Daniel Brooks (born 23 June 1958) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

theatre director,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

and

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

. He is well known in the Toronto theatre scene for his innovative productions and script-writing collaborations.

Early life

Brooks was born in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He graduated from the drama program at

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

Career

Brooks has collaborated in the creation of several solo shows by

Daniel MacIvor Daniel MacIvor (born July 23, 1962) is a Canadian actor, playwright, theatre director, and film director. He is probably best known for his acting roles in independent films and the sitcom ''Twitch City''. Personal MacIvor was born in Sydney, Nov ...

, including ''House'', ''Here Lies Henry'', ''The Lorca Play'' and ''Monster''."Two Daniels’ latest collaboration conjures the dead"
''Toronto Star'', November 28, 2016. Karen Fricker. He has also collaborated with

John Mighton John Mighton, OC (born October 2, 1957) is a Canadian mathematician, author, and playwright. Education and career Mighton was born in Hamilton, Ontario on and lives in Toronto, Ontario with partner Pamela Sinha and daughter Chloe. In 1998 ...

Don McKellar Don McKellar (born August 17, 1963) is a Canadian actor, writer, playwright, and filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. He is known for directing and writing the ...

Rick Miller (comedian) Rick Miller (born March 12, 1970) is a Canadian director, actor, comedian, musician and playwright, currently living in Toronto. He has two architecture degrees from McGill University in Montreal, and has performed in 5 languages on 5 continents ...

, Bruce McDonald (director),

Diego Matamoros Diego Matamoros is a Canadian actor who has performed in theatre, television, film, radio, and voice animation, both across Canada and in the United States. In 1998, he won a Gemini award for his performance as Dr. Goldman in CBC Television's min ...

Tracy Wright Tracy Wright (December 7, 1959 – June 22, 2010) was a Canadian actress who was known for her stage and film performances, as well as her presence in Canada's avant-garde for over 20 years. Career In 1989, she was a founding member of the Toron ...

and the Leslie Spit Treeo. He worked with

Guillermo Verdecchia Guillermo Verdecchia (born December 7, 1962) is a Canadian theatre artist. Verdecchia was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina and came to Canada at the age of two. He was raised in Kitchener, Ontario. Verdecchia received an undergraduate degree in th ...

to develop ''The Noam Chomsky Lectures'' and ''Insomnia''. In 2001, Brooks was the recipient of the inaugural

Siminovitch Prize in Theatre The Siminovitch Prize is Canada's largest theatre award recognizing excellence in mid-career directors, playwrights and designers. $100,000 is awarded annually, and for recipients, who are given the public recognition and financial resources, it i ...

. In 2007, Brooks wrote a play called ''The Eco Show''." Stratford’s Oedipus Rex wrings the full emotional power from this ancient play"
J. Kelly Nestruck, ''The Globe and Mail'', Jul. 24, 2015 In 2011 he worked with

Michael Ondaatje Philip Michael Ondaatje (; born 12 September 1943) is a Sri Lankan-born Canadian poet, fiction writer, essayist, novelist, editor, and filmmaker. He is the recipient of multiple literary awards such as the Governor General's Award, the Giller P ...

to create a play based on Ondaatje's novel Divisadero. A further collaboration with MacIvor, ''Who Killed Spalding Gray?'', premiered in 2014 at the

Magnetic North Theatre Festival The Magnetic North Theatre Festival is an annual festival celebrating theatre and related performing arts in Canada operated by the Canadian Theatre Festival Society in partnership with the National Arts Centre. The festival is held Ottawa every ...

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. The ...

. He collaborated with fellow Siminovitch Prize-winner Kim Collier on two separate works in 2018–19.

Classics

Brooks played the lead in a 1981 production of

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

directed by Ken Gass. Brooks directed Goethe's ''Faust'' for the

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

in 1999 and ''Oedipus Rex'' at

Stratford Festival The Stratford Festival is a theatre festival which runs from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson in 1952, the festival was formerly known as the Stratford Shakespearean Festival ...

in 2015. In 2016, Brooks staged a version of

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...

's play ''

A Doll House ''A Doll's House'' ( Danish and nb, Et dukkehjem; also translated as ''A Doll House'') is a three-act play written by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premiered at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having be ...

'', adapted to a modern setting."Modernized Doll's House gets feminist message across: review"
''Toronto Star'', Carly Maga, July 28, 2016 For

Soulpepper Soulpepper is a theater company based in Toronto, Ontario. It is the largest non-profit theater in the city. History Soulpepper was founded in 1998 by twelve Toronto artists aiming to produce lesser-known theatrical classics. Soulpepper has sinc ...

he directed

Samuel Beckett Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...

's ''Endgame'' (play) in 1999 and '' Waiting for Godot'' in 2017.

Companies

Brooks was formerly co-director of the Augusta Company; co-director of the da da kamera company; playwright-in-residence at the

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

; and director of the Necessary Angel company from 2003 to 2012.

Awards and Recognition

Brooks has won the following awards: the Chalmers Award; the Dora Mavor Moore Award (three times); the Pauline McGibbon Award; the Edinburgh Fringe First Award; the Capital Critics Circle Award; and the inaugural Elinore and Lou

. He was also nominated for a

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

References

Daniel Brooks: The Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brooks, Daniel 1958 births Living people Canadian theatre directors 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male stage actors Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Writers from Toronto