Team & Board — the frank theatre

Our Team

Fay Nass

ARTISTIC & EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Pronouns: She/He/They

Fay Nass is a community-engaged director, writer, dramaturg, innovator, producer and educator. They are the Artistic Director of the frank theatre company and the founder/Artistic Director of Aphotic Theatre.

Fay has over 17 years of experience in text-based and devised work deeply rooted in inter-cultural and collaborative approaches. Fay’s work often examines questions of race, gender, sexuality, culture and language through an intersectional lens in order to shift meanings and de-construct paradigms rooted in our society. Fay’s work celebrates liminality and trans-culturalism, and blurs the line between politics and intimate personal stories.

Fay’s work has been presented at PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, SummerWorks Festival, Queer Arts Festival, the CULTCH and Firehall Arts Centre. Her readings and experimental work have been presented at various conferences and artist-run galleries in Spain, Berlin and Paris. Their co-creation project Be-Longing was part of the 2021 New York international Film Festival, NICE International Film Festival and Madrid International Film Festival.

Their most recent credits include: co-creating Be-Longing (the frank theatre), co-directing Trans Script Part I: The Women (the frank theatre and Zee Theatre at Firehall Arts Centre), directing She Mami Wata & the Pussy WitchHunt (the frank theatre at PuSh Festival 2020), co-directing Straight White Men (ITSAZOO productions at Gateway Theatre), and dramaturgy for Camera Obscura (Hungry Ghosts) (the frank theatre & QAF). Fay holds an MFA from Simon Fraser University. Currently, they are doing the Artistic Leadership Residency at the National Theatre School of Canada.

As an artistic leader and a practitioner, Fay has deep and involved relationships—both creative and organizational—with a wide spectrum of artists across generations and stylistic practices. As an educator and facilitator, their philosophy and pedagogy are rooted in anti-racism and anti-oppression.

Anais Mateusz West

ARTISTIC PRODUCER
Pronouns: They/He

Mateusz is a queer & trans writer, producer and performer. They are also a settler of Polish descent, based on occupied xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories.

Mateusz’s work is multidisciplinary: they collaborate with dancers, musicians and media artists, disrupting boundaries within form, gender, sexuality and language. Mateusz's written works include Tomboy (Chłopczyca) (Premiering at the Cultch in March 2026), Nuits Claires (The National Arts Centre French Theatre), The Café (Aphotic Theatre, ISTAZOO and PuSh Festival), Underground Absolute Fiction (Rumble Theatre's Tremor's Festival, 2020), Poly Queer Love Ballad (Queer Arts Festival, the frank theatre and Zee Zee Theatre, Vancouver, and Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto), and Kill Your Lovers, (Buddies In Bad Times Theatre’s Rhubarb Festival, Toronto, and the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYC). He was the 2023 winner of the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition for Tomboy (Chłopczyca.) They were also the 2018 co-winner of PTC’s Fringe New Play Prize and the Georgia Straight Critic’s Choice Award, and his work has been nominated for two Jessie Richardson Awards, including Outstanding Original Script. Their writing has been published in This is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience with Playwrights Canada Press and Nuits Claires (Éditions Prise de parole.).

As an actor, they have performed with the French Theatre at the National Arts Centre, the Firehall Arts Centre, Savage Society, Théâtre la Seizième, the Only Animal, Rumble Theatre and more. With the frank, Mateusz recently co-produced Ayibobo III: Little Dollhouse on the Prairie, How Black Mothers Say I Love You, I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me, She Mami Wata & the Pussy WitchHunt, and Be-Longing.

Karter Masuhara
MANAGING PRODUCER
Pronouns: They/Them

Karter Masuhara is a non-binary artist and arts manager based in Vancouver on the occupied xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlil̓wətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) territories. They have worked for a variety of artistic companies in administrative and communication roles with a focus on creating opportunities to uplift diverse voices.
As an artist they have written and directed an award-winning short film, Where to Piss, which has been entered into multiple film festivals globally. They have also written and self-produced their own play, Before They Cut Down Our Tree, which was presented at the 2023 Vancouver Fringe Festival. They have a Masters in Screenwriting from Leeds Beckett University.

