SPOTLIGHT on PHILIP AKIN,
Performing Artist of the Year

JOHN COULBOURN - QMI Agency
28 DEC/11

TORONTO - When Philip Akin became the first Canadian-born black man to hit the Stratford stage in the title role of Shakespeare's Othello back in  2007 — and subsequently pulled it off with enviable panache — we began to suspect that here was a theatre artist with whom to conjure.


But it wasn't until Akin assumed the mantle of artistic director of Obsidian Theatre that we really got a chance to take the measure of the man. Akin is an artist who made his name as an actor, but seems destined to achieve greatness as a director. 
Indeed, he has come awfully close in 2011.


First, he swept his audience up and carried them away to a brothel in the middle of the war-ravaged Republic of Congo, unearthing love and compassion among the Ruined as he brought life to Lynn Nottage's Pulitzer Prize-winning play.
 Then, he moved his focus to the Shaw Festival, where his production of Topdog/Underdog, a compelling work for two actors written by Suzan-Lori Parks, proved to be one of the highlights of the season, despite the fact that it was programmed into the Festival's smallest space.

With Nigel Shawn Williams and Kevin Hanchard, Akin created a riveting production of familial trust and betrayal that proved as compelling to a Toronto audience in a subsequent Theatre Centre revival as it did to the audience in the Shaw's Studio space.


Taken individually, each of these shows represented impressive work from a journeyman director, but collectively, no matter how you do the math, they add up to our performing artist of the year.