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.