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≈ 1 hour · No intermission
Artists
Adrian Burns was appointed Chair of the National Arts Centre Board of Trustees on December 11, 2014, and has served on the NAC Board of Trustees since 2002. In addition to her recent appointment as Chair of the NAC, Ms. Burns has also served as Vice Chair and as the Chair of the Human Resources Committee.
Ms. Burns has dedicated her career to Canadian broadcasting and the arts, education, corporate and public governance, and community involvement. A true community leader, Adrian has been recognized publicly for her dedication to many organizations and causes, including being named an Honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy (2012); the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012); the Government of Saskatchewan Centennial Medal (2005); the Government of Saskatchewan Distinguished Service Award (2005), and the Order of Ottawa (2016). She received a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) from both the University of Regina (2012) and Carleton University (2016). Adrian Burns is a member of the CDS Council.
A businesswoman, Adrian Burns holds business real estate interests in Western Canada. She is a director of SHAW Communications, has been a member of the Copyright Board of Canada, and Chair of the Western Independent Producers Fund of CanWest Global Television. From 1988 to 1995, she was a Commissioner of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). Prior to joining the CRTC, she was Business Editor for CFCN-TV in Calgary, and held the positions of anchor, writer, and producer between 1981 and 1988.
Christopher Deacon was appointed President and Chief Executive Officer of Canada’s National Arts Centre in June 2018. Throughout his career, he has been a champion of the arts in Canada who believes in supporting ambitious new creation and propelling Canadian artists on the world stage. He is also a strong proponent of making performing arts centres more open, accessible, and engaged with their communities. His first year as President and CEO celebrated the 50th anniversary season of the NAC with a number of special initiatives, including a European Tour by the NAC Orchestra, and an open house that welcomed thousands of Canadians to backstage tours and performances.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic was declared in March 2020, Christopher Deacon has guided the organization through a challenging financial situation, and focused on leading and supporting the renewal of the Canadian performing arts sector – the vision of the NAC’s three-year Strategic Plan, The Next Act. Under his leadership, the NAC artistic team has created many new digital initiatives in support of that vision, most notably #CanadaPerforms, which provided financial support (from privately raised funds) to 700 Canadian artists from across the country for their online performances. The two-year partnership now supports livestreamed performances at the NAC and in venues nationwide. The NAC has also spearheaded research about Canadians’ attitudes toward returning to live arts and culture, and has published national re-opening guidelines for performing arts organizations and venues.
Christopher Deacon has prioritized diversity, equity and inclusion at the National Arts Centre. His tenure included the landmark launch of Indigenous Theatre and its highly successful first season in 2019-2020. More recently, he enabled NAC artistic leaders to bring forward initiatives such as the naming of Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop as Co-Curating Company of NAC English Theatre; the programming of an increasing number of IBPoC artists and companies; the hiring of a Director of Equity and Inclusion; and anti-racism training at the Board, Senior Management and staff levels of the organization.
During his 22 years as Managing Director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra, Christopher Deacon was the driving force behind numerous ambitious initiatives. He led the Orchestra to tour nationally and internationally, including the seven-city China Tour in 2013 that included eight concerts and 80 education events, as well as the 2014 UK Tour, the largest Canadian initiative overseas to mark the centenary of Canada’s entry into the First World War. He spearheaded Life Reflected, a multidisciplinary, critically acclaimed NAC commission that the Orchestra performed across Canada, and in Europe in 2019. He also led the Committee overseeing the NAC’s recent Architectural Rejuvenation and Production Renewal Projects.
Christopher Deacon trained as a composer, studying piano, harmony and solfège at the Conservatoire de Musique du Québec in Hull. He later received a Bachelor of Music degree in Composition from the University of Toronto. He lives in Ottawa with his wife Gwen Goodier. They have a daughter, Charlotte, and he is stepfather to Katherine and Peter.
Toronto-based stage director Ravi Jain is a multi-award-winning artist known for making politically bold and accessible theatrical experiences in both small indie productions and large theatres. As the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre, Ravi has established himself as an artistic leader for his inventive productions, international producing/collaborations and innovative producing models which are aimed to better support emerging artists to make money from their art.
Ravi was twice shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 Siminovitch Prize and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He is a graduate of the two-year program at École Jacques Lecoq. He was selected to be on the roster of clowns for Cirque du Soleil. Upcoming, Ravi will premier the live version of What You Won’t Do For Love, starring David Suzuki, and in 2023 he will be directing his co-adaptation of the Indian Epic Mahabharata.
