Toronto · Vancouver · Stratford
Actor. Director. Writer. Producer. Teacher. Improviser.
A working portfolio in six disciplines, made with collaborators, audiences, and a great deal of trust. Creator of Blind Date, co-creator of the Goblin series, Artistic Producer of Spontaneous Theatre.
About
Rebecca Northan is a Canadian actor, director, playwright, producer, improviser and corporate coach. Trained at Calgary's Loose Moose Theatre under Keith Johnstone and a graduate of the University of Calgary's BFA Drama programme, she has built a career that crosses Second City mainstage, the Stratford Festival, the Shaw Festival, Bard on the Beach, Off-Broadway and London's West End.
Her best-known work, the audience-participation show Blind Date, has surpassed 1,700 performances since 2007. She is Artistic Producer of Spontaneous Theatre, the Toronto company she founded with Bruce Horak to develop work in what she calls "spontaneous theatre", a hybrid of structured narrative and live improvisation.
Selected work
A short cross-section. Full credits available on request.
001
World premiere
CAA Theatre, Toronto. Off-Mirvish world premiere.
Three goblins crash a Mirvish production of A Christmas Carol and uncover a mystery hidden in Dickens since 1843. Built with Bruce Horak and Ellis Lalonde, under Spontaneous Theatre.
Dec 2026 → Jan 2027
Co-creator · Writer · Performer
002
Bard on the Beach, BMO Mainstage, Vancouver.
Shakespeare reset in a soccer-mad fictional Vancouver suburb. A full Bard summer on the main stage.
9 Jun → 19 Sep 2026
Director
003
Bard on the Beach, Douglas Campbell Stage.
The second goblin show. Uses John Murrell's Sophocles adaptation. Recommended 18+. Built with Bruce Horak and Ellis Lalonde.
Summer 2026
Co-creator · Performer
004
Shaw Festival, Royal George Theatre. World premiere.
An audience member is drawn each night to play the rookie detective. Northan directs and plays both the Police Chief and the ghost of the victim.
2025
Director · Performer
005
Calgary, Bard, Stratford, Tarragon, Citadel, Centaur, RMTC.
Built in eight days. The hit that launched the series. Three goblins crash a faithful Scottish play and try to figure out what humans are.
2022 to present
Co-creator · Performer
006
Tarragon, Vertigo, Citadel and on tour.
A murder mystery improvised around a recruited audience detective. Only about a third of detectives crack the case. Co-built with Bruce Horak.
2017 to present
Co-creator · Writer · Performer
007
Feature film, dir. Karen Knox.
Plays Jane in the indie comedy about a young woman searching for adoptive parents in adulthood.
2022
Actor
008
CTV / Comedy Network.
Series-regular role as hippie mother Diane Macleod across the sitcom run.
2006 to 2007
Actor
Murder-on-the-Lake
Shaw Festival · 2025
Photograph Michael Cooper
Flagship
1,700+ performances. Almost twenty years and counting.
A clown named Mimi picks a real stranger from the audience and takes them out for the evening. What began in 2007 as a ten-minute Loose Moose sketch grew into a ninety-minute two-hander that has played sold-out runs at Harbourfront's World Stage, Ars Nova in New York, and a seven-week season at London's Charing Cross Theatre in 2013.
The show now exists in multiple casts and formats, including Queer Blind Date at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and a Norwegian-language version licensed to Det Andre Teatret in Oslo.
Selected milestones
Dora Mavor Moore Award
Outstanding Performance · 2016
Off-Broadway, Ars Nova
New York
West End, Charing Cross
London · 2013
Det Andre Teatret
Norwegian translation · Oslo
The Goblin Series
Wug, Kragva and Moog get hold of works from the Western canon and try to stage them in order to understand the human world. Co-created with Bruce Horak and Ellis Lalonde, under Spontaneous Theatre.
Goblin: Macbeth
Citadel Theatre · 2024
2022 to present
Built in eight days. The hit that launched the series. Sold-out runs at the Shakespeare Company Calgary, Bard, Stratford, Tarragon, Citadel, Centaur and RMTC.
Summer 2026
Bard on the Beach, Douglas Campbell Stage. Uses John Murrell's Sophocles adaptation. Recommended 18+.
December 2026
World premiere, Off-Mirvish at the CAA Theatre, Toronto. The goblins crash A Christmas Carol and uncover a mystery hidden in Dickens since 1843.
Where to find her
This summer
9 June to 19 September 2026 · Vanier Park, Vancouver
Directing · BMO Mainstage
Co-creator · Performer · Douglas Campbell Stage
Also performing with Tightrope Theatre while in residence.
This Christmas
December 2026 to January 2027 · CAA Theatre, Toronto
World premiere · Co-creator · Performer
Press
Watching Blind Date is so much like falling in love that it feels a bit like the real thing is happening.
Fearless, and very funny.
Northan has come up with a clever concept for a long-form improv, yes, but her warm, human execution of it is brilliant.
Pure creative genius. Ribald and hilarious.
Unlike any other piece of theatre I've ever experienced.
Absolutely magical.
Teaching and coaching
Faculty or guest instructor at the Canadian Film Centre, the University of Calgary, the Stratford Festival Academy, the Shaw Festival, the Banff Centre and the Soulpepper Academy.
Through Spontaneous Theatre, she runs corporate workshops on creativity, empathy and presence, and provides one-to-one coaching for executives (NDA for all engagements).
For workshop and coaching bookings, get in touch.
Contact
Theatre and touring
Screen representation
Agent details on request.
Social