Mary Tooley

Producer Performer Facilitator Theatre-Maker Director

Mary Tooley (she/her) is a producer, performer, facilitator, researcher, and theatre-maker with a passion for cultivating collaborative and creative spaces of care and community. As a scholar focussed on the political and personal potential of practices of feminist refusal, she programs provocative socially-engaged work and workshops that challenge the idea of what theatre can be.


Her performance practice, as a trained musical theatre performer, Shakespearean actress, and Clown, focusses on strengthening muscles for feminist refusal through fostering spaces of solidarity, mutual and reciprocal care, embodied and vocal practice, humour, emotion, vulnerability, and playfulness. She seeks to find majesty in the mess.


Originally from Toronto, she lives and works in East London.

Credits

Producer, Peopling the Palaces (Arts Festival), Queen Mary, University of London, 8 days, 2024

Producer, Connect The Dots (Arts Festival), Queen Mary, University of London’s Centre for Arts, Culture, and Creative Collaboration, 1 day, 2024

Young Producer, Cold War For Free Festival (Arts Festival), Almeida Theatre, 1 week, 2024

Producer, Show and Tell (Mini Artist Talks and Podcast Series), Queen Mary, University of London, on-going, 2024

Producer, The Big Smoke Variety Show, Sacred Grounds Cafe, 5 months, 2024

Facilitator, Almeida Theatre, 2024

Facilitator, Coram Shakespeare Schools Foundation, 2024

Facilitator, Rehearsing Refusal, Queen Mary, University of London, 2023-2024

Embedded Evaluator, Feeling Futures, Half Moon Theatre, 2024

Producer, Storied Spaces: Secrets of Queen Mary (Podcast Series), Queen Mary, University of London, 5 months, 2023

Performer and Creator, Belly Flop, Queen Mary, University of London, 1 show, 2023

Producer, Peopling the Palaces: Clean Break’s Women Theatre/Theatre/Justice (Arts Festival), Queen Mary, University of London, 1 day, 2023

Performer and Creator, Polish Me Up?, Queen Mary, University of London, 1 show, 2022

Performer (Mrs. Noyes), Not Wanted on The Voyage, DAN School of Music and Drama, Queen’s University, 1 week, 2022

Director and Performer, A Man A Fish, DAN School of Music and Drama, Queen’s University, 1 week, 2022

Performer (Jenny), The Makers and Shakers Society (Podcast Series), Radioland Media, 2022

Assistant Production Manager, The Kick & Push Festival (Arts Festival), Kingston, Ontario, 1 month, 2022

Production Logistics Coordinator, Festival of Live Digital Art (FoLDA) with SpiderWebShow (Arts Festival), Kingston, Ontario, 1 month, 2022

Producer, DAN Studio Series (Theatre Festival), Queen’s University, Kingston, 3 shows, 2020-2021

Assistant Producer, Internship, Theatre Passe Muraille, 3 months, 2020

Performer (Grandma and Balloon), Balloon Trees & The Seven Seas, 5th Company Lane, 1 week, 2020

Performer and Creator, Banana Split, Rotunda Theatre at Queen’s University, 1 show, 2019

Performer and Creator, Roach in my Oven, Theatre Sheridan at Sheridan College, 1 show, 2018

Performer and Creator, Love All, Theatre Sheridan at Sheridan College, 1 show, 2017

Training

Master of Arts (Theatre and Performance) with Distinction, Queen Mary, University of London, 2022-2023

Honours Bachelor of Arts (Drama), Gold Medal in Drama, Queen’s University, Canada, 2018-2022

Honours Bachelor of Arts (Music Theatre), Highest Achievement in Acting Performance, Sheridan College, Canada, 2016-2018

Participant, Creative Facilitation: Transforming Women’s Lives through Theatre, Clean Break Theatre Company, Workshop, 2024

Grief Chorus (Participant), Complicite, Workshop Series, 2024

STARS Creative Workshops for Women (Participant), Tamasha Theatre, Workshop Series, 2024

Discovering the Benefits of Alexander Technique (Participant), Intercultural Roots, Workshop Series, 2024

Grade 8 Classical Voice (with Distinction), Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada, 2015

Music Theory - Advanced Rudiments (with Distinction), Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada, 2015

Theatre Performance Intensive, The Shakespeare School, Stratford Festival, Canada, 2016

King’s Company - Musical Theatre, The Shakespeare School, Stratford Festival, Canada, 2015

One Song Glory, Acting Up Stage, Canada, 2015-2016

Voice Major, Interlochen Centre for the Arts, Michigan, US

Performer, Toronto Youth Music Theatre Company, Canada

Singer, Canadian Children’s Opera Company, Canada

Location

London

Experience

2-5 years

Art forms / Disciplines

  • AR / VR
  • Comedy
  • Crafts
  • Dance
  • Fashion
  • Film - documentary
  • Film - feature
  • Film - short
  • Gaming and interactivity
  • Literature
  • Live art
  • Multi-disciplinary / cross art form
  • Music
  • New technologies / digital
  • Opera
  • Radio/Audio
  • Theatre / Live perfomance
  • TV - documentary
  • TV - drama

What I do

  • Costume Design
  • Creative Access
  • Curating
  • Devising
  • Dialect / Voice Direction
  • Directing
  • Dramaturgy
  • Editing
  • Facilitating
  • Movement Direction
  • Music - Can Read
  • Music - Singing
  • Outdoor performance
  • Performance Art
  • Performing
  • Physical Theatre / Mime
  • Producing
  • Site Responsive/Immersive
  • Street Theatre
  • Teaching / Coaching
  • Theatre making
  • Verbatim theatre
  • Working with young people
  • Working within a Community / with community participants
  • Workshopping & Development
  • Writing

Additional Languages

No.

Social

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