Barry Freeman
Barry Freeman is an Associate Professor of Theatre and Performance at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies with a cross-appointment to the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at OISE/U of T. He is the author Staging Strangers: Theatre & Global Ethics (2017), co-editor with Kathleen Gallagher of In Defence of Theatre: Practices and Social Interventions (2016) and served from 2011-2022 as Associate Editor of Canadian Theatre Review, during which time he co/edited 8 special issues and co/authored 15 articles on issues of importance to contemporary Canadian theatre and performance.
Barry’s primary research area is theatre education and pedagogy. He leads the research project Belongings: On the Virtues and Values of Drama, Theatre and Performance Education in Canada, which is a national qualitative study of post-secondary theatre programs in Canada, and co-leads the PLEDGE Project, a research-based tool supporting the production of more plays by women, two-spirit, trans, and non-binary creators. Barry’s goal is to produce research that will help build open-access, non-competitive resources, programming and supports for theatre educators. He is currently developing additional research projects about performance, history and reconciliation in Newfoundland, as well as on pedagogies of presence in theatre education.
Affiliations
Department of Arts, Culture & Media, University of Toronto Scarborough (undergraduate)
Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (graduate)
Curriculum, Teaching and Learning, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (graduate, cross-appointment)
Research projects
2019+
Belongings: On the Virtues and Values of Drama, Theatre and Performance Education in Canada is a multi-year, qualitative study of the history and state of Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies (DTPS) education in Canada at the post-secondary level. The goal of the project is to learn more about the personal, professional, or pedagogical values that shape DTPS curricula in Canada, how values relate to material conditions, and ongoing pedagogical reform in the field. (Status: Conducted major national mapping of curricula and EDI efforts, analyzing results, supervising team of research assistants, papers presented nationally and internationally and publication in process, funded thus far by internal UTSC grants. Role: Principal Investigator.)
2017+
PLEDGE Project: A Production Listing to Enhance Diversity and Gender Equity aims to provide educators and theatre producers further means to address the lack of gender equity producing plays for the Canadian stage, with a particular focus on plays produced in post-secondary theatre schools. The fully searchable database includes plays written by Canadian women that suggest a cast size of six or more performers. The project also invites schools, departments, professors, visiting directors, and the like to make public pledges to improve the representation of women playwrights and other marginalized communities at their institutions. pledgeproject.ca/ (Status: Ongoing research and advocacy since its founding, has employed and trained eight student/professional researchers and designers, focus in current year on knowledge mobilization and outreach, funded by ACM/UTSC Equity and Diversity in the Arts initiative. Role: Co-creator and Project Lead.) See PLEDGE website.
2022+
Stage Wright: A hyper-local theatre history. This archival project preserves and celebrates 60 years of theatre history at the University of Toronto Scarborough. It traces the media history of the campus from its days as a “television” campus and theatre’s former life as “TV Studio One,” through the many cultural and demographic shifts that take us up to performance on campus today. The project is both a physical exhibit installed at the campus’s Leigha Lee Browne Theatre as well as a digital archive featuring more than 2,000 items, including historical photos, programs and posters. The archival work continues with new activations in teaching and research. (Status: Funded by internal grants at UTSC, official exhibit launched in March 2025, ongoing physical and digital work in Summer 2025). See Stage Wright Digital Collection.
2025+
Lifting Rocks: Looking at/under Performances of Settler Resilience in Newfoundland is a new series of reflections on the meaning of reconciliation on the island. It weaves together archival and ancestral research, personal memoir, performance analysis, and a practice of walking the land. It is also a story about rocks—ubiquitous in the island’s cultural imagination, serving as a powerful metonym for both the land and its people. These rocks both conceal and reveal, shaping stories of identity and history. (This work has been presented at conferences and will appear in an upcoming publication, laying the groundwork for a book-length research project.)
Teaching Interests
Canadian Theatre, Theatre History, Intercultural Performance, Education and Pedagogy, Acting and Directing
Research Interests
Theatre and Performance in Canada, Education and Pedagogy, Ethics and Interculturalism, Newfoundland
Recent Grants
2025 SSHRC Partnership Engage Grant, $25,000
2025 Experiential Learning Mobility Fund, $20,111
2024 UTSC Legacy Fund, $5,000
2024 Global Classroom Fund, $9,751
2024 Mid-Career Promotions Grant, $11,841
2024 Research, Creative and Professional Practice Grant, $2,000
2024 Jackman Humanities Institute Scholars in Residence Program $2,000+student stipends for research intensive
2023 Joseph R. Smallwood Foundation Research Grant, $5,700
2022 UTSC Experiential Education Development Grant, $8,750
2022 UTSC Experiential Education Tier II Grant (co-applicant), $20,000
2020 SSHRC Connections Grant (co-applicant), $10,980
2019 UTSC VPR Research Competitiveness Fund, $10,000
Directing
She Kills Monsters
by Qui Nguyen
Leigha Lee Browne Theatre, March 2025
Director: Barry Freeman
Fight Direction: Louisa Zhu with Michal Ruhs
Assistant Director: Mason Hanna
Producers: Brenda Martinez and Alicia Ahmodu
Stage Manager: Eric Feng
Scenic and Costume Design: Pen Tsin
Lighting Design: Alicia Ho
Sound Design: Barry Freeman, Johnathan John and Aristo Fung
10 out of 12
by Anne Washburn
Leigha Lee Browne Theatre, March 2018
Director: Barry Freeman
Assistant Director: Tamara Vojinovic
Producer: Katy Harris
Stage Manager: Kaelan Klith
Musical Director: Lynn Tucker
Scenic Design: Kevin Wright and Colin Harris
Sound Design: Kevin Wright and Barry Freeman
The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui
by Bertolt Brecht, Adapted by Alistair Beaton
and with Original Music composed by Alexander Rapoport
Leigha Lee Browne Theatre, March 2016
Director: Barry Freeman
Assistant Director: Ryan James
Producer: Natasha de Sao Jose
Stage Manager: Thomas Mackrell
Musical Director: Lynn Tucker
Scenic Design Kevin Wright and Colin Harris
The Rouge Park Project
Community-Engaged Verbatim Theatre Project
A collaboration with the David Suzuki Foundation
Leigha Lee Browne Theatre and UTSC Campus Grounds, April 2012
Assistant Director: Dr. Natalie Frijia
Research Dramaturge: Jay Smith
Doctoral Student Supervision
2025+ Daniel McGuire, Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, “Devised Interventions?: an analysis of how socially engaged theatre makers position their practice in relation to arts councils’ equity priority groups across Canada”
2024+ Jacob Pittini, Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, “Working and/or Playing: Co-theorizing Audience Experiences of Social Issues in Contemporary Toronto Participatory Theatre”
2024+ Soykan Karayol, Centre for Drama, Theatre & Performance Studies, “Hopeful Research for a Necessary Revolution: Influences of Turkish Political Theatre”
