Meet The Team
Charlene
Van Buekenhout
Artistic Producer, Playwright and Actor
Kevin Klassen
Artistic Associate, Director, Playwright and Actor
Charlene (you can use she/her or Char) is a Metis / Belgian / Canadian theatre artist residing in Treaty one territory / Winnipeg. She is the Artistic Producer of Echo Theatre, actor, theatre creator, and emerging director. Charlene recently directed The Gravedigger by Michael Lawrenchuk at the Gast Station theatre as her directing debut! She has sat in the Michif Language Revitalization Circle and is working at learning and reviving the Southern Michif language.Check out the "projects section to learn about the latest theatre/Michif collab with the Southern Michif Performers!. Her TYA Michif language show MINOOSH DOO-KAPEESHIW was live at the Winnipeg Fringe in 2022. She created the outdoor theatre performance for individual houses with the Knock Knock Ginger Series with One Trunk Theatre. The show was called Li Minoosh Doo- Kapesheew Daan Liveer and was revived and adapted for a digital audience for Kids Fringe at Winnipeg Fringe 2021. She has participated in The New England Puppet Intensive and has created a Crankie (look it up) to tell ghosts stories and other stuff! Past theatre shows you might have seen her in are: Imagination Situation (Winnipeg virtual Fringe 2021; HAMLET (the rest is silence) with her baby daughter (Shakespearefest 2020) Di and Viv and Rose (RMTC Warehouse), Destroy, She Said (Mia van Leeuwen). Past Echo Theatre productions include: Blithe Spirit (Cowardfest), A Strange Pair (Ayckbournfest), JONNO (Wpg Fringe Fest).
Kevin Klassen lives and works on Treaty 1 territory in Winnipeg MB. He is a playwright, an actor, a dramaturge, a director, a dad, life partner and artistic associate to Charlene Van B. Apart from winning some playwrighting awards, he has also built many of Charlene and Echo Theatre's set and performance pieces like the shadow tent for the outdoor Minoosh show in 2021, and her Crankie box! He once built a "saw the woman in half box" for a show that sits in our basement and holds xmas decorations.
He is currently (as of 2022) writing a play about Bram Stoker, Henry Irving, Dracula and more!
