Hudson Village Theatre Welcomes New Artistic Director
By: Tyler Peterson Aug. 21, 2014
Hudson Village Theatre (HVT) has announced its new Artistic Director. Matthew Tiffin, known to the Montreal theatre community as well as local audiences and media as one half of the ground-breaking, critically acclaimed Gravy Bath Productions, takes the reins in Hudson as of September 2, 2014.
Kalina Skulska, Executive Director of HVT was quoted to say, "In Matt, we have the total package: he's plugged into new works and artists with a solid grasp of the established theatre canon. He's well connected with local, national and international theatre communities and has successfully run an organization similar to ours in size and locality."
Tiffin is equally enthusiastic. "I've always enjoyed coming to Hudson as a visitor and audience member; the people are amazing and the community is vibrant, warm and welcoming. I've seen a lot of theatres throughout Canada and this one- an old train station converted with such care into this charming little theatre- is very special and something to be cherished. I see tremendous possibility here to create unique, artistically vibrant and colourful seasons. I want nothing less than to blow the roof off the place night after night and have people look to our region and say, 'That's where the greatest work is being done.'" About returning to the Montreal area, Tiffin said, "I am thrilled to be reconnecting with Montreal - the artists, audiences, colleagues and friends. I spent the richest, most productive and exciting years of my life here and have missed it deeply."
To distinguish HVT as a 'West End' cultural centre, Skulska, Tiffin and the HVT Board are already tossing around ideas to add to the ongoing children's play series and summer season, with an eye to year-round programming offering events to suit all tastes. Its location only forty-five minutes west of Montreal, with myriad local attractions and idyllic eateries, scenery and free parking, make it an attractive destination for those looking to get out of the city as well as for West Island residents and people living in Western Quebec and Eastern Ontario.
The busy venue turned a lot of heads this summer with the return visit of Norm Foster, the sell-out comedy Wife Begins at Forty, a special one-night engagement with Quebec opera diva, Natalie Choquette, in addition to hosting two tapings of the wildly popular Vinyl Café for CBC Radio, topped off by the riotous farce, The 39 Steps. HVT audiences can expect a lot more where that came from with such new initiatives such as a speaker series and a new innovators play series, with much more on the horizon. And of course, HVT will continue to make itself available to the local community as part of its mandate to support local artists.
Hudson residents and HVT supporters will have the opportunity to meet him at his first HVT event, the annual fundraising gala on October 4th at the Whitlock Golf and Country Club.
Matthew Tiffin is a multi-award winning artistic director, director, actor and published author. Originally from Ottawa, Matthew trained and worked as a young artist in New York and London. His work has been seen in Edinburgh, Montreal, Quebec City, Stratford, Toronto and Nova Scotia.
Montreal audiences will remember him as the Artistic Director of Gravy Bath Productions, for which he staged many innovative and award-winning productions, including Henry. Octobre. 1970., Coriolanus, the five-hour saga Kali Yuga, among many others. In partnership with Segal Centre (then named the Saidye Bronfman Centre), Gravy Bath Productions founded the Saidye 'B' - a space devoted to bold, stylistically original independent creations. He also co-founded the New Classical Theatre Festival, which ran in Montreal for several seasons. For the Segal Centre, audiences will remember his Tempest, starring the late Douglas Campbell, Moya O'Connell, and Gareth Potter along with many of Montreal's finest actors.
Matthew worked at the Stratford Festival as Assistant Director of The Merchant of Venice and Pentecost, and has staged a wide variety of work, ranging from the classics (Shakespeare to Ionesco) to new Canadian work (Michael Healey to Marcel-Romain Thériault).
Most recently, Matthew served as Artistic Producer of Ship's Company Theatre in Nova Scotia, an extremely busy, well-known theatre devoted to new Canadian work. There, he produced two of the most financially successful productions in recent times, and brought the Ship's production of The (Post) Mistress to both Neptune Theatre in Halifax and Thousand Islands Playhouse in Gananoque. He also turned one of the largest surpluses in the Ship's recent history.
Matthew is also an accomplished actor. He is a graduate of the Stella Adler Conservatory, the London Academy of Performing Arts, and the Birmingham Conservatory at the Stratford Festival. He has appeared in film and television in such shows as Tripping the Wire (CTV); 15/Love (YTV); Terry (CBC); and The Day After Tomorrow, among many others.
Matthew has won several awards for his work, including three Montreal English Critics' Circle Awards for Best Independent Production, one for Revelation, one for Distinction, and two for Best Director.
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