bio.

ted witzel (he/him) is a queer theatre-maker and artistic leader from toronto / tkaròn:to. primarily a director, ted is also variously a dramaturg, curator, teacher, writer, translator, designer, and performer. he has worked with theatres and cultural organizations across canada, the uk, germany, and italy. he is currently the artistic director of buddies in bad times theatre, the world’s largest and longest-running queer theatre.

fusing high-octane performance, rigorous dramaturgy, digital aesthetics, and poetic text, ted’s directing is located at the intersection between the personal and the political, and the (visceral, emotional, intellectual) frictions between them. 

ted is a member of the curatorial team for the national arts centre’s national creation fund, a member of the theatre committee at the toronto arts council, and was a guest curator for the 2023 edition of the summerworks festival. from 2019-2022 he worked as artistic associate and laboratory director at the stratford festival, where he oversaw the company’s research and development programs. these included a broad portfolio of new works in development, equity-focused systems change, artist residencies, and a collection of artistic explorations and programs that aim to help imagine the future orientation of the company.

ted holds a masters of arts management from SDA bocconi and an MFA in directing from york university and canadian stage. in 2018, he was selected as an artistic leadership resident at the national theatre school, and was a member of the banff centre’s 2019 cultural leadership cohort. he has been artist-in-residence at harbourfront centre, buddies in bad times (toronto) and institut für alles mögliche (berlin). ted also runs a project-based theatre company called the red light district. 

recent directing credits include: sunny drake’s every little nookie (stratford festival), susanna fournier’s what happens to you happens to me (canadian stage), elizabeth rex (theatre@york), the scavenger’s daughter (buddies/paradigm) and LULU v.7 // aspects of a femme fatale (buddies/red light district).

RECENT WORK:

check out this latest project with susanna fournier for canadian stage.

or the howlround series he recently co-curated with sadie berlin.

and this video series from the stratford festival lab.