Liza Balkan
Director, Educator, Librettist/Writer
and Actor
Director
"Curiosity propels me. It still does, even as I lean gratefully into well over 40 years as a theatre maker. Whether creating a play, a musical, a class investigation, a rehearsal, a libretto, an installation, a pop-up, an opera, or simply a conversation — the spirit of inquiry remains my impassioned guide.
My practices constantly intersect and inform one another, and I love that. I seek creative environments that nurture collaboration, joy, respect, provocation, courageous delight, breath, and the wild freedom to fail — spaces where rigorous storytelling can surprise, reflect, and engage.
In an era of extraordinary shifts, I continue to ask: What is culture? What is community? What is resilience? What is home? Why theatre?
I'm honoured — and still jazzed — to keep digging into these essential questions."
My Story
Liza Balkan is a Canadian Dora Award-winning, multi-disciplinary theatre artist, with a professional career that spans over forty years. She is a director, artist/educator, writer, librettist, dramaturge and actor - each practice intersecting and informing the other. Liza began studying as a dancer at the age of 6. At 18 she moved her primary focus on to acting, studying in both Toronto and New York City, where she graduated from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has had decades of a freelance acting career both in Canada and the US. In 2001, Liza began adding directing, writing, and teaching to her theatre practices. Her freelance directing experience embraces theatre and opera, the development and creation of new work, site-specific projects, musical theatre, classical and contemporary text, and productions with young artists and students at the university level. Her works as a writer and librettist have been produced in theatres, Festivals and major concert halls in Canada and the US. Her documentary project Out the Window, was produced by the International Luminato Festival in Toronto, and has been published by Scirocco Drama. She received her MFA in 2019 throug the CanadianStage /York Graduate Studies in Directing Program. Liza is devoted to her extensive practice as an educator. She is presently on faculty at Sharjah Performing Arts Academy in the UAE.
