rehearsals for UBU | photo by Esther Jun
tatawaw/tawaw!
Welcome – there is room, there is a path, there is time for us.
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taanshi/Shalom/Hello,
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I am a theatre/performance artist, educator, and scholar. I am Red River Michif-Métis with Logan, Dease, Dupuis, and Vandal ancestry. My ancestors were present at the establishment of the Red River Settlment. ni mooshum lived in the historic Métis community of Rooster Town. I am Jewish, with my ancestors arriving on Turtle Island in the early 1900’s escaping the pogroms in Russia. They established and found community in Treaty 1 territory (Winnipeg, MB).
Before going forward, I’d like to take a moment to honour the land and our matriarchs that have carried us and nurtured us into this moment.
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My current practice is focused on decolonizing a storytelling process by listening to and dialoguing with ancestral and cultural knowledge. My practice includes land-based creation, circular storytelling, and destabilizing hierarchical power structures in the rehearsal process, with a focus on anti-oppressive/anti-racist modalities. I am a Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship funded Master of Fine Arts directing graduate from York University. As a storyteller I have worked across Turtle Island as an actor, director, dramaturg, producer, clown and devisor with companies and festivals including Stratford Festival, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Theatre YES, Gwaandak Theatre, Centre for Indigenous Theatre, Made in Exile, Citadel Theatre, Nextfest, Play the Fool Festival, Edmonton Fringe Festival, and Paprika Theatre Festival. I am a graduate of the BFA Acting Program at the University of Alberta and will be continuing my education by pursuing an MEd in Urban Indigenous Education through York University. Although, more importantly, I learn from all the incredible relations – human and more then human – I have the fortune of visiting with.
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Pinniped and Other Poems | Photo by Vik Chu
creation
My work as a theatre creator and storyteller has taken me across Turtle Island exploring many different creative roles. I have worked as a director, producer, dramaturg, devisor, actor, clown, designer, creator, and more. My work and experience has brought me into the role of director or facilitator – I find a calling or propensity for helping others tell their stories, whether it be through a written text, a devised process, or through an actors voice and body. I bring a uniquely decolonizing process to all the work that I embark on.
“The performances in Philip Geller’s production, though, are honest and charming; they have a directness that cuts through deliberate quirkiness.” - Liz Nicholls, Edmonton Journal
teacher | learner
As a teacher, educator and facilitator of learning spaces I have worked with universities, theatre companies, schools, and community organizations. I have facilitated workshops, taught classes, created pedagogy, and developed curriculum. My work as a teacher currently centres around an abundance based practice, which honours and celebrates every students/participants gifts and means meeting students/participants where they are at. In my teaching/education/facilitation I assert that Indigneous education practices benefit all. I am in the process of furthering my educational journey through an MEd Urban Indigenous Cohort at York University.
As a facilitator/educator I have worked with Buddies in Bad Times, Paprika Theatre Festival, University of Windsor, Sheridan University, and the Centre for Indigenous Theatre.
I am always learning! And creating as a learner. And teaching as a learner. This is a space to house my research and interrogation of process and practice.
“Philip was a phenomenal presence in the classroom and I loved his obvious passion and attitude towards the material… He created a really welcoming environment that allowed for constructive feedback without judgement. Could not recommend himself as a tutorial leader highly enough” -THEA 1011 York University Student
(de)collective
Esteban Donoso, Denise Rogers Valenzuela, Mariel Belanger, Marilo Nuñez, and Philip Geller display their in process Arpillera from the (un)learning to (re)member residency
Pam Logan during research for fence posts divided at what remains of Bender Hamlet
what’s cooking
Check out what’s cooking, what’s in development, what I’m working on! Stay tuned for updates.
background beadwork by my mom, Pamela Logan