Theatre Director, Stages project

Dr Canan Salih is the Theatre Director for the Stages Initiative at People’s Palace Projects. A theatre and film writer and director, she has a BA and MA in Theatre from Dartington College of Arts and Rose Bruford College, and a PhD in Applied Drama and Ethnography from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. She worked as a Youth Arts Officer for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets for 19 years. As a dramaturg, she also led workshops in creative writing for the ‘A Season of Bangla Drama’ Festival in East London for 8 years.

Dr Salih has taught courses in film, theatre, cultural studies, and ethnographic research at Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, Manchester University, University of East London, and Queen Mary University of London. She was Head of Theatre at Richmond University of American Liberal Arts in London for 3 years. Specialising in applied theatre practice and issue based performing arts productions, she writes and directs her own plays and award-winning films through her company, Arts Without Borders. Since 2020, Dr Salih has taught undergraduate and post graduate courses at the Eastern Mediterranean University in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.