Staff

Sean Guist – Artistic Director (he/him)

Sean Guist is the Artistic Director of Intrepid Theatre in Victoria, BC/Lekwungen Territory, he has worked there for over a decade in various marketing, fundraising and curatorial roles. Administrator by day and queer artist, producer and director by night, Sean holds a BFA in performance and an MFA in directing. He is the founding Curator of Intrepid Theatre’s OUTstages queer theatre festival, and has created new residency programs for local artists, and fostered new work through cabarets, emerging artist programs, and mentorship opportunities. Guist is the co-creator and director of The Book of My Shames, a new queer opera composed and performed by Isaiah Bell, that has played at Tapestry Opera, Opera Kelowna and UNO Fest, with the Regina Symphony, recently he commissioned, directed and dramaturged the newest show from author and performer Ivan Coyote, Playlist, that is now touring the country.  Sean can be seen on drag stages as the bearded queen, Woofie, and has created and produced queer events in non-traditional queer spaces from breweries to cocktail bars to parking lots. He has served on the boards of Pacific Opera Victoria and indie dance company Broken Rhythms, and in 2024 was invited as an international panelist to The Genderhouse Festival in Aarhus, Denmark.

Julie Haddow – Managing Director (she/her)

Julie brings over a decade of experience in festivals, venue management, not-for-profit leadership, and creative pursuits to Intrepid, having served previously as the Managing Director of the Freewill Shakespeare Festival in Edmonton and the Executive Director of King’s Playhouse in Prince Edward Island. Originally from Sault Ste. Marie, Julie has lived all over Canada, including Ottawa, Toronto, Georgetown (PEI), Edmonton and Tofino before settling in Victoria. Honestly, if she had known about the Island’s weather and lack of biting bugs she would have been here a lot sooner without making all those other stops. Julie also sits on the Board of the Peninsula Players. When not working or volunteering Julie can be found hanging out on her boat or touring around the Peninsula with her dog Cheese.

Emmett MacMillen  – Producer (they/them)

Emmett MacMillen is a trans nonbinary interdisciplinary artist and has worked in event management and production for over ten years. They graduated from the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Interdisciplinary Performance in 2012, and since then, they have worked for the Living Things Performing Arts Festival, the annual Pony Cabaret, and the 2023 Fireweed Eco Fest in Kelowna, BC. Previously the Managing Director for Okanagan literary non-profit Inspired Word Cafe, Emmett is also a poet and performer, publishing a zine in the summer of 2022 with broke press publishing (Vernon, BC) and performing in the 2022 Climate Change Cabaret. They’ve performed at numerous open mics and poetry slams, as a participant and host, and are currently delving into the world of drag performance. Emmett is also a lover of science fiction, queer theory, and everything cat-related.

Parker Melnick – Marketing & Box Office Manager (she/her)

Parker Melnick is a queer writer & arts worker who has been gratefully living and learning on Lekwungen Territory for the past 6 years, and has been working in the realm of marketing for nearly as long. A childhood of theatre and arts exposure and experience led to a degree in Creative Writing and Political Science at the University of Victoria and a strong love of creativity paired with analysis and intersectionality. After wending her way through different creative roles—bookseller, literary magazine editor, Marketing Manager, freelance writer—Parker found the perfect left brain–right brain balance at Intrepid in the form of Marketing and Box Office Coordinator in the spring of 2022. Unable to do fewer than two things at once, she has sat on the Malahat Review’s Fiction Editorial Board since 2019, and publishes freelance fiction and creative nonfiction work in a variety of literary magazines. Outside of work, you can find her reading strange stories and essays, collecting beach glass, and learning to sail.

Louie Norman – Operations & Venues Manager (he/him)

Bio coming soon.

Owen Schellenberger – Production Manager (he/him)

Owen took on the newly-created role of Production Manager in May 2017.  He is excited to join this amazing and profoundly creative group of theatre artists and to contribute to the local cultural scene. Owen is a recent arrival to Victoria from Vancouver, with a 2½ year detour to Ottawa in between.  A graduate of UBC Theatre, he has variously been a set and lighting designer, a technical director, and a production manager with companies such as Théâtre la Seizième, Touchstone Theatre, Bard on the Beach, and the Canadian Improv Games.  He was Technical Director at the Chan Centre for the Performing Arts at UBC for many years. When not engaged in theatrical pursuits Owen may be found exploring his new Island home and scouring local beaches for milled driftwood to build cool things out of.