Interviewee Bio – Diane Roberts

Diane Roberts

As accomplished director, dramaturge, writer and cultural animator, Diane Roberts has collaborated with innovative theatre visionaries and interdisciplinary artists for over 30 years. Her directorial and dramaturgical work has been seen on stages across Canada and her reputation as a mentor, teacher, and community collaborator is nationally and internationally recognized.
The roots of storytelling and multi-disciplinary art forms (mixing of ritual song, dance, storytelling, live art, and theatre) drive her arts practice as a director, dramaturg, and cultural animator. Her intuitive style of facilitation draws on specifically crafted creative engagement tools that inspire artists of all disciplines and cultural backgrounds to unearth their authentic creative impulses.
Diane’s transformational Arrivals Personal Legacy process, developed during her seven-year tenure as Artistic Director of Urban Ink productions, has birthed new Interdisciplinary works across Canada, throughout the Americas, in the UK, Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. This work has allowed her to articulate, cultivate, and realise a vision for theatre that encourages Indigenous ways of knowing as a stepping stone to creative expression.
She is also a founding member of Obsidian Theatre and backforward collective and co-founder and Artistic Director of Boldskool Productions with playwright Omari Newton.
Alongside her professional career, Diane is a PhD candidate in Interdisciplinary Studies, Fine Arts Humanities at Concordia University in Montreal; a 2019 Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar; and a 2020 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship award holder