Jovanni Sy
Jovanni Sy is a playwright, director, and actor. From 2012-2019, Jovanni was the Artistic Director of Gateway Theatre in Richmond, BC. From 2004-2009, Jovanni was the Artistic Director of Cahoots Theatre in Toronto.
Jovanni’s plays include: The Five Vengeances, a comic kung-fu adaptation of The Revengers Tragedy, which premiered with Affair of Honor Theatre at the Shadbolt Centre in September 2022; Nine Dragons, a detective story set in 1920s Hong Kong, which premiered at Vertigo Theatre in 2017 before transferring to Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre and Gateway Theatre; and A Taste of Empire, a solo cooking show which premiered with Cahoots Theatre in Toronto in 2010.
A Taste of Empire was remounted by Boca del Lupo in 2014 and 2015 before being translated into Cantonese by Derek Chan in 2016. It is currently being adapted into Tagalog by Carmela Sison.
Nine Dragons received a Jessie Richardson Award for Best New Play and was also nominated for a Betty Mitchell Award and a Winnipeg Theatre Award. A Taste of Empire was nominated for three Dora Mavor Moore Awards. Both plays have been published by Talonbooks.
Jovanni is currently developing three new plays: Salesman in China (co-written with Leanna Brodie) which began as part of PTC Associates program before receiving a co-commission from the Stratford Festival and the Banff Centre; The Tao of the World, an adaptation of The Way of the World set in modern-day Singapore (Citadel Theatre); and Kowloon Bay, a prequel to Nine Dragons (Vertigo Theatre).
Directing credits include The Five Vengeances; Murder on the Orient Express (Vertigo Theatre); God of Carnage, Antigone, Blackbird (Theatre du Pif); The Orchard (After Chekhov) (Arts Club); Yoga Play, Valley Song (Gateway Theatre); Stitch (Native Earth Performing Arts).
As an actor, Jovanni has performed with theatre companies across Canada and internationally. Most recently, he created the role of Mr Miyagi in the pre-Broadway tryout of The Karate Kid, the Musical at Stages St. Louis.