Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Codrington, Lisa
Actor and playwright, based in Toronto, Ontario. Her family emigrated from Barbados to Winnipeg, Manitoba. Lisa Codrington has a BA in criminology from the University of Manitoba and a BFA Honours in acting from Ryerson University (2003), where her mentor was playwright Sheldon Rosen.
She has been playwright-in-residence at Theatre Direct, Canadian Stage, Nightwood Theatre, Blyth Festival and Shaw Festival; and co-director of Youth Initiatives at Nightwood Theatre.
Her first play Cast Iron premiered at Nightwood Theatre in association with Obsidian Theatre Company in 2005 (dir. ahdri zhina mandiela), and starring Alison Sealy-Smith . It has been published in Canadian Theatre Review and Beyond the Pale: Dramatic Writing from First Nations Writers and Writers of Colour; and heard on CBC radio. In 2006 it was nominated for a Governor General’s Award. An immigrant from Barbados contends with ghosts from the past in her cold nursing home room. The play is written in a Barbados dialect.
Up The Garden Path was produced by Obsidian at Theatre Passe Muraille in March 2016 (dir. Philip Akin). Set in the late 1960s, it tells the story of a young seamstress from Barbados who disguises herself as a man to work on in a winery in the Niagara region.
Her adaptation of Bernard Shaw’s short story, The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God premiered at the Shaw Festival in 2016 (dir. Ravi Jain).
As an actor, Lisa Codrington has performed for Mirvish Productions, Prairie Theatre Exchange, the Winnipeg and Toronto Fringe Festivals, the Hysteria Festival, and SummerWorks. She has also acted on TV series.
Profile by Anne Nothof, Athabasca University.
Last updated 2020-11-11
Since October 2002, Athabasca University has hosted the web site, with an editorial board of theatre scholars from across Canada.
To submit an entry, please consult the guidelines for submissions.
Email your submission to: Anne Nothof, Professor Emerita, Athabasca University.
The Encyclopedia collects and disseminates information on plays, playwrights and theatre practitioners. It does not respond to requests for information, auditions, bookings, or tickets.
The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia web site was originally conceived and developed in 1996 by Gaetan Charlebois—theatre critic, playwright, and actor.
