Ravi Jain ’99

Toronto-based stage director Ravi Jain is a multi-award-winning artist known for making politically bold and accessible theatrical experiences in both small indie productions and large theatres. As the founding artistic director of Why Not Theatre, Ravi has established himself as an artistic leader for his inventive productions, international producing/collaborations and innovative producing models which are aimed to better support emerging artists to make money from their art. 

 

As a director Ravi work has been critically acclaimed for its innovation and accessibility. Select credits include A Brimful of Asha, Nicolas Billon’s Fault Lines which won the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 39 Steps, Animal Farm, Alanna Mitchell’s Sea Sick (co-directed with Franco Boni, Theatre Centre), Lisa Codrington’s The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God and Sarena Parmar’s The Orchard After Chekhov (Shaw Festival), We are Proud to Present…(Theatre Centre), Salt-Water Moon (Factory Theatre), Prince Hamlet (Why Not Theatre), Like Mother Like Daughter (Complicite/Why Not Theatre).  He co-created What you won't do for Love starring renowned environmentalists David Suzuki and Tara Cullis, the play has been published and premiered at the Luminato Festival and has been turned into a feature film. In 2021 he directed his adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet called R + J for the Stratford Festival. In 2023 he is co- adaptating The Mahabharata with Why Not Theatre and the Shaw Festival. 

Ravi was shortlisted for the 2016 and 2019 and 2022 Siminovitch Prize and recently awarded the Metcalf Foundation Johannas Prize 2022.  He also won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. He is a graduate of the two-year program at École Jacques Lecoq and was selected to be on the roster of Clowns for Cirque du Soleil.