BIO
Rae Maitland is an award-winning performer, educator and director with a specialty in puppetry, clown and improvisation. She received her Bachelor's Degree in Fine Arts from Concordia University (2014) as well as her Master's Degree in Fine Arts from York University (2019) both with a major in Theatre Performance. She currently lives in Ottawa, ON where she teaches theatre at the Elmwood School for Girls.
Rae was awarded the Ontario Graduate Scholarship for her graduate studies (2018), as well as York University's Entrance Scholarship and Fellowship (2017). In the year previous, Rae was given the opportunity to play the role of Suzy in Trey Anthony's " 'da kink in my hair" (starring Trey Anthony) in a co-production between The National Arts Centre and Theatre Calgary (2016). "Beaver Dreams", a puppetry and clown production co-created by Maggie Winston (Lost and Found Puppet Co.), Anne Lalancette (La Ruée vers l'Or), and herself was nominated for five Montréal Fringe "Frankie" Awards, winning both Best Clown Show and Mainline Theatre's Creativity Award (2015).
and its remount at Crows Theatre the following fall as well as Ian Tamblyn's "Nun of It" for Theatre Wakefield (2019)Rae's improv training and performing experiences span from the Canadian Improv Games (National Bronze Medal 2003) to Montréal Improv training and live performances (2016 onward), and The Second City Conservatory (2019).
Rae has been lucky to have undertaken intensive training in Pochinko-style clown performance from Mump and Smoot duo's John Turner at the Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance. These opportunities led her to being on the sets of "Baroness Von Sketch", "Schitt's Creek" and a number of independent films. Rae was honoured to speak on behalf of Anglophone artists in Québec at the Parliament of Canada for the Standing Senate on Official Languages (2014). Her interest in the arts stems from personal inquiry, imagination, and a yearning to shake things up. Her last performing role was in the remount of her solo production entitled "Mayfly" (September 2023) about the feeling of missing one's chance at life's most important moments.
It was in assisting Leah Cherniak and Martha Ross in the creation of "The Chopin Project" at Soulpepper Theatre (2017-2019), that Rae's interest in theatre direction was piqued. Her first forays into directing were for the sold-out run of "Radioactive Spyder" at the Toronto Fringe's Kidsfest
Dir. Jackie Maxwell, 2019
Dir. Jackie Maxwell, 2019
Dir. Alessandro Mercurio
Dir. Jackie Maxwell, 2019
RESUME
FILM / TELEVISION
The Myths we Live by
LEAD
Emily Ryder / Independent
The Leftovers
LEAD
Faith Clark / Independent
The Memory Mirage
ACTOR
Josh Freed / CBC
A Few Years Old
LEAD
Shahab Mihandoust / Independent
SELECTED THEATRE
'da Kink in My Hair
SUZY
National Arts Centre / Theatre Calgary
Dir. Marion J. Caffey
Mayfly
MAYFLY
TaDa! Festival, Andrea Rowe
Dir. Mary Ellen Maclean
Middletown
LIBRARIAN
York University, MFA Performance
Dir. Jackie Maxwell
Fear and Misery in the Third Reich
VARIOUS
York University, MFA Production
Dir. Margaret Legere
The Balcony
THE ENVOY
York University, MFA Production
Dir. Margaret Legere
If We Were Birds
PHILOMELA
York University, MFA Production
Dir. Margaret Legere
Fear and Misery in the Third Reich
VARIOUS
York University, MFA Performance
Dir. Severn Thomas
Circus of the Possibilitarians
VARIOUS
Bread and Puppet, Theater for a New City, NYC
Dir. Peter Schumann
TRAINING
Acting for the Camera
Jeb Beach
Intimacy for Actors
Siobhan Richardson
Clown duo
Joey and Auguste
Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance
Second City Conservatory
SECOND CITY, TORONTO, ON
Combat 1
Quarterstaff, unarmed, rapier
Simon Fon
Master of Fine Arts in acting
YORK UNIVERSITY, TORONTO, ON
Baby Clown Intensive
Manitoulin Conservatory for Creation and Performance
Sketch Writing
Kevin MacDonald
Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting
CONCORDIA UNIVERSITY, MONTREAL, QC