Ah, you’d like to see some of my acting work.

All right.

Here are some plays I’ve been particularly good in

Bed and Breakfast

by Mark Crawford, dir. by Stewart Arnott; Lighthouse Festival Theatre (2023)

Mark Crawford’s modern classic was a smash hit in sunny Port Dover. My co-star Warren Macaulay and I, under Stewart Arnott’s focused and truthful direction, brought the house down switching rapidly between more than twenty characters. As we juggled Mark’s exhilarating mélange of pathos, clownery and small-town intrigue, we had the whole town asking, “How the heck did you learn all those lines?”

“Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski is a mercurial Brett, suggesting a strong unbreakable spirit and a passionate loving heart…Together, these insightful performers create such a natural and caring relationship you are always on their side…These two men filter into every cranny of Crawford’s play a kind of truth and honesty that is never embarrassing or unbelievable.” - Gary Smith, Hamilton Spectator

“The thing that sets this show apart is the impressive versatility of its two leading men…Macaulay and Shepherd-Gawinski are more than up to the challenge of keeping up with the script’s breakneck pace and non-stop jokes. In the more tender moments of the play, Shepherd-Gawinski and Macaulay share a believable vulnerability that keeps the audience firmly in their corner from the first scene to the last.” - Mike Renzella, Haldimand Press

Tarragon Theatre's poster for The Hooves Belonged to the Deer

The Hooves Belonged to the Deer

by Makram Ayache, dir. by Peter Hinton-Davis; Tarragon Theatre (2023)

In Makram Ayache’s queer epic fantasia I played both Steve, a mysterious interloper in the Garden of Eden, and Jake, a pastor’s wayward son who returns home to test his father’s faith. Under the brilliant guidance of movement director Corey Tazmania, I also embodied a menagerie of animals in an intensely physical, ensemble-focused staging. Critics begged theatregoers to take in this provocative production and my committed, complex performance. So if you missed seeing me slithering shirtless down designer Anahita Dehbonehie’s Dora-nominated floor-to-ceiling IKEA ladder, that’s on you, pal.

“...a magnetic Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski…” - Kelly Nestruck, Globe and Mail

“Shepherd-Gawinski is impressive as two characters – three if you include a passionate, intuitive horse in one of the opening scenes.” - Glenn Sumi, So Sumi

“Shepherd-Gawinski…navigates these characters with grace and expertise, and…delivers an impressive performance.” - Janine Marley, A View From the Box

EVERY DAY SHE ROSE

by Nick Green & Andrea Scott, dir. by Andrea Donaldson & Sedina Fiati; Nightwood Theatre (2019)

Wonder Twin powers, activate: in this two-hander, created by two playwrights and staged by two directors, each actor played a dual role. I played both Mark, a gay white man with some spicy opinions about the involvement of Black Lives Matters in the 2016 Pride Parade, and Nick Green, a fictionalized version of the real playwright struggling with the meaning of art, pride, and collaboration.

“[Monice] Peter and Shepherd-Gawinski deftly handle the jumps in character, and Shepherd-Gawinski in particular has a sharp comedic sensibility — a puzzled, furrowed brow or small, excited jump goes a long way.” - Carly Maga, Toronto Star

“The two actors […] are excellent. Shepherd-Gawinski plays Mark as a flaming queer ready to party at any time, swanning around the stage, cracking jokes about sex with strangers yet still making his terror of rising homophobia palpable. He tones it down as Nick, but watch as he agrees to Andrea’s suggested changes: you can tell by his posture that he’s doing it grudgingly and that tensions are rising.” - Susan G. Cole, Now Magazine

Three Sisters

by Anton Chekhov, dir. by Mallory Fisher; Wolf Manor Theatre Collective (2017)

Kensington Hall may have been the most squalid indie theatre venue in Toronto–although it’s now permanently shuttered, and good riddance–but what it lacked in luxury, it made up for in intimacy. As the melancholy Andrey, I delivered my soliloquies directly to the audience as though they were my closest confidantes, and I got a MyEntertainmentWorld nomination for Outstanding Actor for my troubles.

“Adrian Shepherd-Gawinski is a moving and complex Andrey…a dramatic turn full of nuance and empathy in a play that could not be more classic.” - Kelly Bedard, MyEntertainmentWorld (review and interview)

  • Graduate of the National Theatre School’s Acting Program, 2013

  • One MyEntertainmentWorld nomination as an individual and one win as a member of an ensemble

  • Fabulous personality, just spectacular