Artistic Director: Mark von Eschen

Mark grew up in Prince Albert, and then moved to Saskatoon, Vancouver, and Calgary for school and work before landing back in Saskatoon to work mostly for Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan and Persephone Theatre with occasional work at other theatres. This is Mark’s tenth season as Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan’s Artistic Director, but he has been involved with the company since 1990, when founding Artistic Director Gordon McCall hired him as Production Manager/Technical Director. Mark stayed at that post for three seasons but also spent time at the University of Calgary, earning a Master of Fine Arts in Theatre Directing. Mark’s first professional directing contract was in 1994, directing Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which played in repertory at Shakespeare on the Saskatchewan with Henry Woolf’s Punk Rock Hamlet. Mark became Henry’s Associate Artistic Director in 1999, directing the blockbuster 1950’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream while Stage Managing the Festival Frolics, and Romeo and Juliet. In 2001, Henry retired and Mark’s became the AD. Mark was appointed as Artistic and Executive Director in 2005 and has since led the Shakespeare team to new financial stability, while relishing the privilege of working with the world’s best playwright and Saskatchewan’s finest theatre artists.