KATHLEEN WEISS

 

 

Kathleen Weiss is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Drama at the University of Alberta, teaching Directing, Acting and Play Creation, as well as acting as the Coordinator of the MFA Directing Program. Kathleen has an extensive background as a professional theatre director, artistic director, dramaturge, and playwright. She is a former Artistic Director of Tamahnous Theatre and the Women In View Festival in Vancouver. She has taught acting for the Vancouver Playhouse School, Studio 58, Simon Fraser University, and the University of British Columbia. Recent directing credits include Scenes from an Execution by Howard Barker, and Bearing Witness, a new play which examined issues around torture, and family betrayal. The innovative productions of Shakespeare which she directed at Tamahnous, such as The Haunted House Hamlet and Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth are still well known across the country. Kathleen was in London, England in 2005 to direct a new play, Wanted, about women pirates for Theatre Textere. Kathleen is an expert in the generation of theatrical text from improvisation and images. She is currently working on an iconographic dramaturgy system; evolving a process for the development of scripts which are non-traditional in terms of their structure and which are heavily image based.

 

About her work on the play: “Quality is a play I have been working on as a dramaturge for several years, and now that it is ready to share with audiences, I am hungry to see that it is produced and know that I have to direct it. The play examines contemporary obsessions with beauty, sexiness, and consumption. It delves into the complex relationship between working women of different classes”.

 

“The play connects to my research on many levels. My career as a director, dramaturge, and teacher has been dedicated to the experimental development of the practice of theatre. My creative work and research is centered in the search for a more expressive form of theatre that goes beyond currently accepted theatrical conventions. Essentially, I am developing a performance language which emphasizes the physical playing of the actor, and transcends barriers and conventions. This work began for me with involvement in non-linear plays written by women and individuals from other cultural backgrounds. As a director, I employ an emblematic acting system that positions physically based image theatre in a central role. This work embraces both a multi-cultural and interdisciplinary perspective in theatrical training methods and performance. For the past three years, I have been applying this work to the practice of dramaturgy, as well as direction”.