Electric Company Theatre

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press

TORONTO - After working without a real break for 16 years, Vancouver-based theatre director Kim Collier wanted to take a sabbatical to recalibrate her career. Still, she fretted about the financial toll of such a move. On Monday, her worries were alleviated when she won the $100,000 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for a body of work that includes co-founding the innovative Electric Company Theatre ensemble.

"It's just the perfect time in my life for this to happen," Collier, 45, said in an interview before Monday night's awards ceremony. "I'm just finishing a whole bunch of shows, I'm exhausted, I had already planned a break with no revenue coming in for after Christmas, just some real quiet time. I can't believe that this has happened because the stress of how to sort of manage that time, which I knew was really important for me, that stress is now lightened."

Collier, who is also artistic director of Electric Company, beat out five other finalists, including Toronto's Alisa Palmer, who'd made the short list for the third time. That list was rounded out by Edmonton's Ron Jenkins and Torontonians Ross Manson, Soheil Parsa and Jennifer Tarver. Jury chair Maureen Labonte says they chose Collier for her "leadership and spirit of innovation in the theatre world."

"As a director, she encourages artistic risk and excellence, is a believer in the power of community and is an impressive mentor for emerging artists," said Labonte, a Montreal-based translator and dramaturge.

As per prize rules, Collier has to give $25,000 from the prize money to a protege or organization of her choice. Her pick is Anita Rochon, a National Theatre School graduate who has worked with Collier and is artistic director of The Chop Theatre.

Born in Kitimat, B.C., and raised in Kamloops, B.C., Collier studied at the University of Victoria and then lived in Toronto for a bit before travelling around Central America, Africa and the Yukon. In 1996, she co-founded the Electric Company, which has created a dozen original works that have focused more on design and less traditional stagings.

"The company has staged a show in a swimming pool, we've worked in a massive factory with overhead cranes and garage doors," said Collier, noting one of her early influences was experimental Quebec director Robert Lepage. "And so the work started to come out of the theatres to the people and it all started to manifest in another way."

Collier, who has also worked at theatres around the country, says her Siminovitch win has her feeling "stunned and overwhelmed and humbled." She also praises the prize for honouring artists in mid-career - a time when many are in desperate need of time off in order to grow.

"We work extremely hard in our profession," she said. "We scrape together a living here and there, and I think what the prize does is it gives you actually a moment mid-career when you really do need to reflect, do some more learning, find out where you're at within the art form and where you want to move to."

The Siminovitch prize was created in 2001 in honour of scientist Lou Siminovitch and his late wife Elinore. It recognizes accomplishments in design, direction and playwriting in three-year cycles, with this year's focus being direction. This year's jury picked the short list from a group of 19 nominated directors. Nominees were judged on several criteria, including originality, sense of evolution, continuing experimentation and impact upon audiences. Last year's winner was Calgary and Toronto designer Ronnie Burkett.

Read Kim's Acceptance Speech