Mairi Chanel

Raised in New Mexico and based in New England, Mairi (she/they/he) is an intimacy choreographer, theatre-maker, and Shakespeare practitoner. Certified with the Intimacy Professionals Association as an intimacy choreographer for live performance, Mairi also brings with her nearly 20 years of experience across the many facets of professional performance and production. She is an Associate Artist with Incite Shakespeare Company, and was a founding member and Producing Artistic Director of &Sons Theatre from 2019-2024.

Over their years as a company advocate and liaison, facilitator, director, performer, producer, and intimacy/movement/fight choreographer and captain, Mairi strives to establish every space they operate in as one of holistic communication and consent. They are a firm believer that the performer is the center of the work of theatre, that those performers deserve advocacy and emotional support to craft their strongest, most authentic performances, and that we can push to the edges of artistic expression without glamorizing or expecting the suffering of artists. The stories Mairi has always craved to hear and share are wild, poetic, queer, experimental, sometimes surreal and abstract, diving into the worlds of horror, science fiction, and fantasy to find deep catharsis. The vulnerability and creativity required to tell these stories well thrives best within intentional spaces of care.

While trained in many modalities of theatre, Mairi is specialized in ensemble-led show-raising, having spent the last 5 years diving into Shakespearean Quick-Raise, which aims to produce in a process inspired by 16th/17th century practices, buttressed by contemporary ensemble-building techniques sourced from dance, clown, contact improvisation, devised and physical theatre, and self-advocacy and communication tools. Her focus in this exploration is to integrate and develop tools that support performer autonamy and consent in this innovative, fluid process.

Website: www.mairichanel.net

Email: mairichanel@gmail.com