“When I came here three years ago,” says Vern Thiessen, artistic director of Workshop West Playwrights’ Theatre (WWPT), “I was really surprised at how (Edmonton) had changed.” In some ways, Edmonton reminded Vern of the city he had just left: New York, where he lived for seven years, and where he says he spent a lot of time teaching in Harlem and the Bronx. It was while teaching playwrighting to students in the Bronx and Harlem that Vern gained a better understanding of how important it is to be represented in theatre, to be included.
Some of the students’ stories reflected their day-to-day realities of living in The City of Dreams: a place where their voices were too often ignored or silenced because of their identities. And, where their experiences were often absent in the famed theatres of New York. In 2014, when Vern returned home to Edmonton, he noticed a similar silencing taking place in many places. So, that same year, when Vern became WWPT’s artistic director, he and Marian Brant — general manager of WWPT — made it their goal to give audiences a more inclusive view of Edmonton. “I want to make sure our theatre company reflects the city,” Vern says. “To make sure we’re mirroring what the city looks like.”
