Roy Surette was Touchstone Theatre’s Artistic Director in Vancouver from 1984 to 1997. He returned to Touchstone in July 2017, after twenty years: ten where he enjoyed island living as Artistic Director for the beloved Belfry Theatre here in Victoria and ten at the helm of Montreal’s esteemed Centaur Theatre in Montreal where he was Artistic & Executive Director. Much of his career has involved championing new work and Canadian playwrights, and he is proud and happy to be back home working in B.C’s resilient and inspiring cultural community. Roy has directed across Canada, including for National Arts Centre, Canadian Stage, Shaw Festival, the Arts Club Theatre, the Vancouver Playhouse, Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Theatre Calgary, Axis Theatre and Carousel Theatre. He has also directed in Scotland and Australia.

Victoria audiences may remember Roy’s work at the Belfry, where he directed over twenty-five plays including productions of Mary’s Wedding, The Girl in the Goldfish Bowl, Homechild, A Perfect Ganesh, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, A Number, Kilt (with Touchstone Theatre), Ingenious Speculations, Flying Blind, Urinetown: The Musical and The Valley. He directed the premiere English language production of Michel Marc Bouchard’s The Coronation Voyage for Alberta Theatre Projects and the Belfry. For Phoenix Theatre at UVic he directed Dogg’s Hamlet, Cahoot’s Macbeth and The Imaginary Invalid.

Roy has won several Jessie Richardson awards and Victoria’s Monday Awards in recognition of his diverse body of work, including Unless (Arts Club, Belfry and Canadian Stage) in 2005 and Kevin Kerr’s aerial comic tragedy Skydive (with RealWheels, Theatre Calgary and Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Ottawa), with co-director Stephen Drover in 2007.

Roy has had the great pleasure of working with many incredible theatre makers since graduating from Studio 58 a long, long time ago.