Chris Craddock 

Chris Craddock graduated from the University of Alberta's BFA Acting Program in 1996 and began his theatre career in Edmonton shortly thereafter. His writing debut, SuperEd, was workshopped at Theatre Network's Festival of the Next Generation, then produced by Terrible Children Theatre and then mounted at the Winnipeg Fringe and the Edmonton Fringe, where it would play alongside another new play of his, Indulgences, directed by Glenda Stirling. (SuperEd appears in NeXtFest Anthology, published by NeWest Press, 2000.)

From this point, Craddock would set out to learn the skill of collaboration, teaming up with popular Edmonton artist Wes Borg on the one-man show HA! (which would go on to receive productions in Winnipeg, Calgary, Grande Prairie and Edmonton, earning Craddock his first Sterling Award for Outstanding Performance) as well as with Darrin Hagen on a trilogy of comedies about a gender-bent private eye (in order: Tranny Get Your Gun; Men Are Stoopid, Women are Cra-azy and Tranne of Green Gables); these would see Craddock directing productions at the Edmonton Comedy Arts Festival, Vancouver Comedy Festival and One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo.

Chris would continue writing with a string of award-winning and critically-acclaimed plays, including On Being a Peon (awarded the Sterling Award for Best Production of a Collective) and his first play with songs, The Critic, presented at the Varscona Theatre in 2000.  He would later be commissioned by Theatre of the New Heart for a new play Moving Along which would go on to be presented at Theatre Network Performance Series, and, based on its continued critical and popular success, would appear in the 2005-2006 season of One Yellow Rabbit and aired nationally on Bravo! as part of their Singular Series.

In this time, Craddock would develop his craft as a Theatre for Young Audiences (TYA) playwright. His plays The Day Billy Lived, Wrecked, Making Out (together with Ian Rowe) and Do it Right would go on to tour schools and institutions all over North America; most notably, a GTA tour of Wrecked, produced by Toronto’s Roseneath Theatre, would earn a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Best TYA Production, as well as one for Best Actress. The Day Billy Lived would be workshopped by the Debajehmuhjig Theatre Group of Wikwemikong, Ontario and would complete a tour of schools, reserves and settlements all over Alberta. Chris would later present Métis artist Sheldon Elter’s Métis Mutt for a similar tour (Métis Mutt appears in NextFest Anthology II, NeWest Press, 2006). Ultimately, Chris’s writings for teens would be published in a compilation entitled Naked at School – Three Plays for Teens (NeWest Press, 2001) which would win an Alberta Book Award.

In the fall of 2001, Craddock would be appointed Artistic Director of Azimuth Theatre. In his first year, he would build and furnish a new space for the company, effecting a visible change in Azimuth’s activity level and visibility within the City of Edmonton (as well as throughout the province, where the company implemented Social Action tours). Chris would help to develop an exuberant young adult audience at Azimuth through his sell-out shows PornStar and the debut of his musical BoyGroove (songs and lyrics by Aaron Macri). BoyGroove would go on to tour the Canadian Fringe Festival circuit twice with circuit-favorite ensemble Ribbit Productions; based on its immense success (sellouts across the country, 5-STAR reviews from the Toronto Star and countless Canadian media sources) the show would earn a hit 8-week run in Toronto for which it would be honored with a Dora Mavor Moore Award for Audience Choice. Chris would follow suite with 3…2…1 (co-written and performed with Nathan Cuckow), whose instant success would earn it an invitation to the to the 2005 Magnetic North Festival; a “sleeper hit,” it would earn itself an extensive national tour from Toronto to the Yukon.

After a successful three-year tenure, Chris would leave Azimuth in the Spring of 2004 to take on the role Artistic Director of Rapid Fire Theatre, Edmonton’s premiere improvisational theatre company. Chris has since been honored to run, teach, and perform as an improviser with Rapid Fire Theatre, who have innovated techniques in fusing theatrical practice with improvisational theatre, and have performed (and won improvisation competitions) all over the world (including Atlanta, Berlin, Bochum, Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Winnipeg and small venues all over the Alberta.)

Chris continues to regularly write, direct, perform and produce plays across Canada. His recent piece Faithless (co-written and performed with Steve Pirot) opened at One Yellow Rabbit’s High Performance Rodeo and has since played at Catalyst Theatre's Blind Date Series and in Theatre Network’s season. His piece Summer of My Amazing Luck based on the novel of the same name by Miriam Toews has toured to the Alberta Scene at the National Arts Centre and Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg. Chris is the recipient of a 2005 Centennial Medal Award for contribution to the arts in Alberta. He continues to call Edmonton home.


What critics have said about Chris Craddock...

“Craddock is nothing short of brilliant” – Calgary Herald
"An absolutely radical breath of theatrical fresh air." – SEE Magazine
“…the best new play of the season” – Edmonton Journal
“…wildly energetic, manically inventive…” FFWD Weekly
“Pushes the boundaries and pulls us along with it” – SEE Magazine
“Craddock is absolutely brilliant” – Winnipeg Free Press