Who Leads The Theatre Centre?
October 3, 2023
As we go full swing into our 23/24 programming year, we’d love to take the opportunity to catch you up on our current leadership team!
Like many theatres in Canada, The Theatre Centre has undergone many changes since the start of the pandemic in 2020. We have said goodbye to some of our brilliant team members like Mimi Mok, our former Managing Director, and have gratefully welcomed incredible new humans and their fresh perspectives. We’ve also taken the opportunity to be strategic about succession by ready-ing folks to move from one role into their next exciting challenge within the organization.
In January 2023, Audrey Kwan who had been in the role of Partnerships Manager joined the leadership team of General and Artistic Director Aislinn Rose and Associate Artistic Director liza paul, as our new Managing Director.
Together they have stabilized the organization throughout the process of reopening our doors, the renovation of the café/bar, and created new programs like the annual Comedy is Art festival.
As we head into 2024 (which will mark 10 years in our forever home at 1115 Queen Street West), we’re excited to continue working as a team and inventing the future together.
Aislinn Rose joined the organization in 2014 as General Manager, later becoming Creative Producer in 2017. Prior to joining The Theatre Centre, Aislinn was known for her work as an independent producer and theatre-maker, working with several Toronto companies and artists, as well as shit-disturbing as Artistic Producer (alongside Artistic Director Michael Wheeler) of Praxis Theatre, and co-editor of praxistheatre.com.
In 2019 she was appointed General and Artistic Director following The Theatre Centre Board of Directors’ national search for a new leader. Over the years she has worked with our Residency artists on the long-term development of ideas through to production, while collaborating with national and international touring companies, solidifying the company’s reputation as an international live arts incubator and presenter.
Aislinn has a strong belief in building deep relationships with artists over long periods of time including Liza Balkan (Out the Window) and Adam Lazarus (The Art of Building a Bunker and Daughter).
Over the last several years, Rose worked closely with artist Ian Kamau through several creation periods of his Residency project Loss, which premiered at Luminato in June 2023.
Under her leadership, The Theatre Centre continues to chase ambitious, experimental projects that excite, energize, and intimidate us. Aislinn continues to seek out new relationships and new ideas by actively going out and seeing work, meeting artists, and making space.
liza paul is a writer, curator, artistic leader, director and producer who loves laughter, life, music, family, stories, all things bashment, impromptu dancehall-flavoured a cappella street jams, and pum-related non sequiturs.
she has trained at the second city’s improv conservatory and was selected to join their 2017 bob curry fellowship program. she has worked extensively in theatre and radio with ciut 89.5 fm, soulpepper theatre company, anitafrika! dub theatre, bCurrent, and the watah theatre. Liza also writes for television, and is the creative producer for indie production company paul watson productions inc.
liza started working at the theatre centre as our café/bar manager, and later became the associate artistic director. she curates Comedy is Art, a declaration and week-long festival which names comedy as an undersupported art form. she works to continue programming as many comedy shows by BIPOC women as possible.
Audrey Kwan joined The Theatre Centre in 2019 as the Business & Development Coordinator.
As a skilled arts administrator and grant writer, she has been instrumental in helping the organization navigate the pandemic, securing new sources of funding, and implementing hybrid administrative structures to support staff and artists. Promoted to Partnerships Manager in 2021, she honed her focus on development activities and strengthening the organization’s community relationships.
Audrey has been working and volunteering in the arts and non-profit sectors in a range of roles for 8 years with organizations including Canada’s Ballet Jörgen, Koffler Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and the Vancouver Art Gallery.
Audrey holds a BA in Art History from McGill University and a Certificate in Fundraising Management from Toronto Metropolitan University where she received The Hansa and Ramesh Award in Fundraising Management. She completed her MA in Communication & Culture in the joint program at York University and TMU. Her SSHRC-funded research explored the importance and challenges of deconstructing dominant national narratives in major cultural institutions, receiving funds to present at national and international conferences.
Audrey continues to work closely with Aislinn and liza, the staff, and the board; bringing her unique perspective to the role of Managing Director.
The Theatre Centre is a registered Canadian charity, dedicated to offer a home for creative, cultural and social interactions to invent the future. We believe art is political. We believe resources go further when you share them. We believe cultural spaces are public spaces.
We believe in offering artists time—time to try, time to fail, time to discover all of the things their ideas will not become.
For Media and Public Appearance Requests for our leadership team, please email Director of Communications Emily Jung at [email protected]
You can reach both Aislinn and liza via our artistic inquiries inbox at [email protected]
Questions about donations, sponsorships, and operations at The Theatre Centre can be sent to Audrey at [email protected]
The Theatre Centre
The Theatre Centre is a nationally recognized live-arts incubator and community hub. Our mission is to offer a home for creative, cultural and social interactions to invent the future. We make work that spans disciplines and genres; work that pushes the boundaries of what is considered “art”. Our programming and our role as a community space are inextricably linked. Art is not made in a silo: it is connected to the world around it.