Faculty & Contact - Bishop's University

Below is a list of faculty that are active in the department, and available to students with course specific questions. If you need administrative support, we encourage you to refer your questions to one of the following;

The Chair of the department (see below) can address detailed program questions, including program requirements, planning and selection, research opportunities, graduate studies, and more.
The Academic Advisor, if available, can offer support including course registration and course load, important dates, academic policies and more.
The Academic Deans serve as the academic and administrative anchors to the professors within their Faculties or Schools as well as the students.

Faculty of Drama

Contact Information is found in the BU Directory

Dr. Rebecca Harries

Full Professor – Department Chairperson

Full Professor, PhD, Current Chair of the Department and Chair from 2009-2013, she is currently a member of the Canadian Association for Theatre Research and a negotiator and grievance officer for the Union, she has been committed to integrating the study and practice of performance with real-world challenges.

In the last year, she led a Praxis based session on the topic of boundaries and dual relationships in the professional setting. Training with Mixed Company (in Toronto this summer) and Augusto Boal (back in the 1990s) has informed a workshop, which has been given at both Bishop’s and Champlain College, receiving excellent feedback.

In the summer of 2018, she organized and led 13 students to perform Québec playwright Evelyne de la Chénelière’s Feet of the Angels at the International Fringe Festival of Theatre in Edinburgh, Scotland, a project, which was shortlisted for a Forces Avenir grant. Other favorite productions in recent years include Jordan Tannahill’s Concord Floral, Annie Baker’s Circle Mirror Transformation and George Farquhar’s The Recruiting Officer.

She has developed new courses for Drama including the popular second-year thematic courses Ritual and Theatre, Theatre and the State. She has conference papers and publications on a wide range of topics, including “Technostalgia”, cinematic vampires (a guest lecture this year) and stolen theatre posters “A Skull with Wings” published by the Performing Arts Journal, as well as an upcoming review in Theatre Journal.

She completed her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto on the Grotesque in German Expressionism in 2000. While at U. of T. she co-founded the Festival of Original Theatre (F.0.0.T) a conference that combines more conventional academic approaches with arts installations and theatrical performances.

Mr. George Rideout

Full Professor

Winner of several regional and national playwriting awards, George Rideout’s plays have been produced across Canada, he is also the winner of the Bishop’s Nancy Turner teaching award, winner of the Sherbrooke Mérite Estrien award, winner of the City of Sherbrooke award for outstanding achievements in education, winner of the City of Sherbrooke award for outstanding achievements in arts & culture. His playwriting class is the source of work for the annual New Plays Festival, which presents one-act plays written by Bishop’s students.

He is the author of over twenty plays, including Michel & ti-Jean*, An Anglophone is Coming to Dinner, The Tall Girl, Texas Boy, Dead Together, Texas Werewolf, and Columbia Days. He is the co-founder, along with professors Jamie Crooks and Fannie Gaudette, of the spring course in Musical Theatre; past productions include his adaptations of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo & Juliet, The Tempest, 12th Night, Hamlet, and The Comedy of Errors. He also adapted Cinderella for the stage, which was produced in Centennial Theatre and featured a small symphony orchestra of 14 musicians.

*Michel & ti-Jean, which presents a fictional encounter between beat writer, Jack Kerouac, and Québecois literary icon, Michel Tremblay, has been produced by the Centaur Theatre in Montreal, Theatre Network in Edmonton, and Sage Theatre in Calgary. It was published by Talonbooks in 2014.

In 2016 he directed Coma Unplugged, by Québec playwright Pierre Michel Tremblay. The play was performed in French and English on alternating nights, with the same cast performing in both languages. In 2018, he wrote and directed a musical adaptation of The Adventures of Tom Sawyer which was presented in Centennial Theatre.

Mr. Michael Medland

Technical Director of Turner Studio

Courses: Intro to Technical Theatre, Intermediate Technical Theatre Lighting Design

Michael Medland has been an invaluable part of Bishop’s University for over twenty years, acting as both technical director for Bishop’s Drama since 1988 and Centennial Theatre since 1994. He studied under his predecessor and later colleague, Dr. Ian Gaskell. Mr. Medland was also Technical Director for the Piggery Theatre from 1989-1997. He has been lighting shows since 1986, including countless designs for Bishop’s Drama and several for the Piggery and the Townships theatre company. Directors with whom he has worked include Ann Hodges, Perry Schneiderman, Greg Tuck, George Rideout, Doug Beatty, Andreas Aspergis and Corey Castle. His recent designs include Julius Caesar, The Madwoman of Chaillot, Indian Blood, Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (for the third time!). Michael Medland is the designer of the set and lighting for the 2011 spring musical, Beach Blanket Zombies.

Ms. Candace Herring

Contract Faculty

Candace Warner Herring received her Bachelor’s degree from Cornell University and has been designing and constructing costumes for 40 years. Prior to teaching and working at Bishop’s University, she has designed, draped, patterned and stitched costumes for: the Muppets, Off-Off Broadway in New York, New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, Florida’s Annie Russell Summer Theater, The University of Illinois, Champlain Regional College and others.

Her experiences at Bishop’s have been a wonderful blend of creativity and collaboration with both colleagues and students. Working with a talented team, she has had a chance to explore new design ideas, construction techniques and artistic materials. She has found great pleasure in introducing students to the principals of design. This influences not only their work on stage, but the way they interact in the world, as well.

Bringing technical support to the Bishop’s University Drama Department is a pleasure.

Prof. Mary Harvey

Contract Faculty

Over the past three decades Mary has acted, directed and written for the stage in Europe, USA and across Canada. Originally from the UK, she got her Masters from Cambridge University & Diploma with distinction from the Central School of Speech & Drama in London. In the UK she worked with the likes of Sam Mendes, Tom Hollander and Lee Hall, performing at Edinburgh and Avignon festivals among others. In Quebec she has worked at Centaur Theatre, Geordie theatre, The Segal Centre, ASM, Theatre Lac Brome and Hudson’s Village Theatre.

Recent performances include a reverse gendered Private Lives at Hudson’s Village Theatre; Mouth to Mouth in Montreal and London UK; Shakespeare’s Will at the Willow Globe UK, a new adaption of Pygmalion at Theatre Lac Brome; Her Home by Harry Standjofski at the Monument National.

Voice credits include Deus Ex (Human Revolution), Assassins Creed (III, Black flag, Unity, Syndicate). Recent Film and TV include: Being Human, 19-2, Mohawk Girls, Canadian Detective, the Arrival.

Mr. Wade Lynch

Contract Faculty

Wade Lynch teaches and directs in the drama, musical theatre, and arts administrations program. He has a 40+ year history as a performer, writer, and director in Canadian theatre, as well as experience in broadcasting and teaching. In addition to his many directing projects in commercial theatre, Wade has directed several plays at Bishop’s, is the co-host of the popular arts and culture program, TEATIME AT UPLANDS on MA-TV and manages the Bishop’s University Lifelong Learning Academy (BULLA).

Dr. Art Babayants

Assistant Professor

The Musical Theatre concentration is led by Art Babayants. Dr. Babayants/Արտ Բաբայանց is a multilingual artist-scholar who lives and works in what is now called Canada. His directing credits include musicals, contemporary Canadian drama, opera, and collectively devised performances. He holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance Studies from the University of Toronto and publishes on the issues of stage multilingualism, diasporic/immigrant theatre, queer dramaturgy, applied theatre and contemporary musical theatre.