Our Team
Val Lieske
Executive Artistic Director
Val is the founder and Artistic Director of Fire Exit Theatre. She has a BA in Theatre & Speech from Trinity Guild University (UK) and is a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada. She never imagined her love of storytelling (that truly began in the basement drama room of her junior high school) would go beyond being a passionate audience member.
Val fell in love with playwriting and worked for 10 years with Alberta Playwrights’ Network and then studied playwriting with Lucia Frangione and won a scholarship to The Glen Workshop to study with screenwriter Bradford Winters. Select writings include; co-author of the book, “Crossroad Cafe’ - Break Free From the Daily Grind”, plays “Sunnyside Up”, “God’s Attention”, “Duty to Warn”, “Past Tense”, and “Me Right Now”. As well as numerous articles and spoken word pieces.
She worked in the theatre departments at Rocky Mountain College and Ambrose University and freelances as an educator, writer, educator, public speaker and preacher.
Val has taught her class How to Tell a Good Story With Your Life to CEO’s, drama teachers, Executive Directors, pastors and stay at home moms. She is a Chaplain to the arts community and enjoys nothing more than drinking strong coffee with creative people.
“Fire is the symbol of love: and the love of God is the principle and the end of all our good works.” - Rev. John Wesley
Karla Adolphe
Managing Director
Karla brings a blend of creativity, strategic thinking, marketing and leadership experience that spans 23 years. Karla’s superpower is helping creative ideas and creative teams come to life.
She recently graduated from Queen’s University with a Graduate Diploma in Arts Management and also holds a BFA from Providence College and Theological Seminary. Karla is the Fund Development Officer at the Leighton Art Centre and worked at Compassion Canada, where she led a hybrid creative team of designers, content creators and videographers.
Karla is also an award-winning independent recording solo artist best known for her grief album Honeycomb Tombs, as the top-streaming artist in the Enter the Worship community and as founder of roots duo Jacob and Lily. Over the years, Karla has served as a Brand Consultant for Routes Media, Artistic Director and Founder of the Foothills Folk Club and as a Marketing Consultant for various artists and non-profits throughout North America. Karla has “acted” only once when Val forced her to perform in Nativity in the City and together Karla and Val co-parents Karla’s dog Reuben the Schnoodle.
Kacie Killaly
Shop Foreman
Kacie has been working with Fire Exit Theatre for over 15 seasons. Since graduating from Red Deer College’s Theatre Studies in Technical Production program in 2010, she has dabbled in the theatrical areas of Stage Management, Scenic Design, Properties and Scenic Carpentry; working with such companies as Theatre Calgary, Red Deer College’s TCRE Program, the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, Ambrose University, and more. Even though she was trained for theatre, Kacie has had years of opportunity to hone her skills in two of the city’s largest churches: Centre Street Church (May 2012-current) and First Alliance Church (2012-2019). She masterfully transforms environments to help tell a good story.
Our Board
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Frank Nickel
CHAIR
Frank is an arts management professional with a focus on strategic planning, financial sustainability and project management. Frank works alongside arts professionals in Canada and the US as a Client Relationship Manager for Spektrix Inc. He is a self professed theatre nerd who loves crafting persuasive grant applications and engaging with donors. He is the winner of the John Hobday Award in Arts Management from the Canada Council for the Arts and loves being in a state of perpetual professional development, especially when it comes to helping theatre companies grow into their artistic vision.
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Christine Berstad
TREASURER
Christine was born and raised in Alberta and made Calgary her home after high school. She and her husband enjoy travelling and sharing new experiences with family and friends. Christine’s career began in Calgary’s banking industry and continued in Ottawa for a decade before returning west. After 15 years in banking, she took time away from the workforce to focus on family, then transitioned into the oil and gas sector, where she spent 23 years in operational accounting, retiring as an Operations Analyst. A lifelong arts enthusiast, Christine is especially passionate about theatre and the visual arts, while also enjoying music, dance, and film. She joined the Fire Exit Theatre Board in October 2022 and is excited to contribute her experience, energy, and appreciation of the arts to its vibrant creative community.
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Cheryl Miller
SECRETARY
Cheryl was born in Vancouver, moving to Calgary at age 9. She's been a singer and sometime actor since elementary school participating in plays, musicals and currently leads worship at her church. Cheryl currently works at Pineridge Community Center as well as with her dad in his business. She loves photography – a camera of some sort is always in her hand – as well as scrapbooking. Cheryl loves to travel, with Paris (actually anything French) being her first love. She also enjoys watching hockey, tennis and building her family genealogy. Cheryl enjoys working both on the box office team and the board to help bring our stories to life.
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Susan Hastie
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Susan is the founder and clinic director of Changing Course Counselling as well as a member of the Alberta College for Counselling Therapists. She received her undergrad in Family studies from the University of Manitoba and a Masters in Counselling from Providence Theological Seminary. She is an adjunct faculty and holds a successful private practice of 30 years providing individual,marital and group counselling. Susan is a frequent guest speaker at local and national conferences and is sought out for her ability to conduct crisis debriefings and as a consultant to organizations facing crisis.
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Stephanie MacTavish
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Stephanie is a communications and marketing professional with a three-decade career in senior leadership at higher education institutions. She holds a bachelor's degree in art and two graduate degrees in literature and technology, which together inform her focus on quality communications. At home in the arts community, she and her husband Murray seek out ways to support the various showings and performances, whether through subscriptions or sponsorships. They moved to Calgary from Washington State in 2020, at which time they met Val Lieske, a colleague at Ambrose University. They have been fans ever since, both of her artistic vision and the unique (for Calgary) ethos she creates through Fire Exit Theatre.
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Ken DeWyn
DIRECTOR AT LARGE
Raised on a dairy farm in Southern California, Ken's journey in the arts began during his grade school years. His curiosity and conservatory training led him to Chicago, where he spent over a decade in the arts and education as a professional actor, director, instructor, and fundraising professional. His final post as Director of Development for Chicago Shakespeare Theater was a career highlight, blending his creative and leadership skills. After moving to Calgary, Ken worked in aviation before becoming Executive Director at Calgary Christian School. Today, he serves as COO for the Community Kitchen Program of Calgary. In his “spare time”, he continues to take on new opportunities and challenges, with a heart for helping mission-driven organizations flourish. Ken firmly believes in theatre's transformative power to inspire and connect communities.
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Keith Shields
Keith Shields has been an Executive Pastor for Bow Valley Christian Church in Calgary, a Lab Scientist in the Molecular Diagnostic Lab of the Alberta Children’s Hospital, and a Church Starter in Calgary and Vancouver. He is an Executive Coach and Coach Trainer for Logan Leadership, a Consultant to Churches with Vision Ministries Canada, an Advanced Transitional Pastor with the Transitional Leadership Network, an Adjunct Instructor at Alberta Bible College, and in all of these enterprises a listener, counselor, and pastor.
He has authored three books and writes songs with collaborators in the band, Key of Zed.
Keith has a Master of Arts in Theology (Regent College), Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology (University of Calgary), and a Bachelor of Religious Education (Alberta Bible College).