Sara Botsford
Sara hails from a small mining village in northern Canada, where her
first exposure to theatre was at age six, playing the Virgin
Mary, cast because she owned the only boy doll in town. From
that auspicious beginning, she went on to study theatre at York University
in Toronto.
In 1973, she joined the Stratford Festival for two seasons, and since
then, has worked extensively in Canada and the U.S.
Theatre highlights include: being directed by Mike Nichols in The
Real Thing, (Broadway and National Tour), Sir Peter Hall in Romeo
and Juliet,( Ahmandson Theatre,LA) Max Stafford Clark in Top
Girls,(Public Theatre, NY) Brian Bedford in Private Lives
(Citadel, Edmonton) and Present Laughter Stratford Festival)
and Susan Stroman in The Royal Family ( McCarter Theatre,
Princeton); acting opposite Jeremy Irons, Brian Bedford, David Hyde
Pearce, William Hutt.
On film, she has tried to kill Meryl Streep, divorced Robert Redford
and Jon Voight, bedded Kevin Costner and Richard Chamberlain, debated
Christopher Plummer, and was done in by Roy Scheider.
Television highlights include SOPHIE, the CBC comedy currently airing,
the long running Canadian series E.NG, as Ann Hildebrandt,
Norma, in the AMC series The Lot, the highly acclaimed Canadian
mini series, The Arrow, with Dan Akyroyd, Trudeau, as
well as a myriad of MOW’s and guest stars on U.S. prime time.
Sara has won an Obie award for Top Girls, a Gemini, best actress, E.N.G,
and been nominated for a Genie, best actress for the film, By Design,
a Gemini for best supporting actress in The Arrow and a DVD
Exclusive, best actress in Tremors 4.
In 1996, Sara directed the feature film Dead Innocent, starring
Genevieve Bujold and Graeme Greene.
Most recently she has been directing plays in Los Angeles and Vancouver,
including Summer and Smoke, Zen and the Art of Mourning
A Mother, Dorothy Parker , The Cover of Life,
and The History of Bowling, which opens March 21 2008 at the NOHO
Arts Center in Los Angeles.
Since founding 49th Parallel
Theatre, Sara has co produced
and co directed The Good
Life, by Daniel Brooks, The
Palace of the End, by Judith Thompson, and has co produced The
Drawer Boy, by Michael Healy.
In 2007, Sara wrote the half hour comedy pilot CANOOKS, which
she co directed and produced with her partner CB Brown, for
Those Damn Canadians LTD. The series is currently being developed. More
information can be found at: www.canooks.com.
Sara continues to teach and coach in Los Angeles.
The film adaptation of ‘Tis Pity, which she co wrote with Chris Brown
is currently in development.
49TH PARALLEL is her first theatre company. |
Chris "CB" Brown
Chris was born in Canada to theatrical parents, who helped start the Shaw Festival of Canada. He worked at the Shaw Festival, first as part of the stage crew, and then as a stage manager, and assistant director to acclaimed director Derek Goldby.
In 1981 he went as Mr. Goldby's assistant director to the Stratford Festival of Canada for two seasons. CB then worked in Toronto, at the Theater Passe Muraille, as a stage manager and assistant director, working on new Canadian plays. In 1985, he made a career shift, to work in film as an assistant to John Schlesinger. In 1988 creators Mark Frost and David Lynch recruited him to run the second unit on the critically acclaimed television show Twin Peaks.
Having immersed himself in all aspects of the motion picture medium, CB went on to the pioneering visual effects company Boss Film Studios as a Visual Effects Producer for the features Outbreak, Waterworld, Turbulence, and Airforce One. He then served as the Visual Effects Supervisor and Second Unit Director for Wing Commander.
Next he joined Sassoon Film Design, where he supervised Life is A House, Dark Blue, David Mamet's film Spartan, Irwin Winkler's De Lovely and more recently The Big White. CB has directed two short films and is in development on a feature co-written with Sara Botsford. Throughout his film career, CB has remained connected to the theater, directing plays for the LA based companies, Nexus, Circle West and Theatre Tribe. He acted as interim artistic director for Circle West in 2002-2003.
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