Richard Greenblatt is an actor, director, writer, and musician who has been a professional theatre artist for almost fifty years. He was born in Montréal and received his acting training at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, England. Since graduating, he has performed in theatres across Canada and abroad, as well as in feature films, television and radio. Favourite roles include The Fool in King Lear, Spinoza in Spinoza, The Father in Enda Walsh's bedbound, and Charles Wakefield Cadman in Jani Lauzon's I Call myself Princess.
As a writer, he wrote or co-wrote many pieces in which he has also acted, including 2 Pianos 4 Hands (which he performed approximately 1,000 times around the world), Sibs (also made into a TV movie for the CBC), The Theory of Relatives, i.d., Letters from Lehrer, Care, Athabasca, Pals, and Soft Pedalling. He has directed well over 130 productions for theatres across the country, the vast majority being original and/or Canadian plays, including works by George F. Walker, Judith Thompson, Diane Flacks, Julie Tepperman, Shirley Cheechoo, Michael Healey, Jason Sherman, and David S. Craig. Classical works he has directed include plays by Shakespeare, Shaw, Brecht, Shepard, and Chekov. Most recently, he directed The Lehman Trilogy at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre in Winnipeg.
He has taught acting, directing and play creation at almost all of the major theatre training institutions in Canada, including the National Theatre School of Canada, Toronto Metropolitain University, University of Alberta, Humber College, and George Brown College, and directed numerous shows at those institutions. He has also directed the premieres of many ground-breaking and award-winning plays for young audiences. He has won numerous Dora Mavor Moore Awards as an actor, director and producer, and several Chalmers Playwriting Awards.
His book, Text and Context, published by Scirocco Press, is subtitled “A Handbook for Script Work and Directing in the Theatre”. His personal anecdotal history of 2 Pianos 4 Hands, entitled Two of the Best in the Neighbourhood, was also published by Scirocco in 2022. He lives in Toronto with his spouse Tanya Greve and their daughter Amelia. He is also the proud father of Natasha, Will, and the dearly missed Luke Greenblatt.
