Ottawa, May 31, 2002 — Theatre director
Jennifer Tarver is the winner of the
2002 John Hirsch Director’s Award. Pat Bradley, Theatre Officer at the
Ontario Arts Council (OAC) presented the
$5,000 award at the national Canadian Theatre Conference this afternoon in Ottawa.
The late distinguished director’s bequest supports an award in his name given every three years to the most promising director in Ontario. The Ontario Arts Council convenes a jury of experts to choose the winner from candidates nominated by members of Ontario’s professional theatre community.
In making their selection, jurors Maja Ardal (Toronto), playwright and director; Marty Bragg (Toronto), Artistic Producer of CanStage; and Micheline Chevrier (Ottawa), director, cited Jennifer’s “remarkable and highly defined theatre aesthetic” and “her courage to express her artistic commitments and the resourcefulness to bring them to life”.
Jennifer founded Theatre Extasis which produced Not Faust (2000) and History Play (2001). History Play received two Dora nominations this month in the Independent Theatre Division, for Outstanding Direction and Outstanding New Play or Musical. Her other recent directorial work includes Martian Summer for Theatre Direct Canada’s Buncha Young Artists Festival; Queen of Puddings’ production of Echoes; and The Butler Enters in the 2000 Rhubarb! Festival. Jennifer began her artistic career as a musician, training as a classical clarinetist at the Manhattan School of Music. A directing apprenticeship at the Banff Centre for the Arts led her to work in contemporary music theatre. In 1996, she completed her MFA in directing at the University of Alberta.
This is the fourth time the John Hirsch Director’s Award is being given. John Hirsch endowed other awards, including the Canada Council for the Arts’ John Hirsch Prize which was recently presented. The John Hirsch Memorial Fund is managed by the Ontario Arts Council Foundation, a public charitable foundation established to encourage and facilitate private giving to the arts.
OAC Media Contact: Kirsten Gunter, Manager of Communications
Tel: (416) 969-7403. Toll-free outside of Toronto: 1-800-387-0058, ext. 7403.
E-mail: kgunter@arts.on.ca