Guild Festival Theatre is thrilled to announce the appointment of Alison Wong as Artistic Director Designate. After an extensive search for a new Artistic Director, Alison comes to GFT with a wealth of experience in producing, directing, and artistic leadership. After working alongside current leadership this summer, she will officially take the lead as Artistic Director in September.

"I am a Scarborough kid — growing up in this part of the city shaped who I am and how I see the world. To take the artistic helm of Guild Festival Theatre feels like a homecoming, and an extraordinary honour. I am proud to build upon what Tyler, Helen and the leaders who came before them have established here: a thriving professional theatre rooted in community, housed in one of the most architecturally singular outdoor spaces in the country. Theatre is transformative. It shifts how we see ourselves and each other, makes us more curious, more alive to the world around us. The Guild Festival Theatre stage is unlike anywhere else in Canadian theatre — set in a landscape literally made of fragments of other histories, other architectures, other worlds. It is a space that demands bold, imaginative work — work that reflects the full, gorgeous complexity of who we are as Canadians, and celebrates Scarborough, one of the most dynamic and creatively vital communities in the world. This stage has room for all of us, and there is so much we can build together under this sky". ~ Alison Wong, Artistic Director Designate

"From the moment we began the search, we knew we were looking for someone who could honour Guild Festival Theatre's history while helping us imagine its future. In Alison Wong, we found exactly that. Alison is a thoughtful and dynamic artistic leader whose creativity, warmth, and commitment to community building embody the very best of what theatre can be. We are delighted to welcome her to Guild Festival Theatre and look forward to seeing the company flourish under her leadership”. ~ Zinejda Rita, Board Chair, Guild Festival Theatre Board of Directors

"We've always known that one of our most important tasks at GFT would be finding the right successor. When you've poured years of time, energy and love into building something, you want to know that you’re leaving it in the best hands. Alison Wong brings exactly the right mix of artistic vision, organizational experience, and community awareness to lead Guild Festival Theatre into the future. And we're delighted to be passing the torch to someone who grew up in Scarborough and understands this community from the inside. We know that Alison is going to keep building the world-class theatre that Scarborough deserves”. ~ Helen Juvonen & Tyler J. Seguin, Outgoing Co-Artistic Directors

Alison Wong:

Hong Kong-born and Scarborough-raised, Alison Wong 黃巧文 is a multidisciplinary performance-maker and creative producer whose work has taken her across Canada and around the world — from opera stages in Italy and the Netherlands to theatres in Washington DC and Mumbai. Over fifteen years, she has built an artistic practice that moves fluidly across cultures, languages, and forms — from intimate new play development to large-scale productions — creating theatre that is ambitious, rigorous, and expansive in its vision of the world we share. In Canada, her work has been seen at Alberta Theatre Projects, Canadian Stage, SummerWorks, Tarragon Theatre and Canadian Opera Company to name a few.

As an arts leader, Alison has championed new Canadian work while helping shape Toronto’s artistic landscape — including five seasons as Artistic Producer at BCurrent, a company with over thirty years of dedication to racialized artists. She has curated at SummerWorks Performance Festival and produced with Luminato Festival and WeeFestival. A John Hirsch Director's Award nominee and graduate of the York University/Canadian Stage MFA in Stage Direction, she is also a dedicated educator whose teaching spans Toronto Metropolitan University, George Brown Theatre School and Brock University. Alison Wong assumes the role of Artistic Director at Guild Festival Theatre in September 2026.