piihtikwee!
Welcome – come on in!
who will save the night sky | Photo by Kate Dalton
taanshi/shalom/hello
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).
As we go 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.
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 SSHRC funded Master of Fine Arts Directing graduate from York University, a top 30 under 30 York University Alumni, and a Ken McDougall Award recipient for promising emerging director. As a storyteller I have worked across Turtle Island (colonially known as Canada) as an actor, director, dramaturg, producer, clown, creator, and community worker with companies and festivals including Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Native Earth Performing Arts, Indigenous Arts Knowledge Exchange, Stratford Festival, Theatre YES, Gwaandak Theatre, Toronto Metropolitan University, 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. Although, more importantly, I learn from all the incredible relations – human and more than human – I have the fortune of visiting with.
The Bacchae 2.0 | Photo by Jeremy Mimnagh
creation
I direct, create, and produce work independently and alongside theatre companies, learning establishments, and festivals. My comprehensive practice as an artist has taken me from living rooms, to community centres, to some of the largest theatre institutions in so-called Canada. I thrive in creating new work that challenges form, structure, and process while remaining deeply rooted in culture and community. I am a performer, director, producer, creator, and clown.
“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.
“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
who will save the night sky | Photo by Kate Dalton
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