Director
Highlights
Frog Song
By Taylor Marie Graham and Wiliam Rowson
Produced by Here for Now Theatre
& Stratford Symphony Orchestra
Directed by Liza Balkan
Set and Costume: Bonnie Deakin
Projections: Beth Kates
Movement: Patrice Bowler
Artistic Associate: Derek Kwan
Date: August 2023
Reviews
Lynn Slotkin
“Charming, sweet, funny and thoughtful.”
“Director Liza Balkan’s production is full of wit and whimsy that would attract the imagination of any child or adult they are chaperoning.”
Intermission Magazine
“The story blends seamlessly with the natural environment.
Balkan’s direction heightens this immersion, as she makes use of the space not only on the small stage inside the tent, but also beyond it.”
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Ontario Stage
"Director Liza Balkan has orchestrated all this with a light touch that makes ingenious use not just of Frog Song’s petite stage but the lush greenery and open skies behind it."
Much Ado About Nothing
CanadianStage/ Shakespeare in High Park
By William Shakespeare
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Directed by Liza Balkan
Set by Joanna Yu
Lighting by Rebeca Picherak
Costumes by Anna Treusch
Sound by Richard Feren
Fight Direction by Simon Fon
Choreography by Monica Dottor
Production Stage Manager: Laura Baxter
Stage Manager: Michael Barrs
Date: Summer 2019
Reviews
Carly Maga,TORONTO STAR
Set in the early 90s...Balkan chooses to turn Beatrice into an up-and-coming standup comic, and Napoli welcomes the audience with a tight 10 of her and Balkan’s creation (which efficiently establishes the time and place with pop culture jokes about dial-up internet, the ice storm and Match.com).
LYNN SLOTKIN
Charming, bright, smart, wonderfully acted and directed in enchanting surroundings,
They pull out the stops for their summer audiences. This is a show that anyone can enjoy, no matter their age or familiarity with Shakespeare.
El Gato Con Botas (Puss in Boots) & Berio’s Folk Songs
Cast: Darcey Baker,Priya Khatri, Derek Kwan, Ben Skipper,
Chorus: Megan Dart, Michael Neale, Luci Sanci
Photos by: Ann Baggley.
Cast: Emma Ferriera, Can Kömleksiz, Richard Lam,Nora McLellan, Allan Louis,
Christopher Morris,Natasha Mumba,Rose Napoli, Jamie Robinson,
Heath V. Salazar,Helen Taylor,Emilio Viera
Photos by: Dahlia Katz
Anaïs Nin
Starring: Wallis Giunta
Directed by Liza Balkan
Film by Valerie Buhagiar
Narration by Mervon Mehta
Performed for the inaugural 21C Festival
The Royal Conservatory, Koerner Hall May 2014
With the 21C Ensemble
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Reviews
"Wallis Giunta as Anaïs Nin conveyed a multi-faceted personality in her performance, capturing the confused, lonely and burning passion of Nin’s artistic personality.
this work would make the hair of even the most experienced opera goer stand on end, with its weird blend of incest and intense sensuality."
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So, How its Been?
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Produced by Here for Now Theatre. Summer 2021
Written, directed and co-created by Liza Balkan
Composed and co-created by: Paul Shilton
Additional compositions by Katherine Wheatley and Bruce Horak.
Photo by York Lane Channel .
L-R Marcus Nance. Barb Fulton, Evangelia Kambites, Trevor Patt. Paul Shilton
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J. Kelly NESTRUCK REVIEW Globe and Mail August 2021.
So, how’s it been? is a new song cycle about life in Stratford during the pandemic. The lyrics are based on interviews Liza Balkan conducted with the cast and other local residents; Paul Shilton composed the music (with assists from Katherine Wheatley and Bruce Horak).
The performers – Marcus Nance, Barb Fulton, Trevor Patt and Evangelia Kambites – talk about their own lives and tell the stories of others during the pandemic, both in the songs and while introducing them.
I found this show simple, moving and intimate, with an honest connection forged between the artists and audience.
Karen Fricker
"So, How's It Been?" is a warm and subtly layered musical window into the experiences of many residents of Stratford during the COVID pandemic. It's remarkable how many stories and perspectives Liza Balkan and her collaborators have been able to include in a 90-minute-show without it ever feeling rushed or over-stuffed. There are welcome funny moments and some harder-hitting material, most notably performers Marcus Nance and Evangelia Kambites' personal reflections on being Black in Stratford. It brought great pleasure and comfort to see the show in a beautiful outdoor setting in the summer of 2021, with a local audience recognizing many of the names and references. I think that the material could also resonate outside of Stratford, as a sort of musical time capsule of a unique, unforgettable period in peoples' lives.
