​​Alan Shain

​Smashing stereotypes, one laugh at a time. 

A multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans theatre, dance, storytelling, and stand-up comedy, Alan's work has attitude! He blends comedy with a strong flavor of honesty and truth while drawing from the lived experience of disability.
Alan Shain has been contributing work to the global Disability Arts Movement, and especially Canada's disability arts domain, ​for over 20 year

​A multidisciplinary, disability-identified artist based out of Ottawa, Alan began his career in stand-up comedy then, after charming one audience after another, soon expanded his artistic repertoire to also include solo-performance, dance, storytelling and writing. 

Alan's been invited to perform his originally-created works across Canada and the US, and in England, Australia and Taiwan as well; he's garnered critical acclaim wherever he goes; from, for example, The Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Critics Circle, Toronto Star, Winnipeg Free Press, Eye Weekly, Victoria News and RealTime Magazine.
 
Alan's artistic vision is to disrupt the normalization of impairment through bold artistic innovation in both content and form. His artistic reputation is built on pushing artistic, cultural and political boundaries, because his artistic practice promotes counter-cultural perspectives of "the disability experience". 

As a performer, Alan holds the honors of: Being the only Canadian artist invited to perform at the Paralympics Arts Festival in Sydney, Australia; performing for the Department of Community Affairs in Bermuda; being ​a featured Canadian artist at Above & Beyond Festival in England; co-headlining at John F. Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC for the 15 year commemoration of the Americans with Disabilities Act; and being invited to represent Canada in Sixth Sense Performing Arts Festival in Taiwan.

As an independent creator, Alan has developed two solo theatre shows (one of which is a co-production with Stage Left Productions); 2 dance works with Frank Hull and Kazumi Tsuruoka; multiple dance works with Shara Weaver, Renata Soutter and the Propeller Dance ensemble; multiple storytelling performances of both traditional and personal tales; and a stand-up comedy act which toured  Yuk Yuk's Komedy Kabaret for many years.

For many years, Alan was a headliner in Balancing Acts Disability Arts Festival (Calgary) and in several Storytelling Festivals (Ottawa, Toronto, St. Mary's...). He has enjoyed a few successful Fringe runs in Winnipeg, Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa (where his first solo-show, Still Waiting for that Special Bus, was named Best of Fringe). He regularly performs in Theatre for Young Audiences throughout Ottawa and the GTA, as a touring artist for MASC and Prologue to the Performing Arts. As an artistic mentor, Alan co-founded Propeller Dance, with Shara Weaver and Renata Soutter, to provide ongoing training, education and performance opportunities for both disabled and non-disabled adults, youth and children.

Multiple award-winning Australian photographer, Belinda Mason, featured Alan in her 2000 Exhibition called Intimate Encounters, an emotive photo essay on sexuality and disability. In 2005 Alan's performance work was featured on Moving On, CBC's disability-focused TV program. In 2013 independent Ottawa filmmaker, Corinne Baumgarten, produced a documentary short on Alan's work, called Four Menus, Please!

​Since 2013, Alan has been the Disability Arts Officer at the Canada Council for the Arts. 

Visit Alan's website. 
Picture
Time To Put My Socks On 2010
Picture
STORYTELLING. 2021
Picture
Four Menus, Please. 2015

 A Stage Left Production: 
​ Non-normalizing disability theatre, since 1999!
HEADER PHOTO CREDITS
We thank The Great Canadian Theatre Company for the photoshoot and use of that image; as well as Jared Davidson, for being our model (in drag!). 
Picture

​Making the invisible VISIBLE
c/o Box 8007 CANMORE MAIN
Canmore, Alberta   T1W 2T8
CONTACT US
transgressive ART. 
intersecting CULTURES.
non-normative AESTHETICS.
Picture