Andrey Tarasiuk, former Stratford Festival associate artistic director, dead at 71

Friends, family and members of Canada’s theater community are mourning the death of producer and director Andrey Tarasiuk.

A press release issued Friday by Tarasiuk’s husband of 40 years, former Stratford Summer Music artistic producer John Miller, confirmed Tarasiuk died peacefully at home in Stratford on June 28. At 71 years old, Tarasiuk had planned on retiring from his post as artistic producer at Pleiades Theater in Toronto on June 30, just two days after he died.

“Pleiades is devastated by this sudden loss, but the loss to Canadian theater is even greater,” said Pleiades Theater artistic producer designate Ash Knight in a press release. “Andrey ushered in so many artists and administrators over the decades that you would be hard pressed to find people who haven’t worked with him at some point or another.

“His leadership with Canada’s leading theater companies is well documented. However, his greatest gift was giving people hope and encouragement. He loved theater practitioners and always wanted them to feel as passionate about their art as he did. One always left a conversation with him smiling and feeling inspired. I am sorry that another generation won’t benefit from his wisdom, experience and love.”

A native of Manitoba and a graduate of the National Theater School in Montreal, Tarasiuk worked for more than 50 years in theatre, beginning as a dancer with the inaugural company of his home city of Winnipeg’s now-famous Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble.

He produced four summer regional productions of Canada’s national multiculturalism shows, including Just A Kommedia at Vancouver’s Expo 86 and actress Luba Goy’s one-woman show, Luba, Simply Luba.

While at Toronto Free Theatre, Tarasiuk was the visionary and active production director for the first Dream in High Park. At Theater Direct, his productions were often controversial but always attractive to educators and students, Miller said in the press release. At the Stratford Festival, then-artistic director Richard Monette hired Tarasiuk to be his associate artistic director and head of new play development for eight seasons.

“Andrey was exceptionally dedicated to the development of the Stratford Festival’s programs and artists in his work alongside then-artistic director Richard Monette,” Stratford Festival artistic director Antoni Cimolino said in a statement emailed to the Beacon Herald. “The new Studio Theatre, our new play development program and the diversification of our acting company all benefited from Andrey’s good work and passion for the arts. He has our heartfelt and enduring thanks.”

Tarasiuk moved on to the Pleiades Theater in 2009 and became the company’s first artistic producer in 2017. He commissioned and produced years of award-winning multicultural dramas in new translations, including The (Post) Mistress by Tomson Highway, Shakuntala by Kalidasa, as translated by WJ Johnson, The Post Office by Rabindranath Tagore, as translated by Julie Mehta, The Sound of Cracking Bones by Suzanne Lebeau, as translated by Julia Duchesne and John Van Burek, and Besbouss: Autopsy of a Revolt by Stéphane Brulotte, as translated by Van Burek.

“As a fellow Manitoban, Andrey was always a great supporter of my work, and I would say he very much supported new plays by Canadian authors and strongly believed it should be produced by the major theatres,” Highway said in a press release. “He was a great fan of, and tried to bring, all Canadian playwrights to the stage.”

Van Burek, the founder and artistic director emeritus at Pleiades Theatre, said few people realized the “huge impact” that Tarasiuk had on Canada’s performing arts.

“Not only have we lost an invaluable – if unsung – colleague, but I have also lost a dear, dear friend,” Van Burek said.

In addition to his husband, Tarasiuk leaves behind his siblings and their families in Winnipeg, and a host of friends and colleagues in the arts across Canada. Donations in Tarasiuk’s memory can be made to the Rusalka Ukrainian Dance Ensemble or to any other Canadian arts and cultural organization. A celebration of life will be held in Stratford for Tarasiuk in August.