Lisa Anne Ross

Lisa Anne Ross is a theatre artist, educator, director and community arts practitioner, who in addition to performing and directing for numerous Canadian Theatre Companies such as Neptune Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times and Theatre New Brunswick, has also created and performed her own body of work. Ross is the Artistic Director of Fredericton based Theatre Company Solo Chicken Productions and Co-Artistic Director of the emerging artist initiative, the coop. Ross’s teaching and community arts experience has ranged from teaching theatre at established schools such as York University to creating the Nunavik Theatre Arts Program in the Arctic Region of Nunavik. She is currently teaching theatre at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, NB and serves as the Co-Faculty Advisor for the school’s theatre company, Theatre St. Thomas. Lisa believes that theatre serves a critical place in our society as a touchpoint for community and connection and feels that everyone should have the right to participate in cultural production.

In 2020, Ross was invited to become Artist in Residence at the Department of Psychology at UNB with the P-SEC group. With support from Arts NB, Laurentian University, STU, and UNB, Ross and her students in an undergraduate theatre arts course (Performance Foundations) at St. Thomas University collaborated with researchers Dr. Carmen Poulin and Dr. Lynne Gouliquer to explore the data from the SSHRC funded P-SEC study Life stories of elder elders: Tales of resilience, identity, and longevity through theatre. Ross’s students worked to embody the research material in the hopes of unpacking and revisioning society’s often reductive views of our elders. The result of the research and embodiment was the creation of a film entitled, Still Here, Still Strong that was directed by Ross, filmed and edited by artist Zak Rogers and features performances from the STU students.

Working with Ross has presented an exciting opportunity to transcend disciplines and to explore the potential of the performing arts to interpret and disseminate research findings. This approach to knowledge sharing offers a means to engage a wider segment of the public with our research. We look forward to working on upcoming projects in conjunction with Ross.