Wes Pearce

Wes D. Pearce was born and raised in Treaty 4 territory and is a graduate of the University of Regina.  He attended the University of Calgary for graduate school and returned to his alma mater and the brand-new state of the art Riddell Centre in 1997. He has served as Associate Dean (Interdisciplinary Programs and Special Projects), Associate Dean (Undergraduate) and Department Head of Theatre. He teaches a variety of design courses, as well as courses on musical theatre, fashion and Hollywood, and Canadian drama. Currently, he sits on the Board of Directors for Globe Theatre (Regina) and is heavily involved in World Stage Design 2022 (Calgary) as the editor of the exhibition catalogue. He was a long serving board member for the Canadian Association of Theatre Research and is a past board member of the Saskatchewan Association of Theatre Professionals, the Associated Designers of Canada, and AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan. In 2017 he received the University of Regina Theatre Department’s Distinguished Alumni Award.

ACCREDITATION

• MFA (University of Calgary) 1996
• BFA (Distinction - University of Regina) 1992
• BA (University of Regina) 1988

WORKS OF NOTE

“Domestic Spaces Unbecoming” Prompt: A Journal of Theatre Theory, Practice and Teaching Volume 1, Issue 2        

 “(Im)possible Spaces in the Plays of Sharon Pollock” in Etudes: An Online Theatre and Performance Studies Online Journal

“Visual Dramaturgy: Problem Solver or Problem Maker in Contemporary Performance Creation” in Theatre/Practice: The Online Journal of the Practice/Production Symposium of the Mid America Theatre Conference   

“’The art a seein’ the multiple realities”: Fragmented Scenography in Sharon Pollocks Plays” in Sharon Pollock: Frist Woman of Canadian Theatre (Calgary: University of Calgary Press)                                                                                                              

“Rewriting Self and Memory in The Soldier Dreams” in Daniel MacIvor: New Essays on Canadian Theatre (Toronto: Canada Playwrights Press)        

Co-editor Outspoken: Perspectives on Queer Identities (Regina: University of Regina Press)                                                                                                                                             

Book reviews have been published in Texas Theatre Journal, Theatre History Studies, Modern Drama, Theatre Research in Canada, Journal of Dramatic Theatre and Criticism and Theatre Topics

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS

2021. Can Visual Dramaturgy Help Decolonize New (Scripted) Play Development? Association for Theatre Higher Education (virtual)                                                            

2021. “On the edge of a moment”: Problematizing Narrative and Storytelling Devices in Come From Away Watershed Festival Reimagining Music Theatre (Queen’s University, virtual)                                                          

2021. How Can I Make Your Job Easier? or Why Good Design is Seldom About the Designer. Invited talk  for the inaugural Saskatchewan Theatre Design Festival        

2020. “I’m an Islander, I AM an Islander, I’m an Islander, I AM an Islander”: Multiple Narrators/Multiple Stories in Come From Away Association for Theatre in Higher Education (Virtual)                                                  

2020. Co-written with Kathryn Bracht. “Why did Josephine lose her head? Secrets from the Borne Settee: devising character(s) in a post-modern project” Mid-America Theatre Conference (Chicago, IL)                                                                                                           

2019. “Come From Away: (Re)inventing Reality for Musical Theatre” Song, Stage, Screen XV (University of Leeds, Leeds, UK)                                                                       

2019. “Summertime Shakespeare as Tourist Destination” 2019 Shakespeare Theatre Conference (University of Waterloo and the Stratford Festival)                                               

2018. “Canada 150, Riel and the Animated City” Canadian Association Theatre Research (Queen’s University, Kingston ON)                                                                                             

2018. “’The Wheel is Come Full Circle’: Shakespeare, Summertime and Popular Culture” Popular Culture Association of Canada (Brock University, St. Catherine’s, ON) 2018. "Gay for P(l)ay: Commercialization, Gay Theatre and the Death of Lady Bright” Mid America Theatre Conference (Milwaukee, WI)

SELECTED DESIGN CREDITS (*world premiere)

• 2021 Set Design. Lights! Climate! Action! University of Regina
• 2020 Visual Facilitator/Visual Dramaturg The Portrait Project* University of Regina
• 2019 Costume & Set Coordination/Facilitation The Borne Settee* University of Regina
• 2018 Set & Costume Design. Blood Relations University of Regina
• 2018 Set Design. La Boheme Saskatoon Opera
• 2018 Set & Costume Design Us: A Coming In Musical* Globe Theatre
• 2017 Set & Costume Design Antigone University of Regina
• 2017 Costume Design Bittergirl: the Musical Globe Theatre
• 2017 Set & Costume Design. Key Change* Globe Theatre
• 2016 Set & Costume Design. Million Dollar Quartet Globe Theatre
• 2016 Set & Costume Design. The Secret Mask Globe Theatre

He has designed dozens of productions for theatres across Western Canada including nearly two dozen productions for Regina’s Globe Theatre, numerous productions for Saskatoon’s Persephone Theatre (including the first production in the new Persephone Theatre), Alberta Theatre Projects, Western Canada Theatre, Prairie Theatre Exchange and almost 30 shows for the University of Regina.  He has received 4 Saskatoon and Area Theatre Awards and two Betty Mitchell Award nominations for Outstanding Costume Design.