Ravi Jain is a highly acclaimed theatremaker known for making politically bold, accessible, and thought-provoking theatrical experiences that are changing the face of Canadian theatre. A visionary artistic director, versatile director, astute producer, and playful actor, he has spent his career reimagining what theatre can be, impacting the lives of both audiences and artists alike.

Mr. Jain has been a trailblazer in pushing the theatre sector forward. On stage, his productions, which consistently play with different forms of storytelling, bring underrepresented stories from unlikely storytellers to the fore, inviting audiences to reimagine stories they once knew and be open to ones that are unfamiliar. Off stage, he works to better the lives of artists and arts workers, spearheading innovative producing models for emerging artists, creating training programs for marginalized voices, and proposing bold policy ideas to activate civic spaces with art and rethink access through more affordable payment models.

Mr. Jain was born in 1980 in Etobicoke, Ontario. Growing up in an Indian home and attending French school in an English-speaking province opened his eyes to the beauty and depth of hybrid cultures and sparked a passion in him for travel and international collaboration. His passion for language led him to start his career as an actor, he trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and NYU’s Tisch School for the Arts, before making his way to École Jacques Lecoq, where he found his raison d’être: to effect change through theatre.

In 2007, Mr. Jain founded Why Not Theatre, which has become synonymous with innovative theatrical experiences that push boundaries. With Why Not Theatre, Mr. Jain has created over forty collaborations and performed over five continents, from small, intimate shows with non-actors—like his mother, in A Brimful of Asha, and renowned environmentalist David Suzuki, in What You Won’t Do for Love—to big, bold productions like his recent adaptation of The Mahabharata, which premiered at the Shaw Festival and toured to sell out the Barbican Theatre in London.

Select credits include: With Why Not: I’m So Close, Spent, A Brimful of Asha, Nicolas Billon’s Fault Lines which won the Governor General’s Award for Drama, Prince Hamlet, Like Mother Like Daughter (Complicite/Why Not Theatre), What you won’t do for love, with acclaimed environmentalists David Suzuki and Tara Cullis, Mahabharata (Shaw/Barbican). With Soulpepper: Accidental Death of an Anarchist, The 39 Steps, Animal Farm. With Theatre Centre: Alanna Mitchell’s Sea Sick (co-directed with Franco Boni), We are Proud to Present…With Shaw Festival: Lisa Codrington’s The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God and Sarena Parmar’s The Orchard After Chekhov. With Factory Theatre: Salt-Water Moon. With Stratford Festival: Shakespeare’s R + J

Ravi’s work tours for many years after it is made and has been presented on national stages and internationally at major festivals including off-broadway and off-West. Mr. Jain was shortlisted for the 2016, 2019 and 2022 Siminovitch Prize and won the 2012 Pauline McGibbon Award for Emerging Director and the 2016 Canada Council John Hirsch Prize for direction. In 2022, Mr. Jain was awarded the Johanna Metcalf Foundation Performing Arts Prize. He has won several Dora Mavor Moore Awards.