​​Aliya Griffin - Founding Artistic Director 

Aliya is a director, creator, performer, producer, and facilitator with a keen interest in political and socially engaged theatre. She directed a satirical piece on human trafficking as well as co-produced the first Hive: the Newbees as part of the 2009 Vancouver Fringe Festival. Other projects include directing Chile con Carne by Carmen Aguirre, performing in Neworld’s Mixie and the Halfbreeds, creating and performing in Troika!, an original piece about growing up Ukrainian-Canadian, acting in ACTivist Theatre's The Apartment, throwing the mother of all tantrums in Ensemble Fou's Matador versus Minotaur by Brette Little, and directing two monologues written by youth in Gaza as part of the Vancouver presentation of the internationally performed The Gaza-Monologues.  Aliya is also the founder and Artistic Director of The Troika Collective, a company dedicated to socially and politically engaged theatre on Eastern European themes. Past projects with the Troika Collective include directing and co-creating Chernobyl: The Opera and Nevesti Vodih, as well as producing and directing two pieces for the only Canadian presentation of the internationally performed Belarusian Dream Theater. Aliya also performs with her own vocal group Vostok, specializing in music from Eastern Europe and the Balkans. Aliya holds a BA in theatre performance and political science and an M.Ed. in Arts for Social Change, both from SFU.