Christopher Newton (11 June 1936 – 20 December 2021) was a Canadian director and actor, who served as artistic director of the Shaw Festival from 1980 to 2002. Early life and education Newton was born in Deal, Kent, England and educated at Sir Roger Manwood's School. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a B.A., he moved to the United States for further study at Purdue University in Indiana and the University of Illinois, where he earned his M.A. in 1960. Summer jobs at the Vancouver Festival in 1959, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, the next two summers, led Newton into acting. Bucknell University hired him as acting head of theatre department, where he continued to learn acting on the job. Career Newton performed with the Canadian Players, at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, the Vancouver Playhouse and the Stratford Festival. At Stratford, he played such roles as 'Oberon' in A Midsummer Night's Dream and 'Aramis' in The Three Musketeers. He also appeared on Broadway in Peter Shaffer's The Private Ear. In 1968, Newton founded Theatre Calgary where he served as artistic director until 1971. In 1973, he was appointed artistic director of the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. There, he founded the Playhouse Acting School with his friend and mentor Powys Thomas. Shaw Festival In 1979, after thrice refusing, Newton accepted an appointment as artistic director of the Shaw Festival. During his tenure, Newton continued the work to expand and enrich the Shaw Festival repertory company. Newton directed a number of critically acclaimed productions, including George Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1983), Heartbreak House (1985), Major Barbara (1987), Man and Superman (1989), Misalliance (1990), Pygmalion (1992), Candida (1993) and You Never Can Tell (1995), as well as Henry Arthur Jones's The Silver King, William Gillette's Sherlock Holmes, Harold Brighouse's Hobson's Choice, Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, J.M. Barrie's Peter Pan, St. John Hankin's The Return of the Prodigal, and Noël Coward's Cavalcade. He also continued to appear as an actor at The Shaw, taking a series of small roles in one of the company's greatest successes, Derek Goldby's production of Edmond Rostand's Cyrano de Bergerac, as well as playing lead roles in Noël Coward's Private Lives and Granville Barker's The Secret Life. As artistic director, he brought in directors such as Tadeusz Bradecki, Derek Goldby, Denise Coffey, Jackie Maxwell and Neil Munro. Newton also carefully developed the acting company, cultivating