Sara Tilley (she/her)is a multidisciplinary artist from St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, living and working on Ktaqmkuk, the unceded, traditional territory of the Beothuk and Mi'kmaq. Sara's artistic work bridges writing, theatre, and Pochinko Clown Through Mask technique. After graduating with a BFA in Acting from York University, Sara founded a feminist theatre company, She Said Yes!, which she ran as Artistic Director, 2002-2016. She received the Rhonda Payne Theatre Award in 2006, which acknowledges the contribution of a woman working in theatre in Newfoundland and Labrador. Sara's writing spans the genres of playwriting, prose and poetry. She has written, co-written or co-created eleven plays to date. Skin Room, her first novel (Pedlar Press, 2008), won both the Newfoundland and Labrador Percy Janes First Novel Award and the inaugural Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers, and was shortlisted for the Winterset Award and the Thomas Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize. Her second novel, Duke, (Pedlar Press, 2015) won the BMO Winterset Award and the NL Heritage and History Award, and was shortlisted for the NL Book Award for Fiction, and long listed for the Dublin International Literary Award (IMPAC). Sara won the Lawrence Jackson Writer's Award from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council in 2011.

Sara trained in Pochinko Clown through Mask with Ian Wallace and Sue Morrison, mentoring with Wallace to become a teacher of this specialized Canadian clown method. She offers Clown through Mask and Neutral Mask training both in St. John's and elsewhere. Her interest in puppetry has led her to pursue training with the Old Trout Puppet Theatre and a mentorship with puppet designer Darka Erdelji in Slovenia. 

Sara is also director, a designer of masks, puppets, props and costumes, and a dramaturg for new plays. She identifies as bi+, queer, chronically ill, cisgender, Settler and intersectional feminist.

BFA (Honours) in Acting from York University, 2001. Comprehensive training, including : Acting for theatre, Acting for film, Voice and Dialect, Movement, Neutral Mask, Clown through Mask (Pochinko Method), Commedia dell'Arte, Stage Combat, Singing, Ballroom Dance, Modern Dance, Animal Work, Butoh Theatre, Viewpoints, Suzuki, Laban Technique, Shakespeare study, Solo show creation, Collective Creation, Bouffon, Kinetics, Puppetry.

Member of ACTRA. 

Acting for Theatre

Patience, When the Angel of Death Says?...How are You, Lois Brown, newfoundlandartistx

Geraldine Drover, Dedication, Charlie Tomlinson, RCA Theatre

Old Perlican, Jack Meets the Cat, Sara Tilley, Stephenville Theatre Festival

Joan, The Birthday Party, Courtney Brown, Stephenville Theatre Festival

Fruithead, Fruithead, Sara Tilley and Mark White, She Said Yes!

Margaret, The Drowning Girls, Charlie Tomlinson, RCA Theatre

Mona, MONARITA, Sherry White, White Rooster/She Said Yes!/RCA (named for Outstanding Ensemble Performance, NOW Magazine, Toronto)

Squirrel, The (In)complete Herstory of Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!), Lois Brown/Sara Tilley, RCA/She Said Yes! 

Nora,Butler’s Marsh, Danielle Irvine, She Said Yes!

Kathy, Death By Girlfriend, Mark White, newfoundlandartistx

Betty, Red Trench, Lois Brown, newfoundlandartistx

Jailer’s Daughter,Two Noble Kinsmen, Danielle Irvine, SBTS

Black Ochre/Trina, No Mummers ‘llowed In, Andy Jones, RCA Theatre

Elsie, Two Minutes of Silence, Michael Chiasson, Terry Kelly Prod.

Rhonda, Mr. Invisible, Mark Wilson, RCA Theatre

Constance, The Housewife, Ruth Lawrence, Rising Tide

Judith Moore, Garland House II, Donna Butt, Rising Tide

Nosebleed, Nosebleed, Pat Dempsey, She Said Yes!

Griselda/Winn/Mrs. Kidd, Top Girls, Charlie Tomlinson, Redwatch Theatre/She Said Yes!

