Kelly Thornton (director)

Kelly Thornton
Born	1965 (age 59–60) Brockville, Ontario
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Guelph
Occupation	Director
Years active	1994-present

Kelly Thornton is a Canadian theatre director and dramaturge. She has served as artistic director of Nightwood Theatre and is the current artistic director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Thornton was the co-head of Equity in Canadian Theatre: the Women’s Initiative.

Early life

Thornton was born in Brockville, Ontario in 1965 and was the youngest of four children.[1] At age nine, she moved with her family to Melbourne, Australia, but returned to Canada six years later.[2]

Thornton began university at the University of Western Ontario, where she considered studying psychology before changing her focus to English and philosophy. Thornton transferred University of Guelph where she double-majored in theatre and English. She graduated in 1994.[3]

Career

In 1998, Thornton directed This Hotel starring her then husband, Alex Poch-Goldin. She directed This Hotel again in 2001 with Theatre Passe Muraille at the Toronto Fringe Festival. Thornton was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for her direction of the 2001 production.[4]

In April 2000, Thornton became the artistic director of the Rhubarb! Festival in Toronto. She held this position for the 2000 and 2001 festivals.[5]

Thornton was appointed artistic director of Nightwood Theatre in 2001.[6] One of her first productions with the company was Djanet Sears' The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. Adventures of a Black Girl was performed in 2001 with a budget Thornton has described as being larger than the entire seasonal operations budget of Nightwood at the time.[7]

Thornton was heavily involved in launching Equity in Canadian Theatre: the Women’s Initiative with the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres. Equity in Canadian Theatre focussed on addressing the gender imbalance in leadership positions in Canadian theatre.[8] Thornton served as co-head of the initiative.[9]

While Thornton was Nightwood's artistic director, she directed several productions including Véronique Olmi's Mathilde (2006, translated by Morwyn Brebne),[10] Polly Stenham's That Face (2009),[11] Jennifer Tremblay's The List (2010),[12] Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad (2012),[13] Anupama Chandrasekhar's Free Outgoing (2014),[14] and Mary Vingoe's Refuge (2016).[15]

In 2019, Thornton left Nightwood to become the artistic director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre. Thornton is the first female artistic director of the RMTC.[6] In the fall of 2019, Thornton directed Kat Sandler's play Bang Bang with RMTC, marking her Winnipeg directorial debut.[16] As part of her tenure as artistic director, Thornton created RMTC's Bridge Festival. The Bridge was created to supplant the RMTC's Master Playwright Festival and was supposed to launch in 2020. However, due to COVID-19, the Bridge launched in 2021 with the theme Art and (re)Conciliation.[17]

Thornton's inaugural season (2020/21) as artistic director was set to include the Canadian premiere of Network and a production of The Sound of Music, the latter of which she was to direct.[18] In June 2020, Thornton announced a "reimagined season", which included cancellations of Network and The Sound of Music, due to COVID-19 restrictions.[19][20] Thornton directed Sarah Ruhl's adaptation of Orlando in late 2021 as the RMTC's first in-person production in the pandemic.[21]

Personal life

Thornton was previously married to actor Alex Poch-Goldin. The two have a daughter named Chloe.[22] Thornton is currently married to Josep Seras.[2]

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Notes	Ref.
1997	Alumnae Theatre Director’s Award (University of Toronto)		The Visit	Won		[23]
2002	Dora Mavor Moore Awards	Outstanding Direction of a Play/Musical	This Hotel	Nominated		[24]
2003	Pauline McGibbon Award	Director	N/A	Won		[25]
2004	Harold Awards	House of Don McKellar	N/A	Won		[26][27]
2008	Toronto YWCA Women of Distinction	Arts and Letters	N/A	Won		[28]
2010	Siminovitch Prize	Director		Nominated		[24]
2012	Dora Mavor Moore Awards	Outstanding Direction of a Play/Musical	The Penelopiad	Nominated		[29]

