Weyni Mengesha is a Canadian film and theatre director, based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. She is known as the director of the plays ''

da kink in my hair ''Da Kink in My Hair'' is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. The play's central character is Novelette, the Caribbean Canadian owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. Novelette is forced to confront her ...

'', and ''Kim's Convenience''. Mengesha married American actor

Eion Bailey Eion Francis Hamilton Bailey ( ; born June 8, 1976) is an American actor. He stars as Jim Matthews in the MGM+ horror series ''From''. He played Pvt. David Kenyon Webster in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' and appeared in the films ...

in 2011. The couple have two children. In 2018, she was hired as the artistic director of the

Soulpepper Theatre 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 ...

. Observers applauded her appointment, and that of her colleague, executive director

Emma Stenning Emma Stenning (born 1975, in Surrey) is a British arts professional, based in Birmingham, where she is the Chief Executive of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. She joined the CBSO from Soulpepper Theatre where she was Executive Directo ...

, as it meant the two senior posts at the theatre would be filled by women, after the previous male director

Albert Schultz Albert Hamilton Schultz ( ; born July 30, 1963) is a former Canadian actor, director and the founding artistic director of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company. He resigned his position with Soulpepper after sexual allegations against Schultz bec ...

resigned after actors accused him of preying on female subordinates. Mengesha's parents were immigrants from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

. She is the cousin of actor

Araya Mengesha Araya Mengesha (born July 23, 1987) is a Canadian actor, best known for his role as himself on the kids documentary mystery series ''Mystery Hunters'' and as Mark Yohannes in '' Law & Order Toronto: Criminal Intent'', in which he currently stars ...

. While she was born in Vancouver, Mengesha grew up in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

. She graduated from Soulpepper Academy. Mengesha has been nominated for the

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Awards (also known as the Dora Awards or the Doras) are awards presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts (TAPA), honouring theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moor ...

five times, winning the award in 2014. Mengesha co-signed a letter of support to the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

movement, in June 2020, following several high profile incidents where police killed black civilians, in both the United States and Canada.

Legacy

In 2025, The Soulpepper Theatre Company in Toronto has renamed their Tank House Theatre to the Weyni Mengesha Theatre, in honor of Weyni Mengesha. That same year Weyni was honoured as a Johanna Metcalf Performing Arts Prizes finalist. https://metcalffoundation.com/johannas/

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mengesha, Weyni Canadian theatre directors Canadian women theatre directors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Black Canadian women writers Black Canadian filmmakers Film directors from Vancouver Film directors from Toronto Canadian women film directors Canadian people of Ethiopian descent Ethiopian Royal Family Exiled royalty Harry Jerome Award winners Black Canadian screenwriters