Brett Dahl
Artistic Director
Brett Dahl (they/them) is a queer theatre maker based in Alberta, creating primarily in Amiskwaciwâskahikan (Edmonton), Mohkinstsis (Calgary), and Lethbridge (Sikoohkotoki). Brett has been the Artistic Director of Theatre Outré since 2023, having previously served as an Artistic Associate in addition to contributing to many productions over the years as an actor, drag performer, writer, producer, and director.
Brett began working with Outré in 2014, appearing as Judy in the titillating production of A Thought In Three Parts. Brett also appeared in The Birth of Casper G. Schmidt and Tab and Landon. In 2018, Theatre Outré premiered Brett’s play Like Orpheus, which continued an award-winning tour to the International Dublin Gay Theatre Festival in Ireland and OUTstages with Intrepid Theatre in Victoria. Brett has also appeared in various Quaint, Quirky, and Queer! Events and cabarets over the years. As a director, they directed the world premiere productions of Pretty Ugly (in collaboration with Cardiac Theatre as part of the Alberta Queer Calendar Project) and Strange/Familiar. In 2021, Brett received a Canada Council Digital Now grant to adapt Like Orpheus into a screenplay, which is slated for premiere on the Film Festival circuit in 2025. In 2024, Dahl launched the inaugural Queer Creators Cohort (QCC), a new development program for Queer playwrights in Southern Alberta, with support from the Allied Arts Council.
As an actor, Brett has worked extensively with companies such as Theatre Calgary, Alberta Theatre Projects, Lunchbox Theatre, One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre, Catalyst Theatre, Downstage/Hit & Myth, Alberta Ballet, The Shakespeare Company, Shadow Theatre, The Grand Theatre in London, Shakespeare in High Park with Canadian Stage, three seasons with the FreeWill Shakespeare Festival, and The Hooves Belonged to the Deer with In Arms Collective in Edmonton. Brett’s Drag persona, Sissy Ziggy-Zah-Ah, hosts and curates the pop-up queer cabaret Sissy Fit which has been produced by Arts Commons, Calgary Pride/B!G Art, and Azimuth Theatre. Brett is currently working on an all-ages musical, Beeautiful, which Bad Hats Theatre developed through their New Bad Ideas Program. Brett’s recent Directing credits include: Is My Microphone On? (Citadel Theatre Young Company); Troilus and Cressida (Studio Theatre); Strange/Familiar (Theatre Outré), Hecuba, Cock, This Property is Condemned (University of Alberta); The Penelopiad (Co-director, Cochrane High School). Selected Assistant Directing credits include Little Women and The Importance of Being Earnest (Citadel Theatre); The Prom (Nuova Vocal Arts); King Lear (The Shakespeare Company); and Troilus and Cressida (Directors Workshop Presentation Stratford Festival).
Brett is the proud recipient of the 2018 Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award and the 2020 RBC Emerging Artist Cultural Leader in Calgary Award. Brett holds a Master of Fine Arts in Directing and a BFA in Acting from the University of Alberta. Brett’s work focuses on reclaiming, revisiting, and reimagining classical texts through a modern lens and developing new work. Theatre Outré has been a safe place for them to explore, embrace and embody their identity as a gender-non-conforming artist and advocate for queer rights.
www.brettdahl.com