The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) today announced that Toronto-based Louise Naubert is the recipient of the John Hirsch Director’s Award. The $5,000 award will be presented at 6 p.m. on Monday, April 23, 2012 at the Alliance Française de Toronto.
About the recipient:
- Award-winning director Louise Naubert is a leading Franco-Ontarian theatre director and actor known for her strong vision and unique approach which merges disciplines and transcends the boundaries of language.
- Since 2007, Louise has directed plays, poetry and song productions as Artistic Director for Théâtre La Tangente in Toronto.
- Throughout her career, she has performed in more than fifty productions, including several productions for the National Arts Centre’s (NAC) French Theatre in Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec city.
- In the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons, she played the lead role in Chekhov’s Le moine noir, a co-production by the NAC’s French Theatre, Manège Mons / Centre dramatique (Belgium), Borderline Festival (Lille, France, Culture Capital of Europe, 2004) and Montreal`s UBU compagnie de création. The play was translated by André Markowicz and Françoise Morvan, and adapted and directed by Denis Marleau.
- In 2000, her adaptation and direction of Patrice Desbien’s poetic story Les Cascadeurs de l’Amour earned Théâtre la Tangente the inaugural Masque de la production franco-canadienne, an honour bestowed by l’Académie québécoise du théâtre.
- She recently adapted and directed Comment on dit ça, t’es mort, en anglais? from Claude Guilmain’s poetic story No Man’s land.
- In May 2012, she will be in Berlin at the Schaubühne for two weeks in a residency offered by le Théâtre français du Centre national des Arts during the Theatertreffenfestival.
About the Award:
- The John Hirsch Memorial Fund was established by a bequest to the Ontario Arts Council in 1989.
- The John Hirsch Director’s Award honours Hirsh`s legacy as one of Canada’s most distinguished directors. The $5,000 award is presented every three years to a promising theatre director to further the recipient’s professional development.
- John Hirsch was born in Hungary in 1930. He began producing puppet shows at age 16 in the refugee camps of war-torn Europe, and turned his passion for directing into a lifelong career.
- In 1947, Hirsch immigrated to Canada where his directing and teaching career took him all over Canada and the United States, including a five-year tenure as Artistic Director at Stratford Shakespeare Festival. Read more about John Hirsch.
- Click here for a list of past laureates of the John Hirsch Director`s Award.
The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is the province of Ontario’s main funding body for professional arts activity. Since 1963, the OAC has played a vital role in promoting and assisting the development of the arts and artists for the enjoyment and benefit of Ontarians. In 2010-2011, the Ontario Arts Council funded 1,720 individual artists and 1,057 organizations in 223 communities across Ontario for a total of $52.3 million.
