Artistic & Administrative Staff

Chris McLeod, Artistic Director
B.A. Hons, University of Ottawa; M.F.A., University of British Columbia

Chris' first involvement with "serious theatre" was in 1985, when he originated the role of Don Jones in David Carley's Hedges.  He has an Honours in Theatre Directing from the University of Ottawa and a Master of Fine Arts (Theatre Directing) from the University of British Columbia.  He has been seen on stage with Odyssey Theatre's Isabella's Fortune and was Director in Residence for a Company of Fools.  Unfortunately, the Fools still have no residence.  He did manage to direct Everything I Need to Know About Life I Learned from Shakespeare, Shakespeare Does the Seven Deadly Sins and Foolius Caesar. Chris has been the Artistic Director of Salamander Theatre since 2001. He is married to a wonderful woman and is the father of two awesome sons.

Natalie Dalton, Managing Director

Natalie joined Salamander in December 2004. Until that date, Natalie was the General Manager for Odyssey Theatre where she did intense work on fundraising, marketing, staffing and general running of all administrative aspects of the company. This experience has prepared her well for her position in Salamander, as has her experience as Artistic Director, writer, producer and actor of The Fringe. The Fringe is a community theatre in the Ottawa Valley that Millett created with a partner in 1996 that continues to produce non-traditional theatre with young casts. The Fringe is a community-focused troupe that combines young enthusiasts with veteran artists and workshops to give learning opportunities to cast and crew while creating original works that range from the annual Spirit Walk to an adapted A Midsummer Night’s Dream and various murder mysteries. In 2008, she wrote one of Salamander's newest plays Rhythms of the Sun and became a new mother of a beautiful baby boy!

Eleanor Crowder, Company Director & Founder
B.A. Hons, Queens; B.Ed., University of Toronto

Eleanor is an actor, director and playwright. She has worked in popular theatre in Canada, Ghana and the Sudan, and is now based in Ottawa. From 1993 to 2001, she was founding Artistic Director of Salamander Theatre, where she developed a comprehensive theatre in education program with a core team of artists. She works with children in schools projects, young people in the Salamander Shakespeare Co. (previously Shakespeare Young Company), the local community in multigenerational productions, and professional actors in developing new work. Her plays tour to 30,000 children each year. Since closing night of the 2003 Shakespeare Young Company season, Eleanor has maintained her always-busy schedule; she is a professor for Algonquin College, played the title role in Brecht’s Mother Courage for Third Wall Theatre, and directed A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Importance of Being Ernest for the Glebe Neighbourhood Activities Group.  Her plays Tales from the Valley and A World of Stories are two of Salamander's most popular plays that tour annually.  Eleanor has won many awards for her work, notably the 2003 Victor Tolgesy Award for outstanding contribution to the arts in Ottawa.