Interdisciplinary Playwright, Performer & Producer

Anais West (they/he) is a queer and trans playwright, performer and theatre producer. They are also a settler of Polish descent, based on occupied Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh territories (colonially called Vancouver, BC, Canada). Anais’ work is transdisciplinary, merging theatre, film, music, dance and poetry. Through collaboration, they grapple with the multiplicity that exists in gender, sexuality, culture and language.

Anais' projects include creating the video-play hybrid Kill Your Lovers, (Buddies In Bad Times Theatre’s Rhubarb Festival, Toronto, and the Fresh Fruit Festival, NYC), co-writing the slam poetry musical Poly Queer Love Ballad with Sara Vickruck, (Queer Arts Festival, the frank theatre and Zee Zee Theatre, Vancouver, and Theatre Passe Muraille, Toronto), writing for The Café (Aphotic Theatre, ISTAZOO and PuSh Festival) and writing the short film Underground Absolute Fiction (Rumble Theatre's Tremor's Festival.)  He was the 2023 winner of the Wildfire National Playwriting Competition for his dance-theatre work in development, Tomboy (Chłopczyca.) They were also the 2018 co-winner of PTC’s Fringe New Play Prize and the Georgia Straight Critic’s Choice Award, and his work has been nominated for two Jessie Richardson Awards, including Outstanding Original Script.

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Anais’ writing has been supported by Canada Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver and the PuSh Festival, and they’ve been part of residencies with What Lab, Playwrights Theatre Centre, Deer Lake, Dumb Instrument Dance, Queer Arts Festival, Rumble Theatre and Theatre Replacement’s New Aesthetics. Most recently, their writing was published in This Is Beyond: A Time Capsule of Queer Experience (Playwrights Canada Press.)

As an actor, Anais has worked with Orange Noyée, The French Theatre at the National Arts Centre, Savage Society, The Firehall Arts Centre, Théâtre la Seizieme, the Only Animal, Rumble Theatre and more.

Anais is also the frank theatre company’s Artistic Producer, where he recently co-produced How Black Mothers Say I Love You by Trey Anthony, the audio-drama I Cannot Lie to the Stars That Made Me by Catherine Hernandez, the digital performance film Be-Longing and She Mami Wata & The Pussy WitchHunt by d’bi young anitrafrika at the 2020 PuSh Festival. Anais is a graduate of Studio 58.

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