theatre maker, curator, artistic leader

ted witzel

Toronto

Last updated: October 18, 2023

ted witzel (he/him) is a queer theatre-maker and artistic leader from toronto / tkaròn:to, and is the artistic director of buddies in bad times theatre. primarily a director, ted is also variously a dramaturg, curator, teacher, writer, translator, designer, and performer. he has worked with theatres and cultural organizations across canada, the uk, germany, and italy.

ted was a guest curator for the 2023 edition of the summerworks festival and is a member of the theatre committee at the toronto arts council. he recently completed a four-year tenure as artistic associate and laboratory director at the stratford festival, where he oversaw the company’s research and development programs. ted holds a masters of arts management from SDA bocconi and an MFA in directing from york university and canadian stage. in 2018, he was selected as an artistic leadership resident at the national theatre school, and was a member of the banff centre’s 2019 cultural leadership cohort. he has been artist-in-residence at harbourfront centre, buddies in bad times (toronto) and institut für alles mögliche (berlin). 

recent directing credits include: sunny drake’s every little nookie (stratford festival), susanna fournier’s what happens to you happens to me (canadian stage), elizabeth rex (theatre@york), the scavenger’s daughter (buddies/paradigm) and LULU v.7 // aspects of a femme fatale (buddies/red light district).