• Dean's Advisory Committee

  • Weyni Mengesha

Weyni Mengesha profile image



BIOGRAPHY

Weyni Mengesha is a Canadian film and stage director known for her ground-breaking work and community engagement. Mengesha has directed plays that have gone on to break box office records, tour nationally and internationally, and have been developed into television shows playing on CBC, Global, and Netflix. She made her U.S debut in 2016 at Theatre @Boston Court directing Bars and Measures which received three Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award nominations and an NAACP nomination for her direction. She went on to make her New York debut with Martin Zimmerman’s Seven Spots from the Sun at Rattlestick Playwrights Theatre, along with the Off-Broadway debut of the critically acclaimed Kim’s Convenience. In 2019 She became artistic director of Soulpepper theatre in Toronto, a celebrated artist driven company that offers year-round programming and training for artists from across the country. She is also cultivating a tv/ film career with numerous award-winning short films and episodic TV shows under her belt and a feature in development.

She is also a committed educator, mentor of new talent, and a producer of youth arts initiatives. She was the co-director of the acclaimed A.M.Y Project (artists mentoring youth) since its inaugural showcase in 2005 until 2011. She also Co-founded Sound the Horn in 2004 and was artistic director of the organization for seven years providing a training and a performance platform to hundreds of young artists from Ethiopian and Eritrean communities across North America.

She continues to be a guest teacher for artistic training programs across Canada, including the National Theatre School of Canada, Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and The Soulpepper Academy. In 2018 Mengesha was named one of The 50 most influential Torontonians by Toronto Life magazine.

Dean's Advisory Committee

People of AMPD

Shayna Haddon

Trina McQueen

Mia Nielsen

Jolene Cuyler

Carolyn Loucks

Weyni Mengesha

Vanessa Wang

Beth Janson

Liz Ogbu

Mariel Marshall

Lisa Jackson

Williams Ray

Dickenson Christa

Renu Mehta

Claire Hopkinson