Annie Valentina is a queer theatre artist based in Kjipuktuk, colonially known as Halifax. After migrating to this side of the Atlantic in 2000, Annie graduated from Dalhousie’s theatre program, then spent a good decade co-founding indie theatre companies about town and working as an actor in film and TV before she settled into her (currently) truest form as a director/dramaturg/playwright.
As one half of multi-award winning company The Doppler Effect, Annie had a hand in bringing many new works of theatre to the stage from 2010 to 2017. Since 2018 she has served as Artistic Associate of Neptune Theatre, where she – among other things – coordinates the RBC Chrysalis Project and the INKubator play development program.
In her own arts practice, Annie gravitates toward unapologetically feminist voices and lenses. Some of her favorite directing credits include the Atlantic Canadian premieres of Kat Sandler’s Yaga (Highland Arts Theatre, 2021) and Rose Napoli’s Lo (or Dear Mr Wells) (Neptune Theatre, 2019). She is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab.
Annie’s writing frequently explores East European cultural identity and the third-culture kid experience. Her one-time autobiographical solo play Alien, which PARC was instrumental in helping develop, played several popular runs in the mid-2010s and is now slated to be reimagined as a digital hybrid piece with generous support from Canada Council for the Arts. Most recently, Annie has been working on Ballad of the Motherland – a play loosely based around events in the buildup to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis, and dealing with themes of ideological radicalization and the ex-pat experience.
More than anything, she wants you to protect trans kids and help animals in need.