Anne, Richard III, Aiden Flynn, RCA Theatre

JD, The Jailer’s Daughter and Other Mad Fools Cracking Their Livers to Pieces for Love, Danielle Irvine, She Said Yes!/RCA

Ruth, The Woods, Robert Chafe, TheatreFIX

Evan, ICYCLE, Jillian Keiley, Artistic Fraud

Karen, Speed-the-Plow, Joan Sullivan, Sin City Productions

Nora, Butler’s Marsh, Danielle Irvine, RCA Theatre

Gargitz, One Big Mess, Potpan Productions Clown Theatre

Sara, Signifying Nothing, Jillian Keiley, RCA Theatre

Rosalind, Love’s Labors Lost, Jennifer Deon, SBTS

Margaret, Much Ado About Nothing, Petrina Bromley, SBTS

Puck, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jennifer Deon, SBTS

Acting for Film, Television and Audio

Jen (Solo Performer), Seafoam, site-specific audio installation, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland for the Bonavista Biennale, 2021.

The Server (Lead), Hungry Little Shadow, independent digital film project via the Canada Council/CBC’s Digital Originals initiative, 2021.

Fleurff (Lead), Plant Intelligence, independent digital short film commissioned by Morro and Jasp, 2020.

Miriam Mahoney (Principal), The Grand Seduction, Don McKellar, Morag Loves Seduction

Diane (Actor), Republic of Doyle 201, Republic Season 2 INC

Liz (Principal), Heartless Disappearance Into Labrador Seas, Justin Simms, Newfound Films

Patti (Actor), Hatching, Matching and Dispatching (pilot), Henry Safran-Foer, 2M Innovative

Candy (Principal), Slick-O-Teen, Sherry White

Clown and Performance

2020 Plant Intelligence, short clown film commissioned by Morro and Jasp.

2019 Clown Burdened with Endless Amounts of Toilet Paper, Performance at The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in conjunction with a retrospective of the work of Colette Urban.

2018 MODYRN TIMEZ, an installation/performance by WYRDOS, part of WRECK CITY 2018 Artist Residency and Exhibition in Calgary, AB. WYRDOS is Sarah Smalik, Sara Tilley and Jamie Tognazzini.

2016 Sacred Mixture, installation and performance collaboration with visual artist Jay Butler and clowns Bernardine Stapleton, Vanessa Cardoso Whelan and Elling Lien, Eastern Edge Gallery and downtown St. John's. 

2014 Weiner Sugar Dance Magic, installation and performance collaboration with visual artist Kyle Bustin and electronic music producer Elling Lien, part of the Eastern Edge Art Marathon Festival.

2013 INFESTATION, installation and performance collaboration with artists Sarah Smalik and Jamie Tea, part of Phantom Wing, Calgary AB

2012 Nuclear Weiner, interactive performance, Standing Still: a winter soltstice performance art cabaret,Eastern Edge Gallery, St. John’s

2012 Peeing While Singing!,Labrador Creative Arts Festival Guest Artist Performance, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador

2012 Clowns On Signal Hill, site-specific picnic/performance with 2012 graduates of Clown ThroughMask Training. Signal Hill, St. John’s

2012 Winter Weiner/Solstice Sausage, Eastern Edge Gallery Performance Cabaret, St. John's NL.

2012 Clowns Take Over Signal Hill, St. John's NL.

2011 Clown Walk, Culture Days, St. John's NL.

2010  Weiner Shaman, Eastern Edge Gallery 24 Hour Art Marathon, St. John's, NL.

2008 Weiner Shaman, Eastern Edge Gallery 24 Hour Art Marathon, St. John's, NL.

2008 Nervous Vag and Madge Vag on Air, guest hosts for CABARADIO, Vancouver, BC.

2007 Weiner Shaman (Cheesies and Root Beer), Labrador Creative Arts Festival Guest Artist, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador.

2006 Weiner Shaman, parking lot in front of Eastern Edge, St. John's, 24 Hour Art Marathon Spotlight performance.

2006 Nervous Vag (burlesque clown performance), Eastern Edge, St. John's, 24 Hour Art Marathon Host.

2005 Nervous Vag and Little Sis (burlesque clown collaboration with Craig Francis Power), Ship Inn Pub, St. John's.

2005 Joey Walk (performative Joey walk in collaboration with Craig Francis Power), streets of St. John's.

2004 Nervous Vag and Madge Vag (burlesque clown collaboration with Craig Francis Power), Ship Inn Pub, St. John's.

2004 Nervous Vag finds a soulmate (burlesque clown collaboration with Craig Francis Power), Rising Tide Theatre, Trinity.

