Welcome to Equity in Theatre

Carmen Grant is a Saskatchewan born-and-raised performing artist who has been studying and practicing theatre since 1994. After graduating with honours from the (now defunct) Fine and Performing Arts Conservatory Program at Calgary's Mount Royal College in 1996, Carmen's first professional roles were Helena in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and Marie David in "When They Stop Dancing;" a part written specifically for her by the playwright John Murrell. The piece has only been produced once since its conception at Calgary's Theatre Junction in 1997. Between 1999 and 2002, she continued her studies in Montreal at the National Theatre School of Canada under the artistic direction of Perry Schneiderman. Upon graduating from NTSC, Carmen returned to Calgary to study with Michael Green, Denise Clarke, Andy Curtis, and Blake Brooker at the One Yellow Rabbit High Performance Summer Laboratory. Under their influence, she began to cultivate her interest in dance and performance-art-based theatre. In 2003, she worked in Toronto at Young People's Theatre, portraying Annie Sullivan in Leah Cherniak's acclaimed production of "The Miracle Worker." Since that time, Carmen has taken on roles such as Ruth in "Zadie's Shoes" (ATP), Viola in "Twelfth Night" (Globe), Catherine in "proof" (Neptune), and Myrtle Mae in "Harvey" (Segal Centre). Between 2004 and 2009, she performed 5 separate productions of the one-woman, 21-character "Syringa Tree," about the 1960's apartheid movement in South Africa. Each production was mounted by a different theatre and used a different creative team: Neptune Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Manitoba Theatre Centre, London's Grand Theatre, and Nanaimo's Theatre One. In 2009, she performed the role of Catherine in Sharon Pollock's "Doc" at Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto. It was directed by Diana Leblanc and starred RH Thompson and Jane Spidell. Between 2010 and 2014, Carmen was a company member at the Stratford Festival of Canada, where she played Isabella in "Measure For Measure," the mute Kattrin in "Mother Courage and Her Children," and understudied Seana McKenna's gender-reversed Richard III. During the spring of 2017, she joined Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland to play the role of Sheilagh Fielding (originated by Astrid Van Wieren) in Robert Chafe's stage adaptation of Wayne Johnston's novel "The Colony of Unrequited Dreams." The production was directed by Jillian Keiley and toured to Ottawa at the National Arts Centre, Halifax at Neptune Theatre, and London, Ontario at the Grand Theatre.
Having lived in cities all over Canada (Saskatoon, Calgary, Halifax, Montreal, Vancouver, Toronto), Carmen now makes her home in Stratford, Ontario. She is currently developing a single-audience-member, interactive performance piece entitled "Dad Cave." http://www.carmenhilarygrant.com