DIRECTOR, EDUCATOR & ADVOCATE
Photo: David Leyes
ABOUT
David Connolly is the Artistic Director of Drayton Entertainment, one of Canada's largest not-for-profit theatre companies, presenting productions across seven Ontario theatres to more than a quarter of a million audience members annually. A former triple-threat performer turned director, choreographer, educator, and artistic leader, David is the recipient of the inaugural 2024 Canadian Actors' Equity Change Maker Award, a passionate advocate for disability inclusion, and the first amputee to perform on Broadway.
As a director and choreographer, David has helmed the Canadian regional premieres of Finding Neverland, Dear Evan Hansen, The Prom, Kinky Boots, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Mamma Mia!, alongside acclaimed productions of Newsies, Shrek, Into the Woods, Annie and many others.
His screen directing credits include multiple CBC series and projects for Disney, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS, collaborating with artists such as Katy Perry, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, k.d. lang, Patti LaBelle, and Sarah Brightman.
As a founding leader of the Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy, David helped establish one of Ontario's fastest-growing theatre training programs, reaching more than 3,500 children and youth annually through classes, camps, productions, and outreach initiatives that champion artistic excellence, confidence, and belonging. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor and advisor to musical theatre programs at Sheridan College, Western University, VanderCook College, and most recently, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College.
A recipient of the Ontario Premier's Award of Excellence, David serves as a speaker for the DEI Committee of the International Musical Theatre Educators' Alliance. For five years, he has curated and moderated BroadwayCon's disability inclusion panel in New York and has served as a peer assessor for the Canada Council for the Arts and an ambassador for Shriners Hospitals for Children and the War Amps Child Amputee Program.
Among his most meaningful collaborations, David directed Pauletta Washington and Diane Louie's United Nations Development Programme concert, Chronicle, which toured North America before culminating at the United Nations General Assembly Hall. Their short film collaboration, Moonlight Sonata, premiered at the Smithsonian Film Festival, presented by the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
"David is, by anyone's definition, a leader in the field. What impresses me most is the high standard he has set for himself." -Stephanie Gorin, Emmy Award-winning Casting Director of The Toronto Productions of Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Kinky Boots, The Lion King, Beauty and The Beast, Rent, Crazy For You, Hairspray and Miss Saigon.
"David has created a career and reputation for himself as one of the most well-rounded and dedicated professionals of today." -Scott Barnes, Board of Trustees of Broadway Cares
"David is the kind of a person that the entertainment community needs more of." -David Friedman, conductor of the Disney animated features Beauty and The Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and vocal contractor for Mulan.