About
Richard Kenyon
- Richard Kenyon is a theatre and film director, producer, and educator with more than three decades of experience working across North America. Known for his imaginative, minimalist approach to both classical and contemporary work, he has founded and led several arts organizations, including The Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare in the Mountains in Canada, and Soul In Bliss Theater in Los Angeles, where he currently serves as Artistic Director.
- Over the course of his career, Richard has directed more than 75 Shakespeare productions, developed new play festivals, and created outreach programs designed to bring theatre to wider audiences. His work spans a broad range of theatrical styles, from classical drama to contemporary plays, new work, festival projects, and actor-centered ensemble theatre. He has a particular passion for theatre in the round, actor-audience immediacy, and immersive forms that deepen the relationship between performer and audience. His minimalist approach emphasizes clarity, language, imagination, and the actor’s presence, allowing story and character to remain at the heart of the theatrical experience.
- Shakespeare is an important and enduring part of Richard’s working life, but it is not the whole of it. His artistic interests extend widely across theatre and film, with a particular love for Bernard Shaw, Granville Barker, and other playwrights of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He has also directed for the 14/48 Festival, leading the creation of two brand-new plays written, rehearsed, and performed within just 48 hours.
- Alongside his directing career, Richard has worked extensively as a private acting coach, supporting actors at every stage of their development. His coaching often focuses on Shakespeare and classical text, helping performers find clarity, confidence, and ownership in heightened language, while also drawing on his broader experience in contemporary performance, voice, and character work. Several of his students have gone on to be accepted into respected theatre programs, including Long Island University Post, Adelphi University, Loyola Marymount University, and Seton Hill University.
- One of Richard’s proudest achievements is having acted in, directed, and produced every play in Shakespeare’s First Folio of 1623, a lifelong goal he completed on September 27, 2025. That same year, he created and directed a Wars of the Roses marathon: a single-day presentation of all eight of Shakespeare’s history plays, each adapted into a 60-minute reader’s theatre version.
- Richard’s work also extends into film. He directed and co-produced the short film A Girl’s Guide to Drowning with his longtime partner LuAnne Morrow; the film placed fourth at the Stratford Birthplace Trust Film Festival. His first short film, Insomniac (2001), received three Alberta Rosie Award nominations and won Best Overall Music for composers Michael Shields and Russell Broom. He has also produced numerous corporate and commercial films, several of which received Alberta Rosie Award nominations.
- Richard remains dedicated to nurturing artists, building creative communities, and guiding actors as they discover their own voice in Shakespeare, theatre, and performance.