About the Artistic Director

Peter Hinton is one of English Canada’s most respected playwrights, directors, and dramaturges. In his twenty-year career, he has been an integral part of the Canadian theatre landscape, working as an Associate Artist of the Stratford Festival of Canada, Associate Director and Dramaturge at Theatre Passe Muraille, Associate Director and Head of the New Play Development Program at the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, Artistic Director and Dramaturge of The Playwrights Theatre Centre in Vancouver, and Dramaturge in Residence at Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal. He is passionate about Canadian theatre, and is  proud to have developed new works by John Mighton, Guillermo Verdecchia, Marie Clements, Larry Tremblay, Blake Brooker, Normand Chaurette, Maristella Roca, Allen Cole and Greg MacArthur to name a few. 

An accomplished playwright, Mr. Hinton’s early plays include Façade which was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Artistic Innovation and Excellence, and Urban Voodoo (co-written with Jim Millan). Peter was writer and dramaturge on the Canadian Stage Hour Company collective creations i.d. and Tabu, which both received Dora Awards for outstanding new play for theatre for young audiences. Recently, his trilogy of three full length plays entitled The Swanne premiered at the Stratford Festival of Canada to great critical and audience acclaim.  Not content merely to write for the theatre stage, Mr. Hinton has written the librettos for two operas with composer Peter Hannan; The Diana Cantata, and 12O Songs for the Marquis de Sade, which was awarded the Alcan Performing Arts Award.

A respected teacher, Mr. Hinton has taught play creation for actors at the Ryerson Theatre School and playwriting and period study at The National Theatre School of Canada. Mr. Hinton’s critical and dramaturgical essays have been published in Theatrum, The Canadian Theatre Review and Between the Lines: a collection of interviews and articles on Dramaturgy in Canada, edited by Judith Rudakoff. 

In November 2005, Mr. Hinton took the helm of the National Arts Centre English Theatre as Artistic Director.

Peter Hinton
Photo: Laird Mackintosh