre: Best Of Broadway (Theatre St. John’s), Scrooge (Young Marley/Peter MacDonald Productions), Alice By Heart (Alfred/Courtney Fowler Performance Academy), and How Do You Get To Jellybean Row? (Vernon/Best Kind Productions). He also taught private lessons in various instruments and acting classes at CFPA for 3 years. In addition to being a member of YPC, this summer he looks forward to working with Kyle McDavid at BKP on The Lightning Thief for his second summer as Assistant Director.

Kamden Foss is a 16-year-old performer who has a love for all things theatre! He is a member of Etcetera Productions Company Show Choir and has performed in Etcetera 34-36, as well as the Candlelight Processional in EPCOT in 2024. He participates in local theatre as much as possible and has performed in PMP’s fall musicals (2022-24), BKP’s summer musicals (2021-23), and in several theatre productions with WYCI? Productions (2022-24). Kamden studies voice with Justin Goulding, and regularly participates in the St. John’s Kiwanis Music Festival. He is so excited to be a part of the YPC this summer!

Erin Johnston is thrilled to be a part of the YPC this summer! Originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland, she is currently finishing her Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance at Western University. Select credits include Godspell (Kings Players), Working (Don Wright Faculty of Music), Let’s Bop (Terra Bruce Productions), Falstaff (Western Opera), and 9 to 5 (Atlantic Light Theatre). She sends love and thanks to her incredible family and friends for their constant support and hopes you enjoy the show!

Olivia Lawrence is a 17 year old Holy Heart of Mary High School student who has been singing and dancing for many years. Olivia’s performance history includes productions with Best Kind Productions, Peter MacDonald Productions, TaDa Events (Our Divas Do Christmas) and the HHM MainStage Theater Company. She is a competitive dancer with Ignite Dance, studies voice with Tempo Music Studio and a member of the Holy Heart Chamber Choir. Olivia is thrilled to be taking the stage with the Young People’s Company and hopes you enjoy the shows!

Molly O’Keefe is a 19 year old technical arts nerd, and is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Performance Production at Toronto Metropolitan University. She fell in love with behind the scenes theatre while working at Courtney Fowler Performance Academy, where she taught and assisted a variety of classes including private voice lessons, group broadway classes and acting classes. Recently, Molly collaborated in writing, designing, and stage managing an original grant winning musical, Blackout, that premiered at LSPU Hall last June. She is incredibly excited to be a part of the YPC team at Majestic Theatre this summer!

Lauren Margaret Patten made her stage debut in When The Angel of Death Says? How are you… (RCA’s LSPU Hall) at the young age of 9. Theatre credits include the original cast of I Forgive You (Artistic Fraud), Matilda! (Peter MacDonald Productions), How Do You Get To Jellybean Row? (Best Kind Productions), and Chloe’s Tiny Heart is Closed (Women’s Work Festival). Screen credits include An Audience of Chairs (CBC), The Canoe Project (Bell Fibe) and Casey (Cannes Short Corner). This September, Lauren is going to York University for a BFA in Theatre and Performance Creation!

Lilly is a 17 year old just graduating from Holy Heart. She has been studying voice with Peter MacDonald at MacDonald music studio since 2017. She has also recently been accepted into MUN School of Music and is very excited to study with Dr. Caroline Schiller in the fall! Lilly has been in various local productions including Scrooge (2018, 2022, 2024), Matilda (2019), Elf (2023) with Peter MacDonald productions! Joseph (2019), How Do You Get To Jellybean Row? (2021), Descendants (2022) with BKP! Our Divas Do Christmas (2017) with TADA! She is very excited to work with this new company and cannot wait to start performing with these wonderful people!

Paige Sargent is a recent Bachelor of Music (Honours) graduate from Memorial University, where she studied with Dr. Caroline Schiller. Performance credits include L’enfant et les Sortilèges and Cendrillon (MUN Opera Workshop), Sweeney Todd, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, The Marvelous Wonderettes, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (Beyond The Overpass), A Little Night Music and Titanic (NUOVA Vocal Arts), Heathers (Best Kind Productions), and the premiere of Le Phare, which toured schools across NL. She’s thrilled for a summer of shows with this amazing group before heading to UBC for her Master’s in Opera Performance!

