Jan "JD" Derbyshire is a Canadian theatre artist, comedian, and writer. They have performed their one-person show, ''Certified'', across Canada, including in Vancouver where it won two

Jessie Richardson Theatre Award The Jessie Richardson Theatre Award (commonly known as the Jessie Awards) is given to recognize achievement in professional theatre in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Jessies are presented by the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award Society, at an annu ...

Early life and education

Derbyshire was born and raised in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

. They completed a master's degree from the

Ontario College of Art and Design Ontario College of Art & Design University, commonly known as OCAD University or OCAD U, is a public art university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its main campus is located within Toronto's Grange Park and Entertainment District neighbourhoods ...

in Inclusive Design in 2014.

Career

Derbyshire's play, ''Funny in the Head'', about their experiences with bipolar disorder, was commissioned by Stage Left Productions, and it premiered at the Balancing Acts Disability Arts Festival in Alberta, Canada in 2008. In 2010, alongside the

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

, Derbyshire performed their one-person show ''Funny in the Head'' at the Kickstart Disability Arts and Culture Festival, and it was the only show performed at Kickstart. Derbyshire developed another one-person show, ''Certified'', which premiered at the

Vancouver Fringe Festival The Vancouver Fringe Festival is an annual alternative theatre festival held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada established in 1985. The event is organized and sponsored by the Vancouver Fringe Theatre Society, a non-profit organization found ...

in 2016. They have performed ''Certified'' for Handsome Alice Theatre (

) in 2018, Touchstone Theatre (

Vancouver Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the cit ...

) in 2019, at

One Yellow Rabbit One Yellow Rabbit Performance Theatre (OYR) is based in the Big Secret Theatre in Calgary’s Arts Commons. With its Resident Performing Ensemble, OYR creates original theatrical works each year for its home audiences and also hosts The High Perf ...

's High Performance Rodeo (Calgary) in 2020, and at the Progress Festival (

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

) in 2020. Derbyshire was set to perform ''Certified'' as part of Gateway’s 2020-2021 season but the show was cancelled due to COVID-19. In 2020, Derbyshire was writer-in-residence at

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

. They were a recipient of a Fleck Fellowship at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity in 2021. In 2023, their first novel, ''Mercy Gene: The Man-made Making of a Mad Woman'', a work of auto-fiction, was published by

Goose Lane Editions Goose Lane Editions is a Canadian Publishing, book publishing company founded in 1954 in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick as Fiddlehead Poetry Books by Fred Cogswell and a group of students and faculty from the University of ...

Personal life

Derbyshire and their ex-husband, TV director

Michael Rohl Michael Rohl is a Canadian TV director and producer. He has worked on ''Shadowhunters'', ''Smallville'', ''Supernatural'', '' Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles'', '' Andromeda'', ''Kyle XY'', and ''Reaper'' as well as many other programs. ...

, have a daughter, actress

Kacey Rohl Kacey Rohl (born August 6, 1991) is a Canadian actress. She is known for playing Sterling Fitch in the television crime drama ''The Killing (U.S. TV series), The Killing'', Prudence in the 2011 dark fantasy film ''Red Riding Hood (2011 film), Red ...

. They are non-binary and use they/them pronouns.

Works

Plays

* ''Labour Unions, the Brotherhood of Mothers'' * ''Freaky Jane Fine Takes on the Serious World'' * ''Bearded Circus Ladies'' * ''Ingenius Speculations'' co-written with Kim Selody, Rita Bozi, and Roy Surette * ''Joke You'' * ''Maharani and the Maple Leaf'' * ''Under the Big Top'' * ''All In'' * ''Funny in the Head'' * ''Turkey in the Woods'' * ''Sorry Toronto, Really I Am'' * ''Certified''

Novels

* ''Mercy Gene: The Man-made Making of a Mad Woman'' (2023)

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Derbyshire, Jan OCAD University alumni Living people Writers from Calgary 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Date of birth missing (living people) Year of birth missing (living people) Comedians from Calgary Canadian non-binary writers Non-binary comedians Non-binary dramatists and playwrights People with bipolar disorder