2003 Vag In the Mall (Buy Nothing Day demonstration performance), Avalon Mall, St. John's.

2003 Burlesque-Esque (burlesque event hosted by Nervous Vag), TSUBar, St. John's.

2003 Vag Attack (burlesque performance), Bianca's, St. John's.

2003 Vag and her Brothers (burlesque performance with Sean Panting and Phil Churchill), Rising Tide Theatre, Trinity.

Directing

Hungry Little Shadow, independent digital film project via the Canada Council/CBC’s Digital Originals initiative, 2021.

Olé Clown!, Vanessa Cardoso Whelan, 2017. 

Jack Meets the Cat, Stephenville Theatre Festival, 2014.

Fruithead, with Mark White, She Said Yes! 2013.

The (In)complete Herstory of Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!), co-direction with Lois Brown, She Said Yes!, 2009. Voted Best Theatre Production of 2009 by the Scope's Best of St. John's Reader's Survey.

LULU, She Said Yes! and White Rooster Productions, 2006.

Grand Central Station (workshop), She Said Yes!, 2004.

Bellyflop, a clown show by Pat Dempsey, Potpan Productions Clown Theatre, 2001.

Design

Hungry Little Shadow, puppet, set and costume design, independent digital film project via the Canada Council/CBC’s Digital Originals initiative, 2020 (forthcoming).

The Fire Kedgy’s Howl, headgear design, Neighbourhood Danceworks and the National Arts Centre, 2020.

The Tales of Dwipa, puppet design, White Rooster Theatre, 2020.

For the Love of Gracie Gray, puppet design, Live Bait Theatre, 2016. 

Jack Meets the Cat, costume, prop, puppet and mask design, Stephenville Theatre Festival, 2014.

Fruithead, puppet design, and set and costume co-design with Sarah Smalik, She Said Yes!, 2013.

The (In)complete Herstory of Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!), set, costume, prop and puppet design, RCA Theatre and She Said Yes!, 2009. Voted Best Theatre Production of 2009 by the Scope's Best of St. John's Reader's Survey.

St. John's the Rancid, puppet design, White Rooster Productions, 2007.

Bella Donna, mask and puppet design, RCA Theatre, 2007.

LULU, set, costume and prop design, She Said Yes! and White Rooster Productions, 2006.

Nosebleed, set, costume and prop design, She Said Yes!, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2012.

The Jailer's Daughter and Other Mad Fools Cracking Their Livers to Pieces for Love, costume and prop design, set co-design with Danielle Irvine, She Said Yes! and RCA Theatre Company, 2003.

Signifying Nothing, costume design, set co-design with Jillian Keiley, RCA Theatre Company, 1999.

Nature(human), props and slide projections, RCA Theatre Company, 1998

Publications

Eyes, flash fiction, Release Any Words Stuck Inside of You III: Canadian Flash Fiction and Prose Poetry, edited by Geoff Pevlin, Applebeard Editions, 2021.

Gallery of Missing Fabrics (a found prose poem), Release Any Words Stuck Inside of You III: Canadian Flash Fiction and Prose Poetry, edited by Geoff Pevlin, Applebeard Editions, 2021.

these plays are poems, these poems are plays, introductory essay to Trapsongs, three plays by Shannon Bramer, Book*hug Press, 2020. 

Crystal, fiction, Changing the Face of Candian Literature: a diverse canadian anthology, editor Dane Swan, Guernica Editions, 2020.

Clowning and Neutral Mask: A Discussion between Jan Henderson and Sara Tilley, co-authored with Jan Henderson, Canadian Theatre Review #183, 2020. 

An Othered Life, essay, published in Many Lives Mark This Place: John Hartman paints Canadian writers in the landscapes that inspire them, Figure1, 2019.

Sick Woman’s Self Portrait, poem, featured on U.S. online literary magazine Chronically Lit, 2019.

Dragging My Soul Across A Hellscape of Broken Glass, Or One Woman’s Account of Filing For Disability Support, creative nonfiction, Understorey Magazine, Issue #16, 2019.

Crystal, fiction, PRISM International, Dreams Issue, 2018.

Things That Are Like How I Felt That Year, poem, Riddle Fence #28, 2017. 

Duke, novel, Pedlar Press, 2015.

YP YA YL: an interview with Lois Brown, Michelle Butler Hallett and Cherie Pyne, non-fiction, Riddle Fence, Issue #16, 2013.

An Imaginary Map On Top of the World: A Conversation with Philippa Jones, non-fiction, Riddle Fence, Issue #14, 2013.

