Robert Motum
Robert Motum is a Canadian playwright and theatre creator. He is noted for his background in site-specific performance and for his academic research into micronations.
Personal life and education
Motum was born in 1991 in Oshawa, Ontario. He attended the University of Waterloo for his BA in Drama and Aberystwyth University for his MA in Practising Performance. He recently completed a PhD in performance studies at the University of Toronto and currently teaches at the Rotman School of Management.Theatre career
As a site-specific theatre practitioner, Motum has a history of staging new theatrical work outside of purpose-built auditoriums. His 2013 play, Transience, was staged on an active Grand River Transit city bus as it circled its loop of Kitchener-Waterloo. He has since staged work in public parks, in a Queen Street art gallery, inside a vacant Target store, in a castle, throughout the streets of Hamilton, Ontario, and in augmented reality. His work has been supported by the Stratford Festival, the Ellen Ross Stuart Opening Doors Award, Outside the March and others.His verbatim play, A Community Target, is based on interviews with over 60 former employees of Target Canada and recounts the dramatic collapse of the retailer in the country. Staged inside a vacant Target store in Hamilton, Ontario, the piece garnered national and international media attention.