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 was selected as one of six breakthrough artists in Toronto in the Toronto Star in 2023. His play, "The Hooves Belonged to the Deer" (Tarragon Theatre with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre), was selected as one of 10 best productions in Ontario in 2023 by the Globe and Mail. The same play was described as "the most excitingly theatrical piece of new writing to premiere in Toronto" by the Globe and Mail and garnered a critics' pick.  Previously, "The Green Line" (Downstage and Chromatic Theatre) garnered four Betty Mitchell Award Nominations, winning two including "Outstanding New Play." Ayache is also the 2020 recipient of the Playwrights’ Guide of Canada’s Tom Hendry Award for “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. 

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Alongside writing, Ayache directs and performs, most recently directing the development of "Small Gods (at the Start of the World)" at Factory Theatre and with an upcoming directing role for" Small Gods the Musical" with Sheridan College.

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Currently, he is developing several new plays with Shakespeare in the Ruff, Crows Theatre, and Modern Times Theatre. And he’s excited to be working with Vivek Shraya on his first graphic novel project, "The Ballad of Rumi and Shams"!​

Explore work here.

EDUCATOR

Ayache is trained as an educator from the University of Alberta, holding a Bachelor of Education. Currently, he facilitates 2SLGBTQIA+ (2-Spirit, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual/Agender) through his consultation organization, Shajara, which works with organizations, collectives, and individuals to make meaningful change towards equity an anti-oppression. He has worked with organizations like the Stratford Festival, Shaw Festival, Shakespeare in the Ruff, and The Canadian Theatre Critics Association. 

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He also has extensive experience in curricular design and development at the secondary, post-secondary, and community level of education. He has instructed at University of Waterloo, the 519 Church Street Community Center, and Workman Arts.  Much of his teaching philosophy is centered around an anti-oppressive and socially conscious pedagogy.

Explore work here.