Biography
Tanisha Taitt is a director, actor, playwright, arts educator, activist and accidental essayist who has worked with companies including Obsidian Theatre, Nightwood Theatre, National Arts Centre, Toronto Youth Theatre, Workman Arts, Buddies In Bad Times Theatre, and Soulpepper Theatre, and spent two seasons as a Resident Artist-Educator with Young People's Theatre. She was Artistic Mentor for the Paprika Festival Creators' Unit and Program Director for The Musical Stage Company's youth training initiative One Song Glory, in addition to being a theatre director for the program. Also a singer/songsmith, Tanisha is a recipient of the Canadian Music Publishers Association Songwriters Award for excellence in songwriting, and is currently writing two musical theatrical works. She is a Drama Leader and mentor for tdsbCreates, a Toronto District School Board/Toronto Arts Council initiative that brings professional artists into classrooms to nurture artistic expression in students and educators, as well as an arts educator for the TDSB's EngageArts program which focuses on the professional artistic development of teachers. A longtime anti-VAW activist, Tanisha spent seven years as the Toronto and then the Canadian producer for V-Day/One Billion Rising -- the global movement to end violence against women and girls, during which time she also served as Director of its theatre productions. In 2014, she founded Teenage Graceland, a youth theatre collective that challenges societal attitudes leading to gender-based violence. Known by her peers for her fierce commitment to inclusion and racial/cultural representation in theatre, Tanisha also works as a Conflict Transformation and Anti-Oppression Facilitator for the award-winning Children's Peace Theatre, an organization which – through the arts - teaches young people about creating a culture of peace and justice. She spent ten years as an artist with CPT's flagship Peace Camp program, including five years as Director. Under her leadership, the program deepened its subject matter and saw children as young as six using theatre as a means of exploring subjects ranging from climate change and Indigenous sovereignty to gender identity and media literacy. Tanisha has served on arts council and playwriting juries, and recently sat on the Program Advisory Committee for the creation of the new Arts Education and Community Engagement post-graduate program at Centennial College. She was 'Harolded' in 2013 and in 2015, critic Lynn Slotkin bestowed upon her an inaugural “Tootsie” Award in the “They Can Do Anything” category. Tanisha's play Keeper was published by Scirocco Drama in late 2016. Her approach to directing and teaching theatre can be captured in the following statement: Acting = Stepping into the shoes of another. Empathy = Stepping into the shoes of another. Therefore... Acting = Empathy. Tanisha was nominated as a director for the Pauline McGibbon Award for Unique Talents and Potential for Excellence, and is a two-time YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for her commitment to artistic excellence and social justice.