Overheard, short fiction, Riddle Fence, Issue #9, 2011.

Her Adolescence, short fiction, in anthology Hard Ol’ Spot, Killick Press, 2009.

A Child’s Pastoral of Brigus South, poem and essay, in anthology Approaches to Poetry: the pre-poem moment, Frog Hollow Press, 2009.

Skin Room, novel, Pedlar Press, 2008. Translated as Écorchée by Marchand des feuilles, Quebec, 2017. 

The Story That Became Redundant Approximately Six Hours After It Was Written, but Which the Author Stubbornly Refused to Scrap or Revise, Although She Did Change the Title from A Bagel and the Paper (Which Frankly Sucked Anyway) to Something Ludicrously Long and Only Sort of Clever which Made Reference to the Fact that There Could Potentially Be a Happy Ending (Or at Least a Positive Beginning) that Occurs After the Protagonist has Ceased her Life On the Page and Continues on Only In Your Mind (Unless the Story Bores You, and You Promptly Forget About it, and the Poor Old Girl Withers Quickly, and Dies), short fiction, Zeugma Literary Journal, Volume 1, Issue 3, 2006.

Three Floors, poetry, TickleAce, Issue 34, 1997.

The Ark, short fiction, TickleAce, Issue 34, 1997.

Mrs. Narcissus, short fiction,  TickleAce, Issue 32, 1996.

Playwriting

A NEW WORLD FOR WOMEN, short play, Persistence Theatre Company, 2021.

Seafoam, site-specific audio monologue, Artistic Fraud of Newfoundland for the Bonavista Biennale, 2021.

Hungry Little Shadow, independent digital film project via the Canada Council/CBC’s Digital Originals initiative, 2021, inspired by a Slovenian folktale.

White or Red, dramaturged by Don Hannah and Robert Chafe in 2017 and 2018, through developmental support of the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre Playwright’s Colony and Kitchen Table Reading Series, as well as via funding from ArtsNL and the City of St. John’s. This script is currently unproduced.

Fruithead, a clown play created with Mark White, She Said Yes!, 2013.

The (In)complete Herstory of Women in Newfoundland (and Labrador!), directed by Lois Brown and Sara Tilley, RCA Theatre and She Said Yes!, 2009. Named Best Theatre Production of 2009 by readers of The Scope.

LULU, adapted from original texts by Frank Wedekind, directed by Sara Tilley, She Said Yes! and White Rooster Productions, 2006.

No Mummers ‘llowed In, collective creation with Amy House, Jonny Harris, Steve Cochrane, Dave Sullivan, Dana Puddicombe and Phil Churchill, directed by Andy Jones, RCA Theatre, 2005.

Mr. Invisible, collective creation with Robert Chafe and Pat Dempsey, directed by Mark Wilson, RCA Theatre, 2005.

Grand Central Station, adapted from various texts by Elizabeth Smart and George Barker, in workshop with She Said Yes! 2004.

Nosebleed, directed by Pat Dempsey, She Said Yes!, 2002 and 2004, and remounted for the Magnetic North Theatre Festival 2006. Remounted for a tenth anniversary production in 2012.

The Jailer’s Daughter and Other Mad Fools Cracking Their Livers to Pieces for Love, directed by Danielle Irvine, RCA Theatre and She Said Yes!, 2003.

One Big Mess, collective creation with Pat Dempsey, Pascale Horan, Sarah Malik, Shawn Malik and Tim Ronan, Potpan Productions Clown Theatre, 2000.

The Soul Walking, directed by Kyle Brough, Artword Theatre, 2000.

Signifying Nothing, directed by Jill Keiley, RCA Theatre, 1999.

Awards

Winner, Arts and Letters Awards, Dramatic Script Division, 2019 (White or Red).

Winner, Compton Poetry Prize, administered by Riddle Fence, 2018 (Things That Are Like How I Felt That Year).

Winner, BMO Winterset Award for Excellence in Newfoundland and Labrador writing in any genre, 2015 (Duke). 

Winner, NL Heritage and History Book Award for Fiction 2016 (Duke).

Shortlisted, NL Book Award for Fiction 2015 (Duke). 

Longlisted, Dublin International Literary Award, IMPAC 2017 (Duke). 

Winner, Lawrence Jackson Writer’s Award 2011, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

Winner, Fresh Fish Award for Emerging Writers 2006 (Skin Room).

