Martha Ross

Martha Ross trained at Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris and has been writing, performing, teaching, directing and creating original theatre ever since. With Theatre Columbus, the company she co-founded with Leah Cherniak, Martha collectively created numerous award-winning plays: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine; Paranoia; The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girl, to name just a few. Their distinctive theatre style, which was physical, funny, serious, imaginative, at times anarchic, and always identifiable to the human story, quickly earned them a national reputation.  

For the past decade Martha has devoted herself to teaching the Lecoq method of creation at universities and private studios across Canada.  She also has received numerous grants and awards for her creative projects, which include a Chalmers Fellowship grant; a CCA New Chapters Grant to write The Cave with John Millard and Tomson Highway; and a Creative Accelerator Grant to work with Vancouver’s Global Mechanic. Martha recently formed the company J Mar Electric with John Millard.  Their mandate is to tell stories through music and text that address serious issues within a heightened spirit of play and imaginativeness.  

She is beyond thrilled to work again with Kristina Watt, with whom she created their 2016 play, Particle, which was inspired by Virginia Woolf’s novel, The Waves.