ARTIST

Makram Ayache is a multiple award winning playwright, performer, director, and educator living between Alberta and Toronto. His playwriting explores representations of queer Arab voices and aims to bridge political struggles to the intimate experiences of the people impacted by them.

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Ayache's 2022  world premiere production of "The Green Line" (Downstage and Chromatic Theatre) garnered four Betty Mitchell Awards, winning two including "Outstanding New Play." Ayache is also the 2020 recipient of the Playwrights’ Guide of Canada’s annual Tom Hendry Award for his play “Harun.” He has also been nominated for four Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Awards for his plays “Harun” (2018) and “The Green Line” (2019) in Edmonton, Alberta. In 2020, he worked with several theatre companies including Factory Theatre’s Mechanical Actors’ Enhancement Training, the Citadel Theatre’s RBC Directing Mentorship Program, Punctuate Theatre’s Partizan’s Creators Unit, Prime Mover and The Musical Stage Company’s NoteWorthy Program, and Generator Toronto’s Artist Producer Training Program.

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Most recently, he was associate director to Mitchell Cushman in Outside the March/Factory Theatre's production of Gillian Clark's "Trojan Girls.

 

His play, "The Hooves Belonged to the Deer" will have its world premiere in Toronto at Tarragon Theatre in the spring of 2023.​

Explore work here.

EDUCATOR

Ayache is trained as an educator from the University of Alberta and has extensive education experience working with children, youth, and adult learners in a variety of settings.  Currently, he facilitates 2SLGBTQIA+ (2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual/Agender) inclusion training through the 519 Church Street Community Centre in Toronto, Ontario. He has also taught numerous university courses on acting and playwriting.

 

He runs a consultation and training organization, Shajara, which works with organizations, collectives, and individuals to make meaningful change towards equity and anti-oppression. He has worked with various organizations ranging from the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Shakespeare in the Ruff, and The Canadian Theatre Critics Association. 

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He has extensive experience in curricular design and development at the secondary, post-secondary, and community level of education.  Much of his teaching philosophy is centered around an anti-oppressive and socially conscious pedagogy.

Explore work here.