Andrea Donaldson

Andrea Donaldson
Born
Toronto, Ontario
NationalityCanadian
Alma materSimon Fraser University
OccupationArtistic director

Andrea Donaldson is a Canadian theatre director and dramaturge. She is the current artistic director of Nightwood Theatre and was formerly the program director of Nightwood's Write From the Hip program.

Early life

Donaldson attended the Claude Watson School for the Arts for high school.[1] She later attended the School for Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University and graduated with a BFA in theatre.[2]

Career

From 2012 to 2016, Donaldson was the assistant/associate artistic director of Tarragon Theatre.[1] Donaldson has directed several plays with Tarragon including Anna Chatterton's Within The Glass (2016)[3] and Arun Lakra's Sequence (2017).[4]

Donaldson participated in the Stratford Festival's Michael Langham Workshop for classical direction in 2012 and 2013.[5] As part of the program, she assistant directed The Matchmaker and Othello.[6] For her work at Stratford, Donaldson was awarded the Jean Gascon Award.[7]

From 2014 to 2019, Donaldson was the program director of Nightwood Theatre's script development program Write From the Hip. As part of Write From the Hip, Donaldson helped to develop Rose Napoli's Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells) which she later directed as part of Nightwood's regular season in 2017.[8] Donaldson also developed Jane Doe's Grace and then and directed it for Nightwood's main season. In 2019, Donaldson replaced Kelly Thornton as artistic director of Nightwood Theatre.[9]

Outside of Nightwood and Tarragon, Donaldson has directed Howard Barker's The Possibilities (2004),[10] Erin Shields’ The Unfortunate Misadventures Of Masha Galinski (2007)[11] and Beautiful Man (2019),[12] and Harold Pinter's Betrayal (with Soulpepper, 2019).[13]

Donaldson is also an actor and has played such roles as the Prince in Shakespeare in the Ruff's 2016 production of Romeo & Juliet.[14] In addition, she sometimes teaches directing at the National Theatre School of Canada.[15]

Personal life

Donaldson is married to Rob Baker.[2] She has a son, Theodore Fitz.[6]

Awards

Year Award Category Work Result Notes Ref.
2005 Dora Mavor Moore Awards Outstanding Performance And By the Way, Miss Won [16][17]
Outstanding Production Won with Urge Collective
2011 Outstanding New Play or New Musical (Independent Theatre Production) Montparnasse Nominated with Maev Beaty and Erin Shields [18]
2013 Jean Gascon Award (Stratford Festival) Won [7]

References

  1. ^ a b Sumi, Glenn (February 8, 2019). "Andrea Donaldson becomes Nightwood Theatre's artistic director". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  2. ^ a b Lavoie, Joanna (January 9, 2016). "Leslieville's Andrea Donaldson directs Tarragon Theatre's 'Within the Glass'". Toronto.com. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  3. ^ Kaplan, Jon (January 20, 2016). "Review: Within The Glass". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  4. ^ Cushman, Robert (January 19, 2017). "Sequence crackles enough to hold your attention, but the characters are counters at best | National Post". National post. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  5. ^ "MICHAEL LANGHAM WORKSHOP FOR CLASSICAL DIRECTION". www.stratfordfestival.ca. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  6. ^ a b "Announcement: Andrea Donaldson Appointed as New Artists Director, Nightwood Theatre". TAPA. February 4, 2019. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  7. ^ a b "Press Release | Tyrone Guthrie Awards celebrate Festival artists and staff". www.stratfordfestivalblog.com. September 23, 2013. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  8. ^ Campbell, Trevor (2017-11-01). "Lo (Or Dear Mr. Wells) delivers uncomfortable truths we need to face". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  9. ^ Maga, Carly (February 4, 2019). "Nightwood Theatre announces Andrea Donaldson as new artistic director". The Toronto Star. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  10. ^ Sumi, Jon Kaplan, Glenn (August 12, 2004). "SummerWorks Reviews @ FACTORY STUDIO". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Fein-Goldbach, Debbie (November 29, 2007). "Masha mashup". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  12. ^ Edwards, Samantha (May 14, 2019). "Beautiful Man reveals ugly truths about gender stereotypes and exploitation". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  13. ^ Fein-Goldbach, Debbie (September 9, 2019). "Betrayal at Soulpepper remains timelessly compelling". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  14. ^ Kaplan, Jon (August 23, 2016). "Review: Romeo & Juliet goes modern and gender fluid". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  15. ^ "Directing". National Theatre School of Canada. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  16. ^ "Toronto director to direct "TomorrowLove"". Communication Arts. June 21, 2018. Retrieved May 20, 2020.
  17. ^ Kaplan, Jon (2004-12-02). "Girls growing". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-05-20.
  18. ^ "Nominees". TAPA. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved May 20, 2020.