Ken Gass

Ken Gass is currently the artistic director of Canadian Rep Theatre, where he has directed several recent projects, including the Dora-nominated How Do I Love Thee? and Armstrong’s War last season. Ken’s own plays include Claudius, The Boy Bishop [Chalmers Award finalist] Amazon Dream, Slip Knot, Bethune Imagined and the popular Hurray for Johnny Canuck!.  He has also written extensively for television and radio and  is collaborating with composer John Mills-Cockell on a full-length opera, Savitri and Sam.

Ken’s most recent project is the founding of ENSEMBLE Canadian Youth Theatre/Théâtre Jeunesse Canadien with productions of Dreams (Rêves) by Wajdi Mouawad and an ensemble adaptation of Tough! by George F. Walker. He will also be directing the world premiere of Walker’s The Damage Done in the fall of 2016.

Ken was also the founding artistic director of the Factory Theatre (1970–79; 1996–2012) a company that has been at the forefront of new playwriting in Canada.  Notable productions Gass directed there include the critically acclaimed Belle by Florence Gibson at the National Arts Centre and The Leisure Society by François Archambault (for which he won a Dora for Outstanding Direction), several plays by George F. Walker and a major revival of  The Rez Sisters by Indigenous playwright, Tomson Highway.

Winner of the highly prestigious Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in Ontario, Gass has also been awarded the Toronto Arts Award; the George Luscombe Award for Mentorship; and the Dora Silver Ticket Award for lifetime achievement.  Gass teaches performance at the Centre for Drama at the University of Toronto.