Courtney Ch’ng Lancaster comes from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, and is currently based in Toronto, Ontario. She is an assistant professor at York University's School of Art, Music, Design and Performance and a founding artistic leader of the theatre collective The Howland Company. She was recently the Assistant Artistic Director at Tarragon Theatre, and is a former resident artist with Soulpepper Theatre Company. Courtney has performed with the Shaw Festival, Soulpepper, Public Recordings, Canadian Stage, Citadel Theatre, Blue Bridge Repertory, Cahoots, Native Earth Performing Arts, Tarragon, County Stage and beyond.
Her live theatre direction includes Three Women of Swatow (Tarragon - 4 Dora Award Nominations incl. Outstanding Direction), The Home Project, (Howland Company/Native Earth/Soulpepper,5 Dora Award nominations), The Wolves (Howland/Crows - Outstanding Ensemble Win, Toronto Theatre Critics Awards, Outstanding Production - MyEntWorld Critic's Pick Awards), Cannibal (Next Stage Festival), 52 Pick-Up (Howland - Best of Fringe), Gray (Inamorata), Casimir and Caroline (Sheridan College) and Everybody (York University). Courtney has also directed the radio plays Three Women of Swatow for CBC PlayMe, 7 Stories, Shape of a Girl and Democracy (Expect Theatre/Tarragon), Ins Choi's Casting at Factory Theatre, and co-directed the upcoming Expect Theatre audioplay series Tunnel Runners. Courtney is a co-creator of Stillwater School for Mosquitos, a musical adventure podcast for children.
She can be seen on screen as a series lead in Love et Lajoie, a starring role in the NAC Orchestra/CBC Gem series Undisrupted, as well as roles in Hudson and Rex, SurrealEstate, Transplant, Murdoch Mysteries and more. She will also be seen the upcoming sci-fi feature film Silent Planet.
Awards:
Courtney received a 2013 My Theatre Award for Best Emerging Artist, and was proud to be part of the 2014 Dora Award-winning Best Ensemble for Soulpepper’s “Of Human Bondage” and the 2016 Dora Award-winning Ensemble for "Incident at Vichy", amongst numerous Dora nominations. She is a grateful alumna of the Loran Scholars Foundation, has been nominated and shortlisted for the OAC’s John Hirsch Director’s Award, the OAC’s Pauline McGibbon Award, the Gina Wilkinson Prize, the Cayle Chernin Awards and has twice been named a Top Ten Theatre Artist by NOW Magazine.
Education:
Courtney holds a BFA from the University of British Columbia, and an MBA (Social Enterprise and Entrepreneurship) from Memorial University of Newfoundland. She is an alumnae of the Soulpepper Academy and the Citadel/Banff Centre Professional Theatre Program, and holds certifications in Arts Education, Voice and Piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music.
Contact:
Courtney can be contacted directly at vcklane@gmail.com. She tweets @courtneyvl.