Rod Carley's Biography

Director / Producer / Actor / Writer / Dramaturg / Costume & Set Designer

Rod Carley has been Coordinator for Canadore College's new Theatre Arts Program since 2005 after developing the curriculum for the program in 2004. He currently teaches Acting Shakespeare, Acting Fundamentals, Text Analysis and Scene Study, Theatre History, as well as directing student graduate productions and overseeing the day-to-day operations of the theatre school.

He also serves as Artistic Director for Rep21, the new summer repertory theatre company showcasing the acting graduates of Canadore College.

For more information visit www.rep21.ca.

As founding Artistic Director of Nipissing Stage Company, North Bay's professional summer theatre company, from 1999 to 2005, Rod directed 25 mainstage productions including the Ontario premiere of Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, the Northern Ontario premieres of Stones In his Pockets, Picasso At The Lapin Agile, as well as serving as co-author/director on the original musicals Train Town and Wanted and dramaturg/director on the original musical Indian Heart, documenting the controversial life of Grey Owl. His Northern Ontario adaptation of The Tempest, starring David Fox, toured Northern Ontario in the summer of 2005.

He has directed and produced over 100 productions to date, both nationally and internationally, ranging from the classics to the development of new Canadian work. He spent two seasons with the Stratford Festival as resident Assistant Director and was the first recipient of the Festival's Jean Gascon Director's Award; he also received a Tyrone Guthrie Award. He was nominated for the first John Hirsch Director's Award in 1993 and in 1997 was short-listed for the Pauline McGibbon Award for his body of work to date

Rod has been a guest speaker for the Ontario University and College Librarians Association, Seneca College, Sault College, University of Toronto, Colleges Ontario, and is the Master of Ceremonies for Colleges Ontario’s annual Premier Awards. He was nominated for the 2011 Ontario Arts Council’s K.M. Hunter Artist Award for Theatre.

Rod has a particular passion for the works of Shakespeare, having directed fifteen of his works - visit www.canadianshakespeares.ca for further information. He has free-lance directed across the country doing summer stock, regional theatre, musicals, summer festivals, university and college productions, and community outreach programs through Theatre Ontario. His adaptation and direction of The Othello Project earned him a 1996 DORA Award Nomination for Outstanding Direction as well as a 1998 Carbonnell Award Nomination for Outstanding Direction (Florida Shakespeare Festival, Miami). His adaptation and production of King Lear earned a 1992 DORA Award Nomination. He directed the premieres of Jason Sherman's first work, A Place Like Pamela, at the Tarragon Theatre, and David Widdicombe's Dinosaur Dreams for the Factory Theatre. He served on Crow's Theatre Board of Directors in Toronto for two years and was responsible for assisting new play development. Rod has been committed to developing the work of Northern Ontario writers. Rod directed the Northern Ontario premiere of HigH Life earning him an Outstanding Direction Award and Production award at the 2002 Quebec / Northern Ontario Theatre Festival.

Recent directing credits include the Ontario premiere of Martin McDonagh’s The Lieutenant of Inishmore at the Berkeley Sreet Theatre in Toronto in December 2009 and the Canadian premiere of Robin Soans’ Talking to Terrorists in 2008 as well as Macbeth and The Donnellys in the summer of 2011. He is directing Timothy Findley’s Can You See Me Yet? as part of Rep 21’s 2012 summer season.

Writing credits include two original plays SLAM and Witless (Ontario Arts Council grants), the co-authorship of the original musical Wanted with David Fox and Train Town for NSC, the screenplay for the short film Looker, Bear Clause (based on the Harris government’s cancellation of the spring bear hunt in Northern Ontario), and various speeches. Looker was a nominee in the 2004 Northern Ontario Film Awards sponsored by Music, Film and Motion in Sudbury. I am producing, writing and acting in a short film being shot in Brockville in July tying in with the upcoming War of 1812 Bicentennial celebrations.

As an instructor, Rod has been a sessional professor with Nipissing University for the past nine years, a Guest Artist with the University of Windsor (four years), George Brown Theatre School (three years), and has taught workshops for the Stratford Festival, Equity Showcase, Artsperience, Theatre Ontario, and school boards throughout the province. He has been a provincial adjudicator for the past twelve years.

Rod is a 1985 York University Theatre graduate.

Please visit www.canadianshakespeares.ca to see the following facts & details:

Union Affiliations: