Andrew Woolner, Actor and Writer

December 23, 2006 (edit: August 15, 2010) | andrew | 0 comments

Andrew Woolner is creating and playing the central character in our 2010 touring show, 39 and is the current Artistic Director of the Yokohama Theatre Group.

Before moving permanently to Japan in 2003, Andrew served as the Artistic Director of Squeeze-Box Theatre in Toronto, Canada. In his last two years with the company, he oversaw the production of 10 plays, including many of his own. Educated in Theatre at Young People's Theatre school and York University in Toronto, Andrew has done his duty as an Actor, Director, Playwright, Designer, Carpenter, Lighting Technician, Dramaturg, and Janitor; sometimes all at the same time on the same show.

Since joining YTG as Artistic Director in late 2006, Andrew has appeared in This Is Shakespeare!? as the Narrator, Laugh as Brian, The Last Christmas as the sound guy, Darren, as the Stage Manager/Madam Desmortes in Ring Round the Moon, as Clarence (Yokohama shows only) in William Shakespeare's R3, and now as the astronaut 39 in the play 39. He also served as writer and director on This Is Shakespeare!?, director on Ring Round the Moon and William Shakespeare's R3.

Along with current Treasurer Dave Waddington, Andrew has spearheaded several changes in the group, including a new website, more aggressive pursuit of co-productions, an internship program, a more active teaching program, the touring of shows to Tokyo, the touring of shows to Canada, and, most importantly, making YTG's English productions more accessible to Japanese audiences.

He is constantly astounded at the calibre of people willing to work with him and invest their time and energy into Yokohama Theatre, and is grateful to Kim, Bridget, Ramona, Monique, Dave, and Eric for their hard work on 39.

Andrew lives in Yokohama with his wife of five years, and considers the city to be his home.

Andrew believes in the power of Theatre to change the world.

you need to be logged in to post and view comments