Liesl is a Jessie award-winning director, and a nominated writer, producer and dramaturg. She facilitates Scriptwriting Workshops, provides Story Editing Services, and hosts a Writer’s Accountability Room. For the Firecrackers, she co-created the Comedy Film Igniter with Canadian Film Fest and The Writers Lab Canada Script Intensive with the NYC founders. Liesl is the co-Head Writer for Bagged, a Bell Fibe Series.
After a lifetime of directing, dramaturging and penning plays, Liesl pivoted to writing and story editing for film and television as well. In May 2019, she graduated from the University of British Columbia with a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing. She focuses mainly on developing and creating new works.
Her career highlights include winning the Jessie Richardson – Larry Lillo Award for Outstanding Direction of a Play for House, by Daniel MacIvor (Theatre Bagger), and directing the Jessie-nominated A Town Called Hockey, by Gary Jones, Liesl Lafferty and Richard Side (Arts Club Theatre). She was dramaturg for the Jessie Richardson Playwright Nominee Via Beatrice, by Jenn Griffin (Fugue Theatre). She received Jessie nominations for directing and producing Drinking with Persephone, by Jenn Griffin (Vancouver Fringe), and for co-writing bloodline, with Rita Bozi, Dmitry Chepovetsky, and Kate Hale (Vancouver East Cultural Centre), which she also directed.
Productions and readings of her original pieces include Does Anybody Hear? – a short film addressing issues of the climate crisis 2024, The Republic of Inclusion – a short autobiographical one-person comedy about the isolation of disability, which she also performed, (Alley Theatre’s Judith Fair 2020). A Splendid Place – a full-length comedy about end of life options, which had an online public reading. (The Canadian Play Thing 2020). The Gravedigger’s Daughter – a short horror about feminism in 1787, which had a reading at Stage Writes (UBC 2019), and online public readings for World Theatre Day Play Reading Relay (PGC and Firecracker Dept 2020). Auntie Christmas – a seasonal comedy about cultural diversity, which had a reading with Brave New Play Rites Festival (UBC 2019). Thump Thump – a short farce about friendship and truth, which was produced at the Brave New Play Rites Festival (UBC 2017). Canary – a one act semi-autobiographical piece about environmental illness, Firehall Arts Centre (reading 2016), and performances at the Toronto Fringe (2009) and the Vancouver Fringe (2010). Additionally, she had two professional productions presented by companies for people with disability, Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture and Realwheels Theatre (2015).
On the development side, for the last nine years, Liesl has been facilitating Scriptwriting Workshops mainly for underrepresented communities; Wet Ink Collective – empowering women writers, Realwheels – creating opportunities for people with disabilities, Western Gold – celebrating the talents of senior professional theatre artists, and the Firecracker Department – an international community of artistic women and non-binary people.
Currently, she is a member of the Artist Brigade – bringing arts and artists to the front lines of climate action (The Only Animal). She is the head of the Firecracker Writing Department, where she participates in a writers’ room creating Bagged – a comedic web series that follows the lifespan of a plastic bag, and she is developing a comedic short film, Jars – about a woman who is compelled to reuse more than she recycles.
This year, Liesl was thrilled to be asked by Naomi Snieckus, Ashleigh Rains and Jen Pogue, to create and co-produce the inaugural Canadian Film Fest and Firecracker Department Comedy Film Igniter Challenge, sponsored by Super Channel. All novice female and non-binary Canadian filmmakers were invited to apply. They started with prompts provided by Mae Martin and a one month deadline. Throughout the four-week program, they engaged in our series of development, networking, and mentoring activities, to help shape their vision, refine their comedy chops and hone their storytelling skills. Over one hundred people responded, forty one applied and ultimately, thirty seven comedic short films were submitted! Eight were selected to be screened at the 2024 Canadian Film Fest on Wednesday March 20. It was a resounding success and a whole lot of fun!
Liesl Lafferty 