Liesl Lafferty
Jessie Award Winning Director – Dramaturg – Playwright – CAEA – LMDA – PGC
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           

www.liesllafferty.ca

Liesl Lafferty is a Jessie award-winning director, dramaturg and playwright, focusing mainly on creating new Canadian works. After graduating from University, Liesl went straight into show business. In Vancouver, her career highlights include co-writing and directing A Town Called Hockey at the Arts Club Theatre, and winning a Jessie Richardson, Larry Lillo Award for co-directing House, by Daniel MacIvor. During a recent stint in Winnipeg, Liesl worked with Manitoba Theatre Centre, Manitoba Theatre for Young People, Manitoba Association of Playwrights and Sarasvati Productions. She has directed plays from Nanaimo to Toronto. In 2007, Liesl collaged three original plays together for a unique presentation called Blind Submission, by Dmitry Chepovetsky, Jenn Griffin and Heidi Lynne Weeks at the Theatre Centre in Toronto. Also in 2007, Liesl attended a three week International Symposium for Directors in Italy, with New York Company La Mama E.T.C. Her work was deeply impacted by this journey and she discovered practical and philosophical tools of creation. In 2008, Liesl directed Lori Triolo’s Jessie-nominated performance in the critically-acclaimed production of The Sweetest Swing in Baseball, by Rebecca Gilman at the Beaumont Stage in Vancouver. Then, Lori and Liesl went on to direct a four month workshop with a group of select actors that culminated in a week of performances called Strange Days produced by the Evolving Arts Collective. Liesl was dramaturg for Via Beatrice, by Jenn Griffin which received a Jessie Richardson Award Nomination for Outstanding Script. For the 2009 Toronto Fringe, Liesl wrote and directed Canary, a comedy about environmental illness, which will also be presented at the 2010 Vancouver Fringe. For more information, please check out www.liesllafferty.ca.