Eleanor Crowder is a performer, director, playwright and producer with a life-long community arts practice interwoven with her work in professional theatre. Her work across the Ottawa region was recognised with the Victor Tolgesy Award in 2002. As a performer, she just toured a solo show, Shakespeare’s Will, to rural Newfoundland. With Lola Ryan and Sarah Waisvisz, she is in the creation process for Skin Songs, with funding from the Canada Council for the exploratory stage of work. This fall she will direct This Flight Tonight, a tribute to Joni Mitchell, at The Gladstone. For Bear & Co. she produces and directs summer Shakespeare in the Parks. She has worked in the Glebe to stage large-cast community plays and musicals for 20 years. She has written 5 pieces for that inter-generational group. Long-term projects include Pinecrest-Queensway Community Health Centre’s Poverty Players and Faith and Arts Ottawa’s young adult outreach exploring belief, environmental despair, and most recently, transgender issues. In 2017, she directed Overbrook, the Musical and created a community production process with the planning team.