Alexis Milligan

“I’ve often been told that my ideas are too big, that I do too much, and that it’s all “just a lot”.

But, what I have come to realize is that we only have one shot at this life and when I come to my end I want to be empty.”

Alexis Milligan is an acclaimed actor, movement specialist and director with a number of awards and nominations to her name. Acting credits include: Any Given Moment (Ship’s Company Theatre/Theatre New Brunswick); 8 Seasons with Two Planks and a Passion Theatre (notably Roselind/As You Like It - Merritt Award Nominee; 937; Beowulf - Merritt Award Nominee); Associate Artist with Theatre Gargantua; 7 international tours with Mermaid Theatre of Nova Scotia. Film/TV credits include: Some Things Won’t Sleep (Foglight Productions - ACTRA Award Nominee); Hot Wheels (Mattel); Addison (KidsCBC); Seed (City TV - ACTRA Award Nominee). Alexis was also principal puppeteer on You & Me, and The Mighty Jungle (KidsCBC - Gemini Best Pre-School Production).

Alongside her performance work Alexis is a noted artistic collaborator and has created choreography and movement for many theatre companies around the world. Currently in her seventh season as Movement Director at The Shaw Festival, selected credits include: The Game of Love and Chance, Desire Under the Elms; Sex (by Mae West), The Glass Menagerie, and Saint Joan. Alexis was also the movement and puppetry director for the sold out run of The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe at The Stratford Festival, as well as En Julefortelling (A Christmas Carol) with the National Theatre of Norway in Bergen.

Alexis’ passion project is her company, Transitus Creative, an interdisciplinary performing arts company specializing in Whole-Person Communication and public engagement through the arts. She has created original works in collaboration with Dalhousie University’s School of Nursing (The PEACE Project: Palliative Education through Art Communication and Engagement); The Association of Nova Scotia Museums (Touchstones); It’s A Girl! created with gender consultant Michelle Raine.

Alexis holds a Diploma in Classical Performance from George Brown College and a Master’s Degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from The University of New Brunswick, in which she combined the performing arts, curriculum development, communications and neuroscience. The focus of her research was the development of her concept of whole-person communication and her program “Speaking in Silence”.

Currently, Alexis sits on the steering committee for the newly formed Canadian Network for Imagination and Creativity as well as The Atlantic Centre for Creativity where she hosts the podcast “Finding Creativity”. She is past vice-chair for The Nova Scotia Talent Trust, and past chair of Theatre Nova Scotia. She has been on the peer assessment selection committee for The Canada Council for the Arts, Arts Nova Scotia, and Arts Newfoundland, as well as a number of student scholarship juries including the Pat Richard’s Choreographic Award.

Alexis is a much sought after teacher and educator for her unique approach to knowledge sharing and learning. She is a recurring guest teacher at NYU: Tisch School for the Performing Arts, the Cité de Paris, The Verbier Festival Switzerland, and multiple university nursing programs across Canada.