DD Kugler is a freelance director/dramaturg and, since January/98, a Professor in the Theatre Area at Simon Fraser University (SFU), where he teaches directing, dramaturgy, playmaking, and contemporary adaptations of Shakespeare and Greek tragedies. In 2010, Kugler was presented with one of three SFU’s Excellence in Teaching Awards. At SFU Contemporary Arts, he has directed Howard Barker’s Seven Lears and The Possibilities, Charles L. Mee’s Big Love, Michael Hollingsworth’s Laurier and The Cold War, Gertrude Stein’s Doctor Faustus Lights the Lights, and Harmonia – the first play in Ned Dicken’s seven-play City of Wine project.

Since arriving in Vancouver, Kugler has been the director and dramaturg of the theatre premieres of Peter Dickinson’s The Objecthood of Chairs (SFU), Mansel Robinson’s Picking Up Chekhov (Alberta Theatre Projects), and Kathleen Oliver’s Carols’ Christmas (Arts Club Theatre). He has been the dramaturg on the theatre premieres of Lucia Frangione’s Espresso (Pacific Theatre), Linz Kenyon’s Cowboy King and The I.O.U Land (Caravan Farm Theatre), Peter Dickinson's Long Division (Pi Theatre), four theatre/dance premieres by Battery Opera, four premieres by Karen Jameieson Dance, and the premiere of Rob Kitsos' Saudade. In his research he has collaborated with Nightswimming Theatre (City of Wine project, and three years of Pure Research Vancouver) and Theatre Replacement (first two years of New Aesthetics Performance Intensive).

During five seasons (1993-98) as Artistic Director of Edmonton’s Northern Light Theatre, Kugler primarily developed and directed Canadian writers: the premieres of Padma Viswanathan’s House of Sacred Cows, Tom Cone’s True Mummy, Vern Thiessen’s Blowfish, Connie Gault’s Otherwise Bob, and Gordon Pengilly’s Metastasis: Chain of Ruin. He also directed the second production of Eugene Stickland’s Some Assembly Required, and Colleen Wagner’s The Monument.

Kugler served eight seasons (1985-93) as Production Dramaturg with Toronto’s Necessary Angel Theatre on productions of Jason Sherman’s Two in the Back, Three in the Head, Colleen Wagner’s The Monument, David Young’s Glenn, John Krizanc’s The Half of It, Michael Springate’s Dog and Crow, and productions of two Howard Barker texts: The Europeans and The Castle. During his tenure at Necessary Angel, Kugler also adapted Marc Diamond’s Property and, in collaboration with Artistic Director Richard Rose, he co-authored Newhouse, as well as the adaptations of Michael Ondaatje’s Coming Through Slaughter, and Timothy Findley’s Not Wanted on the Voyage.

Kugler’s freelance career includes work as director/dramaturg at Arts Club (Vancouver), Alberta Playwrights Network, Alberta Theatre Projects (Calgary), Battery Opera (Vancouver), Canadian Opera Company (Toronto), Caravan Farm Theatre (Armstrong, BC), Fugue Theatre (Vancouver), Globe Theatre (Regina), Gwaandak Theatre (Whitehorse), Magnus Theatre (Thunder Bay), Mulgrave Road Theatre (Nova Scotia), Nakai Theatre Ensemble (Whitehorse), National Arts Centre (Ottawa), Ottawa Shakespeare Festival, Pacific Theatre (Vancouver), Playwrights Theatre Centre (Vancouver), Playwrights Workshop Montreal, Ruby Slippers Theatre (Vancouver), Saskatchewan Playwrights’ Centre, The Stratford Festival, The Theatre Centre (Toronto), Touchstone Theatre (Vancouver), and Twenty-Fifth Street Theatre (Saskatoon).

A long-time member of Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas (LMDA), Kugler served a two-year term as LMDA’s first Canadian President (2000-2002). In 2011, LMDA presented Kugler the G. E. Lessing Award for Career Achievement.

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