Dean Verger

dean.verger@carleton.ca | http://www.rasputins.ca/dean

BIOGRAPHY: A degree in Business Administration from the University of Western Ontario led Dean Verger to create and run Rasputin’s Folk Café in Ottawa. For 28 years Rasputin’s featured singers, songwriters, poets, authors, storytellers, playwrights, and visual artists from around the world (well, mostly from Canada). Inspired by the talent that surrounded him, Dean slipped into the realm of storytelling. These many decades later, he continues to appear on stage telling stories as varied as Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Herman Melville’s Moby Dick, and biographical family tales centered in Newfoundland and Montreal. Ever curious, Dean continued his educational journey earning his PhD in Cognitive Psychology. When asked what course he would like to teach, Dean merged his interests in psychology, business, and the arts developing a fourth-year seminar: The Psychology of Creativity. The course brings in guest creatives from business, the arts, and government. The students study creativity through many lenses, including cognitive, mental health, cultural transmission, and the effects of a supportive environment.

Personal Philosophy

Education: Although I have nothing against lecturing at students, after all, I do like to tell stories, I believe in getting my students’ hands dirty to gain a more visceral understanding. I also feel that the students must take responsibility for their own learning. To implement this, the student needs to find meaning in the subject matter and the tasks they are required to complete. My job is to provide them with opportunities to learn, supports to help understanding, mechanisms that help keep them on track, and a respectful classroom experience.

Performances: I love the spoken word; a well-turned phrase, a play of language structures that changes our experience of time. I dive into the research and exploration involved in bringing each new show to life. I enjoy bringing the audience on an adventure, filled with emotion, crises, and new perspectives. My sense of self disappears as I perform the epics, full-bodied tales that allow listeners to set aside the concerns of the day, and immerse themselves in an entire other world, be that the mythic gothic of the vampire, or the glory, or rather, gory days of the whaling industry. I want my audiences to gasp, cry, and laugh. With the art of storytelling, the only tools I have are those spoken words. No visuals, no sound effects, no props. They already exist in the mind of my audience, a full palette of colours, sounds, and experiences.