"Be truthful, gentle and fearless"
- M.K Gandhi
A 2008 graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada, Mani Soleymanlou has lived in Tehran, Paris, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, and has worked with such acclaimed directors as Alice Ronfard (Les pieds des anges), Brigitte Haentjens (L’opéra de quat’sous), Claude Poissant (Rouge gueule, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi), Serge Denoncourt (Projet Andromaque, Les trois mousquetaires), Olivier Kemeid (Furieux et désespérés), Denis Bernard (Ce moment-là) and Eric Jean (Variations sur un temps).
He is best known as the founding artistic director (2011) of the Montreal-based theatre company Orange Noyée. His distinctive artistic practice investigates notions of community identity (Un/One, Deux/Two, Trois/Three) and social relationships (Ils étaient quatre, Cinq à sept, 8). He pursued this approach more recently in Neuf [working title] and Zéro presented in fall 2019 in Montreal and Ottawa, and also in various artistic collaborations over the years: Lapin blanc, Lapin rouge, Les Lettres arabes II, and À te regarder, ils s’habitueront. Mani Soleymanlou was part of the impressive team behind Gabriel Dumont’s Wild West Show (premiered at the NAC in October 2017), as director and co-artistic director.
Mani Soleymanlou assumed the position of Artistic Director of NAC French Theatre on September 1, 2021.
In a choreographic career spanning three decades, Crystal Pite has created more than 50 works for dance companies in Canada and around the world. She is the founding artistic director of the Vancouver-based company Kidd Pivot, world-renowned for radical hybrids of dance and theatre that are assembled with a keen sense of wit and invention. Crystal is known for works that courageously address such challenging and complex themes as trauma, addiction, conflict, consciousness, and mortality; her bold and original vision has earned her international acclaim and inspired an entire generation of dance artists.
Crystal Pite was born in Terrace, BC, and grew up in Victoria. She began her dance career as a company member of Ballet British Columbia (Ballet BC), then William Forsythe’s Ballett Frankfurt. She made her choreographic debut in 1990 at Ballet BC, and since then has created works for such prominent companies as The Royal Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Cullberg Ballet, Ballett Frankfurt, The National Ballet of Canada, Ballets Jazz Montréal (resident choreographer 2001–04), and Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet. She has also collaborated with Electric Company Theatre and Robert Lepage, and is currently Associate Choreographer of Nederlands Dans Theater, Associate Dance Artist of Canada’s National Arts Centre, and Associate Artist of Sadler’s Wells in London.
In 2002, she formed Kidd Pivot, a company that strives to distill and translate universal questions into artworks that connect us to deep and essential parts of humanity.
“Running through all of my work is the question of what moves us,” she says. Kidd Pivot tours internationally with critically acclaimed works such as Betroffenheit and Revisor (both co-created with playwright Jonathon Young), The Tempest Replica, Dark Matters, Lost Action and The You Show. In 2008, Crystal Pite participated in the inaugural GGPAA Mentorship Program as the protégée of 2004 GGPAA laureate Veronica Tennant, former principal dancer of the National Ballet of Canada.
Crystal Pite is a Member of the Order of Canada. Her other awards and honours include the Benois de la Danse, Canada Council Jacqueline Lemieux Prize, Grand Prix de la danse de Montréal, two UK Critics’ Circle Dance Awards, four Laurence Olivier Awards, and an honorary doctorate from Simon Fraser University.
Miriam Fernandes is the Co-Artistic Director of the Toronto-based company Why Not Theatre and has worked as an actor, director and theatre-maker around the world.
As a director, her work includes Metamorphoses (University of Toronto’s Drama Centre), Hayavadana (Soulpepper Theatre), Nesen (MiniMidiMaxi Festival, Norway) and The First Time I Saw the Sea (YVA Company, Norway).
As a creator, she is currently co-writing/adapting for the stage the ancient epic, Mahabharata (Why Not Theatre/Shaw Festival), developing a Deaf/hearing production of Lady Macbeth (in partnership with 1S1 Collective), and is a co-writer and performer in What You Won’t Do for Love with Drs. David Suzuki and Tara Cullis.
Miriam has trained with Anne Bogart’s SITI Company, and is a graduate of Ecole Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris. She is the recipient of the JBC Watkins Award and was nominated for the inaugural Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prize.