Weyni Mengesha is a Canadian film and theatre director, based 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 ...

. She is known as the director of the plays ''

da kink in my hair ''Da Kink in My Hair'' is a play by Trey Anthony, which debuted at the Toronto Fringe Festival in 2001. The play's central character is Novelette, the Caribbean Canadian owner of Letty's, a Toronto hair salon. Novelette is forced to confront her g ...

'', and ''Kim's Convenience''. Mengesha married American actor

Eion Bailey Eion Francis Hamilton Bailey ( ; born June 8, 1976) is an American actor. He stars as Jim Matthews in the epix horror series '' From''. He played Pvt. David Kenyon Webster in the HBO miniseries '' Band of Brothers'' and appeared in the films ...

in 2011. The couple have two children. In 2018, she was hired as the artistic director of the

Soulpepper Theatre 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 ...

. Observers applauded her appointment, and that of her colleague, executive director

Emma Stenning Emma Stenning (born 1975, in Surrey) is a British arts professional, currently based in Toronto, where she has been the Executive Director of Soulpepper Theatre since November 2018. Career Stenning was previously Chief Executive of Bristol Old ...

, as it meant the two senior posts at the theatre would be filled by women, after the previous male director

Albert Schultz Albert Hamilton Schultz (; born July 30, 1963) is a former Canadian actor, director and the founding artistic director of Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company. He resigned his position with Soulpepper after sexual allegations against Schultz bec ...

resigned after actors accused him of preying on female subordinates. Mengesha's parents were immigrants from

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

. She is the cousin of actor

Araya Mengesha Araya Mengesha(born July 23, 1987) is a Canadian actor, best known for his roles as Kandae in '' Nurse.Fighter.Boy'', Michael in ''Cul de sac'' and Zoffi in ''Ruby Skye P.I.: The Maltese Puppy''. Biography Mengesha was born in Toronto to Ethio ...

. While she was born in Vancouver, Mengesha grew up in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, su ...

. She graduated from Soulpepper Academy. Mengesha has been nominated for the

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

five times, winning the award in 2014. Mengesha co-signed a letter of support to the

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police bruta ...

movement, in June 2020, following several high profile incidents where police killed black civilians, in both the United States and Canada.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mengesha, Weyni Canadian theatre directors Canadian women theatre directors Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Black Canadian women Black Canadian filmmakers Film directors from Vancouver Film directors from Toronto Canadian women film directors Canadian people of Ethiopian descent Ethiopian Royal Family Exiled royalty