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]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Craig Walker, "Richard Rose". The Canadian Encyclopedia, January 20, 2014.
  2. ^ Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof, "Rose, Richard". Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia, August 23, 2024.
  3. ^ Robert Crew, "Rose puts fresh bloom on theatre". Toronto Star, December 31, 1998.
  4. ^ Salem Alaton, "Tamara plays to a full house in all 20 rooms". The Globe and Mail, June 20, 1981.
  5. ^ a b Carole Corbeil, "An outstanding night for Tamara". The Globe and Mail, November 16, 1982.
  6. ^ Carole Corbeil, "A new theatrical pairing". The Globe and Mail, December 7, 1982.
  7. ^ a b Stephen Godfrey, "Jungle of Cities wins four Doras". The Globe and Mail, October 23, 1984.
  8. ^ "Findley novel headed for stage". Toronto Star, September 18, 1990.
  9. ^ H. J Kirchhoff, "Festival ushers in 69 Canadian films". The Globe and Mail, July 30, 1992.
  10. ^ "Tarragon Theatre names new artistic director". The Globe and Mail, June 12, 2002.
  11. ^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "Richard Rose set to retire from Tarragon Theatre". The Globe and Mail, June 27, 2020.
  12. ^ "Appointments to the Order of Canada – December 18, 2024".
  13. ^ Ray Conlogue, "Thomson, Phipps take Doras for outstanding acting". The Globe and Mail, October 11, 1983.
  14. ^ Isabel Vincent, "And the Dora nominees are . . .". The Globe and Mail, May 13, 1989.
  15. ^ Ray Conlogue, "Dora nominations harvested from sparse crop of new plays". The Globe and Mail, May 15, 1990.
  16. ^ Ray Conlogue, "Dora nominations harvested from sparse crop of new plays". The Globe and Mail, May 15, 1990.
  17. ^ Liam Lacey, "Bob's Kingdom and Ratbag lead Dora nominees". The Globe and Mail, May 11, 1993.
  18. ^ "Dora Mavor Moore Awards announced". Montreal Gazette, June 27, 1996.
  19. ^ "Dora Award nominees". Toronto Star, May 27, 1998.
  20. ^ Kamal Al-Solaylee, "The Producers lost at box office but wins big at Dora awards". The Globe and Mail, June 29, 2004.
  21. ^ Robert Cushman, "The Doras: and the winner is ...: Odd nominees make predictions difficult". National Post, June 26, 2004.
  22. ^ Robert Cushman, "Some nods are inexplicable: A desperate season, a desperate slate of Dora nominees". National Post, June 24, 2006.
  23. ^ Guy Dixon, "Scorched wins best play at Dora Awards". The Globe and Mail, June 25, 2007.
  24. ^ Robert Cushman, "Navigating the nominations; Our critic predicts Dora winners and laments overlooked performances". National Post, June 26, 2010.
  25. ^ Robert Cushman, "Best in shows; The Doras have a weak field to choose from this year, but they've chosen well". National Post, June 21, 2014.
  26. ^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "Soulpepper leads in Dora Award nods". The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2015.
  27. ^ J. Kelly Nestruck, "Soulpepper's 13 nominations lead general theatre division of Toronto's Dora Awards". The Globe and Mail, May 31, 2018.