Written on Water was officially founded in November, 2009 by graduates of the University of Windsor’s BFA Acting program. However, our company has a rich history of creating work together. Because all six of our company members trained together at theatre school, we are fortunate enough to have been familiar with each other as fellow artists since September of 2006. It was here that we began devising our own work, encouraged by our Movement Professor, Gina Lori Riley. Gina played a vital role in teaching us what it takes to create and edit our own work with clarity, specificity, and ingenuity. We are extremely and eternally thankful to Gina for instilling us with the tools necessary to create first-rate theatre—whether it be our own piece, or the staging of an already established play.

Our past endeavours include a production of Kristen Thomson’s mask show, I, Claudia, as well as an elaborate staging of Wajdi Mouawad’s epic, Scorched. In the spring of 2009, WOW coordinated an educational outreach tour to teach contact improvisation to high school students in the Greater Toronto Area.

WOW’s projects, though varied, all share a scope and vision that extends beyond the everyday: We believe that theatre is a place to experience the extraordinary, to witness the awesome power of the imagination, and to have a remarkable adventure. Our work finds its roots in both classical and contemporary practice, but ultimately seeks to speak directly to the community with which the work is being shared.

We also share a strong belief in the power of the actor; as far as we see it, the ability of a trained and disciplined performer to draw an audience into a story is a striking and powerful thing. As a result, Written on Water places a large emphasis on continual training. 2011 marks the fourth consecutive year of the company training in Suzuki and Viewpoints with Ellen Lauren and J.Ed Araiza of the Saratoga International Theatre Institute.

Written on Water is currently putting their heads together in planning a future project that will take an in-depth look at telling a popular children's fairytale in a way that has never been told before.

We thank every single person who has supported, guided, and instructed us in these early days of our development. And we look forward to sharing extraordinary experiences with our audiences for years to come!