Dr. Alexander Ferguson is a sessional instructor in the Theatre department at UFV, the artistic director for Canadian performance company, Fight With A Stick, and works as a devising instructor at Glitch Theatre. He has a PhD in Scenography and Embodied Cognition from UBC.
Ferguson has been teaching at UFV since 2016. His career spans from acting to teaching, he currently assists students to meet their potential both on stage and in the classroom. Ferguson shared his journey in acting, working at UFV, and current projects with The Cascade.
Ferguson spent a year studying Fine Arts at Langara College, however he found the practice too solitary. He decided to switch to theater acting after being inspired by a production of Creeps, by David Freeman, which was put on by Langara College’s Studio 58.
“I auditioned, and switched from fine arts into a full three-year theatre acting program. It was a great journey [and] I learned a ton in all kinds of ways. By the time I graduated, I had an agent, and I was getting hired immediately.”
Years later he realized he needed a more stable income to help support his family and decided to go back to university. Ferguson ended up going to the University of British Columbia for both his Masters and PhD. While studying for the latter, he was also one of the directors of a documentary play entitled Nanay: A Testimonial play, which was put on globally by a non-profit organization — The Philippine Women Centre of BC — in Berlin, Manilla, and Vancouver.
“It was part of a national advocacy campaign to end something called the Live-In Caregiver Program, which the United Nations called Indentured Servitude … Eventually, we were successful in helping to end that program.”
He expressed that from his experience being an instructor, he is happiest when he can work with his students and offer them opportunities in the classroom to enjoy themselves and socialize with others when they may not get a chance anywhere else.
“I talk to so many students who go to school, and they don’t meet anyone or [they] don’t have a social life at school … human contact, sometimes that’s a lifeline for people”
Ferguson has also enjoyed witnessing students grow as individuals and discover what careers they want to go into, often changing their initial preference of acting to other roles like costume design, art installation, lighting design, etc.
Ferguson shared that there are many projects he is working on, one of which is the Trans: Experiments in Living film that is set to be finished soon.
“We’re in the final stages of editing our first movie from my company. We shot it with people from UFV. Parjad Sharifi was the cinematographer [and UFV alumni] Artyom “Arty” Urdabayev was the sound and technician person. They were both fantastic … It’s a live action movie, but it goes in and out of live action and animation.”
Ferguson also hosts a podcast called The Refrain: Getting in Sync with the World that is produced by the company Fight With A Stick. He has three episodes completed so far and enjoys putting them on.
“It’s a podcast about our interconnectedness with the world around us … Every episode is also about art and performance, and about how my company Fight With A Stick tries to “collaborate” with non-human materials such as architecture, set pieces, light and sound, and not assume mastery over them.”
He also mentioned that one of his current projects includes writing a textbook that focuses on scenographic devising.
“It’s intended to be a practical book that students and artists can use to help themselves make decisions when they’re creating something.”
He encourages students to pursue what makes them happy in the long term. He acknowledged that while it is important to have financial stability and people do chase after material wealth and comfort, there is the danger that their spirits can be crushed if that’s all they are working for. Instead he encourages students to follow their dreams.
“Don’t lose sight of [what you love], and keep finding a way to do it.”
In the future, Ferguson would love to see the Theatre incorporation of disability aesthetics in mainstream theatre so that actors with disabilities on stage will be normalized and given the opportunity to reinvent how theatre is put on a wide scale.
“I think what we’re doing at Glitch Academy is really innovative … in a sense, we’re just exploring theatre aesthetics in a new way … I’m hoping we can expand that out so it doesn’t just become a niche situation. I’d like to see what we’re doing there and what other people are doing in that field to expand out into all of theatre.”
Interview edited for length and clarity.
Rachel is working towards a BA with a concentration in English and Theatre. She has been employed at The Cascade since Fall 2021 as a Staff Writer and a Jr. News Editor. Currently, she is the sectional News Editor and enjoys meeting and interviewing people as well as taking long walks in nature. Rachel also likes to stay up to date on the latest trends and informs students through her fashion column entitled Campus Fashion.