Taitt, Tanisha
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Tanisha Taitt is a director/actor/playwright, arts educator, singer-songwriter and producer. She is Director of the Peace Camp program at Children's Peace Theatre, an organization which teaches youth and children about peace and conflict transformation through theatre, and a Dramatic Arts mentor with tdsbCreates, a Toronto District School Board program that brings professional artists into schools to create with students and teachers in the classroom. Tanisha was the 2013 Program Director of Acting UpStage's youth musical theatre training program, One Song Glory, and directed the musical Bare for Toronto Youth Theatre. Twice a Resident Artist Educator with Young People's Theatre, her other YPT credits include Assistant Director, The Princess and the Handmaiden; Co-Director, Would You Say The Name Of This Play? (NGGRFG); and Director, The Power Of Harriet T!
In 2008 Tanisha was chosen as one of Toronto's Mille Femmes, a group of women whose creative voices would shape the future of the arts in the city. She began her professional theatre career as the 2009/10 Apprentice Director for Obsidian Theatre, and was Assistant Director of Soulpepper's Faith Healer. Tanisha performed at SummerWorks 2012 in her playwriting debut, Violent Be Violet. In 2014 she directed her second self-penned play, Admissions, as the debut production for Teenage Graceland, the youth theatre collective she founded to challenge the societal attitudes that lead to gender-based violence.
A devoted activist, Tanisha spent six years as Producer of V-Day Toronto, part of the global movement to end violence against women and girls. Twelve theatrical productions for V-Day are under her directing belt, as is the position of Canadian Coordinator for V-Day's 2013 One Billion Rising campaign. She is a two-time YWCA Woman of Distinction nominee for her commitment to artistic excellence and social justice. Tanisha was honoured to be 'Harolded' in 2013 and 'Tootsied' in December 2014, when critic Lynn Slotkin bestowed her with an award in the 'They Can Do Anything' category.