Catherine Frid
Resumé
Plays
Thistlepatch (Alumnae Theatre 2022; New Ideas Festival (reading) 2017; as NormaLeeDean – readings at Law and the Curated Body Conference, and at Toronto Metropolitan University 2015; Osgoode Hall Law School 2015)
Alarm Clock in Action (online: Femme Folks Festival excerpt reading, 2021; Playwrights Guild of Canada, Craft Bites excerpt reading 2021; as Sowing Seeds – Big Ideas Reading Festival 2019, dir. Brenda Darling)
What I Gave, I Have (Guelph Museums, McCrae Backyard Theatre Project 2019)
Spend Your Kids’ Inheritance with composer Frank Horvat (Toronto Fringe Festival 2019 (Patron’s Pick); Big Ideas Reading Festival 2015)
Half Full (Mixed Company Theatre school tours 2017 & 2016)
Dead Cat Bounce (Guelph Fringe 2016; Toronto Fringe 2010; Unhinged Festival 2008)
Burying Toni (chosen for the national SureFire List, 2022; Alumnae Theatre 2014; as Nothing Quite True — Arts and Letters Club reading 2014; Big Ideas Reading Festival 2012)
Over the Edge (Key City Public Theatre, WA 2013; New Ideas Festival 2013; Eastbound Theatre, CT 2011; Arts and Letters Club 2009)
The Bold Canadian: Laura Secord and Her Legacy (Arts and Letters Club 2013)
GuineaPigging (Alumnae Theatre 2011)
Homegrown (Panamerican Routes Festival 2012; Toronto District School Board/Ontario Justice Education Network 2011; 14 cross-Canada staged readings to protest government arts funding cuts 2011; SummerWorks Festival 2010)
Community-Engaged Co-Created Theatre
Twice the Speed of Lightning (Mixed Company Theatre, Guelph & Toronto 2025)
Belonging in the Township of Wellesley (Watercourse Theatre, tour 2024)
Two-Sided Mirror (Mixed Company Theatre, Greater Toronto Area tour 2022/23; online tour 2023)
Living Below the Line (Watercourse Theatre, tour 2022, MCCO Conference, St. Catharines, 2022; Waterloo Region 2023)
Sytske Then and Now (Watercourse Theatre, Rockmosa Hall, Rockwood 2020)
AfterWhys (Suicide Awareness Council of Wellington-Dufferin & Watercourse Theatre, tours 2019, 2018, 2017 & 2016)
Our Roots, Our Future (Watercourse Theatre, Eden Mills Community Hall 2017; Rockwood 2018)
Out of the Illusion (Mixed Company Theatre, script coordinator, Six Nations Reserve & Toronto Metropolitan University 2015)
Our Voices: Senior Selfies (Watercourse Theatre, Eden Mills Community Hall 2014; Rockwood 2015 & Evergreen Centre 2015)
Short Plays (a selection)
This Isn’t Toronto (University of Alabama 2025)
The Women’s Parliament (Flush Ink Productions 2023 (reading))
Polyester Pantsuit (online as part of The Vintage Project Monologues, Hillside Festival 2020; KW Culture Days 2020)
The Mess (NewMarket National Play Festival 2017; Arts & Letters Club 2011; Flush Ink Productions 2008)
On Fire (InspiraTO Festival 2015)
(En)Lightning (New Ideas Festival 2015)
The Tango Player (Dewey Decimal Festival, New York 2014; Asphalt Jungle Shorts 2012; InspiraTO 2008)
Fetish (InspiraTO 2013 (Audience Choice Award); Shadowpath Theatre 2012; Asphalt Jungle Shorts 2007)
Solitary (InspiraTO Festival 2011)
Buff (New Ideas Festival 2010; Arts & Letters Club 2010)
Quest (Asphalt Jungle Shorts 2008)
Residencies & Awards
Wilfrid Laurier University, Social Innovation Research Group, Award of Excellence in Community Development, 2023
Playwright in Residence at Mixed Company Theatre, 2015
Artist in Residence at Osgoode Hall Law School, 2014
Publications
“We do not choose this life”: Advocating for and Empowering Those Living with Poverty through Applied Theatre in the Journal of Community Practice, co-author, 2025
This Isn’t Toronto in Long Story Short, Playwrights Canada Press, 2016
Our Voices: Senior Selfies, ArtAge Publications, Oregon, 2015
Community with Strangers in Scenes from a Diverse World, ICWP Press, 2013
Us and Them in Thirtysomethings: Mother-Daughter Monologues, ICWP Press, 2009
Teaching
Instructor, “Giving Effective Feedback” at Toronto Metropolitan University, Act II, 2021
Instructor, “Dramaturgical Concepts” at Toronto Metropolitan University, Act II, 2020, 2018, 2017
Instructor, “Dramaturgy II” at Toronto Metropolitan University, Act II, 2018
Instructor, “Informants and Whistleblowers” at Osgoode Hall Law School, 2014
Other
Artistic Director, Watercourse Theatre, 2008 – present
Film Writer & Producer, Living Below the Line, 2023
Mentor, Playwrights Guild of Canada, 2023
Co-creator, multimedia Vintage Project for Femme Folks Festival, 2021
Video Director & Writer, Seniors and Suicide: Starting the Conversation with AfterWhys, 2019
Presenter, Supporting Performing Arts in Rural Communities Conference, 2018
Director, Eden Mills Spirit Walk, 2018
Presenter, “The Homegrown Controversy,” Festival of Original Theatre, University of Toronto, 2016
Presenter, Association for Theatre in Higher Education Conference, Montreal, 2015
Screenwriter, Scientists Are Not Dogs, 2015
Dramaturge, InspiraTO Festival, 2014 and 2015
Co-creator, Nuit Blanche presentation Tabula Rasa, 2013
Presenter, Playwright’s Guild of Canada Conference on Censorship, 2013
Storyteller, Book and Periodical Publishers’ Freedom to Read Week, 2013
Presenter, OJEN Law Day Symposium Toronto, 2011