Rebecca Sellars is a 4th year voice performance major at MUN School of Music. Professional theatre includes: Let’s Dance! (Andrea/Terra Bruce Productions), Legally Blonde! (Stephenville Theatre Festival) & Sirens of Song (Stephenville Theatre Festival). Recent theatre credits; Beautiful! The Carole King Musical (Tada Events), Cabaret (LuLu/Tada Events), Jersey Boys (Lead Angel/Francine/Tada Events), Heathers (Heather Duke/Best Kind Productions). Recent concerts; Best of Broadway (Theatre St. John’s), Big Ticket (Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra) & Our Diva’s Do Christmas (Tada Events). Rebecca has been seen on Hudson and Rex and has been apart of Son of a Critch for all seasons. She is represented by daCosta Talent agency in Toronto. Thanks to her parents & fiancé Conor for always supporting her dreams. She hopes you enjoy the YPC’s season of fantastic shows!

Noah Spragg is a grade 11 student at Holy Heart of Mary High school. He has eight years of theatre and musical theatre experience with a range of characters. Once he graduates, Noah hopes to go to medical school to further his education. Noah is involved in a local Historical European Martial Arts group, and plans to continue participating in such activities as well as theatre arts long after he moves on from high school.

Kathryn has been apart of the performing arts from a young age, participating several local productions, such as PMP’s “Scrooge,” “Matilda,” “Elf,” and “Oliver,” as well as shows by BKP and OOTA. She has been dancing since the age of 4 in various styles including ballet, tap, jazz, broadway & hiphop classes and has completed up to her intermediate level in Cecchetti ballet exams at The Dance Centre where she also teaches Acro Jazz. Additionally, Kathryn has studied voice under Ronalda Hutton McDonald since the age of nine. In the fall, she will be going to Memorial University, studying voice and French.

Julianne Taylor is a dancer and singer who has appeared in numerous shows and ballets. She is a competitive dancer who has won multiple awards such as the DTAN student choreography award and trained in New York City for jazz and contemporary dance. She is going to continue her study’s in the fall at Wilkes academy in swindon, England for musical theatre.

Lucas White is a 21 year old singer and performer from Placentia, NL, currently based in St. John’s NL. Lucas has been performing for over 15 years and has worked with various production companies such as Opera on the Avalon, Best Kind Productions, and TaDa! Events. Lucas recently graduated from Memorial University with an Honours Degree in Music – Vocal Performance, having studied under Dr. Jane Leibel and David Pomeroy.

Nell co-wrote the score to Legally Blonde, the Musical with composer Laurence O’Keefe, which received Tony Award nominations, Drama Desk nominations, and the Olivier and Helpmann Awards for Best Musical.
Nell wrote the lyrics to Mean Girls, which received multiple Tony Award nominations, including for Best Original Score and Best Musical.
Nell’s play, The Explorers Club, won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play, the Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant.
Nell has written book and/or lyrics for Pirates! (or Gilbert and Sullivan plunder’d), Sarah, Plain and Tall, Cam Jansen (Drama Desk-nominated), I Want My Hat Back, How I Became A Pirate, The Mice, Life of the Partyand Because of Winn Dixie.
Upcoming musicals are: Huzzah!, Life of the Party, Dave. 
Television writing includes “Unhappily Ever After”, Animal Planet’s “Whoa! Sunday with Mo Rocca”, “Electric Company”, “Best Time Ever with Neil Patrick Harris”, “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway”, “Julie’s Greenroom.” 
Benjamin is the recipient of the Kleban Foundation Award and a Jonathan Larson Grant.

Heather received 2007 Tony and Drama Desk nominations for her work on Legally Blonde. Graduate of the University of Colorado, Boulder, School of Journalism. Worked at The New York Times Denver Bureau as a research assistant and Sports and Fitness Publishing in Boulder, Colorado, as a magazine editor. Member of Denver’s Comedy Sports improv comedy troupe. Worked on the TV shows “Caroline in the City” and “Dilbert.” Won Walt Disney Screenwriting Fellowship in 1999. Film credits include Disney’s “Freaky Friday” and “What to Expect When You’re Expecting.” Also wrote the young adult novel “Freaky Monday” with Mary Rodgers. Much love to friends and family, especially Jason, Harper and Drake.

