Previous Projects
Past work includes Death Becomes Us, a live performance for the National Theatre of Scotland exploring the Leave campaign's 'Take Back Control' motto & featuring a community chorus of European migrants; BPM, an immersive performance in a geodesic dome co-directed with award-winning artist Cora Bissett; HEAVYWEIGHT a 360° dance film. International presentations include at the Staatstheater Nuremberg, Germany & at SXSW in Austin, Texas. International residencies include Storyfuture's UK-Canada Immersive Exchange, Take Me Somewhere festival's Thick Time Radio Station & Rimini Protocol + TeatrStudio Warsaw's digital workshop series.
DEATH BECOMES US
An audience of 500 blindfolded in a warehouse. Through headphones Theresa May whispers sweet nothings in their ear, a dominatrix examines the phrase 'Take Back Control'. The blindfolds come off to reveal a community cast of European Migrants led by the sensational musician Heir of the Cursed.
A funeral; Europe bites back.
LOVE & MACHINERY
November 2019
Devised by members of Lyceum Youth Theatre and YTAS
A 10 minute performance at the Traverse Theatre as part of Emergence Festival - a celebration of bold new works-in-progress from the country’s leading youth theatre directors.
A party on stage. Teenagers explore what the media tells them about relationships, sex, love - and what they think themselves.
★★★★★ The Skinny
"Opening up a conversation about sex and its many misconceptions is a bold move for 16-year olds, especially in front of their parents, but Gasson creates a modern on-stage riot that is fast-paced and daring.
As they mime along to Stevie Nicks or make sex toys out of the audience's possessions, the ensemble are electric. It’s inspiring to see a piece that empowers young women and non-binary individuals to discuss their sexuality – it would be a breath of fresh air to see more of this work in the future."
BEATS PER MINUTE
A geodesic dome in the middle of Glasgow's most important civic square. During the day put on a subpac and physically feel the heartbeats of the most exciting athletes in Scotland. At night come for a party featuring live music, dance and gymnastics.
Feel the heart race.
PRIVATES
A one-on-one performance that celebrates the profound emotional impact two women have had on a young woman's life. A hidden world, an intimate and powerful piece between two strangers in a room.
Grief, love, touch, on a bed of stones.
CONCH
CONCH is a coming together of strangers from across Glasgow to claim space, care for one another and make noise. It is an exploration of ritualistic practices and surprising incidents of togetherness.
Women, hair & fire.
Part of Scenes for Survival. Written, directed, performed in lockdown. Created in association with BBC Scotland, Screen Scotland, BBC Arts’ Culture in Quarantine project and Scotland’s leading theatre venues and companies, with support from Hopscotch Films.
HEAVYWEIGHT
A 360° dance film.
You are captured, held hostage by three women in a secret loch-side location. This is your reckoning.
An exciting collaboration between with Stasis dance artists and electronic music producer Oliver Sabin.
WE NOW SEE THAT THE BORDERS ARE MORE PERMEABLE THAN WE THOUGHT...
A mixed reality adventure.
This joyful experience invites players to go on a quest in virtual reality while the physical space around them moved. A playful and embodied experience of feeling the ground changing beneath your feet; smelling the orange you see in the ocean; feeling cool mist while you walk through clouds.
Drawing on Judith Butler's Frames of War this experience asks big questions about how fixed our 'reality' is.
Shows
Residencies
Thick Time Radio Station - Take Me Somewhere, Glasgow (2021)
One of 12 selected artists to engage in an international digital co-mentoring process led by Karen Christopher.. I focussed on exploring a neurodivergent dramaturgy in my work.
48 Hour Creative Response to the Royal Shakespeare Company's Dream - NESTA and Social Convention (2021)
I was a selected artist to take part in a micro residency to make an immediate creative response to RCS' digitally innovative show Dream which fused motion capture and live performance. The curated responses were presented in the Spotlight on the Future of Live Performance immersive online gallery hosted by Creativity, Culture, Capital.
