Blair's Story

Blair is a native of Halifax, Nova Scotia. At 3, Blair was telling her parents that she wanted to be Bette Midler when she grew up. She studied piano privately from age 4, voice privately from the age of 8, was in her first musical at 9, and pretty much grew up in the Neptune Theatre School, where first she studied and then she taught. She spent the majority of her "real" schooling attending Sacred Heart School of Halifax, where she was her class Valedictorian.

From there, Blair attended Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario for Music Theatre – Performance, where she was in a number of shows including Into the Woods (Cinderella) and Piaf: A Life in Song (Piaf), as well as a workshop of the brilliant Floyd Collins (Nellie). Between her second and third year at Sheridan, Blair was lucky enough to play Anne Shirley in Anne of Green Gables at the Stirling Festival Theatre. 

Since graduating with honors from Sheridan, Blair has been in a number of productions, including Sleeping Beauty (Lady Rosabella at the Stirling Festival Theatre), a revival of Anne of Green Gables (Anne Shirley, again in Stirling), Brighton Beach Memoirs, (Laurie in the Jonathan Randall Production directed by Avery Saltzman), Little Red Riding Hood (Denise the Fairy at the Stirling Festival Theatre), and Emily (Emily Starr at Talk is Free Theatre), directed by Richard Ouzounian.

Following Emily, Blair went to live in New York City. She trained for 6 weeks at NYU's CAP21 Program. While in "The Apple", she participated in Scott Alan's concert Monday Night's, New Voices. The concert was hosted by Broadway star Shoshana Bean. Blair was also the youngest of those chosen and the only Canadian. 

Since her return to Canada, Blair has been in a number of other productions including Broadway Treasures (Female Lead at the Red Barn Theatre), Once Upon a Mattress (Princess Winnifred at the Chester Playhouse), a remount of Emily (Emily Starr at Talk is Free Theatre), The Twilight Cabaret (Hazel in a tour with Smile Theatre), More Broadway Treasures (Female Lead at the Red Barn Theatre), and her first One Woman Show called Just Call me Blair (presented by Acting Up Stage Productions at the Berkeley Upstairs Theatre). 

Her newest One Woman Show entitled …NEXT!, which is all about her experience with auditions, was presented at Statlers Piano Bar in Toronto on March 8th, 2009.  

The spring of 2009 saw her working on the Citadel Theatre's production of The Wizard of Oz, in which she played Dorothy. The Edmonton Journal just published an article about the past season of theatre in which Blair got a shout-out under "10 Memorable Performances"...         

"Whatever you may think of a theatre spending a fortune reinventing a movie musical, the Cowardly Lion (Julien Arnold), the Tin Man (John Ullyatt) and the Scarecrow (Jeremy Baumung), along with Blair Irwin as Dorothy in Bob Baker's The Wizard of Oz, repossessed the iconic roles with great heart and charm."

Following The Wizard of Oz, Blair had the great pleasure of making another dream come true. She was the voice of a cartoon! She's played Cousin Becky in the animated segments in The Ron James Show for the past two seasons. She got to work with the likes of Ron James and Linda Kash and she had a blast. 

Her debut album, called Blair, was released in April 2010 and is available on her website or in the lobbies of most theatres where she is working. 

While her CD was still in production, she began rehearsals for Peter Pan at Neptune Theatre in Halifax, where she played Wendy Darling. Her album arrived in time for preview performances, where it was sold in the lobby of Neptune throughout the successful run of Peter Pan.

The summer of 2010 took Blair to California for pleasure and then to Orillia, Ontario for pleasure AND work. She got to collaborate with a dear friend, Debbie Collins (and many other new friends, too!), on The Radio Show at the Orillia Opera House.

Blair played Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz again in the winter of 2010. This time it was at Neptune Theatre in Halifax, where she played Wendy in Peter Pan. It was one of her favourite theatre experiences to date.

You may have seen Blair in The Man in Black - a Tribute to Johnny Cash both at the Panasonic Theatre in downtown Toronto or on tour in Gatineau in the winter/spring of 2011. It was a complete treat of a show! 

In May of 2011, Blair travelled to Halifax, N.S. and Sackville, N.B. where she participated in a workshop of a new play, Tompkinsville, by the lovely and amazingly talented Lindsay Kyte.
 
In her spare time Blair enjoys travelling and hanging out with her fiance, Rob and their awesome cats, Stella and Kïtty.