Born in a meteor crater, MATTHEW HEITI is a writer, director, performer and teacher, living in North Ontario. He holds a BFA in Acting from Ryerson University and an MA in Creative Writing from the University of New Brunswick. His plays have been workshopped across Canada and produced with various festivals and theatres including SummerWorks (The Nick Drake Project), Lunchbox Theatre (Aviatrix), the Sudbury Theatre Centre (Mucking in the Drift), Pat the Dog Theatre Creation (Receiver of Wreck) and the Toronto Fringe (Plague: a love [sic] story). He is the winner of the Tarragon Theatre RBC Emerging Playwrights Award, has been shortlisted for the Carol Bolt Award by the Playwrights Guild and his play, Black Dog: 4 vs. the wrld, is published by Playwrights Canada Press. In 2021, his new play Ever Falling Flight will be performed in English at the Sudbury Theatre Centre and in French (as Aeroportée) with Le théâtre du nouvel-ontario.
A proud advocate for developing voices in neglected landscapes, for five years Matthew ran the Playwrights’ Junction, a workshop for developing writers, at the Sudbury Theatre Centre, where he also served as playwright-in-residence. As an associate with Pat the Dog Theatre Creation, he helped create PlaySmelter, Northern Ontario’s first workshop and reading festival of new plays. He has served as a dramaturg on theatre works by dozens of emerging and experienced creators, including Mansel Robinson, Miriam Cusson, and Emil Sher.
He explores new work in strange places with Crestfallen (www.crestfallentheatre.com). In his spare time, he is usually working.