Rebekah Johnson

Rebekah Jonson (BFA '83) is a general manager and theatre manager who graduated with distinction from UVic’s Theatre Department in 1983 and also received her MFA in Visual Art from UVic in 2010.

Rebekah has been a working theatre professional for over 30 years, working as a lighting designer in countless productions, including Ride the Cyclone (Atomic Vaudeville); Macbeth, Cruel Tears/Lagrimas Crueles, My Fair Lady, Little Shop of Horrors, Of Mice and Men, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre); Home, Proof, Art (Belfry Theatre); Ernestine Shushwap Gets Her Trout, Stuff Happens (Firehall Arts Centre); Sexy Laundry (Arts Club Theatre) and Midsummer Nights Dream, Hannah's Suitcase and Pan (Kaleidoscope Theatre), among many others.

Early in her career, and with infant son in tow, she was one of the founding members and General Manager/Resident Designer for Dark Horse Theatre in Vancouver. With partner Robert Garfat, also a founding member, they produced critically acclaimed second productions of Canadian work such as George F. Walker's Ramona and The White Slaves and The Art of War; John Mighton's Scientific Americans and Possible Worlds; Escape Entertainment by Carol Bolt and Jehanne of the Witches by Sally Clark. They also produced work by new Canadian playwrights such as White Rabbit Physik by Bob Twaites, The Sound of Whales by David McLean, Fragments from the Big Piece by Brian Kaufman, and culminating with The Big Dick by Robert Garfat and Don Thompson in 1997.

Upon relocating to Victoria, they owned and operated Dark Horse Books in downtown Victoria from 1997- 2010. During this time Rebekah continued to work as a designer, technician, production manager and stage manager here in British Columbia and across Canada. She has been a full member of the Associated Designers of Canada since 1998, and an IATSE union member since 1993, (Local 118/Local 168), and has been nominated for or won several Jessie and Critic's Choice Awards.

In October 2013 she became the General Manager of Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, supervising the renovations to the Roxy Theatre, converting it to a live theatre venue, followed by 3 seasons programming, when the company produced award winning shows such as True West, Waiting for Godot, and Long Day's Journey Into Night.

As Rebekah continues to work at Blue Bridge, she is deeply committed to the company's mandate of nurturing emerging artists by providing employment opportunities here in Victoria to graduates of the local theatre programmes, and providing opportunities for significant engagement with the classics.