Leadership
Ardith Boxall – Artistic Director
Ardith Boxall – Artistic Director Ardith Boxall is an actor and director. In 2005, after a year as associate artist, Ardith was appointed the Artistic Director of Theatre Projects Manitoba, a company dedicated to new plays and the development of local artists. Prior to this, she worked primarily as a freelance actor for stage, film and television, a drama instructor, and was an emerging director. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg with an honours degree in Theatre and Drama, Ardith continued her studies at the National Voice Intensive at Simon Fraser University, and mentored in directing under several of Manitoba’s finest theatre practitioners.
Since the company’s founding by Harry Rintoul and members of the community in 1990, Ardith has maintained strong ties with Theatre Projects. Several acting, assistant directing and directing credits at TPM over the years have reinforced the need to preserve the Company as a professional theatre for artists in our region. Selected TPM credits include Ce Weekend la, Live With It, I Do…Do You? The Monster Trilogy, Age of Arousal and three instalments of In the Chamber (2006, 2007 and 2009).
Selected acting credits include, Shakespeare’s Dog at the Manitoba Theatre Centre/National Arts Centre, Zaidie’s Shoes and The Norbals at Prairie Theatre Exchange, Crave with English Suitcase and The Darling Family with Graham Ashmore at the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Ardith won a Blizzard Award in 2004 for her performance in Jeffrey Erbach’s feature film, The Nature of Nicholas. She has appeared in Canadian films such as The Stone Angel and Milgaard. In 2009, Ardith was nominated by her peers for the Making A Mark Award which applauds established artists who are receiving critical recognition for excellence in their art practice in Winnipeg and beyond.
As the Company enters its 20th season this year, Ardith continues to oversee the activities of TPM, programming the seasons, gathering artistic teams, and seeding new production to carry the Company into the future. Maintaining the original mandate of the Company while expanding the artistic mission to include contemporary Canadian plays, Ardith is determined to promote the activities of TPM on a national scale. This includes advocating for the dissemination of Manitoba plays in the greater Canadian theatre community.
Rea Kavanagh - Artistic Associate
Rea Kavanagh is an actor and a writer. A graduate of the University of Winnipeg with an honours degree in Theatre and Drama, she has been the Artistic Associate at Theatre Projects Manitoba for three years. She feels close ties to this company – she enjoyed her first professional stage experience with Theatre Projects Manitoba in 1997 in an installment of Short Shots.
As Artistic Associate, Kavanagh focuses on producing and doing outreach- always on the lookout for interesting collaborations with artists and members of the community. This has lead to TPM’s involvement with The Manitoba Historical Society, The University of Manitoba Archives, The Manito–Ahbee Festival of All Nations and even the adoption of the Times Change(d) High and Lonesome Club as a venue for last season’s How to Kill Yourself With a Screwdriver. She takes great joy in the continued display of the photo exhibit she curated for Theatre Projects 2007 production of The Elmwood Visitation by Carolyn Gray. Gray’s new play, Confessional of the Black Penitents floods her with collaborative ideas that she looks forward to further developing with Theatre Projects this season…
Rea’s acting credits include performing in TPM’s 2nd installment of In the Chamber with her original piece Floodgates. Also, a raft of Fringe projects include her self penned Grow –Op, most recently The Wrong Hole, and Fringe hold-over favourite Beirut. Coming this spring, she is exceedingly excited to be performing with puppets in Adhere and Deny’s production of Paradise Lost.
She is the bass player of sassy all girl punk band Shrimp. Unable to escape the theatre, even in a punk outfit - two of Shrimp’s songs from their album Peel N Eat were recently adapted for Daniel MacIvor’s play A Beautiful View. She is the Vice President of ACTRA Manitoba where she has served on council for some years now and is currently working out retirement plans for performers as one of the founding members of PAL (Performing Arts Lodges) Winnipeg. Anyone have a building they want to donate?
