Leah Cherniak

Leah Cherniak
Born	(1956-08-22) August 22, 1956 (age 68) [1]
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of Toronto
Notable work	The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls

Leah Cherniak (born 1956) is a Canadian playwright, actor, and teacher. She is a co-founder of Theatre Columbus (now called Common Boots).

Early life and education

Cherniak graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in 1979. ^[1] She later studied at École Jacques Lecoq, where she met Martha Ross. ^[2]

Career

Cherniak co-founded Theatre Columbus with Martha Ross in 1984. Originally, the company was called The Gargoils. ^[2] In 2015, Theatre Columbus changed their name to Common Boots Theatre. ^[3]

Teaching

Beginning in 1985, Cherniak taught clown at the National Theatre School. In 2001, Cherniak began teaching dance at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and George Brown College. ^[1]

Directorial credits

Theatre

• Up Against the Wallpaper – Nightwood Theatre (1989)
• The Tell-Tale Heart – Theatre Columbus (1995) ^[4]
• Froth (1996) ^[5]
• Three Birds Alighting on a Field – George Brown Theatre (2000) ^[6]
• Lonely Nights and Other Stories – Theatre Columbus, co-directed with Maggie Huculak (2001) ^[7]
• Rue Alridge – Tarragon Theatre (2004) ^[8]
• Edward the "Crazy Man" – Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (2008) ^[9]
• 6 Essential Questions – Factory Theatre (2014) ^[10]
• Clown – Ryerson School of Performance (2018) ^[11]
• The Ward Cabaret – Harbourfront Centre Theatre (2020), co-directed with David Buchbinder ^[12]
• Perpetual Archaeology – Crow's Theatre written by and starring Alex Bulmer (June 2023) ^[13]

Film

• Things Dead People Say – short film (2020) ^[14]

Acting credits

Theatre

Year	Show	Role	Notes	Ref.
1995	The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls	Jelly		[15]
2015	The Dybbuk, Or Between Two Worlds	Frayde		[16]
2018	Animal Farm	Bessie		[17]
2019	Scadding	Ensemble		[18]

Plays

• Until We Part – co-written with Martha Ross ^[2]
• The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine – co-written with Robert Morgan and Martha Ross ^[19]
• Still Clowning – co-written with Martha Ross ^[20]
• The Fragments – co-written with Suvendrini Lena and Trevor Schwellnus ^[21]
• The Theory of Relatives – co-written with Daniel Brooks, Diane Flacks, Richard Greenblatt, Leslie Lester, and Allan Merovitz ^[22]
• The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls – co-written with Jennifer Brewin, Martha Ross, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and Alisa Palmer ^[15]
• More Fine Girls – co-written with Brewin, Ross, MacDonald, and Palmer, sequel to The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls ^[23]
• Scadding ' co-created with Jennifer Brewin, Alex Bulmer, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, John Gzowski, Maggie Huculak, Anand Rajaram, Jenny Salisbury and Stephon Smith ^[18]
• The Betrayal – co-written with Oliver Dennis, Maggie Huculak, Robert Morgan, Martha Ross and Michael Simpson ^[24]

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Results	Notes	Ref.
1987	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – Small Theatre	Best Production	Fertility	Won	with Martha Ross	[25]
1988		Outstanding Direction	The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine	Nominated		[26]
		Outstanding New Play		Nominated
1989		Outstanding Direction	Paranoia	Nominated		[27]
1990			Dr. Dapertutto	Nominated		[28]
1991	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – Ancillary awards	Pauline McGibbon Award	N/A	Won		[29]
1994	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre	The Theory of Relatives	Nominated	with Daniel Brooks, Diane Flacks, Richard Greenblatt, Leslie Lester, Allan Merovitz	[22]
	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – Small Theatre	Outstanding New Play		Nominated		[30]
1995		Outstanding Performance by a Female–Play	The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls	Nominated		[31]
		Outstanding New Play or Musical		Nominated	with Ann-Marie MacDonald, Martha Ross with Alisa Palmer, Jennifer Brewin
1996	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre		Nominated		[32]
	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – General Theatre	Outstanding Direction	The Diary of Anne Frank	Nominated		[33]
1998		Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Betrayal	Nominated		[34]
1999	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre		Won	co-winner with Oliver Dennis, Maggie Huculak, Robert Morgan, Martha Ross and Michael Simpson	[24]
2003	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – General Theatre	Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Miracle Worker	Nominated		[35]
2005	Dora Mavor Moore Awards – Independent Theatre	Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine	Nominated		[36]

