William Weigler

BA, Oberlin College, Ohio
PhD Candidate, University of Victoria
Sessional Instructor
Applied Theatre
willweigler@yahoo.com

Brief Biography

Will has been an Applied Theatre director, teacher, and playwright for over twenty-five years. He is the author of the award-wining book Strategies for Playbuilding: Helping Groups Translate Issues into Theatre, and was on the editorial staff for the book We Are Strong: A Guide to the Work of Popular Theatres Across the Americas. Here at the University of Victoria, Will has just completed his PhD in Applied Theatre. For his doctoral dissertation, he analyzed hundreds of descriptions of people’s most unforgettable moments as audience members so that he could develop a theory about what made those moments so astonishing. Based on his analysis, he developed a vocabulary of staging strategies that offers community participants and Applied Theatre artists a way to collaboratively engage the power of the theatrical event. Just prior to beginning his graduate program in Victoria, Will wrote, produced, and directed Common Wealth, a large-scale intergenerational musical play created in collaboration with the Settler community of Darrington, Washington, and the nearby Sauk-Suiattle First Nations band.