Marjorie Chan

Marjorie was born in Tkaronto/Toronto to Hong Kong immigrants who arrived in the late 60s. As a theatre and opera artist, she works variously as writer, director and dramaturge as well as in the intersection of these forms and roles. Her work has been seen and performed in the United States, Scotland, Hong Kong, Russia and across Canada. Her full-length works as a playwright include the plays Lady Sunrise, The Madness of the Square, a nanking winter, Tails From the City, as well as the libretti for the operas, Sanctuary Song, The Lesson of Da Ji, M’dea Undone, The Monkiest King and The Nightingale of a Thousand Songs. Currently she is adapting the Giller Award winning novel, Do Not Say We Have Nothing by Madeleine Thien into an opera with composer Tim Brady. Some of the companies Marjorie has directed for include: Gateway Theatre, Cahoots Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, Theatre Passe Muraille, Obsidian Theatre and Theatre du Pif (Hong Kong). Marjorie has been nominated for ten Dora Mavor Moore Awards for her acting, writing and directing and is the recipient of four. She has also received the K.M. Hunter Artist’s Award in Theatre, the Entertainment World Award for Best New Work, a Harold Award, as well as the George Luscombe Award for Mentorship. Other notable nominations include the John Hirsch Directors’ Award, the Governor General’s Literary Award for her playwriting debut, China Doll as well as Lady Sunrise, and the Canadian Citizen Award for her work with Crossing Gibraltar – Cahoots Theatre’s program for newcomers, where she was previously artistic director (2013 – 2019). She has been artist-in-residence with Factory Theatre, Banff Playwrights’ Lab, Tapestry Opera, Cahoots Theatre, Theatre Centre (with 6th Man Collective), Theatre Direct Canada, SUNY (Geneseo, New York) and Theatre du Pif (Hong Kong). She balances her writing and artistic practice with her role as the current Artistic Director of Theatre Passe Muraille since 2019, where she places access, community, innovation and collaboration at the forefront of the company’s approach.