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.

Twice nominated for Dora-Awards, 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: Attended LaMama Umbria with Thomas Ostermeier, Iman Aoun, Dmitry Krymov, and Keng Sen Ong. Lead Artist Mentor for Electric Innovations at In the Soil Festival. Adapted and directing Chekhov’s The Seagull for TMU. Wrote an adaption of Kyo Maclear’s Virginia Wolf for Geordie Theatre. Wrote/directed an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull for Tarragon Theatre & XU’s Partnership.

SELECT DIRECTING/CREATION: 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: Development 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: Three new Residencies (two in Toronto and one in Paraguay) to be announced soon. Writing Untitled Nurse Project with a seed commission from Stratford Festival.

In her spare time, Cole can be found learning from her students at The Creative School.