S1E23 - Episode 23 - Praneet Akilla and Lili Beaudoin of Canadian Stage's "Romeo and Juliet"

Welcome to episode 23 of A View from the Box - The Podcast! Today, I'm chatting with Praneet Akilla and Lili Beaudoin who are taking on Shakespeare's most famous lovers, Romeo & Juliet, at Dream in High Park!

A mostly Vancouverite but sometimes Torontonian Lili Beaudoin is an actor, improvisor and filmmaker. Some of her notable theatre credits include Juliet in Juliet, a Revenge Comedy, Marie in The Nutcracker at Caravan Farm Theatre, Claudia in I, Claudia at The Arts Club, Mimi/scenographer in Blind Date, Brigid Blake in The Humans at Theatre Calgary, Gracie in Gracie at ATP & Belfry and Miranda in The Tempest at Bard on the Beach. Elsewhere Lili’s voice can be heard in several animated shows such as Beat Bugs, Littlest Pet Shop, Rainbow Ruby, Max Steel and My Little Pony. Lili is the Associate Artistic Director of Tightrope Impro Theatre where she spend most of her weekends strutting her stuff on stage and pretending she knows what she’s talking about. Lili is the honoured recipient of a Betty Mitchell award for Outstanding Performance by a lead Actress in a Drama.

Praneet Akilla is an award winning Indian-Canadian Actor & Producer best known for his leading roles on The CW’s Nancy Drew, Disney Freeform’s Motherland Fort Salem, and Netflix’s October Faction. He is currently the series lead of the Canadian Screen Award nominated medical drama Skymed on CBC Gem & Paramount Plus. Over the last 3 years Praneet has made the successful transition into producing a variety of critically acclaimed short films and digital series with his new production company Akilla Express, focusing on telling unique, genre-bending stories from a Third Culture Global Majority perspective. Most recently Praneet produced and starred in the critically- acclaimed short film “Mom vs Machine” which is currently on the film festival circuit with 6 Leo Nominations (B.C. Film & Television Awards) including Best Short Drama. With stops at Fantasia Film Festival, Whistler Film Festival, Reelworld Film Festival, and Brooklyn Horror Festival- the short film premiered on the Sci-Fi Streaming Platform- DUST in 2023. Praneet also produced a Telus Funded short film entitled Not For Us (Whistler Film Festival Premiere 2023, LA Comedy Film Festival 2023 Best Short film). He is currently in development on a TV adaptation of the celebrated Canadian novel Junie with 100 Dragons Media Inc. and a new comedy horror series called Raksha with funding from IPF & Canada Media Fund. Praneet is a recent graduate of the National Screen Institute of Canada’s Access BIPOC Producers program. Praneet is currently selected as a producer participant in the highly competitive Netflix Diversity of Voices Program as part of the 2025 cohort for emerging BIPOC creators to decision-makers at the Banff World Media Film Festival.

You can find Praneet online here: Instagram

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