Valerie Rachelle has been a professional Director and Choreographer for the past 27 years. Born and raised in Eugene, OR, she toured the world with her magical parents and their professional illusionist show. Ms. Rachelle started as a dancer and was an apprentice ballerina with the Eugene Ballet Company. Along with her professional dancing, Valerie is also a classically trained singer. She attended California Institute of the Arts for her BFA in Acting and moved to LA where she co-founded a not-for-profit theater dedicated to producing new works – Lucid By Proxy. Valerie produced and/or directed 19 new plays with Lucid and its other founding members. Three of those new works continued on into published plays that are still in publication today.
Valerie then attended the University of California Irvine for her MFA in Directing. After graduation Valerie was the Casting Director/Administrator for PCPA Theaterfest (www.pcpa.org) where she was also a Resident Director and Choreographer. Valerie also taught Movement, Mask, and Audition Skills in their professional acting conservatory.
Upon moving back to Los Angeles, Ms. Rachelle began teaching in the Theater Department at the University of Southern California. Valerie also continued to cultivate new and innovative works including a new musical at the Academy of New Musical Theater in North Hollywood as well as creating/directing/producing a contemporary movement-based (contact improvisation) version of Henrik Ibsen’s Hedda Gabbler.
Along with creating new works and cutting edge movement pieces – Valerie also trained in Intimacy Coordination.
She also served as a mentor for and a member of Statera Arts – an Organization with the goal of bringing gender equality into the arts from casting to design positions to administration and leadership.
Valerie has worked at theaters around the country including: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Utah Shakespeare Festival, Syracuse Opera, Fresno Grand Opera, Sierra Repertory Theatre, PCPA Theaterfest, Glendale Center Theater, Performance Riverside, Lucid By Proxy, Oregon Cabaret Theater, Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, University of Las Vegas Nevada, Southern Utah State, Southern Oregon University, El Camino College, Summer Repertory Theater, and many others.
Valerie is currently the Artistic Director of the Oregon Cabaret Theatre in Ashland, OR now in its 39th season. Since her arrival in 2014 at OCT she has succeeded in raising patron attendance by over 62% in her first five years and has brought the company through the pandemic to see their highest ticket sale year ever in 2023. She continues to travel the country doing freelance work as a Director and Choreographer. She also teaches Musical Theater, Auditioning, and Singing at Southern Oregon University when she’s not on road.
Representation – Kathy Olsen – Encompass Arts (encompassarts.com – (212) 439-8055)