Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Rooney, Robert
Playwright, director, dramaturge, filmmaker, Robert Rooney was born on May 30, 1950 in Romford, England; died on January 5, 2016 in Wakefield, Quebec of cancer. His mother was a journalist and set designer, his father a surveyor involved in the restoration of heritage buildings. He made his first appearance on stage at 11 in Paris in May 1968 at the time of the student protests, and then studied at the Drama Centre in London. He came to Canada in 1975 to pursue his interest in agit-prop theatre.
His artistic vision was committed to social change and justice, especially in respect to the apartheid struggle in South Africa, but also to Indigenous rights and environmental issues in Canada. With his wife, Brenda, he produced social action films, and was involved with the ANC in South Africa for eighteen years; Rooney staged the welcoming ceremonies for Nelson Mandela in 1990; and wrote and directed Mandela and the Children at the Sky Dome in 1998. He also produced the twenty-part TV series on the Great Law of the Iroquois Confederacy. In 2010, he and his wife founded WIFF, a festival of international documentary films in Wakefield.
Over a period of thirty years, Rooney directed over forty mainstage shows across Canada and the US, including Theatre Plus, and Theatre Aquarius (Tomson Highway's The Rez Sisters). From 1986-88, he was Artistic Director of Toronto Workshop Productions/TWP. His production of Gone the Burning Sun by Ken Mitchell, about Canadian physician Norman Bethune, toured China, and his production of In Search of Dragon’s Mountain by South African writer, Toeckey Jones, won a Dora Mavor Moore Award. He also introduced Toronto audiences to acclaimed South African productions of Asinamali!, Woza Albert! and Bopha!.
He wrote, directed, and produced fifteen CBC radio dramas, including : It Hasn’t Hit Me Yet; It’s Not a Country It’s Winter; Emergency Continued; Something in the Air; Talk at Will; Moose Meat and Wild Rice; Hercules Down; Moo; and Mary Ann Shadd.
Rooney was also a dramaturg at the Playwriting Colony at the Banff Centre for the Arts.
Source: Peter MacGibbon, Globe and Mail 25 Feb 2016
Last updated 2019-10-19
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.
