Cole Lewis
Cole Lewis
(she/her)
Associate Professor, Acting
Education:
- MFA Directing, Yale School of Drama
- MA Popular Culture, Brock University
- BA Theatre Studies, Brock University
Email: colelewis@torontomu.ca
Cole Lewis (she/her) is an interdisciplinary performance, educator, and Mom. She specializes in creating live performance from design ideas, exploring new modes of storytelling, and collaborating with technologies on the stage. Her practice includes directing, playwriting, the design of moving image works, and emerging technologies. Her current focus is on developing new frameworks for emerging technologies, particularly Video Games and AI, in performance. She has an MFA in Directing from Yale School of Drama, is the Co-Artistic Director of Guilty by Association, and the current Director of the Acting Program.
Cole teaches acting, directing, and story design. She believes it is a big responsibility to set the aesthetic standard for the life of a young artist and provide the profession with dynamic and original leaders in the field. It is a responsibility she doesn’t take lightly. She empowers her students to reach their full capacity as smart, thinking, citizen-artists. Artists who are keen and empathetic observers of the world. Artists who are deeply curious about all aspects of human nature. Artists who are free from fear. Artists who make and/or perform work that is necessary today. Cole’s students have performed or directed at: Shaw Festival, Arts Club, Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, Banff Theatre, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, PuSH Festival, Theatre Centre, Crow’s Theatre. Her students can also be seen performing on Apple TV, The CW, Global TV, CBC Gem, Hallmark, and Lionsgate.
Twice-nominated for Dora Awards, nominated by Stratford Festival for the 2025 Bruntwood Playwriting Award, and named 2025 Established Artist by City of St. Catharines, Cole’s creative praxis uses humour, design, and technology, to explore notions of violence, expose questions of bias, and unsettle standard conceptions of ‘truth’. Select credits: Nominated for Bruntwood Playwriting Prize by Stratford Festival for her play, Untitled Nurse Project/REFUSE, seed commissioned by Stratford. Writing/Directing/Performing the Dora-nominated moving image performance of 1991 for Why Not Theatre’s RISER Projects. Adapting Kyo Maclear’s Virginia Wolf for Geordie Theatre. Co-writing/originating the Direction of the Dora-nominated Keith Richards: The One Woman Show. Directing Canada’s largest wearable art show, STRUTT. Devising/Directing Redshift Music Society’s immersive experience Still Life Continuum at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre. Directing a parade float,"The Wine King", designed by Graphic Novelist, SETH, with Niagara Artists Company.
Current projects: Cole is fine-tuning the AI, writing the text for, and performing in 2021, a live narrated video game designed for a participatory performance, accompanied by live music. 2021 is a collaborative storytelling event between performers, audience members, and AI that explores the significance of human data and the challenges of preserving dignity in death for those we fundamentally disagree with. Initially developed at Tarragon Theatre with partners at Playwrights Workshop Montreal and Brooklyn's Theatre Mitu, 2021 is under development with plans to prototype workshop performances across Canada in 2025 before premiering and undertaking an international tour in 2026. Additionally, Cole is beginning work on The Piñata Project where she teaches a robot to play piñata so she can explore notions of play and labour with community for a main space gallery exhibit TBA. Disparate, divergent, and wide-ranging, Cole’s works question received ideas about identity, violence, and systems of oppression to explore alternative futures.
2021, co-created by Patrick Blenkarn, Sam Ferguson, and Cole Lewis. Story Design and AI Fine-Tuning by Cole Lewis. Initially developed as part of Greenhouse Residency at Tarragon Theatre, Jan 2024. Workshop development as part of Theater Mitu's Artist at Home Residency, August 2024. Current Development Partners include Elbow Theatre, Theater Mitu, and Playwright's Workshop Montreal.
The Visits, co-created by Patrick Blenkarn, Lauren Dubowski, and Cole Lewis. Led by Cole Lewis, Yale Center for Collaborative Arts and Media, August 2022.
The Kids Are Alright by Cole Lewis and Iris O’Neill, commissioned by Kelly Kerwin, Salonathon, May 2020
The Gratefuls: A Storyboard for a Live Animation Performance by Cole Lewis, Convergence Theatre, April 2020
Awkward Conversations, directed by Chelsea Hunter, created by Marcus Youssef and Sarah Stanley, PuSH Festival, July 2018 and January 2019
Untitled Naufus Project, directed by Cole Lewis, PuSH Festival with The Audain Gallery and SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, January 2019
Still Life Continuum, theatrical direction by Cole Lewis, Redshift Music Society with SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, Vancouver’s Civic Theatre, Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver, December 2018
the hair produced the desired effect by Cole Lewis, Ryan Campbell and Sam Ferguson, [a sound installation], Yale Art Gallery for ‘Gallery + Drama’, April 2013
King Lear’s Edgar by Cole Lewis, [an interactive performance piece], Yale Center for British Art for ‘The Director’s Vision’, December 2012
Strutt Wearable Art, directed by Cole Lewis, [a wearable art fashion show], Niagara Artists Centre, November 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010
Howling Winds by Juan Carlos Velis, Workshop Presentation, Essential Collective Theatre, December 2022
