Director.  Artistic Director. Dramaturge.  Creator.​

​

Originally hailing from Saskatchewan, Rachel is a director and dramaturge of theatre and opera. She is currently the Artistic Director of the Grand Theatre in London, Ontario.

​

From 2021 to 2023 Rachel was the Associate Artistic Director of the Arts Club Theatre Company in Vancouver. There she oversaw the running of the Artistic Department from 2021-2022 during the Artistic Director's maternity leave. From 2017 to 2020 she was the Associate Artistic Director of the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton, where she led 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 (Betty Mitchell Award nominee - Outstanding Production of a Musical) , 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 a Critic's Choice in Innovation. 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; directing Angels in America: Part One at Studio 58, and directing and co-conceiving the interactive project 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.  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, and in 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.

​