Richard Rose (director)

Richard Rose CM (born January 18, 1955) is a Canadian theatre director, most noted as the former artistic director of the Toronto theatre companies Necessary Angel and Tarragon Theatre.^[1]

Background

He was born in Maracaibo, Venezuela, and raised in Sudbury, Ontario.^[2] He studied theatre at York University.^[3]

Career

He was the founding artistic director of Necessary Angel in 1978.^[1] The company's first production, Aeschylus's Oresteia, was not well-regarded by critics but telegraphed the company's high ambitions.^[1]

Necessary Angel rose to critical and popular favour with the breakout success of John Krizanc's play Tamara in 1981,^[4] which won numerous Dora Mavor Moore Awards in 1982 including Best Director for Rose.^[5] Following the success of Tamara, he collaborated with Thom Sokoloski, the artistic director of Theatre Autumn Leaf, to create Autumn Angel Repertory,^[6] who won the Dora for Outstanding New Play in 1984 for Mein.^[7]

In 1989 he attracted acclaim for his theatrical adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's novel Coming Through Slaughter, cowritten with Ondaatje and D.D. Kugler.^[1] In 1992, Rose and Kugler debuted another stage adaptation, of Timothy Findley's novel Not Wanted on the Voyage.^[8]

He also directed the short film Giant Steps, which screened at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival,^[9] and served for three years as director of the youth company at the Stratford Festival.^[1]

In 2002 he was appointed artistic director of Tarragon.^[10] His role with the company was marked by brief controversy in 2012 when Michael Healey resigned as the company's playwright in residence after Rose declined to produce his play Proud,^[1] but Rose remained with the company until his retirement in 2020.^[11]

In 2024, he was appointed as a member of the Order of Canada. He lives in Toronto.^[12]

Awards

Award	Year	Category	Work	Result	Ref(s)
Dora Mavor Moore Awards	1982	Outstanding Direction of a Play, General Theatre	Tamara	Won	[5]
	1983	Best Original Play, General Theatre	Censored	Nominated	[13]
	1984		Mein with Stewart Arnott, Ines Ruchli, Mark Christmann, Dorian Clark, Denis Forest, Maggie Huculak, Tanja Jacobs, Susan McKenzie	Won	[7]
	1989	Outstanding Direction of a Play, General Theatre	The Possibilities	Nominated	[14]
	1990	Best Original Play, General Theatre	Coming Through Slaughter with Michael Ondaatje, D.D. Kugler	Nominated	[15]
		Outstanding Direction of a Play, General Theatre	The Europeans	Nominated	[16]
	1993	Outstanding Direction of a Play, Midsize Theatre	Glenn	Nominated	[17]
	1996		Seven Lears	Won	[18]
	1998	Outstanding Direction of a Play, General Theatre	Inexpressible Island	Nominated	[19]
	2004		Remnants	Won	[20]
			Simpl	Nominated	[21]
	2006		Léo	Nominated	[22]
	2007		Scorched	Won	[23]
	2010		Courageous	Nominated	[24]
	2014		A God in Need of Help	Nominated	[25]
	2015		An Enemy of the People	Nominated	[26]
	2018		Hamlet	Nominated	[27]