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, producing more than 700 performances across seven Ontario theatres and welcoming over a quarter of a million audience members annually. A triple threat performer turned director, choreographer, educator, and artistic leader, he is the recipient of the inaugural 2024 Canadian Actors' Equity Change Maker Award, a proud disability and inclusion advocate, and the first amputee to perform on Broadway.
As a director and choreographer, David has helmed the Canadian premiere productions of Finding Neverland, Dear Evan Hansen, The Prom, Kinky Boots, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Mamma Mia!, Newsies, and many more. His work is recognized for blending artistic excellence with a deep commitment to creating environments where creative minds can thrive.
For the screen, David has directed multiple series for CBC, along with projects for Disney, CBS, NBC, ABC, and PBS, collaborating with artists including Katy Perry, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber, Elton John, Sarah Jessica Parker, k.d. lang, Patti LaBelle, Sarah Brightman, and many others.
As a founding leader of the Drayton Entertainment Youth Academy, David helped build one of Ontario's fastest-growing theatre training programs, serving more than 3,500 children and youth annually through classes, camps, productions, and outreach initiatives designed to foster artistic excellence, confidence, and belonging. He has also served as an Adjunct Professor and advisor to musical theatre performance programs at Sheridan College, Western University, VanderCook College, and most recently, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth College. Through his teaching, he has mentored thousands of emerging artists, using theatre as a catalyst for confidence, resilience, creativity, and personal growth.
David is also a recipient of the Ontario Premier's Award of Excellence and 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, helping develop actionable strategies to improve disabled representation on stage. He has served as a peer assessor for the Canada Council for the Arts and as an ambassador for Shriners Hospitals for Children and the War Amps Child Amputee Program.
He was honoured to direct Pauletta Washington and Diane Louie's United Nations Development Programme concert, Chronicle, which toured North America before culminating in a performance 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.