Alumnus Alan Brodie
Since graduating from the UBC Department of Theatre and Film in 1989, Canadian lighting designer Alan Brodie has worked for regional theatre, opera and dance companies from Victoria to Halifax, as well as countless small and independent producers. On the international stage, his work has been seen in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, London, Glasgow, Adelaide, Wellington, Bergen, Zürich and The Hague. Brodie has longstanding relationships with companies that include Vancouver Opera, Arts Club Theatre, Belfry Theatre, Pacific Opera Victoria, Pacific Northwest Ballet, American Conservatory Theatre, Theatre Calgary, Citadel Theatre, Canadian Stage, the National Ballet of Canada, Soulpepper Theatre Company, Shaw Festival, Stratford Shakespeare Festival and the now defunct Vancouver Playhouse.
Brodie’s lighting designs have come to be known for their sophisticated use of colour and sensitivity to rhythm and timing. He is intensely committed to collaboration and has served as a mentor to dozens of young lighting designers. His lighting designs have been described as “brilliant,” “elegant,” “notably assured,” “razor-sharp,” “stunning,” “subtle,” “seamless,” “fine,” “starkly dramatic,” “exceptional,” “striking,” “wildly active,” “affecting,” and “ingenious”. Brodie has received 10 Jessie Richardson awards, a Sterling Award, a Betty Mitchell Award, an Ovation Award, a Victoria Critic’s Choice Spotlight Award and a Bay Area Theatre Critics’ Circle Award. In 2012 he was shortlisted for the Siminovitch Prize in Theatre, Canada’s most prestigious theatre award.
Brodie holds a BFA in Theatre Design and Production from the University of British Columbia and in 2016 he received an MFA in directing from the University of Victoria. He has served on faculty at UBC, the Banff Centre, Langara College (Studio 58) and the National Theatre School of Canada. He is a past board member of the Associated Designers of Canada. Brodie lives in Vancouver with his wife Michele and their boxer Ellie. http://www.alanbrodie.ca
Thoughts from Alan about his time at UBC:
I commenced studies at UBC in 1985, entering the BFA program in theatre production and design. This meant specialized training in all backstage areas: set construction, scene painting, costumes, props, sound and lighting, as well as introductory courses in all design disciplines. Throughout my career as a student at UBC, I took advantage of the wide array of liberal arts courses available to me: English, classical studies, fine arts, French and anthropology, knowing that these disciplines would serve me well in the future. Within the program, I concentrated on stage lighting, and my studies culminated with the lighting design for Zastrozzi, a stylish play by Canadian George F. Walker. Thanks to the advocacy of then-new faculty member Robert Gardiner, I was one of the first undergraduates to design on the Frederic Wood Theatre stage.
In 2016, I completed an MFA in directing at UVic. I’ve just finished co-directing A Few Good Men with Ensemble Theatre Co., and look forward to a continuing association with them as a director. In some ways, my incipient directing career feels like going back in time to the beginning of my career as a designer. The difference is that now I bring the experience of almost 30 years and over 300 lighting designs to bear in my work as a director. I owe a great debt of gratitude to the UBC Theatre program for setting me on course and giving me a place to cultivate my love of the theatre and my abilities as a designer.
