Brandon University Theatre welcomes experienced director

Brandon University (BU) is excited to welcome Rochelle Douris, who will lead the return of live theatre to BU in 2024.

Douris will join the Drama program as an instructor for the Winter 2024 term. She is a Dora-nominated Canadian theatre writer, director and educator whose accessible style often includes visual media and live music. Her innovative takes on Shakespeare’s classics have entertained and educated Toronto audiences since 2001. Her actor training program at the Upper Canada Repertory Company hosted an exclusive group of young trainees from 2001 to 2017, many of whom have gone on to careers in theatre and film. She has taught acting and theatre at the University of Florida and Guelph-Humber University and holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Concordia University and a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Florida.

Douris will be teaching three courses at BU in the winter of 2024, including 20.353/354 “Theatre Performance I/II.” Notably, the Theatre Performance I and II classes will present a new adaptation of David French’s Salt-Water Moon. In-class, time will be devoted to both individual character development and group rehearsal. The semester’s work will culminate in a Brandon University Theatre evening performance of Salt-Water Moon, which will be open to the general public. Salt-Water Moon is one of French’s five Mercer plays, which follow the fortunes of a Newfoundland family transplanted to Toronto. The play will provide ample opportunities for actors of varying ages, gender-identities and experience-levels to take a run at one of the two leading roles. The final selection of scenes and roles will be determined by the make-up of the class. This staging of Salt-Water Moon may contain elements of dance and/or music. So-inclined cast-members may contribute their skills, should they wish. 

The performance of Salt-Water Moon will be the first in-person performance by the Brandon University Theatre since 2019 (and the retirement of long-time Drama professor Jim Forsythe). In 2022, students presented an online production of She Kills Monsters, but excitement is high to return to the Evans Theatre for a public, in-person theatrical experience in 2024.

Anyone in the community who wishes to perform in Salt-Water Moon may seek enrolment in the Theatre Performance course by contacting Rochelle Douris at DourisR@BrandonU.ca. There is no formal audition for this class, or for the show. Students will workshop the script together during the first two weeks of class and solidify individual roles, based on that process.

For more information about the Drama Program at Brandon University, and for a full biography of Rochelle Douris, please visit BrandonU.ca/English/Drama-Program.

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