Barbara Adler takes helm as artistic director at The Only Animal theatre society
Interdisciplinary artist, performer, poet, and musician set to carry on the organization’s unique link between environment and art
Barbara Adler
INTERDISCIPLINARY ARTIST AND PERFORMER Barbara Adler has been named the successor to founding artistic director Kendra Fanconi at The Only Animal theatre society.
Adler is perhaps best known as a poet and musician who has toured North America and Europe as both a solo artist and as a member of ensembles including The Fugitives, Proud Animal, and Ten Thousand Wolves. She holds an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies and a BA in Art and Cultural Studies from Simon Fraser University. Her practice frequently incorporates text, music, design, and event making.
The announcement comes after a national search by The Only Animal board and affiliated artists. The group is uniquely devoted to art that intersects with the environment and climate concerns. Its often site-specific projects interact with water, sand, snow and ice and trees.
Previous projects have included the Jessie Award-winning play-in-a-pool The One That Got Away; a production of Bryony Lavery’s Slime commissioned by the Banff Centre for the Arts; Sea of Sand, a radio play/live action hybrid that played up and down the beach; and NiX, a theatre of snow and ice staged in Whistler.
“The Only Animal’s vision of enduring environmental stewardship reminds me that none of us will individually finish the work,” Adler said in today’s announcement. “I am honoured to add myself to the beautiful story that Kendra and the company have told for 17 years, and humbled by this opportunity to prepare the way for the next generation of voices in the climate struggle.”
Fanconi will continue to work with the company on a project basis during the leadership transition.
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