Coleen MacPherson is the artistic director of Open Heart Surgery and is a playwright, actor and director and a graduate from École Jacques Lecoq in Paris. As a half Parsi-Indian and Irish-Canadian theatre maker, her work often engages with ideas of cross-cultural collaboration. She has mentored with Daniel Brooks (Civility, Divisadero); worked with many companies in Toronto, UK and France, including international touring theatre company, Wet Picnic (UK). She was part of the writers’ group in London, UK’s West End Arcola Theatre and her work has toured to France, Poland, Egypt and USA. RECENTLY: Her play, This Is Why We Live, which she created with her company and directed, was part of the 58 th season at La MaMa in NYC. Coleen was part of Factory Theatre’s Foreman Director’s Program and is currently part of the Bedrock Creators’ Initiative and is developing a new work inspired by Glenn Gould. Coleen’s play, Erased will be part of BUZZ festival at Theatre Passe Muraille in August 2021; she is working on creating a Brazilian-Canadian production of this work. She is currently Creator-in-Residence at Cahoots Theatre, creating a work inspired by her mixed race heritage. Coleen wishes she could fly. www.coleenmacpherson.com / www.openheartsurgerytheatre.com

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