Leah Cherniak Explained

Leah Cherniak
Birth Date:	22 August 1956
Nationality:	Canadian
Alma Mater:	University of Toronto
Notable Works:	The Attic, the Pearls and Three Fine Girls

Leah Cherniak (born 1956) is a Canadian playwright, actor, and teacher. She is a co-founder of Theatre Columbus (now called Common Boots).

Early life and education

Cherniak graduated from the University of Toronto with a BA in 1979.^[1] She later studied at École Jacques Lecoq, where she met Martha Ross.^[2]

Career

Cherniak co-founded Theatre Columbus with Martha Ross in 1984. Originally, the company was called The Gargoils. In 2015, Theatre Columbus changed their name to Common Boots Theatre.^[3]

Teaching

Beginning in 1985, Cherniak taught clown at the National Theatre School. In 2001, Cherniak began teaching dance at Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and George Brown College.

Directorial credits

Theatre

• Up Against the Wallpaper Nightwood Theatre (1989)
• The Tell-Tale Heart Theatre Columbus (1995)^[4]
• Froth (1996)^[5]
• Three Birds Alighting on a Field George Brown Theatre (2000)^[6]
• Lonely Nights and Other Stories Theatre Columbus, co-directed with Maggie Huculak (2001)^[7]
• Rue Alridge Tarragon Theatre (2004)^[8]
• Edward the “Crazy Man” Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (2008)^[9]
• 6 Essential Questions Factory Theatre (2014)^[10]
• Clown Ryerson School of Performance (2018)^[11]
• The Ward Cabaret Harbourfront Centre Theatre (2020), co-directed with David Buchbinder^[12]
• Perpetual Archaeology Crow's Theatre written by and starring Alex Bulmer (June 2023)^[13]

Film

• Things Dead People Say short film (2020)^[14]

Acting credits

Theatre

Year	Show	Role	Notes	Ref.
1995	The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls	Jelly		^[15]
2015	The Dybbuk, Or Between Two Worlds	Frayde		^[16]
2018	Animal Farm	Bessie		^[17]
2019	Scadding	Ensemble		^[18]

Plays

• Until We Part co-written with Martha Ross
• The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine co-written with Robert Morgan and Martha Ross^[19]
• Still Clowning co-written with Martha Ross^[20]
• The Fragments co-written with Suvendrini Lena and Trevor Schwellnus^[21]
• The Theory of Relatives co-written with Daniel Brooks, Diane Flacks, Richard Greenblatt, Leslie Lester, and Allan Merovitz
• The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls co-written with Jennifer Brewin, Martha Ross, Ann-Marie MacDonald, and Alisa Palmer
• More Fine Girls co-written with Brewin, Ross, MacDonald, and Palmer, sequel to The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls^[22]
• Scadding co-created with Jennifer Brewin, Alex Bulmer, Khadijah Roberts-Abdullah, John Gzowski, Maggie Huculak, Anand Rajaram, Jenny Salisbury and Stephon Smith
• The Betrayal co-written with Oliver Dennis, Maggie Huculak, Robert Morgan, Martha Ross and Michael Simpson

Awards

!Year!Award!Category!Work!Results!Notes!Ref.

1987	Dora Mavor Moore Awards Small Theatre	Best Production	Fertility		with Martha Ross	^[23]
1988		Outstanding Direction	The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine			^[24]
		Outstanding New Play
1989		Outstanding Direction	Paranoia			^[25]
1990			Dr. Dapertutto			^[26]
1991	Dora Mavor Moore Awards Ancillary awards	Pauline McGibbon Award	N/A			^[27]
1994	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre	The Theory of Relatives		with Daniel Brooks, Diane Flacks, Richard Greenblatt, Leslie Lester, Allan Merovitz	^[28]
	Dora Mavor Moore Awards Small Theatre	Outstanding New Play				^[29]
1995		Outstanding Performance by a Female - Play	The Attic, The Pearls, and Three Fine Girls			^[30]
		Outstanding New Play or Musical			with Ann-Marie MacDonald, Martha Ross with Alisa Palmer, Jennifer Brewin
1996	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre				^[31]
	Dora Mavor Moore Awards General Theatre	Outstanding Direction	The Diary of Anne Frank			^[32]
1998		Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Betrayal			^[33]
1999	Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award	General Theatre			co-winner with Oliver Dennis, Maggie Huculak, Robert Morgan, Martha Ross and Michael Simpson	^[34]
2003	Dora Mavor Moore Awards General Theatre	Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Miracle Worker			^[35]
2005	Dora Mavor Moore Awards Independent Theatre	Outstanding Direction of a Play	The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine			^[36]

