Hope Van Der Merwe is a British-Canadian actor, playwright, and poet studying at York University’s BFAActing Conservatory and currently based in Toronto. Acting credits include playing Sofia in the Canadian Premiere of Dance Nation by Clare Barron (upcoming), Suzy in Love in the Time of Werewolves by David Yee (2022), and Elektra in Elektra by Anne Carson (2022), to name a few. Her first play, Something Wicked premiered at York University’s 2020 playGround Festival and received a half-reading in conversation with Kate Hennig for The Canadian Plaything’s Playwright to Playwright series, sponsored by the Playwright’s Guild of Canada’s PlayConnect program. Hope’s writing contributions to Unhushed Theatre Collective’s Swallow This Skin were also featured in Toronto Fringe’s 2021 Main Festival, and her poetry debut can be found in the 16th issue of the Temz Review.