If the content you are seeing is presented as unstyled HTML your browser is an older version that cannot support cascading style sheets. If you wish to upgrade your browser you may download Mozilla or Internet Explorer for Windows.

Heatley, Stephen

CTE photo
Stephen Heatley

Director, actor, dramaturge, playwright, and educator, Stephen Heatley was born and raised in Brampton, Ontario. He attended Brock University and the Canadian Mime School, and was awarded a graduate degree in directing from the University of Alberta. He was a company member in the early years of the Carousel Players, St. Catharines, apprenticed as a director at Magnus Theatre in Thunder Bay, and went on to be Artistic Director of Theatre Network in Edmonton from 1981 to 1992. He was also Director of the Theatre School and Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre from 1994 to 1999. He is currently Head of the Theatre and Film Program at the University of British Columbia.

During his tenure at Theatre Network he was instrumental in the creation and production of new Alberta plays and provided opportunities for talented local playwrights. He produced fifty new plays, directing thirty of them. Titles include: Gravel Run by Conni Massing, Mail Order Bride by Robert Clinton, The Third Ascent by Frank Moher (for which he won a Sterling Award for Direction in 1988), and several premieres of the work of Raymond Storey (Country Chorale, The Angel of Death, Something in the Wind, The Last Bus). He co-wrote the Christmas musical The Other Side of the Pole with Marney Heatley and Edward Connell for Theatre Network.

Stephen Heatley has also been an active participant since 2000 in the work of the Saskatchewan Playwrights Centre and has directed for the Bastion Theatre, Gateway Theatre, Alberta Theatre Projects, Chinook Theatre, Stage Polaris, Free Will Players, 25th Street Theatre, Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan, and the Blyth Festival. For Studio 1398 in Vancouver, he directed Cocktails at Pam's by Stewart Lemoine in 2013. His 2016 production of the drag action musical Heels of Glory played at the Chelsea Theatre in London, England.

In October 2022, Heatley was awarded a Life Membership by Canadian Actors’ Equity Association (CAEA) for his commitment to the industry. CAEA cited his "acclaimed track record of shepherding new Canadian works into being during his tenure at Theatre Network and the legacy he continues to grow as the Head of the Theatre and Film Department at University of British Columbia."

Profile by Anne Nothof, Athabasca University

Last updated 2022-12-04