Hope McIntyre is a Canadian playwright, theatre creator, and professor. She was the founding artistic director of Sarasvati Productions and served as the company's artistic director until 2020.

Early life and education

McIntyre was born and raised in

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada. It is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and to the south by the ...

. McIntyre obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting from the

University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...

and, later, a Masters of Fine Arts in Directing from the

University of Victoria The University of Victoria (UVic) is a public research university located in the municipalities of Oak Bay, British Columbia, Oak Bay and Saanich, British Columbia, Canada. Established in 1903 as Victoria College, British Columbia, Victoria Col ...

. She proposed directing María Irene Fronés' ''

Fefu and Her Friends ''Fefu and Her Friends'' was the fourteenth play by Cuban American playwright María Irene Fornés, originally written and produced in 1977. It is known for its alternative staging and use of a solely female cast. Synopsis Plot ''Fefu and h ...

'' as part of her MFA thesis project but was told by male faculty advisors that the play's feminism was dated and that it would be too difficult to cast given the large number of female actors required. McIntyre later trained at

ARTTS International ARTTS International was a multi-discipline film, television, radio and stage training centre in Bubwith, East Riding of Yorkshire, England established by John Sichel in 1990. The centre ran for 15 years until his death in 2005, during which time ...

Career

McIntyre worked at Rare Gem Productions, an international commercial theatre producer, in Toronto in the late nineties. McIntyre founded Sarasvati Productions in Toronto in 1998 but moved the theatre company to Winnipeg in 2000. McIntyre founded Sarasvati's FemFest in 2003 expressly to amplify female voices. While working at Sarasvati, McIntyre directed several shows including ''Fire Visions: The Poetry of

Bertolt Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a p ...

'' (2002), ''

Fen A fen is a type of peat-accumulating wetland fed by mineral-rich ground or surface water. It is one of the main types of wetland along with marshes, swamps, and bogs. Bogs and fens, both peat-forming ecosystems, are also known as mires ...

'' (2010), ''

Vinegar Tom ''Vinegar Tom'' is a 1976 play by the British playwright Caryl Churchill. The play examines gender and power relationships through the lens of 17th-century witchcraft trials in England. The script employs features of the epic theater associa ...

'' (2010), and ''

'' (2014). As well, during her time with Sarasvati, McIntyre saw many of her own plays performed by the company. In 2020, Sarasvati announced that McIntyre would be retiring from her position as artistic director to focus on her position as an assistant professor at the

University of Winnipeg The University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg, UW, or U of W) is a public research university in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It offers undergraduate programs in art, business, economics, education, science and applied health as well as graduate progra ...

. McIntyre was succeeded by

Frances Koncan Frances Koncan (born 1986) is an Saulteaux- Slovene journalist, theatre director, and playwright from Couchiching First Nation who lives in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As of 2023, Koncan uses she/they pronouns. Early life and education Koncan was born ...

Plays

* ''Hunger'' (1998) *''Trauma'' (1999) * ''Revisionings'' (1999) * ''Missiah'' (2000) * ''Death of Love'' (2001) * ''Ripple Effect'' (2008) * ''Eden'' (2012) * ''Empty'' (2012) * ''Immigration Stories'' (2012) - written by McIntyre with the Immigrant Women's Association of Manitoba * ''Jail Baby'' (2013) - co-written by McIntyre and Cairn Moore with Nan Fewchuk and Marsha Knight * ''Giving Voice'' (2014) - co-created with youth in foster care * ''Erica in Technoland'' (2014) * ''Breaking Through'' (2017) - co-written by McIntyre and Cairn Moore

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McIntyre, Hope Canadian artistic directors Living people University of Saskatchewan alumni University of Victoria alumni Academic staff of University of Winnipeg 21st-century Canadian women writers 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian women dramatists and playwrights Canadian theatre directors Canadian women theatre directors Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people)