Evalyn Parry

Evalyn Parry is a Canadian theatre maker and singer-songwriter. She grew up in Toronto, Ontario in the Kensington Market neighborhood. Her music combines elements of spoken word and folk.

Evalyn Parry
Occupation
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • playwright
  • director
Known for
Websiteevalynparry.com

Biography

Evalyn Parry is the daughter of David Parry, an English-born Canadian singer and theatrical director who died in 1995, and performer and author Caroline Balderston Parry. Her brother Richard Parry performs with the bands Bell Orchestre and Arcade Fire. She is married to Canadian writer Suzanne Robertson. She is a Quaker.

Theatre

Parry is a theatre creator, actor, director, collaborator and educator. Her plays and performances have been produced and toured internationally. Her most recent collaborative work, Kiinalik These Sharp Tools, premiered at Buddies in 2017 and was presented at the Edinburgh International Festival in 2019 and Cervantino Festival, Mexico, in 2019, as well as Toronto's Luminato Festival and Vancouver's PuSh Festival . Parry's acclaimed show SPIN, which features a bicycle played as a musical instrument (played by percussionist Brad Hart), charts the feminist history of the bicycle, and tells the story of Annie Londonderry, first woman to ride around the world on a bike in 1895. SPIN has toured festivals and theatres all over North America. Parry is part of the collaborative theatre company Independent Aunties with Anna Chatterton and Karin Randoja, who most recently wrote and performed Gertrude and Alice, about the love and lives of Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, which premiered at Buddies in Bad Times in 2016 and was published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2018. Gertrude and Alice was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2018 Governor General's Awards.[1]

Before becoming artistic director at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Parry was the director of the Young Creators Unit at Buddies in Bad Times from 2007 to 2015. She has been the recipient of the 2013 km Hunter Award for Theatre and the Ken McDougall Award for Directing (2009). In 2012, she directed Buddies' production of Tawiah M'carthy's Obaaberima, garnering a Dora Mavor Moore Award nomination for Outstanding Direction of a Play; Obaaberima was awarded the Dora for Outstanding Production. Parry was appointed artistic director of Buddies in Bad Times, an LGBT theatre company in Toronto, in 2015, succeeding Brendan Healy.[2] Parry left buddies in Bad Times in September 2020. Prior to leaving, Parry said that she hoped the company would pursue other leadership models rather than having a traditional 'artistic director'.[3]

Music

Steeped in the folk tradition but born to innovate, Parry's genre-blurring work is inspired by intersections of social activism, history and autobiography, exploring themes that range from 19th century cycling heroines to bottled water, from queer identity to the quest for the Northwest Passage. Her unique combination of music and spoken word has been presented at folk festivals, theatres and campuses internationally; she has released five CDs of original music (with Borealis Records and her own Outspoke Productions). Parry performs solo and with a band. She is the recipient of the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award (2003) and the Beth Ferguson Award for Upcoming Songwriter (Ottawa, 2001). Parry has performed at numerous music, poetry and Pride festivals across North America, including Toronto Pride Week, Hillside Festival, The Vancouver Folk Festival, North by Northeast Music and Film Conference and Festival (Toronto), the National Arts Centre (Ottawa), the Lincoln Center Out of Doors in New York City. Parry has also performed with the group Girls with Glasses, a quartet of female songwriters including Parry, Eve Goldberg, Allison Brown, and Karyn Ellis.

Personal life

Parry is married to Suzanne Robertson.[3]

Plays
  • Kiinalik: These Sharp Tools by Evalyn Parry, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Erin Brubacher and Elysha Poirier with Cris Derksen
  • 'Gertrude and Alice" by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton, in collaboration with Karin Randoja
  • SPIN by Evalyn Parry
  • Breakfast by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
  • Clean Irene and Dirty Maxine by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
  • Francis Mathilda & Tea by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
  • The Mysterious Shorts by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
  • "The Freelance Lover" by Evalyn Parry
  • Robbers Daughters' by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton
  • Nancy Drew Without a Clue, adapted by Evalyn Parry and Anna Chatterton

Directing Credits
  • 'The Youth / Elder Project', Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 2017
  • 'Graceful Rebellions' by Shaista Latif, Summerworks 2014
  • 'Obaaberima', by Tawiah Ben M'Carthy, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 2012
  • 'Fishbowl' by Mark Shyzer, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre 2010

Discography
  • Things that should be warnings (2001, LP)
  • Unreasonable (2003, LP)
  • Live at Lula (2006, concert DVD)
  • Small Theatres (2007, double LP)
  • SPIN (2011, LP)

Awards

References
  1. "The finalists for the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for drama". CBC Books, October 3, 2018.
  2. "Buddies names evalyn parry as new artistic director". Daily Xtra, July 23, 2015.
  3. Sumi, Glenn (September 6, 2020). "Why Evalyn Parry is leaving Buddies in Bad Times". NOW Magazine. Retrieved December 4, 2020.

Sources
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