Larry Lillo

Larry Lillo, theatre director, died in Vancouver, aged 46. He was born September 20, 1946 in Kinuso, a tiny village in Alberta northwest of Edmonton. He attended Royal Roads Military College, Nova Scotia, earned a BA at St. Francis Xavier. He studied at U. of Washington, then in New York City, later received an MA at UBC in directing. Lillo was the co-founder and a director and actor with Tamahnous Theatre from 1971 to 1981, a freelance theatre director, 1981-85, and artistic director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ont. in 1986. In 1988 he became artistic director of the Vancouver Playhouse (1988). Under his leadership, Playhouse subscriptions rose from 5,800 (1988) to nearly 12,000 (1992/93). He won a Jessie (Vancouver) and a Dora (Toronto) for his direction of Sam Shepard’s play A Lie of the Mind, which was at the Playhouse from October 4 to November 5, 1988. Lillo directed and developed many new Canadian plays. His partner, John Moffat (d. May 16, 1995, Vancouver, at 39), was an award-winning actor.