BIOGRAPHY
Tom Bentley
Biography Resume Stories Reviews Teaching Links	Tom Bentley has been a professional director and teacher for twenty-five years. He has been the artistic director of three theatres and has developed a national reputation for developing and directing original Canadian drama. The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper referred to his theatre experience as having engineered "one of the most dramatic come-backs in Canadian theatre history" and to his writing as "as good as writing gets." Tom Bentley previously went by the name Tom Bentley- Fisher.   Listed for the past fifteen years in Canadian Who's Who as one of the country's most prominent citizens.   Listed in the Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre as one of Canada's most prominent theatre directors.
	THEATRE
	Directed over one hundred professional productions across Canada.   Served for sixteen years as an artistic director of Canadian theatres.   Taught theatre in universities and professional training programs across Canada.   Created play development programs to workshop new Canadian scripts. Dramaturged new scripts in play development centers across Canada. Developed apprentice programs for young artists and established outreach programs for youth at risk. Directed over twenty touring productions of theatre for youth. Founded and produced the Saskatoon International Fringe Festival, an annual eight-day theatre event consisting of more than eighty provincial, national and international theatre companies, now in its twelfth year.  Founded and directed Beyond the Ruins Festival, dedicated to new plays originating from the Canadian Aboriginal Community. Founded and produced the Carlton Trail Festival, an enterprise developed to exchange plays between theatre companies in Western Canada. Produced Festival Saskatoon, a performing, visual and literary summer arts festival in conjunction with the Jeux Canada Games.  Acted for five seasons in theatres across Canada and England, including London's West End.  Developed a highly original approach to acting based on the work of Yat Malmgren and Rudolph Laban. Taught ongoing studio Coaching and conducted workshops based on that work for ten years.
	WRITING
	Wrote BLIND MAN'S DRUM, an award winning and critically acclaimed series of linked short stories, published by Thistledown Press, now in its second print.  Wrote FRIENDS, a play published by Red Deer Press, and produced across Canada and the U.S. Wrote NEW YORK IS BIG BUT THIS IS BIGGER, commissioned and produced as part of Canada's Millennium Celebrations.  Wrote HOOPLA, a play commissioned by the Doukhobor Society and Heritage Canada. Wrote fourteen short stories published in literary magazines across Canada, including The Dalhousie Review and New West Review. Wrote the award-winning short story WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS, published by Prairie Journal. Wrote twelve forwards to publications of new plays, including the Florence James Series, published by Coteau Press. Wrote CONSTABLE SCHUMACHER'S POEM, a half hour fiction produced by C.B.C. Radio.
	Juries and Government
	Appointed by the Saskatchewan government to sit on a one-year task force to examine the future of arts in the province. Employed by the Canada Council for the Arts to participate in numerous peer jury evaluations. Employed by the Saskatchewan Arts Board as an assessor and jury member.
	Nominations and Awards
	Nominated for Artist of Distinction Award - Saskatchewan. Nominated for Dora Award - Best Production for Youth, Toronto. 1983. Nominated for Dora Award - Best Production, Toronto, 1984. Winner of Chalmers Canadian Play Award - Outstanding Canadian Play for Young Audiences, 1983.  Awarded a Senior Arts Board Grant to observe and work with theatre and dance companies for an eight-month period throughout Europe and Asia. Awarded commissions by the Canadian Millennium Project and Heritage Canada to write original plays. Finalist - Saskatchewan Book Award, Best Fiction, BLIND MAN'S DRUM, 2002. Finalist - National Magazine Award for Humour, WARS AND RUMOURS OF WARS, published by Prairie Journal, 2001. Finalist - Prairie Fire Short Story Competition on the theme of Women's Health. Writing also nominated for the Governor General's Literary Awards, The Writer Trust of Canada, Roger Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour, the Commonwealth Writer Prize, the Canadian Author Association Awards, the Relit Awards, and the Journey Prize Anthology.
	Professional Associations
	Canadian Actors Equity Association. Socan - Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada.
©2007 Tom Bentley
TomBentley99@hotmail.com