Aaron Willis
Represented by: Emma Laird- Resume
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Resume
| DIRECTING: | ||
| Athabasca | Director/Dramaturgy | Next Stage Theatre Festival |
| The Unending: 3 short plays
THE STRONGER, PLAY, and WHAT DOESN’T KILL YOU |
Director | Convergence Theatre/Toronto Fringe Festival |
| Cymbeline | Director | George Brown Theatre School |
| Stupidhead! | Director/Dramaturgy | Outside the March, Theatre Passe Muraille, |
| The Preposterous Predicament of Polly Peel (development) | Director | Touchstone Theatre’s IN TUNE festival, Toronto Fringe Festival |
| Another Sunrise/Farewell Auschwitz | Director | Electric Bond Opera Ensemble / Beth Tzedec Synagogue |
| *Meet Cute | Director | Roseneath Theatre |
| The Testament of Mary
by Colm Tóibin |
Director | Soulpepper Theatre |
| Danny and the Deep Blue Sea
by John Patrick Shanley |
Director | Baro Theatre |
| The Crucible
by Arthur Miller |
Director | Theatre Erindale; UofT Mississauga/Sheridan College |
| Passion Play
by Sarah Ruhl |
Director with Mitchell Cushman & Alan Dilworth | Convergence Theatre/Outside the March/Sheep No Wool |
| When the Ice Breaks
by Madeleine Donohue. |
Director/Dramaturgy | Campbell House Museum/ & Tour of historic houses and museums across Ontario |
| Miss Caledonia
by Melody Johnson |
Co-directed with Rick Roberts | Tarragon Theatre, (‘12), The Grand Theatre in London (’12), Blyth Festival (‘11), SummerWorks Festival (’10) |
| Other People
by Christopher Shinn |
Director | Mutual Friends Co-op |
| Much Ado About Nothing | Assistant Director to Christopher Newton | Stratford Shakespeare Festival |
| King Lear(excerpt) | Director | Directors Workshop Project, Stratford Festival / Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Theatre Direction |
| Julius Caesar (excerpt) | Director | Directors Workshop Project, Stratford Festival / Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Theatre Direction |
| YICHUD (Seclusion)
by Julie Tepperman |
co-directed with Richard Greenblatt | Theatre Passe Muraille with Convergence Theatre |
| Evita | Assistant Director to Gary Griffin | Stratford Shakespeare Festival |
| *The Gladstone Variations – The Tearful Bride by Rick Roberts | Director | Convergence Theatre/Toronto Fringe |
| Press Conference
by Harold Pinter |
Director | The Wrecking Ball |
| AutoShow | Director | Convergence Theatre/Toronto |
| *Dora Mavor Moore Nomination for Best Direction | ||
| CREATION / PRODUCING: | ||
| Co-Artistic Director of Convergence Theatre with Julie Tepperman | Convergence Theatre has created and produced:
– AutoShow (2006, Toronto Fringe Festival) Seven 10-minute plays set in actual cars, performed in the parking lot of Royal St. George’s School in the Annex. Audiences were divided into groups of 20 and watched the plays by walking from one car to the other. The performance was framed like a typical AutoShow, with music, dancing and sales pitches. – The Gladstone Variations (2007, Toronto Fringe Festival) Four 30 minute plays written to be performed inside and around Toronto’s historic Gladstone Hotel. Audiences, again in groups of 20, followed the action of the plays around different locations in the hotel. All four plays were performed simultaneously each night. – The Gladstone Variations (2008 Remount) Independently produced. – YICHUD (Seclusion) by Julie Tepperman (2010 & 2011) In producing partnership with Theatre Passe Muraille & remounted at TPM and the Magnetic North Festival. A play about an Orthodox Jewish wedding, where the theatrical was transformed into a synagogue, and the audience invited to immerse themselves in the pre-show wedding party. |
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| Artistic Project Coordinator of THEATRE BEYOND WALLS | freelance producing a series of newly commissioned projects for the Fall 2012 season at Theatre Passe Muraille. | |
| Member of the Toronto Wrecking Ball from 2010-2014 | – Wrecking Ball 12: Are You Dying To Vote? (pre-Canadian Federal Election, April 2011) – curated and directed the presentation of “Letters to Canada” by PEN writers in Exile Ayub Nuri, an Iraqi Kurd, and Ava Homa, from Iran. The letters were read aloud by the authors in their native languages along with a simultaneous English translation.
– Wrecking Ball 11: What Now? (post-Toronto Municipal Election, December 2010) – provided logistical support and consultation. – Wrecking Ball 10: Gee! 20? (pre-G20 meeting in Toronto, June 2010) – directed the “International Beauty Pageant” – transitional material involving 20 performers, male and female, playing the G20 countries as beauty pageant performers. |
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| TEACHING / COMMUNITY OUTREACH: | ||
| Instructor at Toronto Film School since 2017 | ||
| Professional Mentorship, Humber Theatre School (Jan-April 2014) | ||
| Artist in the schools with the Stratford Festival since 2004 | ||
| Instructor at Act II studio at Ryerson University since 2010 | ||
| Luminato Festival Education Workshops | ||
| Habit by David Levine (2011) creation of an improvised play performed on the set of Habit, a fully functioning apartment; inspired by the show’s intimate and improvisational aesthetic. | ||
| Shtick!, and Shtick 2!, First Narayever Congregation, 2006 & 2007. | ||
| AWARDS & NOMINATIONS: | ||
| Nominated for the 2012 John Hirsch Award in Directing | ||
| 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award in Directing. | ||
| Recipient of the Jean Gascon Award from the Stratford Festival Guthrie Award committee. | ||
| *2009 Dora Nominee: Outstanding Direction for The Gladstone Variations in the Independent Theatre Category | ||
| 2009 Dora Nomination: The Gladstone Variations for Outstanding Production in the Independent Theatre Category. | ||
| 2006 Dora Nominee: Outstanding Performance, TYA category for Wrecked (Roseneath Theatre) | ||
| The Gladstone Variations was named one of NOW Magazine’s Top 10 Plays of the Decade 2001-2010 | ||
| AutoShow and The Gladstone Variations both named Best Production, Best New Play, Best Ensemble, and made the Top Ten Toronto Productions of 2007 and 2006 by NOW Magazine | ||
| Convergence Theatre named NOW Magazine’s 2007 Best Site-Specific Theatre Company | ||
| TRAINING: | ||
| The Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction – Stratford Shakespeare Festival (2010 and 2012) | ||
| Apprentice to vocal coach and singing teacher Fides Krucker at Humber College (Fall 2010, ongoing) | ||
| Volcano Physical Theatre Conservatory (August 2007) | ||
| George Brown Theatre School (1998-2001) | ||
| BA Honours in Drama; University of Alberta (1994-1998) | ||