Draft:Kim Blackwell

=Kim Blackwell=

Kim Blackwell is a veteran director and producer of epic scale dramatic theatre productions. Her passion for creating and sharing transformative art has been showcased in the productions she has directed over the past 35 years. For the past 30 years, she has been serving in various capacities at 4th Line Theatre, now leading the organization as the Managing Artistic Director since 2014.

Early Life:
Blackwell was born October 3, 1966. Raised in Peterborough, Ontario, she attended Edmison Heights Public School and Adam Scott CVI Secondary School. After graduating from Adam Scott Collegiate, Kim attended Trent University where she studied History and English Literature. It was there she discovered her love of history, which fuelled her passion to showcase this through the Arts. Over the years Blackwell has lived in Fort McMurray, Alberta; Edmonton, Alberta; Plattsmouth, Nebraska, Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans, Louisiana. She currently lives in Peterborough, Ontario.

Career:
Kim Blackwell’s extensive career has allowed her to work for some of the top arts organizations in the country including the Canadian Stage Company, Nightwood Theatre, Tapestry New Opera and Dancemakers. She is also a member of Maja Ardal’s Contrary Company. Blackwell has worked in various capacities with the Union Theatre in Peterborough for ten years and has directed plays, which were presented at the Market Hall Performing Arts Centre and the Gordon Best Theatre. Kim then went on to form her own theatre company, Black Well Productions where she produced several plays in Peterborough and Toronto. She was also the Founding Executive Director of Celebrate Canada in the Kawarthas, a marketing collective, where she worked with 140 eco-tourism and arts and culture organizations from 1997 – 2001.

She has continued to put her networking, administrative, marketing and publicity skills to good use at 4th Line Theatre over the past 30 years where she oversees all operations, administration and artistic elements of the organization. She has spearheaded the Emerging VOICES Program, which pairs young people from the region with professional theatre artists as they work together on projects related to 4th Line Theatre’s annual productions. Her work doesn’t stop there as a veteran 4th Line director/producer, 2024 will mark her 30th season with 4th Line Theatre where she has directed twenty-seven productions including fifteen world premieres.

Selected Credits include:
Artistic Director (2014 - Present), Artistic Producer (2009 – 2014), Artistic Associate (2001-2009), directing: The Cavan Blazers (2023); Wishful Seeing (2022); The Verandah Society in Residence at 4th Line Theatre (2021); Bedtime Stories & Other Horrifying Tales co-playwright as well (2020); The Fool of Cavan: A Christmas Caper, Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable (2019), The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale (2018), The Shadow Walk of Millbrook (2016, 2018), Who Killed Snow White? (2018), The Hero of Hunter Street (2016), The Bad Luck Bank Robbers (2015, 2016), The Real McCoy (2013), Queen Marie, St. Francis of Millbrook (2012), The Berlin Blues (2011), The Right Road to Pontypool (2009, 2010), Schoolhouse (2007, 2008), The Art of Silent Killing, That Summer, Crow Hill, The Cavan Blazers, Attrition, Gimme That Prime Time Religion and many development workshops. She also directed a sold-out run of Freedom 85! in the 2008 Fringe Festival and at the 2009 New York City Frigid Festival where it received excellent critical attention and the Audience Choice Award and the See It Twice Award. She was nominated for the John Hirsch Award for Directing Excellence in 2009 (Canada Council) and 2014 (Ontario Arts Council). She was the winner of a 2013 KETS Award for “People Who Rock Our World.” She was the only Canadian invited to train with Felix Barrett, the renowned Artistic Director of Punchdrunk (Sleep No More) in his immersive and promenade theatre style. Kim was inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame in September 2016.

Awards
Best Director 1998 EODL One Act Play Festival

Best Production 1998 EODL One Act Play Festival

Audience Choice Award

Frigid New York Festival

Producer’s See It Twice Award

Inducted into Peterborough’s Pathway of Fame 2016

Jon Kaplan Mensch Award 2021

Nominations
John Hirsch Award for Directing Excellence 2009 Canada Council

Award for Directing Excellence 2014 Ontario Arts Council

Directing Works
The Cavan Blazers (Winslow) 4th Line Theatre

Wishful Seeing (Ardal) 4th Line Theatre

The Verandah Society (Suhr/Murphy) In Residence at 4th Line Theatre

The Fool of Cavan: A Christmas Caper (Finlan) 4th Line Theatre

Bloom: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Fable (Dixon) 4th Line Theatre

The Other: A Strange Christmas Tale (Cooper) 4th Line Theatre

Who Killed Snow White? (Thompson) 4th Line Theatre

The Shadow Walk of Millbrook (Braunstein/Dottor) 4th Line Theatre

The Hero of Hunter Street (Ardal) 4th Line Theatre

HER2 (Ardal) Nightwood/Buddies in Bad Times

The Bad Luck Bank Robbers (Poch-Goldin) 4th Line Theatre

Chicken Grease is Nasty Business (Miller) Summerworks

The Real McCoy (Moodie) 4th Line Theatre

The Right Road to Pontypool (Poch-Goldin) (remount) 4th Line Theatre

The Berlin Blues (Taylor) 4th Line Theatre

Queen Marie (Barrie) 4th Line Theatre

St. Francis of Millbrook (Gilbert) 4th Line Theatre

The Right Road to Pontypool (Poch-Goldin) 4th Line Theatre

Freedom 85! (Hale) Toronto Fringe Festival Frigid New York Festival Frigid New York Festival

Schoolhouse (Brodie) – remount 4th Line Theatre

Freedom 85! (Hale) Toronto Fringe Festival

Once A Flame (Dixon) Heritage Pavillion

Schoolhouse (Brodie) 4th Line Theatre

Fire in the Stable (Schroeter) Heritage Pavilion

The Art of Silent Killing (Peacock) 4th Line Theatre

The Shadow of Genius (Schroeter) Heritage Pavilion

That Summer (French) 4th Line Theatre

Getting Lucky (Lloyd) Rhubarb ! 2005

Crow Hill: The Telephone Play (Winslow) 4th Line Theatre

The Cavan Blazers (Winslow) 4th Line Theatre

Attrition (Kerr) 4th Line Theatre

Unlucky (Bateman) Summerworks 2003

Gimme That Prime Time Religion (Winslow) 4th Line Theatre

The Ugly Man (Fraser) Black Well Theatre

Goodnight Desdemona (MacDonald) Black Well Theatre

House (McIvor) Black Well Theatre

The Lover (Pinter Peterborough Theatre Guild Seduced (Shepard) The Union Theatre

Killer’s Head (Shepard) The Union Theatre

Cowboy Mouth (Shepard) The Union Theatre

Poor Super Man (Fraser) The Union Theatre

Unidentified Human Remains (Fraser) Riot Productions The Vicious Circle (Bateman) The Union Theatre

Assistant Director
Prisoner of Tehran (Ardal) Contrary Company

The Cherry Orchard (Winslow) Peterborough Theatre Guild

Welcome Death (Winslow) 4th Line Theatre