TheatreWorks provides creative opportunities for communities, schools and organizations to explore issues of concern using the methods of Theatre for Living. No acting experience required! We engage groups in creative dialogue using games, exercises and reflection to understand challenges, explore solutions, rehearse ideas, and support healthy change. Theatre for Living is about people being the experts in their own lives and communities.
Established in 2004, TheatreWorks has produced public performance projects on a wide range of community and school issues in British Columbia. TheatreWorks has also facilitated over 150 workshops using Theatre for Living to explore challenging issues in communities, schools and organizations. Additionally, TheatreWorks utilized theatre as a research methodology to explore barriers to civic engagement for marginalized people with KAIROS,
a national social justice organization. As a founding member of ArtsREACH Victoria, TheatreWorks created curriculum and led theatre workshops in elementary schools across School District 61.
About TheatreWorks
Theatre for engagement and dialogue.
Artistic Director
River Chandler
River Chandler, MA, BSW is the Artistic Director of TheatreWorks. River grew up on the stage, in plays, musicals, choirs and dance troupes. They were awarded a Manitoba Theatre Centre scholarship to attend Camosun College’s Professional Theatre Program and worked with the Bastion Theatre and the Belfry Theatre in Victoria, and the Vancouver Children’s Festival in Vancouver.
In addition to their formal theatre education, River trained with Brazilian theatre directors Augusto and Julian Boal in Theatre of the Oppressed, and with David Diamond from Headlines Theatre in Theatre for Living, which evolved from Theatre of the Oppressed. David shifted the work from the binary language and approach of oppressor/oppressed and defeating the oppressor to a broader perspective of using theatre to build understanding of the complex issues that impact our lives, and to work together in our communities to create solutions.
In 2004, River partnered with Headlines Theatre in the national project Gimme the Keys, theatre about drinking, drugs and driving. The project’s goal was to seed the work of Theatre for Living in six communities across Canada in partnership with individuals who
trained in Theatre for Living, and to engage communities in creative dialogue about this important issue. The Victoria-based component of the project was very successful, with three public performances and numerous high school, post-secondary school and community performances. It established TheatreWorks as a leader in the work of Theatre for Living.
River established TheatreWorks in 2004. In addition to their theatre experience, River brings extensive professional facilitation and instruction experience to this work. River’s passion for social justice and equity informs all their work.
