Craig Stewart Walker (born September 25, 1960) is a Canadian writer, theatre director, actor and educator. Walker graduated from

Bayview Secondary School Bayview Secondary School, initially known as Bayview High School is a grade 9–12, 2-semester secondary school operated by the York Region District School Board. It is located just north of the northeast corner of Bayview Avenue and Major Mackenz ...

and afterwards, began his career in the theatre as an actor with 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 ...

, the

Shaw Festival The Shaw Festival is a Charitable organization, Charitable theatre festival in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada. It is the second largest repertory theatre company in North America, second only to Canada's Strat ...

and the National Arts Centre of Canada and other companies. After returning to complete an M.A. in English and a Ph.D. in Drama at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, he was appointed to the Department of Drama at Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, where he was Director from 2012 to 2015, at which point the Departments of Drama and Music merged. He continued to be Director of the Dan School of Drama and Music until 2022, and continues to be a Professor. From 1997 till 2007, Walker served as artistic director of

Theatre Kingston Theatre Kingston is a theatre company located in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1990 as Theatre Beyond by Paul Gelineau, the company became The People's Theatre Kingston in 1992 and had two more Artistic Directors under that name—Kathryn ...

, a company for which he has directed many productions including his own ''Finnegans Wake: a dream play'' (based on the novel ''

Finnegans Wake ''Finnegans Wake'' is a novel by Irish literature, Irish writer James Joyce. It was published in instalments starting in 1924, under the title "fragments from ''Work in Progress''". The final title was only revealed when the book was publishe ...

'' by

James Joyce James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (born James Augusta Joyce; 2 February 1882 – 13 January 1941) was an Irish novelist, poet, and literary critic. He contributed to the modernist avant-garde movement and is regarded as one of the most influentia ...

), which played in both Kingston and Toronto in 2001, and

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' ''

The Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' () is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BC, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of ...

'', which was performed with ''

Proteus In Greek mythology, Proteus ( ; ) is an early prophetic sea god or god of rivers and oceanic bodies of water, one of several deities whom Homer calls the "Old Man of the Sea" (''hálios gérôn''). Some who ascribe a specific domain to Prote ...

'', a satyr play Walker wrote himself to replace the one that had originally followed the trilogy, but had been lost since the 5th century BCE. In 2002, Walker wrote the book, music and lyrics for ''Chantecler: a musical'' (based loosely on a verse play by

Edmond Rostand Edmond Eugène Alexis Rostand (, , ; 1 April 1868 – 2 December 1918) was a French poet and dramatist. He is associated with neo-romanticism and is known best for his 1897 play ''Cyrano de Bergerac''. Rostand's romantic plays contrasted with th ...

). More recently, he has worked as an actor and director with the

St. Lawrence Shakespeare Festival The St Lawrence Shakespeare Festival (SLSF) runs annually in Prescott, Ontario in July and August. SLSF contracts professional actors through Canadian Actors Equity Association, is a member of PACT (the Professional Association of Canadian Theat ...

in Prescott, Ontario. That company's production of ''

Twelfth Night ''Twelfth Night, or What You Will'' is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–1602 as a Twelfth Night entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola an ...

'', which was directed by Walker, won the 2012 Prix Rideau Award for Outstanding Production. In 2009 he was appointed as a corresponding scholar with the

Works by Walker

*''The Buried Astrolabe: Canadian Dramatic Imagination and Western Tradition''. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2001. *''Finnegans Wake: a dream play'' (based on the novel by James Joyce). Produced by Theatre Kingston in 2001. *''Chantecler: a musical'' (book, music and lyrics; based on the play by

). Produced by Theatre Kingston in 2002. *Editor, with Jennifer Wise, ''The Broadview Anthology of Drama, Volume One''. Broadview Press, 2003. *Editor, ''The Broadview Anthology of Drama, Volume Two''. Broadview Press, 2003. *Editor, with Jennifer Wise, ''The Concise Broadview Anthology of Drama''. Broadview Press, 2005. *Editor, ''King Lear'' by William Shakespeare (with facing Folio and Quarto text), ''The Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume Two,'' ed. Joseph Black, et al. Broadview Press, 2006.

References

External links

The Buried Astrolabe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Craig 1960 births Living people 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian theatre directors Academic staff of Queen's University at Kingston University of Toronto alumni People from Richmond Hill, Ontario Male actors from Ontario Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Writers from Ontario Canadian artistic directors