Staff Profile: LJ Savage – Director of Production

How long have you worked at Soulpepper and tell us a little bit about what your job has consisted of lately.
I have been at Soulpepper for three and a half terrific years. Lately I have been keeping an eye on our hosting of the Para/PanAmania stay in the Young Centre with its many contributors, as well as Soulpepper’s restarted season after the Para/PanAmania departure and the 2015 Soulpepper Family Festival.

What kinds of productions have you been involved in outside of work?
Soulpepper brought me back to my first love, the performing arts, after a fifteen-year hiatus in corporate environments, exhibits & events across North America. Prior to that I toured the world with dance companies and rock bands. It had been twenty or more years since I stage managed my last production and I really needed to get back to my roots.

When you’re not at work, what are you doing?
My family comes first; whether I like it or not! But when given a chance, I lean towards gardening as my main leisure activity. My father was a gardener before he took on municipal government and I was his assistant from an early age. I was accepted to Niagara Parks Horticultural School but chose to political science and drama instead. Go figure.

What do you love about working at Soulpepper?
I love the people. Really. It’s fun to ride to work each day. Soulpepper is a super group of happy people with diverse interests and talents who want to work together in the arts. At the end of (mostly) a good experience you see a terrific product that is well appreciated. Our colleagues make that happen.