Theatre Direct

Theatre for young people, located in Toronto Ontario, founded by playwright David S. Craig in 1976. Theatre Direct has produced and toured over eighty-five productions reaching 45,000 young people annually in schools and theatres.

Its mandate is to create and present sophisticated and uncompromising theatre for, with and by young people that provokes, challenges and inspires; to present theatre that is socially conscious and reflects and interprets the diversity of the Canadian experience; to nurture the audience’s appreciation of the arts and each other through community and education based programs (Website).

In 2009 Theatre Direct relocated to the Artscape Wychwood Barns, a redeveloped historic site in a park in central Toronto. The company’s facilities include a fully-equipped professional theatre venue and an education studio.

Noteworthy productions of Canadian works include: Thin Ice by Banuta Rubess and Beverly Cooper, Getting Wrecked by Tom Walmsley, The General by Robert Morgan, and Flesh and Blood by Colin Thomas, one of the first plays dealing with HIV/AIDS; A Secret Life by Ed Roy, and Toronto at Dreamer’s Rock by Drew Hayden Taylor (which toured across Canada).

Since 2002, productions include Alphonse by Wajdi Mouawad; And by the Way Miss… by the interdisciplinary collective URGE; Beneath the Banyan Tree by Emil Sher, which toured Canada and England and won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 2015; I Met a Bully on the Hill by Martha Brooks and Maureen Hunter; Sanctuary Song, composed by Abigail Richardson and written by Marjorie Chan.

In 2001 and 2002, The Buncha’ Young Artists Festivals premiered eight new works for young adults by emerging playwrights.

The company has received seven Dora Mavor Moore Awards, ten Chalmers Awards and the Canada Council Theatre for Young Audiences Prize.

Since 2001, the Artistic Director was Lynda Hill. In January 2019, Lisa Marie DiLiberto was appointed AD.

Website: www.theatredirect.ca

Last updated 2021-12-01

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.