Tara Travis*

Tara is an actor-writer-puppeteer-creative human known for her prowess as a solo performer, her physical shape-shifting abilities and vocal acrobatics.

Throughout her career, she has co-created and performed in over 30 original plays, most recently the Sterling Award-winning bonkers spectacular The Spinsters with Small Matters Productions. Solo works with Monster Theatre include Erika the Red, Who Killed Gertrude Crump? (nominated for 4 Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards, including Best Actor, Female), and the multi-award-winning Til Death: The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Other solo creations include Lavinia, Fluffy 10th Street: Confessions of a Dirty Puppet, Searching for Dick: A Paranormal Comedy, and The Unfortunate Ruth, recipient of the PTC New Play Prize. In 2015, she was co-recipient of a Jessie Richardson Theatre award with Dusty Hagerüd for their innovative design of Monster Theatre’s adaptation of The Little Prince, for which she was also nominated for Best Performance, TYA. Other select stage credits include Leading Ladies and The Wizard of Oz (Gateway Theatre), and Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch (Axis Theatre).

A co-founder of the Vancouver International Puppet Festival, Tara has incorporated animated object, hand and rod and shadow puppetry into many of her works. As a performance artist (in collaboration with Elizabeth Milton) she has been seen in galleries across Canada, including VIVO and live at Vancouver Art Gallery’s FUSE. She is also a voice and film actor, with credits spanning theatrical podcasts, audiobooks, commercials, feature films and children’s media.

Tara lives and creates as an uninvited settler on the unceded lands of the Coast Salish Peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. www.taratravis.com