 Julia Tribe is a freelance set & costume designer based in Toronto, Canada, with over twenty 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: Tono Red Sky Productions (Banff), A Midsummer Night’s Dream Canadian Stage Company, da Kink in my Hair Mirvish Productions, In the Freedom of Dreams Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People (Toronto), Belle Factory Theatre/ National Arts Centre (Toronto & Ottawa), The School for Wives Soulpepper, Ariadne auf Naxus Canadian Opera Company and Opera to Go Tapestry New Opera Works (Toronto). She has received seven Dora nominations, shared two Dora Awards for Outstanding Production, was nominated for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre for Outstanding Set & Costume Design in 2006, and this year was nominated for the Virginia & Myrtle Cooper Award in Costume Design.
Julia has designed for a wide range of culturally diverse productions, finding this world of theatre totally exciting. Her work has delved into African, Korean, Japanese, Inuit, First Nations, Aboriginal, Mongolian and Caribbean culture and is some of her most exciting work to date.
As a theatre artist under continual development, Julia actively explores new play development and the role of design as a crucial part of the fundamental play development practice. Julia is presently a core artist with Contrary Theatre Company, Toronto.
Julia’s upcoming productions in Toronto include You Fancy Yourself, a one woman show directed and acted by Maja Ardal and Mary Frances Moore (produced by Contrary Company in association with Theatre Passe Muraille), who new grannie: a dub aria with director ahdri zhina mandiel (Obsidian Theatre Company in association with Factory Theatre), Opera to Go - 2010 with director Tom Diamond (Tapestry New Opera Works), and a new work in development, The Cure of Everything by Maja Ardal. 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 |
