06/17/2026
We’re overjoyed to welcome back our Resident Dramaturg, Rachael Powles, for our tenth season of Shakespeare in a barn! Exceedingly well met!
Rachael Powles is a dramaturg and theatre historian born and raised in Sauquoit, NY. Rachael
has worked with Woodshill since 2019, and has served as production dramaturg on Hamlet,
Twelfth Night, Mary’s Wedding, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado
About Nothing, and Macbeth. She also served as a producer on The Walled Garden and Will
Power educational YouTube series.
As a dramaturg, Rachael has worked at a number of new play festivals, fringe festivals, and
educational theatre projects in the United States and Canada. Most recently, she served as
production dramaturg for the University of Washington’s production of Anton Chekhov’s The
Seagull and as the inaugural dramaturg at the National Theatre School of Canada’s DramaFest.
Up next, she will serve as production dramaturgy on UW’s graduate production of Racine’s
Phedre and participate in the UW Department of Dance’s graduate collaborative choreography
lab.
Rachael is currently a PhD student in Theatre History and Performance Studies at the University
of Washington. Her research considers the history of American acting training and how the
integration of performance into higher education helped to legitimize theatre as a profession in
the late nineteenth century. She teaches Introduction to the Theatre, Theatre Appreciation, and Script Analysis in the UW School of Drama. She holds an MA in Theatre Theory and Dramaturgy from the University of Ottawa and a BA in Theatre Studies from Ithaca College.
When not in a rehearsal room, you can find Rachael bird watching in the natural lands, having
only correct opinions about Taylor Swift, and cuddling with her cat Stella. Returning to the Barn
is always the highlight of her summer, and she cannot wait to make magic with her friends on THE TEMPEST.
