Playwright, Director, Set Designer, Sound Designer
Valerie promotes youth voices and positive social change as a playwright, director, and artistic director of Some Assembly Theatre Company. Her art practice stems from the methodology she developed for her UBC MFA thesis project as director and creator of Treated with Tango. Using theatre to process trauma and promote positive social change, she honoured her friend who used tango to fight for his life and died of AIDS. This profound experience was the seed to her creating the Roundhouse Youth Theatre Action Group project in 2001 as Roundhouse artist-in-residence. This led to the development of Some Assembly Theatre Company, to which she is founder, artistic and executive director, producer, writer and director of 35 plays she created in collaboration with youth and professional artists. Valerie is very excited and grateful to be in her 25th year leading Some Assembly. Valerie is also writer and director of Getting the Trendies, EXPOSE, Marbles, Take a Breath, and director/dramaturg of How Star Wars Saved My Life. Director credits include Jean Genet’s The Maids, Joseph Chaikin and Sam Shepard’s War in Heaven, and Andy Warhol’s Images at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Valerie was twice nominated for Canada’s Siminovitch theatre directing award and Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award. Her plays, paintings and installations have been seen locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally. Valerie studied Royal Conservatory of Music and Western Ontario Conservatory of Music classical piano. She achieved a BFA from Concordia University in painting and drawing and an MFA in theatre directing from UBC.