Stephen Lawson

Since 1988, Stephen has been considered an artistic chameleon, repeatedly traversing the discipline defined boundaries of theatre, music, television/radio, print and video. Upon graduating from the acting program of the National Theatre School of Canada he became a co-founder of the celebrated Winnipeg-based performance troupe PRIMUS (1989-1998) which created/toured numerous original productions, taught workshops and carried out artistic exchanges (professional and community based) internationally. For several years Stephen coordinated and participated in an annual environmental theatre production in the small agricultural village of Nocelle, Italy, that celebrated and archived the community’s unique stories and traditions. His work as a director has been primarily focused on large scale contemporary music pieces (choral and orchestral) including having directed the premiere of an outdoor opera by acclaimed composer R. Murray Shaffer. He has produced several video art collaborations that have been screened internationally and his work with the much-admired Canadian performance artist Lorri Millan is in the permanent collection of the National Art Gallery. Stephen has developed cultural commentary work for print (magazine and newspaper), radio (documentary formats), and television (twice having filed international reports for the CBC on Canada’s participation at the Venice Biennale). He has held various positions in the television industry including having co-developed an original series (Magnificent Obsessions) as well as having worked on many radio dramas for CBC radio as an actor, writer, and director. Stephen moved to Montreal in 2001 and since 2002 he has been collaborating with multidisciplinary artist Aaron Pollard (2boys.tv) creating and touring transmedia performances, installations and videos throughout Canada, the U.S., South America and Europe.