Annie Smith, PhD

Annie Smith (BA, MA, PhD) is curious about many things and is a lifelong learner.  Three passions that have guided her since childhood are growing community, everything theatrical, and the natural world.  If a project can involve all three passions, heaven has arrived.

Annie is fascinated by the relationship the audience has to performance. She is committed to teaching and directing plays by Canadian playwrights, particularly women.  Canadian plays she has directed include And Up They Flew, by Martha Ross, Burning Vision by Marie Clements, Blood Relations by Sharon Pollock, "Sonny's Song" by Danni Richard, "Last Chance Leduc" by Katherine Koller,  Unity (1918) by Kevin Kerr, Harvest by Ken Cameron, Halo by Josh McDonald.  Her second commitment is to teaching Indigenous theatre and performance and its importance in helping settlers learn about the history and contributions of Indigenous peoples that are the foundation of both Canada and the US, past, present, and future. 

Her writing has focused on academic journalism but she is also a facilitator of writing courses and workshops exploring all genres.  She is a member of the Canadian Theatre Research Association and has published articles and book reviews in alt.theatre magazine, Theatre Research in Canada journal, and Canadian Theatre Review.  

Annie has supported many graduate students in their IDS courses, and been a thesis advisor and on thesis committees.  She also has been involved in outdoor education with 3 to 9 year olds, community art projects, loves to garden and explore outdoors.  Annie lives on the west coast of Canada, in Laichwiltach unceded territory, aka Campbell River.

Courses

For full course descriptions and details please visit our Course Descriptions page.

To audit a course below, please visit our audit page.

  • Over the last two years, in particular, and since the TRC revelations in 2015, the experience of too many generations of Indigenous children has become, finally, a part of Canadian consciousness.  Families devastated and children isolated and abused, these are stories that are hard to face, but face we must.  Indigenous playwrights have written to illuminate the complex experiences of children in these institutions so that we can begin to understand the residential school system and its ongoing impacts in First Nations communities.  That is the goal of this course – through reading six plays by Indigenous writers from across Canada, we will discover the enclosed worlds Indigenous children entered when they were taken away from their communities and how some survived and some succumbed.