Andrea Donaldson is a Canadian theatre director and dramaturge. She is the current

artistic director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

Nightwood Theatre Nightwood Theatre is Canada's oldest professional women's theatre and is based in Toronto. It was founded in 1979 by Cynthia Grant, Kim Renders, Mary Vingoe, and Maureen White and was originally a collective. Though it was not the founders' o ...

and was formerly the program director of Nightwood's Write From the Hip program.

Early life

Donaldson attended the

Claude Watson School for the Arts The Claude Watson School for the Arts (CWSA) is a public arts school for grades 4–8 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. History The Claude Watson School for the Arts was founded in 1981 after the North York Board of Education proposed a school wit ...

for high school. She later attended the School for Contemporary Arts at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

and graduated with a BFA in theatre.

Career

From 2012 to 2016, Donaldson was the assistant/associate artistic director of

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

. Donaldson has directed several plays with Tarragon including

Anna Chatterton Anna Chatterton is a Canadian playwright,"Chatterton, Anna"
''Canadian Theatre Encyclo ...

's ''Within The Glass'' (2016) and Arun Lakra's ''Sequence'' (2017)''.'' Donaldson participated in the

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shak ...

Michael Langham Michael Seymour Langham (22 August 1919 – 15 January 2011) was an English director and actor, who spent much of his career living and working in Canada and the United States. He was educated at Radley College and studied law at the Univers ...

Workshop for classical direction in 2012 and 2013. As part of the program, she assistant directed ''The Matchmaker'' and ''

Othello ''The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice'', often shortened to ''Othello'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulat ...

.'' For her work at Stratford, Donaldson was awarded the Jean Gascon Award. From 2014 to 2019, Donaldson was the program director of Nightwood Theatre's script development program Write From the Hip. As part of Write From the Hip, Donaldson helped to develop Rose Napoli's ''Lo (or Dear Mr. Wells)'' which she later directed as part of Nightwood's regular season in 2017. Donaldson also developed Jane Doe's ''Grace'' and then and directed it for Nightwood's main season''.'' In 2019, Donaldson replaced Kelly Thornton as artistic director of Nightwood Theatre. Outside of Nightwood and Tarragon, Donaldson has directed

Howard Barker Howard Barker (born 28 June 1946) is a British playwright, screenwriter and writer of radio drama, painter, poet, and essayist, writing predominantly on playwriting and the theatre. The author of an extensive body of dramatic works since the ...

's ''The Possibilities'' (2004), Erin Shields’ ''The Unfortunate Misadventures Of Masha Galinski'' (2007) and ''Beautiful Man'' (2019), and

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A List of Nobel laureates in Literature, Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramat ...

's ''

Betrayal Betrayal is the breaking or violation of a presumptive contract, trust, or confidence that produces moral and psychological conflict within a relationship amongst individuals, between organizations or between individuals and organizations. Of ...

'' (with

Soulpepper Soulpepper is a theatre company based in Toronto, Ontario.Keith Garebian"Soulpepper Theatre" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', November 4, 2010. History Soulpepper was founded in 1998 by twelve Toronto artists aiming to produce lesser-known theatri ...

, 2019). Donaldson is also an actor and has played such roles as the Prince in Shakespeare in the Ruff's 2016 production of ''

Romeo & Juliet ''The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'', often shortened to ''Romeo and Juliet'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare about the romance between two young Italians from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's ...

''. In addition, she sometimes teaches directing at the

National Theatre School of Canada The National Theatre School of Canada (NTS, ) is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, the NTS receives its principal funding from grants awarded by the Government of Canada and cultural ...

Personal life

Donaldson is married to Rob Baker. She has a son, Theodore Fitz.

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donaldson, Andrea Canadian women theatre directors Canadian theatre directors 21st-century Canadian women Simon Fraser University alumni Dora Mavor Moore Award winners People from Toronto Dramaturges Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian artistic directors