A Woman on the Telephone: Carol

Erica Genereux Smith (co-writer, director) is a writer and filmmaker. Her recent MFA thesis film at York University was awarded a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, and featured Carolyn Taylor of CBC’s Baroness Von Sketch Show. Short films she has written and directed have screened at the Vancouver International Film Festival, The Atlantic International Film festival, New York Anthology Film Archives, Brooklyn Northside Festival, VideoMass, and the Canadian Film Festival. Her short film Are You With Me? was named one of the year’s best shorts by FilmPulse Magazine and her most recent short film, a collaboration with Kayla Lorette, premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival. Her first play Our Side of the Fence premiered at Dixon Place in New York as part of the OBIE Award winning Little Theatre series. As a performer, she has appeared in a diverse selection of projects including Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin and The Onion News Network.

Kayla Lorette (co-writer, star) has been writing and performing for ten years. Her improv duo, The Sufferettes, won the Canadian Comedy Award for Best Improv Troupe in 2014 and 2015 with Kayla winning for Best Female Improviser in 2014. The Sufferettes have toured internationally, performing and teaching throughout Europe and North America. They’ve opened for Aparna Nancherla and Maria Bamford and have headlined numerous comedy festivals. Her short film She Stoops To Conquer, which she co-wrote and starred in, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and won the 2016 Canadian Screen Award for Best Live Action Short Drama. Kayla’s performance was awarded the Brain Linehan Actor’s award from the National Screen Institute of Canada. The film played numerous festivals worldwide including Raindance, SXSW, and the New Orleans Film Festival. She wrote and starred in The Second City Project for GlobalTV, for which was nominated for a Canadian Screen Awards for Best Ensemble Performance and best Sketch Program. She has numerous film and television credits, working with such directors as Don McKellar and Atom Egoyan.