Vanessa is the Executive Producer of DreamRider Productions and an award-winning playwright and composer. She writes, designs, and composes for every DreamRider project, and she was a performer in the company before becoming the full-time executive producer. With partner Ian, Vanessa writes musicals for kids and for adults, including Keep Cool!, Gremlin (Carousel, Geordie Theatre), The Dreamer’s Quest (Western Canada Theatre), and Quantum Physics: The Musical. She also wrote the music for the hit show Larger Than Life: The Musical with SG Lee (Western Canada Theatre/Firehall Theatre/Gateway Theatre). Vanessa has a BFA from Simon Fraser University. Her best creation is her daughter, Tia.

Interesting Story About Vanessa: In 1992, when Vanessa lived in Tofino, B.C., the beautiful rainforest that was her backyard was clear cut and, as the song says, turned into a parking lot. Vanessa became a leader in the Clayoquot Sound environmental campaign, and committed her art and her career to protecting her West Coast paradise. Her songs became the songs of the Clayoquot movement, and, as the campaign reached its peak, Vanessa performed as the opening act for Midnight Oil’s famous early morning logging-road concert.