User:Esnible/Tom Bentley-Fisher

Tom Bentley-Fisher (born June 9, 1947) is a Canadian born theater director, producer, actor, teacher, playwright and lyricist, and published fiction writer. He has also published under the name Tom Bentley. Bentley-Fisher has been Artistic Director of five theatres in North America and Europe.

Early Life and training
Tom Bentley-Fisher was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, and was raised in his early life by his blind grandfather. These influential years were the subject of his first novel, Blind Man’s Drum. He was educated at Canadaʼs first performing arts high school in Edmonton, the Toronto Conservatory of Music (piano and composing), and the University of Alberta (fine arts.).

Bentley-Fisher moved to NY to study with Sanford Meisner at The Neighborhood Playhouse. before eventually moving to London where he was taken on as a full-time, private student by his mentor, Yat Malmgren. As a private student, Yat trained Bentley-Fisher daily in the entire spectrum of Scenario work, brought Bentley-Fisher to all of his classes at the Drama Centre, and sent him to vocal coach Julian Dawes and acting teacher Doreen Cannon.

Performing Career
After mentoring with Yat, Bentley-Fisher worked regularly for BBC Radio 4 and performed in the West End, most notably in Tony Richardsonʼs production of Threepenny Opera with Vanessa Redgrave and Annie Ross. Bentley-Fisher continued to perform into his career as a director and Artistic Director, originating the role of Jouvet in Brigitte Jacques and Louis Jouvet's Elvira, one of many plays he developed and produced at Twenty-Fifth St Theatre.

Teaching, Directing, and Artistic Director
At age 26, University of Waterloo hired Bentley-Fisher to revamp the theater department. . Bentley-Fisher directed over 20 productions in his 6 years at the helm of the Waterloo program, overseeing movement, voice, acting and directing, all based upon the Yat Malmgren's work. At Yat's request he served as the representative for Drama Centre London in North America, auditioning and vetting applicants for all programs.

In 1985 he became Artistic Director of Twenty-Fifth St. Theatre, a flagship company for developing new Canadian work , and began to develop and premiere original Canadian and U.S. playwrights including Anne Szumigalski , Maria Campbell, Don Kerr, Connie Gault and Dianne Warren, among others, including substantial work written and performed by the Canadian First Nations community, the Metis. It was during this time Bentley-Fisher staged the world premiere of U.S. Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel’s play, The Oldest Profession at Theatre Network in Edmonton.

Bentley-Fisher remained with 25th St. for twelve seasons, directing over 40 productions, establishing programs for new play development and a Student Mentor Program for young writers from isolated rural communities, and producing plays and festival work from Canada’s indigenous communities. He was the founding producer of the Saskatoon International Fringe Festival as well as X other regional fringes throughout Canada.

In 2000, Bentley-Fisher brought Yat Malmgrenʼs work to America, taking on a limited number of private students and group classes in the San Francisco-Bay Area. While there he founded and was Artistic Director for Theatre Release, the first American, Yat-based performance company created in collaboration with some of his Yat students.

During this period he was hired to coordinate the Global Age Project at Aurora Theatre Company in Berkeley, CA, where he also directed GAP workshops of Happy Slap, by Laura Jacqmin, Events with Life’s Leftovers, by Alberto Villarreal, and Los Once, by Finnian Sullivan.

In 2007 Bentley-Fisher became Artistic Director for Tant per Tant Theatre in Translation, an international theater company dedicated to the production and exchange of international work. Projects he produced and directed with Tant per Tant include Iliada, the Canadian-Catalan Connection, and Marie Clement’s Burning Vision, a co-production with The Barcelona International Grec Festival and Q-ars Teatre, as well as numerous projects dedicated to the development new, multinational works.

Bentley-Fisher founded the Yat/Bentley Centre for Performance, a North American acting center dedicated to teaching and developing the work of Yat Malmgren.

Writer
Bentley-Fisher is a published novelist, short-story author and playwright who has also published under the name Tom Bentley. Play commissions include New York is Big But This is [[Biggar,_Saskatchewan|Biggar], the Musical, Friends, Hoopla, and ''Iliada'.

Personal Life
Bentley-Fisher’s first marriage was to actress Patricia Grant. They have two grown children and one grandchild. His second wife, Pat Lorje, is a Canadian politician.