ABIGAIL WHITNEY, assistant director

abigail@VOLCANO.CA

Abigail Whitney is listed in 2020's “100 Black Artists to support this Juneteenth'' by New-York Gritty Vibes Magazine.  Whitney is an award-winning stage director, an actor, artist educator and youth mentor. She has studied in theatre training programs and workshops across Toronto and abroad in London, UK and performed at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Whitney made her directorial debut with the world premiere of Les Frères and won “Best Director” at the University of Toronto Drama Coalition Awards in 2019 for her work. Whitney has since directed her second play Father Figures, winner of the “Audience Choice Award” at the UofT 2020 Drama Festival and directed A Covid Carol in under 7 hours presented live at The 2020 Assembly Theatre Operation 24 Challenge. Whitney assistant directed Mumbi Tindyebwa Otu and Leah Cherniak in Here are the Fragments. co-produced by The ECT Collective and The Theatre Centre. Whitney was offered to direct The Fairy Ring for the 2020 InspiraTO Festival but the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19. Whitney is the Artistic Director of Theatre for the youth and aims to support all new and emerging Black creators within the Canadian film, visual & theatre industry. With this organization, Whitney intends to produce and direct new-generational, inclusive plays, partner with theatre companies across Canada developing innovative programming and to bridge the gap between emerging and professionally established Black artists in Toronto.

For Volcano, Whitney assistant directed Ross Manson in Hannah Moscovitch’s Infinity, which toured Vancouver, BC in January 2020, and has been working closely with the company as a curator for Scott Joplin’s Treemonisha audience guide website, and as a Volcano Conservatory coordinator.

She is currently working as an assistant director on 4 out of 21 of Obsidian Theatre Company's 21 Black Futures short film monodramas airing in February 2021 on CBC Gem.