File MS-3-1, OS Folder 218 - The mousetrap

Bonnie Beecher is a lighting designer from Toronto, Canada, who has designed for over 350 theatre, opera, and dance productions. She has worked with various companies in Canada, including The Shaw Festival, The Stratford Festival, The Canadian Opera, Opera Atelier, Soulpepper theatre, The National Arts centre, The National Ballet of Canada, Tarragon theatre, The Segal, The Citadel, and Ballet British Columbia. She has also worked with The Dutch National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Glimmerglass Opera, The Versailles Royal Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, The Royal Shakespeare Company, The New Zealand Opera, The Dortmund Ballet, The Royal Flanders Ballet, Ballet du Rhin in Mulhouse, The State ballet of Georgia, and Ballet Im Reveir in Germany. She also designed the lights for 7 world premieres for The Stuttgart Ballet, and collaborated with the Kevin O'Day Ballet in Mannheim, Germany for 14 seasons (2002-2016) where she designed the lighting for more than 25 world premieres for the company.

Robert Doyle was a leading figure in set and costume design in Canada, whose work has been showcased in more than 500 theatre productions. Born in Edinburgh in 1938, but raised in Canada, he began his professional career as a dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Company. After undergoing knee surgery he transitioned into theatrical design, working at regional theatres such as Manitoba Theatre Centre and Halifax's Neptune Theatre, where he was the founding costume designer. He pursued his studies at Wimbledon School of Fine Art's Theatre Division. While in England he researched 18th-century civilian and military clothes, and later trained a staff to invent accurate copies for the character animation planned for the restoration of Fortress Louisburg in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.

This ambitious project sparked Doyle's awareness of the need for costume design training in Canada, and he subsequently taught at Regina University and at Dalhousie University, where he founded the Costumes Studies Program. In 1999 he was appointed Art Director of the Opening and Closing Ceremonies of the Pan American Games in Winnipeg. He has also designed costumes and sets for The Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo and Ballet Jörgen, and conducted costume workshops throughout North America. In 2006 Doyle taught the final year at Red Deer College's Costume Program. He subsequently wrote a series of books on costume-making, including Waisted Efforts: An Illustrated Guide to Corset Making, Laundry: The Whys and Hows of Cleaning Clothes, Art of the Tailor, and Costuming the Dance.

In 2007 Robert Doyle received the Order of Canada for his life's work and mentoring of members of the Canadian theatre community. He died 13 November 2019.