Emma Tibaldo
Awards/Nominations
2021
Prix Sentinelle, Conseil Québécois du théâtre, Engagement durable
5 META nominations: Okinum
2020
Recipient: Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy
2019
6 SATAward nominations: Scum: A manifesto
2018
META nomination: The Baklawa Recipe
2014
META nomination: Billy (Days of Howling)
2013
Finalist for the Nova Scotia Masterworks Award - Refuge
2012
META winner: The Medea Effect
2009
Nominated Best English Theatre Production, 2009-10, Le prix de la critique, l’AQCT, Québec:
2008
Winner, Best English Theatre Production, 2008, Prix de la critique, l’AQCT, Québec: Down Dangrous Passes Road
2007
Nominated Best English Theatre Production, 2008-08, Le prix de la critique, l’AQCT, Québec: That Woman
I love diving into worlds, losing myself in the imagery, language, and characters that populate a unique time and place. I think this deep seeded obsession comes from my upbringing. Living in a community made up of Italian immigrants and Quebecois working class folk. The incredible antagonism, the push and pull of everyday existence. It gave me a sense of dislocation, of alienation. But it also coloured it with passion, and a hunger for connection.
This led to punk rock and then to theatre. And so here I am, here is some of my work. Every play, every collaboration revealing a new way of thinking about how work gets developed and produced for our stages.
A short journey through my Artistic Wonderings:
After graduating Concordia University’s Theatre Department and the National Theatre School of Canada’s Directing Program, I co-founded Talisman Theatre with Lyne Paquette. With Talisman Theatre I have directed seven productions, including the award-winning productions That Woman by Daniel Danis, Down Dangerous Passes Road by Michel Marc Bouchard (both translated by Linda Gaboriau), Rock, Paper, Jackknife by Marilyn Perrault, and The Medea Effect by Suzie Bastien (both translated by Nadine Desrochers).
In late 2007 I became the Artistic and Executive director for the national new creation centre Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal (PWM), where I dramaturgically collaborated on many extraordinary plays, including Jabber by Marcus Youssef, Squawk by Megan Coles, Instant by Erin Shields, Refuge by Mary Vingoe, Okinum by Emilie Monnet, I am a Genius: Does anyone Here Know Me? by Lois Brown, Sal Capone: The Lamentable Tragedy of by Omari Newton, and Behaviour by Darrah Teitel. In August of 2021, after 14 years of joyous collaboration, I left PWM to pursue personal artistic projects.
Beyond my work as AED at Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal, and my directing work with Talisman Theatre, I continue to direct new Canadian plays across the country such as I Don’t Even Miss You by Elena Belyea, SCUM: A Manifesto by S.E. Grummett and Caitlin Zacharias, Okinum by Emilie Monnet (co-director), Miss Katelyn’s Grade Threes Prepare for the Inevitable by Elena Belyea, The Baklawa Recipe by Pascale Rafie, Refuge by Mary Vingoe, Falling Trees by Megan Coles, Model Wanted by Step Taylor, Lutz by Ryan Griffiths.
During the pandemic lockdown I experimented with Digital forms of storytelling. I co-created Skin, a new performance piece with the interdisciplinary company The Bakery led by Leslie Baker, directed a digital staged reading of Behaviour by Darrah Teitel, and co-directed the audio play The Ringtone by Audrey Dwyer. As theatres began to invite audiences back into their venues, I co-directed the English language premiere of Okinum (produced by Imago Theatre and Théâtre Onishka) at the Centaur and the Indigenous Theatre at the NAC. Okinum was remounted in French for Espace Go, in collaboration with Théâtre Onishka, in 2022 and is now embarking on an International tour which includes Munich, French Guiana, and the Push Festival 2023 in Vancouver.
In 2020, I was the recipient of LMDA’s Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy, and the Conseil Québécois du théâtre Sentinelle prize for Durable Engagement 2021 in the cultural milieu.
I have been a guest artist at NTS and Concordia University. I feed my inner (and outer) punk rocker by playing in the family bands The Tibaldos and The Dépanneurds.