Brian Quirt

Brian Quirt is the Artistic Director of Nightswimming. He was President of LMDA (Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas) from 2006-2008 and continues to serve on its Executive as Past-President. He has received the LMDA's Elliott Hayes Award for Dramaturgy twice in recognition of his work in creating and directing Nightswimming, and for his dramaturgical work on City Of Wine.
Brian’s writing and directing work includes Tarragon Theatre (directed Jason Sherman's An Acre of Time - Governor General's Award nomination; adapted and directed The Whirlpool, based on the novel by Jane Urquhart); Factory Theatre (directed Don Druick's Through The Eyes, Jason Sherman's Reading Hebron and Sean Dixon's The Epic Period); Theatre Passe Muraille (writer and director Of The Death Of General Wolfe); The Hugh Bris Co. (directed Michael Healey's Kicked in Toronto and on tour across Canada and in Australia); Great Canadian Theatre Company (Kicked, Jason Sherman's An Acre of Time and Sean Dixon's Falling Back Home); Modern Times Theatre (co-adaptor of Aurash; Dora nomination for new play; recently toured to Cuba, Bosnia and Iran) and Nightswimming (Don Druick's Through The Eyes).
Brian was Dramaturg at Toronto's Factory Theatre from 1998 -2004 and at the Theatre Centre from 1992 to 1999; prior to that he worked at the Canadian Stage Company in a variety of dramaturgical positions. He has also worked as a dramaturg for many independent companies and artists and specializes in dance and choreographic dramaturgy. With Factory Theatre, his ongoing collaborations included new plays by Linda Griffiths, Claudia Dey, Michael 0'Brien, Hiro Kanagawa, Anosh Irani, Celia McBride and many others. He established the Factory Theatre Playwrights Lab, and helped create Factory's acclaimed CrossCurrents Festival devoted to writers of colour.