houston@uwaterloo.ca
(519) 888-4567 x 47029
Location: ML 119B
Andy Houston earned his BA in Drama and Sociology from the University of Guelph in 1989, where he was awarded a College of Arts Medal. In 1992 he completed a MA at the University of Alberta, with his thesis focusing on the dramaturgy and theoretical paradigms of playwright Howard Barker. In 1994 he was awarded a Commonwealth Scholarship to pursue a PhD at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UK), where he completed a dissertation (1999) on postmodern dramaturgy in the work of three companies, DV8, Forced Entertainment, and Brith Gof.
Since completing his studies, Andy has taught and created performances across Canada and in Europe. In 2002, he co-founded Knowhere Productions Inc. with Kathleen Irwin, a company devoted to the exploration of site-specific and site-responsive performance. Over the last twenty-five years, he has directed and dramaturged several large-scale site-specific, intermedia productions. In 2020, he co-created the WOOMcollaborative with his former students, Brooke Barnes and Joanna Cleary. The WOOMcollaborative is a Waterloo Region multidisciplinary arts incubator, serving as a research and development hub for the Kitchener-Waterloo cultural sector by providing space, subsidy, and mentorship to new generations of performance creators.
As a scholar, Andy has published broadly in his field and edited a Canadian Theatre Review issue on site-specific performance, as well as a collection of writings on environmental and site-specific theatre in Canada, published by Playwrights Canada Press.
For more information, please see Andy Houston’s website.
For more information about the WOOMcollaborative.
Significant Research Contributions
Selected Professional Performance Projects
- Mall of Maladaptive Dreaming (2022) An immersive, site-responsive theatre experience that offers its audience a deep reveal of the lives of women working in retail. Here biography, conveyed through various media (sound, video, and performance) is contextualized within an actual retail space to create a local and compelling experience. Produced by WOOMcollaborative.
- Darling (2022) An immersive, interactive theatre experience that focuses on an alarming discovery: the diary of a troubled teacher from Cambridge in the 1970s, including the intimate cassette recordings from her secret lover. The performance is an examination of our relationship and response to what is revealed about her past. Produced by WOOMcollaborative.
- Entangled (2017) An immersive and intermedial (music/sound/theatre, projection) performance which premiered at the IMPACT ’17 Festival. A development of Algorithmyth (2014-2015), this project examines the very contemporary phenomenon of algorithmic programming and how it is having a profound effect on our society, and how this phenomenon can be seen to have deep, historical patterns in human behaviour and cultures.
- Mush Hole Project (2016) A multi-media, site-specific art installation made in response to the TRC’s 94 recommendations addressing the residential school legacy, and in support of the Save the Evidence campaign at the Woodland Cultural Centre, the site of the former Mohawk Institute, the first residential school on Canadian land.
- DISSOCIA (2011) A multi-media, environmentally staged performance based on research into digital gambling addiction for the Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, Ontario.
- Legion of Memory (2007-2008) A multi-media, site-specific performance exploring war memorial and the displacement of war refugees in the location of a former Legion Hall, Kitchener, Ontario.
- Crossfiring / Mama Wetotan (2006) A multi-media, site-specific performance exploring the historical and cross-cultural relationship of Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal people to the land in Southern Saskatchewan.
- The Weyburn Project (2002) A multi-media, site-specific performance based on the historical edifice of mental healthcare – and the shadow of madness – in Saskatchewan, at the Souris Valley Extended Care Centre.
Selected Articles
- “Dis-ing the Main Drag and Walking toward the Public Good in Here Be Dragons: Mapping Queer, Asian-Canadian Identity in Kitchener, Ontario,” Theatre Research in Canada, ed. Yana Meerzon, Volume 36, No. 2, Fall 2015, pp. 274-289.
- “Collaborating with Audiences in the Creation of Site-Specific Performance, or Transgression, Endurance and Collaboration in Windblown / Rafales,” About Directing, Edited by Anna Migliarisi (Toronto: Legas Publishing, 2014), pp. 65-83.
- “A Parasite in the Monument: Performing the Surplus Value of the Brickmakers of Claybank in Crossfiring /Mama Wetotan," SightingCitingSiting: Crossfiring /Mama Wetotan Anthology, eds. Kathleen Irwin and Rory MacDonald. Regina: Canadian Plains Research Institute, 2009, pp. 111-128.
- “The Thirdspace of Environmental and Site-Specific Theatre,” in Environmental and Site-Specific Theatre: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Vol. 8. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2007, pp. vii-xix.
- “Deep-Mapping a Morning on 3A: The Found and the Fabricated of The Weyburn Project,” in Environmental and Site-Specific Theatre: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Vol. 8. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2007, pp. 130-142.
Books (edited)
- Environmental and Site-Specific Theatre: Critical Perspectives on Canadian Theatre in English, Vol. 8. Toronto: Playwrights Canada Press, 2007, 196 pp.
Journals (edited)
- Theatre Research in Canada: feature issue on Space and Subjectivity, Vol. 29, No. 1, Fall 2008 (co-edited with Laura Levin), 178 pp.
- Canadian Theatre Review, on Site-Specific Performance. No. 126, Spring 2006 (co-edited with Laura Nanni), 133 pp.
- Canadian Theatre Review, on Theatre and the Question of Disability. No. 122, Spring 2005 (co-edited with Michelle deCottignies), 97 pp.