Deborah Pearson

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Canadian Deborah Pearson founded and co-directs the multi award-winning venue Forest Fringe in Edinburgh. In 2010 and 2016, she was named in the Stage 100 list of the most influential figures in UK theatre. She is an award-winning live artist and playwright in immersive and intimate theatre, and has performed and presented her work throughout the UK, Europe, Canada, and most recently in Japan at the Tokyo Performing Arts Meeting where she was a resident artist. In 2012, she was curator of the live art series for SummerWorks, wrote the libretto for Volcano’s A Synonym for Love, and co-created the immersive dance piece The Queen West Project for Theatre Passe Muraille, of which John Colbourn wrote, “In three decades of theatre, this ranks, despite its brevity, as one of the most intimate and moving pieces of theatre this reviewer has ever experienced.” Deborah has recently finished a practice-based PhD at Royal Holloway in London where she is a Reid scholar, researching narrative in contemporary performance.

“I love working with Volcano. They gave me my start in professional theatre as a researcher on The Four Horsemen Project when I was 22 years old. Every time I get to be one of the creative collaborators with Ross Manson and Kate Alton, I pinch myself and send a telegram back to 22 year old me saying, ‘Check this out!’”