Julia Tribe is a freelance set & costume designer based in Toronto, Canada, with over twenty-five years' experience designing for Theatre, Opera and Dance. She has received recognition in major companies across Canada and some of her most innovative work has been showcased in the following productions: Opera to Go (Tapestry New Opera Works); Tono (Red Sky Productions, Banff Centre/ Luminato/ Beijing & Vancouver Olympics); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Canadian Stage Company); da Kink in my Hair (Mirvish Productions, Princess of Wales Theatre/ Hackney Empire in London); In the Freedom of Dreams (Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People); Belle (Factory Theatre & National Arts Centre); The School for Wives (Soulpepper); and Ariadne auf Naxos (Canadian Opera Company). Julia has received seven Dora nominations, shared two Dora Awards for Outstanding Production, and has been nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre and the Virginia & Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design.

As a theatre artist interested in collaborative voice, Julia actively explores new play development, seeing design as a crucial part of the fundamental play development practice. She is a founding member of Contrary Theatre Company and an on going educator of Theatre design and communication, presently teaching part-time at York University’s Theatre Department.

Julia’s upcoming projects in Toronto include: The Cure for Everything (the sequel to You Fancy Yourself, produced by Theatre Passe Muraille in association with Contrary Theatre Company); i think i can (produced by LKTYP with extended run at the National Arts Centre); and bcurrent’s 10th anniversary celebrations showcasing Obeah Opera. In development is a play adaptation from Marina Nemat’s book Prisoner of Tehran (Contrary Theatre Company). Julia is a member of Associated Designers of Canada and lives in Toronto with her husband, playwright Michael Miller, and three children.

Directorial Comments

“I consider Julia to be one of the most gifted theatre designers in Canada. She has designed several productions that I directed, and each one has had a uniqueness of its own. This is important to me, because Julia does not impose a style of her own on the work. Rather, she seems to inhale the uniqueness of each script, and the qualities of each performer. She examines and researches in depth, to unearth the mood of each piece.  When she first introduces me to her vision of the production, her ideas are bold and rich. This does not mean that she overwhelms the director’s vision. Rather, she meets it with space. This is where Julia and I meet, and this is what she brings to the performers. It is the guiding spirit of her work.  The shape of costumes in space, and the space within which the play is to be performed, give our productions the life force that actors need. Julia knows how to work in the non-realistic world, which to my mind makes the most exciting theatre.”

“Julia is one of the few people I have worked with who understands the epic environment. She combines the “Bigness” of the play’s meaning with the bigness of the world.”

— Maja Ardal, Actor, Director and Playwright