References

1. Lumley, Elizabeth (2000). Canadian Who's Who 2004 : Volume XXXIX. University of Toronto Press. pp. 235–236.
2. Crew, Robert (1994-03-15). "Award-winning stage duo honor clown roots Two troupers take a darkly comic view of success". Toronto Star . p. C5.
3. "About the Company". Common Boots Theatre. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
4. Wagner, Vit (1995-08-18). "Theatre forecast fair to good". Toronto Star . p. D8.
5. Walker, Susan (1996-12-01). "On the shopping block". Toronto Star . p. B7. ISSN   0319-0781.
6. Kaplan, John (2000-11-16). "Art Smarts". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
7. Crew, Robert (2001-06-07). "Actor navigates the mental map; Maggie Huculak continues to grow with Theatre Columbus". Toronto Star . p. G07.
8. Kaplan, Jon (2004-02-26). "Rune's tune". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
9. Maga, Carly (2011-04-25). "From the Street to the Storybook in Edward the "Crazy Man"". Torontoist. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
10. BWW News Desk (2014-03-01). "Factory Theatre Presents World Premiere of 6 Essential Questions by Priscila Uppal, Now thru 3/30". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
11. Eeswaran, Xavier (2018-10-30). "Clowns aren't all fun and games for Ryerson's actors". The Eyeopener. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
12. Teodoro, Jose (2019-12-18). "The Ward Cabaret is a vibrant celebration of cultural diversity through music". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
13. Wild, Stephi (2022-06-01). "Crow's Theatre Announces 2022-23 Season". BroadwayWorld.com. Retrieved 2022-11-29.
14. Sumi, Glenn (2020-07-01). "8 Fringe Collective artists to watch (or hear)". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
15. Taylor, Kate (1995-03-03). "A remarkable balancing act of comedy and drama". The Globe and Mail . p. D9.
16. Kaplan, Jon (2015-05-26). "Review: The Dybbuk". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
17. Maga, Carly (2018-03-17). "Desire for comedy trumps message in Soulpepper adaptation of Orwell classic Animal Farm". Toronto Star. Retrieved 2020-11-20.
18. Sumi, Glenn (2019-07-06). "Fringe review: Scadding". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-25.
19. Morrow, Martin (2016-02-09). "Cowboy Versus Samurai, Ernest Versus Ernestine". Torontoist. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
20. Wagner, Vit (March 16, 1994). "Still: it's exclusive clowning". Toronto Star . p. D1.
21. McKeown, Lisa (2019-11-24). "Here Are The Fragments is a powerful immersive show". NOW Magazine. Retrieved 2020-11-17.
22. Chapman, Geoff (1994-03-08). "One-man show in running for Chalmers play prize". Toronto Star . p. F5.
23. Nestruck, J. Kelly (2011-03-09). "They can go home again". The Globe and Mail . p. R1.
24. Wagner, Vit (1999-05-18). "Eighth Chalmers for Walker ; Playwright wins national arts award second year in a row". The Toronto Star . ISSN   0319-0781.
25. Conlogue, Ray (1987-06-23). "Mikado, B-Movie big Dora winners". The Globe and Mail . p. D8.
26. Crew, Robert (1988-05-11). "CentreStage play tops Dora Award nominees". Toronto Star . p. C1.
27. Vinceni, Isabel (1989-05-13). "And the Dora nominees are". The Globe and Mail . p. C6.
28. Conlogue, Ray (1990-05-15). "Dora nominations harvested from sparse crop of new plays". Globe and Mail . p. A19.
29. Friedlander, Mira (1991-06-23). "Awards spotlight theatre's top talent". Toronto Star . p. C1.
30. "Dora nominations list". Toronto Star . 1994-05-18. p. D19.
31. "Nominations for '95 Dora Awards". Toronto Star . 1995-05-13. p. J13.
32. Crew, Robert (1996-03-14). "New writers contest Chalmers play awards". Toronto Star . p. D4.
33. Kirchhoff, H J (1996-05-17). "Harbourfront Centre tops Dora list: Captures 23 nominations, Canadian Stage is second with 17". The Globe and Mail . p. C5.
34. "Dora Award nominees". Toronto Start . 1998-05-27.
35. "Dora Award nominees". Toronto Star . 2003-05-22. p. A35.
36. "2005 Dora Award nominees". Toronto Star . 2005-06-09. p. A23.