Marcel Stewart
Keynote Speaker
Marcel is a father, award-winning actor, director, writer, educator, and arts administrator. He co-curates FOLDA (Festival of Live Digital Art), where he platforms works that explore the relationship between live performance and digital art. Marcel's artistic practice includes creating experiences that connect audiences to cultural memory while pushing the boundaries of how stories are told and shared. His work combines spatial audio, projection, poetry, and augmented reality with intimacy, interactivity, and non-traditional forms of gathering, exploring how digital technologies can serve as integral tools for meaning-making.
Marcel has directed live theatre, digital productions, and podcasts. As a writer, he has been published in the Canadian Theatre Review (issue 193: Casting and Race), and was editor of Freedom: A Mixtape, published by Playwrights Canada Press.
As an artist, Marcel has worked with theatre companies nationwide and internationally, including: Soulpepper, Factory Theatre, Thousand Islands Playhouse, Obsidian Theatre, The Theatre Centre, The Blyth Festival, Festival Players, Studio 180 Theatre, The Grand Theatre, Persephone, Theatre Direct, Carousel Players, Theatre SKAM, and Atlas Stage.
When Marcel is not creating theatre, he is an arts educator who has facilitated programming for community youth groups, professional actors, and students in university, high school, and elementary school. He has taught at the National Theatre School of Canada, Brock University, and Sheridan College.
Marcel often returns to the questions: who am I? How am I? How did I get here? Who have I lost? What is my purpose?