Sister Warriors by Roselyn Kaleda-Sedra, Workshop Presentation, In the Soil Festival, July 2022
The Gull adapted by Cole Lewis & written by Anton Chekhov, Toronto Metropolitan University, November 2021
1991 written by Cole Lewis, Why Not Theatre’s RISER Festival with a subsequent tour to In The Soil Festival, May/June 2019, Workshop Presentation through SFU Faculty
Research Presentation Series, September 2018, Workshop Presentation through Storefront Theatre’s Feminist Fuck It Festival, April 2018
these violent delights conceived and written by Cole Lewis, SummerWorks Performance Festival, August 2017
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare, SFU’s School for the Contemporary Arts, March 2017
Moderato Cantabile by Marguerite Duras and adapted by Cole Lewis, SummerWorks Performance Festival, August 2015
Cardboard Piano by Hansol Jung, Eugene O’Neill Center, Staged Reading, July 2015
Keith Richards One Woman Show by Dee Jones and Cole Lewis, High Performance Rodeo, February 2015
Chester by Carrie Felices-Costello, Castlemoon Productions, October 2014 - February 2015
Antigonick by Anne Carson, Guilty By Association, SummerWorks Performance Festival, August 2014
Ain’t Gonna Make It devised by Guilty By Association, Ars Nova’s AntFest, June 2014
Cardboard Piano by Hansol Jung, Carlotta Festival, May 2014
The Small Room At The Top Of The Stairs by Carole Frechette, Yale Cabaret, February 2014
Derivatives by Ensemble, Yale Cabaret, November 2013
The Visit by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, Yale School of Drama, October 2013
The Ugly One by Marius von Mayenburg, Yale Cabaret, April 2013
Romeo And Juliet by William Shakespeare, Yale School of Drama, February 2013
An Almanac for Farmers and Lovers in Mexico by Kate Tarker, Yale School of Drama, October 2012
The Snail And The Whale, by Carrie Felices-Costello, Castlemoon Productions, July 2012
Downtown Stupor by Suitcase In Point, Carousel Players, October 2010
Ministry of Love by Ensemble, Theatre Rien Pantoute, July 2009
The Corporate Western by Cole Lewis and ensemble, Suitcase In Point, March 2008
BeWearing Wolf by Erin Shields and Dee Jones, Harbourfront Theatre Festival, March 2004
Untitled Project/The Welfare Diet, by Cole Lewis, initiated development at the National Playwrights Retreat, Caravan Farm theatre, 2024.
Untitled Nurse Project/REFUSE, by Cole Lewis, seed commissioned by Stratford Festival, 2024.
Aging Pantomime, by Jenn Forgie and Cole Lewis, in development with support from Nightwood Theatre’s Stromberg Family Realization Fund, 2022.
The Gull, adapted by Cole Lewis & written by Anton Chekhov, TMU, November 2021
Virginia Wolf, an adaptation of Kyo Maclear’s Virginia Wolf, workshopped at Carousel Players, July 2016 and July 2017, programmed to premiere at Montreal’s Geordie Theatre 2020
Lost and Found, an adaptation of Oliver Jeffer’s Lost and Found, workshopped at Carousel Players, July 2012, July 2013 and June 2014
I Know Angelo, produced by Suitcase In Point, September 2008
Looking For George, produced by Suitcase In Point, September 2008
Call To Mind, produce by Suitcase In Point, June 2002.
“Building Brian: The intersection of liveness, video games, and AI in 2021” by Cole Lewis. Scene; Performance Technologies and Transformations: Virtual Production, AI, and Digital Innovation, abstract accepted with expectation to be published Winter 2025.
“2021: Mechanics to Hold” by Cole Lewis. Yale CCAM Maquette, Issue No. 4, submitted, to be published Spring 2025.
“Approaches to Sustaining the Stage: Planetary Performance” by Cole Lewis. Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 194, Article accepted, to be published Spring 2023.
“Practice and Research: A Report from the Academy” by Patrick Blenkarn, Cole Lewis, and Ker Wells. Canadian Theatre Review, Vol. 172, Fall 2017, pp. 63-67.
National Alliance of Acting Teachers (USA)
Canadian Playwrights Guild
Stage Directors and Choreographers Guild (USA)
Canadian Guild of Stage Directors and Choreographers
2025 International Bruntwood Playwriting Prize, nomination from Stratford Festival
2024 Established Artist Award, City of St. Catharines
2024 Named One of Ten Stage Artists in Toronto to Watch by Next Magazine
2024 Gina Wilkinson Prize in Directing, nomination
2023 LaMama Directors International Symposium, invitation to attend
2022 Nightwood Theatre Finalist for Stromberg Family Realization Fund
2021 Cayle Award Jury Member for 2021 Cayle Award Winner
2020 LaMama Playwright Retreat
2019 RISER Jury Member for Short List Selection of RISER Projects
2018 Betty Mitchell Award Nomination for Best Director from Dora Award Jury
Now Magazine 2017 Best Production, Best Direction, Best Design, Best Ensemble for SummerWorks Production of these violent delights
Now Magazine 2015 Best Ensemble for SummerWorks Production of Moderato Cantabile
2014 Emerging Theatre Artist Award for SummerWorks Performance Festival, Antigonick for Guilty by Association and Suitcase in Point
2014 Dora Award Nomination for Outstanding Touring Production, Keith Richards: A One Woman Show for Suitcase in Point
2013 1989 École Polytechnique Commemorative Award awarded by the Canadian Federation of University Women
2012 Canadian Theatre Review featured Cole's work with Suitcase In Point Theatre (CTR 150 Spring 2012)
2011-2013 Cullman Scholarship in Directing awarded by Yale School of Drama
2011 J.B.C. Watkins Award awarded by Canada Council for the Arts
2011 Trillium Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts awarded by City of St. Catharines to Suitcase in Point Theatre Company
2010 Canadian Theatre Review featured Cole's work with Suitcase In Point Theatre (CTR 143 Summer 2010)
2008 Trillium Arts Award for Innovation in the Arts awarded by City of St. Catharines to Suitcase in Point Theatre Company