Winner, Percy Janes First Novel Award 2004 (Skin Room).

Shortlisted, Winterset Award for best book by a Newfoundlander in any genre, 2008 (Skin Room).

Shortlisted, Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize, 2008 (Skin Room).

Long-listed, ReLit Award for best novel, 2009 (Skin Room).

Winner of the Rhonda Payne Theatre Award for a woman in Newfoundland and Labrador Theatre, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, 2007.

Winner, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Awards Short Fiction Category, 2008, (Her Adolescence).

Winner, CBC Radio Poetry Faceoff 2003 regional championships (my last poem for you who are vanished).

Winner, Newfoundland and Labrador Arts and Letters Awards Dramatic Script Category, 1998, (Signifiying Nothing).

Residencies

Wreck City 2018, Calgary, with WYRDOS (Sarah Smalik, Sara Tilley and Jamie Tognazzini).

Memorial University of Newfoundland Writer-in-Residence, Fall/Winter 2016. 

2Rooms Contemporary Artist Projects Writer-in-Residence, Duntara, NL, August-September 2014.

Calgary Distinguished Writer’s Program, University of Calgary, AB, August 2013-June 2014.

Kent Cottage Writer-in-Residence in Brigus, NL, October 2012.

Berton House Writer-in-Residence in Dawson City, YK, January – March 2011.

CBC Radio’s national program, The Roundup, Writer-in-Residence 2004-2005.

Dramaturgy

Happy Anniversary, by Vanessa Cardoso-Whelan, Women’s Work Festival, 2021.

Factory Girls, by Sharon King-Campbell, PARC Playwright’s Colony (online), 2020.

Last Flight to Enceladus, by Sue Rose, PARC Playwright’s Colony (online), 2020.

Becoming Ocean, by Sarah Jane Blenkhorn, PARC Playwright’s Colony (online), 2020.

Observatory Mansions, by Dan Bray, PARC Playwright’s Colony (online), 2020.

The Dream Play, by Marie Pike, WANL Mentorship Program 2019/2020.

Carla Cooks The War, Laura Maria Censabella, Women’s Work Festival, 2020.

Original, by Sharon King-Campbell, Persistence Theatre, 2017. 

Skylark, by Meghan Greeley, Mail Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2015.

MEAT, by Klara Wojtkowska (Tanzania/US), Mail Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2014

The Contribution by Michael McPhee, PARC Playwright’s Colony 2013

The Love of Gracie Gray by Andrea Boyd, PARC Playwright’s Colony 2013

The Beekeepers by Kristin Slaney, PARC Playwright’s Colony 2013

Jesus Is a Faggot by Garry Williams, PARC Playwright’s Colony 2013

Liar, Thief, Girl by Kathleen Hamilton, PARC Playwright’s Colony 2013

The Perfect World, by Joel Fishbane, Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2012-2013

LEX, by Lauren Spring, Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2011-2012

Give me Back, by Sharon King-Campbell, 2012

Granted..., by Lauren Spring, Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2010-2011

Sweets, by Amy Anthony, Women’s Work Festival, She Said Yes!, RCA Theatre and White Rooster Theatre, 2009, as well as through the Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2009-2010.

Up the Union, by Sheilah Roberts, Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes!, 2008-2009

Aphasia, by Michelle Butler Hallett, Mail-Order Dramaturgy Program, She Said Yes! with Playwrights Workshop Montreal, 2007-2008

Family, by Agnes Walsh, Women’s Work Festival, RCA Theatre, She Said Yes! and White Rooster Theatre, 2007.

Connecting Rooms, by Florence Button, Women’s Work Festival, RCA Theatre, She Said Yes! and White Rooster Theatre, 2006.

Mentorship

Mentor to fiction writer and playwright Marie Pike through the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mentorship Program, 2019/2020.

Mentor to fiction writer Scott Bartlett through the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mentorship Program, 2013.

Editor, Hallow Hour by Caighlan Smith (YA fiction), Boulder Publications, 2013.

Mentor to playwright Sharon King-Campbell through the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mentorship Program, 2011.

Mentor to short fiction writer Paul Whittle through the Writer’s Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador’s Mentorship Program, 2009.

Member of ACTRA, the Writers' Union of Canada, the Playwright’s Guild of Canada, the Writers' Alliance of Newfoundland and Labrador, UNIMA (National Puppetry Association), the NL Puppet Collective and the Playwrights Atlantic Resource Centre.