References

1. Scott, Shelley. "Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia - Thornton, Kelly". www.canadiantheatre.com. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
2. King, Randall (October 3, 2018). "Oct 2018: Royal MTC hires first female artistic director". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
3. Rollie, Emily A. (2013). "Women of the Northern Stage: Gender, Nationality and Identity and the Work of Canadian Women Stage Directors" (PDF). University of Missouri. p. 175-176. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
4. Rollie, Emily A. (2013). "Women of the Northern Stage: Gender, Nationality and Identity and the Work of Canadian Women Stage Directors" (PDF). University of Missouri. p. 182. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
5. Rollie, Emily A. (2013). "Women of the Northern Stage: Gender, Nationality and Identity and the Work of Canadian Women Stage Directors" (PDF). University of Missouri. p. 181. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
6. Pfeifer, Sharon (October 6, 2018). "'There is so much culture here': Incoming Royal MTC director making history". Global News. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
7. "Kelly Thornton hopes to bring more diversity to Royal MTC as 1st new artistic director in 30 years". CBC News. October 3, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
8. "Nightwood Theatre bids a fond farewell to Artistic Director Kelly Thornton". www.nightwoodtheatre.net. October 3, 2018. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
9. Schwietz, Lindsay (December 18, 2009). "Women making and attending theatre up. Women in charge of theatre still down". Praxis Theatre. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
10. Scott, Alec (2006). "Theatre". Toronto Life. Vol. 40, no. 5. p. 111. ISSN 0049-4194 – via Proquest.
11. Nestruck, J. Kelly (October 31, 2009). "Close to overdosing on sensationalism". The Globe and Mail. p. R10. ISSN 0319-0714 – via Proquest.
12. Nestruck, J. Kelly (October 16, 2010). "Performed live in Toronto". The Globe and Mail. p. R18. ISSN 0319-0714 – via Proquest.
13. Nestruck, J. Kelly (January 14, 2012). "Fine female cast makes for magical myth". The Globe and Mail. p. R9. ISSN 0319-0714 – via Proquest.
14. Crew, Rober (February 2, 2014). "Viral video tale turns soaplike". Toronto Star. p. E2. ISSN 0319-0781.
15. Maga, Carly (April 24, 2016). "An important and timely story, but something is missing". Toronto Star. p. E4. ISSN 0319-0781 – via Proquest.
16. Koncan, Frances (October 1, 2019). "Royal MTC artistic director Kelly Thornton on her new job and directing debut". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
17. King, Randall (2021-03-12). "Theatre fest brings together thinkers, doers, innovators". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2021-03-13.
18. Thompson, Sam (February 3, 2020). "Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre releases 'thrilling' 2020-21 playbill". Global News. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
19. "RMTC plans 'reimagined season' for January: artistic director". CBC. 2020-06-27. Retrieved 2020-08-14.
20. King, Randall (2020-06-26). "RMTC hoping shows can go on in January after scrapping fall slate owing to pandemic". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2020-08-15.
21. King, Randall (2021-05-14). "Daring RMTC season proceeds with caution". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved 2021-11-17.
22. Ouzounian, Richard (August 8, 2013). "SummerWorks' really big show: Alex Poch-Goldin's 'haunting' story has been 12 years in making". Toronto Star. p. E1. ISSN 0319-0781 – via Proquest.
23. Rollie, Emily A. (2013). "Women of the Northern Stage: Gender, Nationality and Identity and the Work of Canadian Women Stage Directors" (PDF). University of Missouri. p. 177. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
24. Rollie, Emily A. (2013). "Women of the Northern Stage: Gender, Nationality and Identity and the Work of Canadian Women Stage Directors" (PDF). University of Missouri. p. 165. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
25. "Pauline McGibbon Award Laureates". Ontario Arts Council. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
26. Stein, Lauren (May 13, 2013). "Tonight: The 2013 Harold Awards". Mooney on Theatre. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
27. "Harold Awards". haroldawards.com. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
28. Kaplan, Jon; Sumi, Glenn (May 29, 2008). "Scenes". NOW Magazine. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
29. "'Crash,' 'The Penelopiad' each nab six nominations for Dora Mavor Moore Awards: 'Crash,' 'The Penelopiad' nab 6 Dora noms". The Canadian Press. June 5, 2012 – via Proquest.