Centaur Theatre Appoints First Associate Artist

Centaur Theatre Company has announced the recent appointment of Montreal director and theatre creator, Rose Plotek, as Associate Artist from September 2020 to June 2021.

"For Centaur to be artist-driven we must attract as many unique and skilled artists as we can into our orbit. I've known Rose since she graduated from NTS and watched her evolve as an artist. Her wide-ranging experience, with both small and major institutions, allows her to bring a truly broad perspective to the creative conversation at Centaur. Her sharp intellect, innate curiosity, and rich collaborative and experimental background are equally exciting and refreshing."
- Eda Holmes, Artistic & Executive Director

Among Ms. Plotek's responsibilities as Associate Artist is her continued curation of Centaur's annual Wildside Festival-which will run in January 2021, as usual. She will work closely with Ms. Holmes to shape future seasons, involving her participation in the auditioning and casting process. Her distinct perspective will be invaluable in new play development as well as first-time projects that Centaur plans to roll out this year such as the Artistic Diversity Discussion, designed to fully integrate diversity into Centaur's administrative infrastructure and artistic endeavours; and the Catalyst Program, the proactive support and showcasing of bold, emerging artists. Ms. Plotek will also contribute to the guest selections for the Saturday Salons, an existing initiative that Centaur quickly adapted into a live online event once Covid-19 put a stop to public gatherings.

"It's an invigorating juggling act to be an Artistic Director and an Executive Director of a busy theatre like Centaur, even during a season like this year's when we are not producing our regular programming", explained Ms. Holmes. "However these circumstances have given us a rare opportunity to re-group, re-think, and re-structure; it allows us to plan more broadly and further into the future. I trust Rose implicitly to be my artistic right hand in this undertaking; she is unquestionably a vital, new member of the team."

Ms. Plotek is a graduate of Concordia's theatre program and The National Theatre School of Canada's directing program. She was the Shaw Festival's Intern Director in 2013 and went on to serve as the Associate Director of the Directing Program at NTS from 2013 to 2018. Between 2009 and 2013, she directed an eclectic array of theatrical productions for Canadian companies, including Montreal's Teesri Duniya Theatre, Toronto's Buddies in Bad Times and Crow's Theatre, and CBC Radio. Her productions have also been seen at national and international events such as OFFTA, SummerWorks, the Dublin Fringe Festival, the Rhubarb Festival and the Magnetic North Festival. Since 2013, Ms. Plotek has been contributing her expertise and keen eye to collaborate with cutting edge artists that are exploring and redefining theatre for projects presented across Canada and abroad, most recently with Ravi Jain's provocative Why Not theatre company in Toronto.

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