Lynn Slotkin
So, how’s it been? is a beautifully crafted show.
Liza Balkan, writer-director-Stratford resident began a project in the summer of 2020, interviewing people who live and work in Stratford to see how they were doing in the pandemic. She interviewed business owners, employees, artists, nurses, retirees, kids, farmers, actors, and parents. Then she and composer-musical director Paul Shilton put those words from the conversations into songs.
El Gato Con Botas
A Double bill 2015
Royal Conservatory of Music
Conductor: Peter Teifenbach
Stage Director: Liza Balkan
Set Design: Brandon Kleiman
Costumes: Ming Wong
Lighting: David DeGrow
Assistant Director: E.D. Downie
In 2015 I directed a double bill of Xavier Monstalvatge’s sly, delicious Spanish chamber opera El Gato Con Botas and Luciano Berio’s illusive and passionate multi - lingual Folk Songs. These are two very different musical works and the approach to each was as different as the opera works themselves. Linking both, however, was a desire for story telling that embraces surprise, humour, truth; a raw freedom of play and a willingness to be fearless and intimate with the audience, in the beautiful Mazzoleni Hall at the Royal Conservatory of Music. – liza Balkan
Reviews: SCHMOPERA -Jenna Simeonov
El Gato Con Botas:
They sang in Spanish, with added English dialogue written by Balkan herself. The production was full of play. The intimate space, and the stage they shared with a decently sized orchestra, meant that there was little place to hide behind special effects. Balkan played with these limitations in really creative ways. I loved the surrealistic vibe of the show, and how the “show” interacted with the orchestra and the audience.
On Berio’s Folk Songs:
I thought the production beautiful to watch; it had a feeling of being in an ancient-Greece setting, but really was a timeless telling of these stories; it seemed to be about all the women who have ever felt things in their lives.
El Gato Con Botas cast:
Meghan Jamieson, Diego Catala, Jocelyn Fralick, Emma Grieve,
Justin Maisonneauve, Gabriel Sanchez - Ortega,
John - Michael Scapin, Alvaro Vasquez Robles,
Berio’s Folk Songs cast:
Lillian Brooks, Christina Campsall, Shauna Yarnell
Photos by Stuart Lowe
Out the Window (2012)
Theatre Centre March 2012
Co – produced by The Window Collective and The Theatre Centre
Written and directed by Liza Balkan
Assoc. Director: Shari Hollett
Scenography: Trevor Schwellnuss
Lighting: Michelle Ramsay
Sound: Thomas Ryder Payne
Costume: Bojana Stancic
Stage manager: Billy Wolf
On Line Resource - The Brain: Aislinn Rose
Photography by Abishek Chandra
Cast:
Julie Tepperman, RH Thomson David Ferry, Matt Murray, Brett Donahue, Zahir Gilani, Jason Siks, Nadeem Umar Khitab, Andrew Ferguson
Reviews​
Sound Bites: Paula Citron
The beauty of this play is the absence of a linear line.
Balkan as a playwright is very unpredictable.
Let’s hope that someone picks up this play for a long run
Robert Cushman/National Post
Engrossing…Well worth Catching
Jon Kaplan NOW
Balkan spreads a wide net that examines the police, The SIU, our mental health care system, accountability and the shifting nature of memory
Out The Window has a raw, powerful quality that distinguishes it from most other theatre: It will leave you with questions rather than answers.
Mooney on Theatre
Edge of your seat stuff
This is art that heals and transforms.
The talent on stage is exceptional. Balkan’s long hard work is extraordinary.
Lynn Slotkin
An important piece of theatre. It should be seen.
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Lake Nora Arms
Cast: Neema Bickersteth, Alex Fallis, Susan Henley, Ken McClure, Jane Miller
Set Design by Lindsay Anne Black
Sound Design by Thomas Ryder Payne
Lighting Design by Michelle Ramsay
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“Under Liza Balkanʼs inspired direction, the talented, grounded cast brings out all the colours and textures in Redhillʼs text, while Millerʼs songs - alternately playful and profound - connect with the soul.”
“The rhythms of life, love and longing swirl evocatively in Jane Miller and Brian Quirtʼs rich and sensitive adaptation of Michael Redhillʼs book of poems.” Glenn Sumi. NOW.
