Speakers » Shannon Blake

Originally from Kitchener, Shannon Blake is the founder and artistic director of The Bench Theatre Initiative, a gracious, hospitable, trust-risking organization designed to connect street-involved adults with aesthetically excellent theatre.  She is a playwright, director and community arts practitioner with a Master of Arts in English from the University of Toronto and has extensive experience with theatre creation and facilitation in a variety of community and professional settings.  Her arts practice focuses on seeking alternative narratives, creative third options, and artist-community interdependence. She is the writer and director of Transient Voices; Wonderful; Before, During and After: Stories from the Iranian Prison Journey  and Of Boots and Birds, and the writer of Factory and The Passages of Everett Manning. She has also directed Michael Healey’s The Drawer Boy and been published in Geez, Geist and The Hart House Review.  Shannon co-operates extensively with Sanctuary, a drop-in centre for homeless and marginalized adults, and has also worked with Nightwood Theatre, Theatre Passe Muraille and Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. 

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