Notes and References

1. Book: Lumley, Elizabeth. Canadian Who's Who 2004 : Volume XXXIX. University of Toronto Press. 2000. 235–236.
2. News: Crew. Robert. 1994-03-15. Award-winning stage duo honor clown roots Two troupers take a darkly comic view of success. C5. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
3. Web site: About the Company. 2020-11-29. Common Boots Theatre. en.
4. News: Wagner. Vit. 1995-08-18. Theatre forecast fair to good. D8. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
5. News: Walker. Susan. 1996-12-01. On the shopping block. B7. Toronto Star. 0319-0781.
6. Web site: Kaplan. John. 2000-11-16. Art Smarts. 2020-11-25. NOW Magazine.
7. News: Crew. Robert. 2001-06-07. Actor navigates the mental map; Maggie Huculak continues to grow with Theatre Columbus. G07. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
8. Web site: Kaplan . Jon . Jon Kaplan (theatre critic) . 2004-02-26 . Rune's tune . 2020-11-25 . NOW Magazine.
9. Web site: Maga. Carly. 2011-04-25. From the Street to the Storybook in Edward the "Crazy Man". 2020-11-26. Torontoist.
10. Web site: BWW News Desk. 2014-03-01. Factory Theatre Presents World Premiere of 6 ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS by Priscila Uppal, Now thru 3/30. 2020-11-20. BroadwayWorld.com. en.
11. Web site: Eeswaran. Xavier. 2018-10-30. Clowns aren’t all fun and games for Ryerson’s actors. 2020-11-20. The Eyeopener. en-US.
12. Web site: Teodoro. Jose. 2019-12-18. The Ward Cabaret is a vibrant celebration of cultural diversity through music. 2020-11-20. NOW Magazine.
13. Web site: Wild . Stephi . 2022-06-01 . Crow's Theatre Announces 2022-23 Season . 2022-11-29 . BroadwayWorld.com . en.
14. Web site: Sumi. Glenn. 2020-07-01. 8 Fringe Collective artists to watch (or hear). 2020-11-20. NOW Magazine.
15. News: Taylor. Kate. 1995-03-03. A remarkable balancing act of comedy and drama. D9. The Globe and Mail. ProQuest.
16. Web site: Kaplan. Jon. 2015-05-26. Review: The Dybbuk. 2020-11-20. NOW Magazine.
17. Web site: Maga. Carly. 2018-03-17. Desire for comedy trumps message in Soulpepper adaptation of Orwell classic Animal Farm. 2020-11-20. Toronto Star. en.
18. Web site: Sumi. Glenn. 2019-07-06. Fringe review: Scadding. 2020-11-25. NOW Magazine.
19. Web site: Morrow. Martin. 2016-02-09. Cowboy Versus Samurai, Ernest Versus Ernestine. 2020-11-17. Torontoist.
20. News: Wagner. Vit. March 16, 1994. Still: it's exclusive clowning. D1. Toronto Star.
21. Web site: McKeown. Lisa. 2019-11-24. Here Are The Fragments is a powerful immersive show. 2020-11-17. NOW Magazine.
22. News: Nestruck. J. Kelly. 2011-03-09. They can go home again. R1. The Globe and Mail. ProQuest.
23. News: Conlogue. Ray. 1987-06-23. Mikado, B-Movie big Dora winners. D8. The Globe and Mail. ProQuest.
24. News: Crew. Robert. 1988-05-11. CentreStage play tops Dora Award nominees. C1. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
25. News: Vinceni. Isabel. 1989-05-13. And the Dora nominees are. C6. The Globe and Mail. ProQuest.
26. News: Conlogue. Ray. 1990-05-15. Dora nominations harvested from sparse crop of new plays. A19. Globe and Mail. ProQuest.
27. News: Friedlander. Mira. 1991-06-23. Awards spotlight theatre's top talent. C1. Toronto Star.
28. News: Chapman. Geoff. 1994-03-08. One-man show in running for Chalmers play prize. F5. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
29. News: 1994-05-18. Dora nominations list. D19. Toronto Star.
30. News: 1995-05-13. Nominations for '95 Dora Awards. J13. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
31. News: Crew. Robert. 1996-03-14. New writers contest Chalmers play awards. D4. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
32. News: Kirchhoff. H J. 1996-05-17. Harbourfront Centre tops Dora list: Captures 23 nominations, Canadian Stage is second with 17. C5. The Globe and Mail.
33. News: 1998-05-27. Dora Award nominees. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
34. News: Wagner. Vit. 1999-05-18. Eighth Chalmers for Walker ; Playwright wins national arts award second year in a row. The Toronto Star. 0319-0781. ProQuest.
35. News: 2003-05-22. Dora Award nominees. A35. Toronto Star. ProQuest.
36. News: 2005-06-09. 2005 Dora Award nominees. A23. Toronto Star.