I write, direct, and design things.

Cole Lewis (she/her) is a mom and mad theatre artist from St. Catharines, Ontario. She specializes in creating live performance from design ideas, exploring new modes of storytelling, and fusing technologies to the stage. Her practice includes directing, playwriting, and the design of moving image works. She is Co-Artistic Director of Guilty by Association with a BFA in Dramatic Arts from Brock University and a MFA in Directing achieved through full scholarship from Yale School of Drama.

Twice nominated for Dora-Awards and a recipient of the 2024 City of St. Catharines Established Artist Award, Cole’s practice uses humour, design, and technology to explore notions of violence, expose questions of bias, and unsettle standard conceptions of ‘truth’. Disparate, divergent, and wide-ranging, Cole’s work questions received ideas about identity, violence, and systems of oppression to explore alternative futures.

RECENT: Co-created 2021 in residency through Tarragon Theatre’s 2024 Greenhouse Festival with further announcements about the project to be made soon. Began writing a new play about social welfare through Caravan Farm Theatre’s 2024 National Playwright Retreat. Co-researched Dramaturges of the Unreal through Nightswimming’s Pure Research program. Attended 2023 LaMama Umbria with Thomas Ostermeier, Iman Aoun, Dmitry Krymov, and Keng Sen Ong. Adapted and directing Chekhov’s The Seagull for TMU in partnership with Tarragon Theatre. Wrote an adaption of Kyo Maclear’s Virginia Wolf for Geordie Theatre. Lead Artist Mentor for Suitcase in the Point’s Electric Innovations presented at 2023 and 2024 In The Soil Festival. Completed writing the first draft of REFUSE with a seed commission from Stratford Festival.

SELECT DIRECTING/CREATION: Co-created 2021 with development announcements to be made soon. Wrote and directed 1991 which was presented by Why Not Theatre’s RISER Project through Guilty by Association. Conceived and directed these violent delights at SummerWorks. Wrote and directed Moderato Cantabile at SummerWorks. Led the devising process and directed AGMI at ArsNova’s AntFest. Directed Anne Carson’s Antigonick at SummerWorks. Directed Hansol Jung’s Cardboard Piano at Carlotta Festival. Directed The Visit at Yale School of Drama. Originated the direction and co-wrote Suitcase in Point’s Dora nominated Keith Richards: A One Woman Show.

SELECT INTERDISCIPLINARY: A TBA mainspace gallery exhibition, The Pińata Project, is under development with support from Design + Technology Lab. Spoke about AI + Theatre on a panel at FOLDA and Queen’s University. Workshop for Untitled Visit, an exploration in VR and MoCap, with GbA and Lauren Dubowski at Yale’s CCAM. Directed Redshift Music Society’s Still Life Continuum at Vancouver’s Orpheum Theatre. With the Niagara Artist Center and Suitcase in Point, directed Canada’s largest wearable art show, STRUTT and The Wine King Parade Float designed by Seth.

UPCOMING: After completing a residency with Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) and Theatre Mitu (NYC), continued development of 2021 in COLLAB with Playwrights Workshop Montreal for a future tour. A mainspace gallery exhibition for The Piñata Project to be announced soon. Continued writing of REFUSE (seed commission Stratford Festival) and Untitled Social Welfare Play (Caravan Farm Theatre’s National Playwrights Retreat).

In her spare time, Cole can be found learning from her students at The Creative School or creating alongside the community of St. Catharines.