UK / Canada Immersive Exchange - StoryFutures Academy (2020/21)
A new talent development and co-production programme for UK and Canadian immersive technology creatives and producers. Twenty-four participants – 12 from the UK and 12 from Canada – learn, collaborate and build relationships. The year-long programme was supported by a newly formed international collaboration between StoryFutures Academy (run by the National Film and Television School and Royal Holloway, University of London), Arts Council England, the Canada Media Fund, The Canadian Film Centre’s Media Lab (CFC Media Lab) and the Canada Council for the Arts.
Rimini Protokoll Workshop Series - Rimini Protocol & TeatrStudio Warsaw (2020)
One of 10 artists selected from across Europe to take part in a workshop series on Zoom developing new digital hybrid forms of theatre with Rimini Protokoll.
Citizen of Nowhere Collider - National Theatre of Scotland (2018)
One of a group of artists selected by Festival curator William Gallinsky to be part of a 2 day event mixing theatre artists, digital artists, game designers, data technologists, filmmakers and more to come up with exciting creative ideas for what digital theatre could be.
Workshops & Talks
Speaker on the SHIFT training programme (2022)
SHIFT is a unique collaborative training programme for students and recent graduates from The Glasgow School of Art (GSA), the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (RCS) and Queen Margaret University (QMU). Working in collaboration with the Creative Entrepreneurs Club, and a dynamic team of creative practitioners, facilitators, founders and sole-traders, SHIFT aims to equip participants with the tools, the plans, the contacts, and the skills they need for a life working in the arts and creative industries.
Keynote Talk at TaPRA's Posthuman Assemblages and Technologically Enabled Performances Conference (2022)
‘Interactive Talk: Expressing Queerness and Neurodivergence through a Mixed Reality Practice'. The conference invited attendees to ponder collaborative relations between humans and other-than-humans, discussing questions that address the complex relationships that occur within technologically enabled performances in the context of posthuman assemblages.
Panel Discussion at SXSW, Austin, Texas (2022)
THE UK AND CANADIAN XR PROJECT PITCHING POWER HOUR. Speaking alongside other members of the UK - Canada Immersive Exchange programme about the work we had been funded to make. I presented Gloaming.
University of Vermont Guest Speaker (2021)
A talk for the Theatre History students about my practice.
The Traverse Podcast Series (2020)
Debbie chats with Glasgow based director Leonie Rae Gasson, who directs plays that are a mixture of theatre and virtual reality. They cover topics including expanding people’s ideas of what theatre can be, supporting intersectional queerness in practical terms and how rage can be a useful fuel for creativity.
Associate & Assistant Directing
The Enemy - National Theatre of Scotland (2021)
Assistant Director to Finn Den Hertog on Kieran Hurley's new play The Enemy, taking it on tour to Scottish venues including Dundee Rep, Eden Court, Perth Theatre, Kings Theatre (Edinburgh). NTS' first big show back after the Covid lockdowns.
'***** THE ENEMY IS POSSIBLY THE BEST SCOTTISH PLAY PRODUCED IN THE LAST DECADE.'
Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho by Jon Brittain (2014/15)
Role included script reading, development, running rehearsals and technical rehearsals at the Edinburgh Fringe run and at Leicester Square Theatre. ‘Top Pick’ for The Guardian, The Times, Evening Standard, Time Out. Winner: Argus Angel Award.
Education
Filmmaking Brighton Screen and Film School (2021)
Camera Assisting NFTS Scotland (2020)
Script Editing & Development Skills Ludo Smolski & BECTU (2015)
Rhythm Is It?! Music Theatre Conference German Society of Theatre Science / Holland Festival (2015)
Directing: Contemporary & Directing: Shakespeare Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (2013)
First Class MA Theatre Studies University of Glasgow (2012 -2015)
Ewing Prize 2013 for excellence in Scottish Literature
Stonecrabs Young Directors Course (2011)