Leadership
Kelly Thornton is an award-winning director and dramaturg. Kelly has been the Artistic Director of Nightwood Theatre since 2001 where her work has received wide acclaim and toured nationally and internationally. Directing credits at Nightwood include The Penelopiad, The Happy Woman; The List, That Face, Wild Dogs (all produced in association with Canadian Stage); The Danish Play (Aveny-Teatret, Copenhagen; Magnetic North Theatre Festival; National Arts Centre), Bear With Me (Magnetic North), Mathilde, and China Doll. Other selected credits include The Comedy of Errors (Canadian Stage); and This Hotel (Theatre Passe Muraille/Planet 88, Dora nomination Outstanding Direction). Kelly has been honoured with a Pauline McGibbon Award for her exemplary work as a director, was nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre in 2010, and was recognized for her commitment to the training and mentorship of young women in the performing arts by being named a 2008 YWCA Women of Distinction. She is the Associate Director of the National Theatre School of Canada’s Directing Program. Upcoming for Nightwood Theatre she will be directing Jordi Mand’s Between the Sheets.
Denyse Karn has been working in the Canadian theatre for over 28 years as a producer and designer. Her history with Nightwood Theatre goes back to the 1980’s when she designed the original production of Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet. She was Artistic Producer of In Good Company Theatre, who toured the award-winning play God’s Middle Name to the Magnetic North Theatre Festival and across the country. Denyse was the Associate Producer at Eastern Front Theatre as well as Producer and Programmer of their SuperNova Theatre Festival. Her experience with touring and festival planning led her to sit on the national board of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, where she is Chair of the Industry Relations Committee. She is a recipient of a Chalmers, Dora Mavor Moore and five Theatre Nova Scotia Merritt Awards and was nominated for the Siminovitch Award in Theatre in 2006.