Anjalica Solomon
YOUTH PROGRAM FACILITATOR
Pronouns: They/She

Anjalica Solomon is your favourite local genderfluid-bird-watching-heart-eyed-astro-queer. They blend their Desi roots and Pacific NorthWest up-bringing in art forms such as singing, songwriting, loop pending, poetry, and the spoken word.
They are known and beloved as an organiser and multi-disciplinary performer based in what is colonially known as Vancouver, BC on the stolen and unsurrendered territories of the Coast Salish, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh and Musqueam Nations.
Anjalica is currently exploring new genres such as screenwriting, non-fic and playwriting as an MFA student in The School of Creative Writing at UBC.
Their poetic work often seeks to proclaim the possibilities of love and resilience. Anjalica is a poet of startling emotional intellect and candour whose work testifies to a deep faith in beauty, the power of nature, and ultimately, the human capacity to salvage integrity, radiance and joy from moments of struggle. In this way, Anjalica Solomon's poems and performances offer robust visions of hope, tenacity, and love.
Their debut poetry collection "Apocalypse Joy" is out NOW with Write Bloody North Publishing!

Our Board

Kathleen Mullen

BOARD CHAIR
She/Her
Kathleen Mullen (she/her) grew up queer in Edmonton, Alberta and the San Francisco Bay Area. She has contributed to the planning and execution of film and art festivals nationally and internationally as curator, programmer, and festival director. Kathleen currently is programming as Senior Programmer at Vancouver Queer Film Festival, and for Frameline: San Francisco LGBTQ+ Film Festival, Seattle International Film Festival, Victoria Film Festival, and Sustainable Production Forum. For 9 years she led the artistic direction and operations as Festival Director of the Seattle Queer Film Festival. Kathleen co-teaches the Skoden Indigenous Film Festival class at Simon Fraser University and the Lesley Independent Film Festival at Lesley University. She loves supporting other filmmakers, up and coming festival programmers, and the new generation of arts administrators. Kathleen has written and directed the films you wash my skin with sunshine, Sleep Lines, Button OUT!, and the documentary Breathtaking.
Aaron Eccles

MEMBER AT LARGE
He/Him
Aaron Eccles is a marketing and communications professional, who grew up in Calgary and Vancouver. After starting his career in journalism at publications like Xtra!West and broadcasters like the CBC, Aaron moved to London, UK where he took on various roles at the BBC. His time there allowed him to champion queer stories from around the world, alongside international news coverage and broadcasts from conflict zones. After moving into the marketing world, Aaron took on roles in the charity sector and travel industry. In 2021, Aaron and his husband moved to Vancouver, dog and cat in tow, and have settled into the Grandview-Woodland neighbourhood.
Linda Gorrie

TREASURER
She/Her
Linda Gorrie has been working as a professional arts administrator since 1984, most recently as administrative director of Playwrights Theatre Centre (1998-2013), director of finance and administration for the Vancouver International Film Festival Society (2013-2017) and business management consultant to the PuSh International Performing Arts Festival and grunt gallery (2004-present). She participated in the Banff Centre School of Management Arts Management Program (1987), was a member of the Executive Director’s Learning Circle (Vantage Point) and was awarded the Mary Phillips Prize at the 2005 Jessie Theatre Awards. She served as treasurer of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres (PACT) (2005-2015), and chairperson of the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation (2008-2015).
NikNaz Kahnamoui

MEMBER AT LARGE
She/Her
NikNaz is a first-generation queer immigrant from Iran and settler on the unceded lands of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), sel̓íl̓witulh (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) nations.
She is a skin-in-the-game kind of consultant – the kind who meets you where you are, whether in the glory or right in the muck, and works with you to identify and create pathways to organizational clarity, development, and change. She approaches her work from an anti-oppression and social justice lens. NikNaz has worked in the public, private, and non-profit sectors, in various industries and different countries, with organizations ranging from Fortune 500 companies to grassroots networks with minimal funding. She is a certified Project Management Professional (PMP) and a non-profit lifecycles capacity consultant. She has an MA in interdisciplinary studies from Simon Fraser University and a certificate in Dialogue and Civic Engagement. NikNaz is also a mixed media visual artist and the arts are an integral part of her life. For more information: www.niknazkahnamoui.com
Jen Pearson

MEMBER AT LARGE
She/Her
Jen Pearson is a dedicated advocate for the arts, with a rich background in event curation and community building. As a co-founder of several influential events in Vancouver, she has consistently worked to amplify underrepresented voices in the arts, particularly within the electronic music and 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Her curatorial work for organizations (such as Public Disco) has been pivotal in creating spaces that celebrate diversity and foster community connection.
Graduating with a BA in Communications from Simon Fraser University and holding a Certificate in Event Management from Vancouver Island University, Jen combines academic knowledge with practical expertise in organizing inclusive and impactful cultural events. As a new board member for The Frank Theatre, she is excited to contribute to the theatre’s mission of challenging dominant narratives. With her extensive experience in cultural event curation and dedication to community engagement, Jen hopes to support The Frank in its vision of a utopic world, free of prejudices and assumptions.