Laurence O’Keefe received 2007 Tony and Drama Desk nominations for his work on Legally Blonde. Larry thanks all Blonde producers and creative team. He won the Ed Kleban Award, the ASCAP Richard Rodgers New Horizons Award and a Jonathan Larson award for his music and lyrics. Off-Broadway credits: Bat Boy: The Musical (Lucille Lortel, Richard Rodgers, Outer Critics’ Circle awards), which has received 100+ productions worldwide; music for Sarah, Plain and Tall, lyrics by Nell Benjamin (touring with TheatreWorksUSA). Co-author with Nell Benjamin of Cam Jansen (Drama Desk nomination) and The Mice. Larry is a product of his education with the Harvard Krokodiloes, the Hasty Pudding Theatricals, the Harvard Lampoon and the Actors’ Gang, but especially the incomparable Nell Benjamin.

Will Aronson is a composer and writer for theatre whose work includes Maybe Happy Ending (currently running on Broadway; Richard Rodgers Award), IL TENORE (Best Musical & Best Score, Korean Musical Awards), Mother, Me & the Monsters (Barrington Stage Company; Boston Globe Critic’s Pick), My Scary Girl (Best Musical, New York Musical Festival), and Bungee Jump, cited by The New York Times in 2013 as Korea’s “most popular original musical.” Recipient of a Fulbright Grant, the ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award and four Korean Musical Awards.

James Dean is a self-taught artist originally from Fort Payne, Alabama. His passion for drawing became apparent at a young age, and as a child, you could find James drawing his favorite characters like Snoopy and Yogi Bear. James earned his degree in electrical engineering from Auburn University and went on to work for Georgia Power for a number of years. Eventually, he was called to pursue his art full-time and began selling his work at art festivals around the Southeast. It was during this time that he began creating paintings and drawing of his cat, Pete. The little blue cat showed up as a character in James’ artwork around 1999 and has been a permanent fixture ever since.
In 2008, James partnered with Eric Litwin to create the first Pete the Cat children’s book, Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes. Now, James has helped create over 70 Pete the Catbooks, including many New York Times bestsellers. James is humbled every day by the success that this groovy blue cat has brought him. He says positively affecting children’s lives is his number one priority, and he is grateful to have such an amazing audience to work for.

Kimberly Dean is a children’s author, artist, and yoga enthusiast best known as a New York Times bestselling author and co-parent of children’s book character Pete the Cat.
Before fulfilling her dream of becoming a full-time author and artist, she worked for the State of Georgia, leaving the Governor’s Press Office in 1998 to pursue her art. She began selling her work at art festivals in 1999 and opened a small art gallery in 2003. She dabbles in multiple mediums and enjoys experimenting with new styles and techniques.
She says of her job, “I love what I do! Work is like going to kindergarten everyday!”
In 2004, she began collaborating with fellow artist James Dean to work on children’s books about Pete the Cat. The Misadventures of Pete the Cat, a coffee table book of James’s art, was released in 2006. Her dreams of becoming a published children’s book author became a reality in 2013 with the release of her first children’s book, Pete the Cat and His Magic Sunglasses. She has now written many of the Pete the Cat books, as well as started another series starring her characters Willow and Oliver.
Kimberly lives in Savannah with her dog, Gypsy, and cat, Phoebe. Her children and grandchildren live nearby, and her favorite word is “Lovie,” which is the name her grandchildren lovingly call her.

Sarah Hammond grew up in Hong Kong, Belgium and South Carolina. Honors include Actors Theatre of Louisville’s Heideman Award, a MacDowell Colony fellowship, a commission from South Coast Rep and a residency at the Royal National Theatre. Her work has been seen onstage at Trustus Theatre, City Theatre (Miami), Live Girls (Seattle), Tulsa New Works for Women, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Australia’s Interplay Festival and in print in Ten-Minute Plays for 2 Actors: The Best of 2004. A graduate of the University of South Carolina (BA) and the University of Iowa (MFA), she has taught playwriting at both schools. Now based in Brooklyn, she is a resident playwright at New Dramatists.