BIOGRAPHY

Rob Kempson is a theatre artist and educator, working largely as a playwright and director. Selected Writer/Director: Trigonometry (timeshare/Factory); Mockingbird (Next Stage Theatre Festival); SHANNON 10:40 (timeshare/Videofag); explicit (RhubarbFestival); #legacy (Harbourfront Centre); The HV Project (Community). Selected Director: Box 4901 (timeshare/Buddies); The Places We Are (Theatre Erindale); The Snow Queen (Canadian Children’s Opera Company); Electric Messiah IV & V (Soundstreams); The Little Mermaid (St. Lawrence College); 9 to 5: The Musical (Randolph College); The Ballad of Stompin’ Tom (Sudbury Theatre Centre); Box 4901 (SummerWorks, foldA Festival); The Canadian, Maggie and Pierre, Million Dollar Quartet, Daisy Amazed Me, Violet’s the Pilot, Rose’s Clothes (Thousand Islands Playhouse); Robert (co-directed with Briana Brown, Toronto Fringe); Songs for a New World (Claude Watson). Writer/Composer/Performer: The Way Back To Thursday (Theatre PasseMuraille/Touchstone Theatre).

He has been a member of the Stratford Festival Playwrights’ Retreat, the Storefront Theatre Playwrights’ Unit, and has been a Resident Artist Educator at Young People’s Theatre and the RBC Intern Director for The Musical Stage Co. He is the past Artistic Producer of the Paprika Festival, the past Associate Artistic Producer at Theatre Passe Muraille, and the past Associate Artistic Director at the Thousand Islands Playhouse. In 2020, Rob is one of two Intern Directors at the Shaw Festival.

As an artist-educator, Rob has worked for a number of major school boards as well as Young People’s Theatre, Canadian Stage, Pleiades Theatre, Opera Atelier, and Casa Loma. He is also a part-time instructor at Humber College, Randolph College, and Centennial College. Rob also works regularly as a community arts facilitator and curator, collectively creating performances and interactive exhibits with community members. He is a graduate of Queen’s University.