Mike Griffin
DIRECTOR
THEATRE EDUCATOR
PLAYWRIGHT
"Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
- Goethe
Mike Griffin has worked across the country as a theatre educator and director. Originally from British Columbia, Mike received both a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting and a Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia. He taught high school drama for four years in Langley, BC before he moved to Calgary to do his Masters of Fine Arts in Directing at the University of Calgary. During his time at the U of C, Mike went to Reggio Emilia, Italy and trained with Antonio Fava in Commedia dell’Arte. Since then, Commedia has become a major area of research for him, teaching classes and workshops in this style and recently being published in The Routledge Companion to Commedia dell’Arte with a chapter on the rival playwrights Carlo Goldoni and Carlo Gozzi. Also researching Commedia through staging and production, Mike has directed The Liar (Goldoni), The Dyskolos (Menander), and wrote and directed a new adaptation of The Servant of Two Masters (Golden). He also wrote and directed The Wooers’ Woods for Calgary Young People’s Theatre, which was remounted for the Calgary International Children’s Festival. Mike also was the Commedia specialist and assistant director for the Canadian Premiere of One Man Two Guvnors at Theatre Calgary.
Mike has taught at the University of Calgary, Mount Allison University, Niagara University, Red Deer College and he currently teaches at Brock University. Mike teaches devising, directing, acting, movement, mask, Commedia dell'Arte, scene study and voice. Professionally, Mike has worked with an array of different companies across the country including: Theatre Calgary, Bard on the Beach, Vertigo Mystery Theatre, Ground Zero Theatre, Hit and Myth Productions, Quest Theatre, and Apparition Theatre. He is also was the Artistic Director of Beyond the Brink Productions. Mike's last creative project was Antigone, which he adapted and directed at Brock University. Before that he wrote and directed Pantalone's Palace, a new Commedia dell'Arte play. Mike is currently gearing up for a production of Caryl Churchill's Love and Information. Mike is a member of Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Associate of Movement Theatre Educators.
