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BIOGRAPHY

Director.  Dramaturge.  Creator.

Originally hailing from Saskatchewan, Rachel is a freelance director and dramaturge of theatre and opera. She is currently the Associate Artistic Director of the Arts Club Theatre Company (Vancouver), Canada's largest urban theatre company. From 2017 to 2020 she was the Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre, where she lead the Citadel's New Play Development initiatives. In January 2023 she won the Ovation Award for Outstanding Direction for her work on Something Rotten!, produced by Theatre Under the Stars.

Rachel recently directed Macbeth for Calgary Opera, Sense and Sensibility for the Arts Club, 9 to 5: the Musical for the Citadel Theatre, Something Rotten! for Theatre Under the Stars, and The Pearl Fishers for Vancouver Opera. Rachel directed and dramaturged Hyperlink for the elbow, which was nominated for Critic's Choice in Innovation at the 2018 Jessie Awards. Recent directorial credits also include The Garneau Block for the Citadel, La Cenerentola for Vancouver Opera, and Phaedra/ Serenade for Pacific Opera Victoria.

Some additional career highlights include directing and dramaturging the world première opera, Stickboy, for Vancouver Opera; directing the première of The Contest of the Winds for Caravan Farm Theatre; helming SexyVoices, a community-based creation piece about love and sex in the disability community for Realwheels Theatre; and directing and co-conceiving Sustainability in an Imaginary World at UBC.

Rachel was the co-Artistic Director of Solo Collective Theatre from 2008-2013 for whom she directed Cool Beans, Play With Monsters, After Jerusalem, The Project, and The Trolley Car (Jessie Nomination - Outstanding Direction).  She also spent four years as Resident Stage Director of Dark by Five at Gros Morne Summer Music where she directed and co-created fifteen new interdisciplinary works. 

Rachel interned at the Komische Oper in Berlin, at Stratford's Michael Langham Workshop for Classical Direction, at the Shaw Festival's Neil Munro Directing Internship. She also studied extensively with her mentor, James Fagan Tait. Rachel is a graduate of the University of Alberta and Studio 58.

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