Ottawa, February 28, 2008 – Directors Nina Lee Aquino of Toronto and Frédéric Dubois of Quebec City are the winners of the John Hirsch Prizes, administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
The two $6,000 prizes are awarded to emerging theatre directors – one working in English and one working in French – who have demonstrated great potential and an exciting artistic vision. Nominations for the prizes are solicited from the Canadian professional theatre community and a committee of practicing theatre artists chooses the winner from a list of nominees. Made possible by a bequest from the estate of the late John Hirsch, the prizes are a tribute to the extraordinary contribution Hirsch made to theatre in Canada, most notably as founder of the Manitoba Theatre Centre, head of drama for cbc television and artistic director of the Stratford Festival.
The prize to Nina Lee Aquino will be presented on Wednesday April 16, at the Toronto Theatre Passe Muraille, where her adaptation of People Power (by Carlos Bulosan) will be playing from April 16 to May 11. The prize presentation to Frédéric Dubois will take place on Wednesday March 12, at the Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in Montreal, where his production of Bacchanale (by Olivier Kemeid) will run until
March 15, 2008.
Members of the selection committee for the English-language prize were: Eric Coates (Stratford), Robert Chafe (St. John's, NL),
Patricia Darbasie (Edmonton), Monique Mojica (Toronto) and Camilla Tibbs (Vancouver). Members of the French-language selection committee were: Joël da Silva (Montreal), Éva Daigle (Quebec City),
Myriam De Verger (Montreal), Nolwenn Pianezza (Vancouver) and Michèle Rouleau (Repentigny).
The jury said, "Nina Lee Aquino is an emerging theatre director whose work encompasses, and is passionately driven by, diverse communities. With her development of fu-gen Asian-Canadian Theatre Company, and her work with Factory Theatre's CrossCurrents Festival, she is literally changing the face of Canadian theatre by nurturing diversity amongst the country's new storytellers in our urban centres. Her work is bold, physical, yet playwright centered."
Of Mr. Dubois, the jury said, "From Réjean Ducharme to Michel Tremblay, Eugène Ionesco to Raymond Queneau, Jean-Pierre Ronfard and many others, this versatile, prolific and talented artist has distinguished himself with his daring artistic statements–his style is deft, rhythmic and often sheerly enjoyable! To his credit is the new form of summer theatre as well as several Masques. Frédéric Dubois is a committed artist whose prime motivation is pleasure, and his productions bear this out."
A director, dramaturge, actor and playwright, Nina Lee Aquino completed her bachelor of arts in drama at the University of Guelph and her master of arts in theatre at the University of Toronto. Ms. Aquino is currently the artistic director of fu-gen Asian-Canadian Theatre Company in Toronto and the artistic producer of Factory Theatre's CrossCurrents Festival. She has also worked for Native Earth Performing Arts.
Ms. Aquino co-wrote the Dora-nominated play Miss Orient(ed) (Carlos Bulosan Theatre) and her monologues have published in Beyond the Pale (edited by Yvette Nolan) and She Speaks (edited by Judith Thompson). She is currently the editor of Canada's first Asian-Canadian drama anthology, love & relasianships, to be released in May of 2008, published by Playwrights Canada Press. Ms. Aquino received the Ken McDougall Award for emerging director in 2004 and was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding direction for Singkil in 2007.
Her efforts have made a significant impact on each of the communities with whom she works, and have placed her at the forefront of theatre in Canada. She has been a mentor to various youth and emerging artists programs such as the Paprika Festival, Write from the Hip (Nightwood Theatre), the amy Project and Factory Theatre's UnderCurrents program. She recently directed Humber College School of Creative and Performing Arts' collective creation stop/look and is currently the director for Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People's Theatre Ensemble.
Frédéric Dubois studied at the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec, graduating in 1999. He quickly became noticed for his audacious and original stagings and several of his productions won awards including best direction, Prix d'excellence des arts et de la culture de Québec, 2005. His work has been applauded at Théâtre du Trident (HA ha! de Réjean Ducharme), Théâtre de la Bordée (Macbeth, Ubu Roi, Les feluettes) and Théâtre des Fonds de Tiroirs, where he has been artistic director for the past 10 years. His direction of La librairie, by Marie-Josée Bastien, has been playing for the past four years across Canada, in English and in French, and will soon be seen on French stages in Europe. He has also worked at Théâtre Bluff, Théâtre du Tandem and the National Arts Centre.
Mr. Dubois teaches in the various theatre schools in Quebec. He also works with musicians, and has taught stagecraft to opera students at the Conservatoire de Musique de Québec. He was a member of the board of the Conseil Québécois du Théâtre (CQT), and has been president of the Association des Compagnies de Théâtre (ACT) for two years. The association advocates the importance of creating theatre in Québec and francophone Canada.
In addition to its principal role of promoting and fostering the arts in Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts administers awards and fellowships to over 200 artists and scholars annually in the arts, humanities, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and engineering. Among these are the Governor General's Awards in Visual and Media Arts, the Killam Prizes, the Killam Research Fellowships, the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prizes, the Governor General's Literary Awards and the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts.
For more information about these awards, including nomination procedures, contact Janet Riedel Pigott, Acting Director of Endowments and Prizes, at 613-566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 5041, or by e-mail; or Carole Breton, Acting Endowments and Prizes Officer, at 613-566-4414, or 1-800-263-5588, ext. 4116, or by e-mail.
Heather McAfee
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Donna Balkan
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