Each of my devised productions reflect elements of their lived experiences being queer, Black, AuDHD, and disabled. The shows speak up for justice, for repairing their community relationships, and for self acceptance, all with a balance of humour, earnest vulnerability, and songs. The productions are accessible, financially, COVID-masking, and through ASL-English interpretation.
My writing and performance pedagogy holds that “the fourth wall is behind the audience.” This gives me the opportunity to meet the audience where they are, and bring the audience to my show’s point of view — that being in community is healthier than the individualistic nature of Western theatre and society.
“Personal Demon Hunter” (2019), my first play, was an audience-collaborative piece aimed at silencing the audience’s and my “demons.” In my eighth production, “I Scream, You Scream… Justice” (2025), the audience joined in the puppet show’s restorative justice arc.
I’ve been lauded at Fringe Festivals (2022) and by the Ottawa Arts Council (2023) as an emerging artist for my integrated accessibility measures within their productions.
My artistry is deliberately chimeric, complex and layered. My characters have dualistically embodied empowered Black excellence and Black mundanity. I am more interested in story sharing, with the fourth wall behind the audience, than storytelling at them. My work seeks to be insightful for and from my audiences. This inclusive sharing is profoundly cathartic, unflinching and gratifying.
For some audiences, I am resonance — validating their perspectives and dreams. For some audiences, I am dissonance — challenging their comfort and privilege. Blackness isn’t the only core to my perspective. I’m equally championing my queerness, my disability, my age. I spent my life trying to live as a mirror for society’s values. Now I’m challenging society to mirror mine.
Velvet Wells
Land and Waterways acknowledgment
I grew up in Tkaronto, the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples. Now, I reside in Ottawa — the unceded, unsurrendered territory of the Anishinaabe Algonquin Nation. Both are home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples
Although I was a cultural orphan, I continue to educate myself about the impact of the Canadian project – beyond the oppressive history of Black people, as taught as an afterthought by Canadian schools. I’m learning about our culture and influence, stories, and the way Black excellence appears across communities and inventions
I embrace Black Joy as advocacy, and actively reject the premise that Black Trauma is the only acceptable form of theatre in spaces historically dedicated to the white gaze
I’m more and more aware of the continued genocide of and oppressive mechanisms against Indigenous people. This is not history, this is today. Injustice continues — by government at all levels (federal, provincial, and local) and in communities. I am working to decolonize my mindset, action and choices. I am donating, when I can, to Indigenous-centred organizations and encouraging others to do the same. I am speaking up against colonialism in colonial spaces, and learning to listen more and create more space for Indigenous voices to be respected
The Velvet Duke 