Cynthia Ashperger

Dr. Cynthia Ashperger was born in Zagreb, Croatia where she had extensive experience in the theatre, film and television industry as an actor. She holds a PhD from University of Toronto’s Graduate Centre for Studies in Drama. She has taught acting at Ryerson School of Performance since 1994 where she also served as Director of the Acting Program. At Ryerson she has directed some twenty productions of the world classics, most recently Tales from Vienna Woods, Martin Chuzzlewit, The Chaste Maid of Cheapside, The Country Wife, All for Love, The Three Sisters and The Girl from Maxim’s.In Toronto she has worked as a director, writer, actor and producer for the last twenty five years. For her own play inc. company she directed, acted and produced the critically acclaimed production of A Summer’s Day by Jon Fosse. For Phantasmagoria Collective she has directed Tender Napalm by Philip Ridley at Toronto’s Summerworks 2013 also to great critical acclaim. In 2015 she was invited by Croatian Play Drama Theatre to direct a modern French satire George Kaplan utilizing her unique rehearsal processForeign Tongue Meet Kathy Woodrough, a young, busy, single, urban professional who experiences a stroke, falls into a coma, and wakes up six weeks later with a thick Russian accent. Her diagnosis is Foreign Accent Syndrome, a real medical condition that leaves her mistaken for a "New Canadian" and a refugee, a misunderstanding she does not correct. In this new musical comedy, Kathy finds true love and friendship, but can she face the consequences of her clumsy lie?Foreign Tongue at Next Stage: https://fringetoronto.com/next-stage/show/foreign-tongue