External links
 | Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/Canadian Post-WWII |
Canadian plays have been written since the 19th century, both in English and in French. The present list comprises plays in English, some of which being translations from French Canadian plays. Full length and one act plays are included but not musicals.
The Playwrights Guild of Canada has a large list of titles of copyrighted plays, included in the present one, mostly their own publications or those of Playwrights Canada Press. The year of the playbook in the present list corresponds to the printed form, but when this information is unavailable, it corresponds to the first stage production. In rare cases, neither is available.
In addition to traditional forms, Canada has a vibrant non-traditional theatre scene with notable experimental, fringe, and other alternative forms, the largest fringe festival in North America being the Edmonton International Fringe Festival.
| Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: History of Western Theatre: 17th Century to Now/Canadian Post-WWII |
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to theatre:
Canada's contemporary theatre reflects a rich diversity of regional and cultural identities. Since the late 1960s, there has been a concerted effort to develop the voice of the 'Canadian playwright', which is reflected in the nationally focused programming of many of the country's theatres. Within this 'Canadian voice' are a plurality of perspectives - that of the First Nations, new immigrants, French Canadians, sexual minorities, etc. - and a multitude of theatre companies have been created to specifically service and support these voices.
Djanet Sears is a Canadian playwright, actor and director, nationally recognized for her work in African-Canadian theatre. Sears has many credits in writing and editing highly acclaimed dramas such as Afrika Solo, the first stage play to be written by a Canadian woman of African descent; its sequel Harlem Duet; and The Adventures of a Black Girl in Search of God. The complexities of intersecting identities of race, and gender are central themes in her works, as well as inclusion of songs, rhythm, and choruses shaped from West-African traditions. She is also passionate about "the preservation of Black theatre history," and involved the creation of organizations like Obsidian Theatre, and AfriCanadian Playwrights Festival.
Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. In London, the fringe are small-scale theatres, many of them located above pubs, and the equivalent to New York's Off-Off-Broadway theatres and Europe's "free theatre" groups.
The Ottawa Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Ottawa. The festival was inaugurated in 1997. The festival takes place for ten days each June. Performances are held indoors and out.
Judith Clare Thompson, OC F.R.S. is a Canadian playwright who lives in Toronto, Ontario. She has twice been awarded the Governor General's Award for drama, and is the recipient of many other awards including the Order of Canada, the Walter Carsen Performing Arts Award, the Toronto Arts Award, The Epilepsy Ontario Award, The B'nai B'rith Award, the Dora, the Chalmers, the Susan Smith Blackburn Award and the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, both for Palace of the End, which premiered at Canadian Stage, and has been produced all over the world in many languages. She has received honorary doctorates from Thorneloe University and, in Nov. 2016, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario.
The National Theatre School of Canada is a private institution of professional theatre studies in Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1960, The NTS receives its principal funding from grants awarded by the Government of Canada and from cultural ministries in each of the provinces, with added financial support from private and corporate donors.
Jim Kenworth is an English playwright.
Prairie Theatre Exchange (PTE) is a professional theatre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is located on the third floor of Portage Place mall in downtown Winnipeg. By the end of the 2016-17 season, PTE had presented 340 plays on its thrust stage over its 44 year history, 149 of which were world premieres, to an annual average attendance of 35,000 people.
Underneath the Lintel is a play by Glen Berger that premièred in 2001. The sole character—the Librarian—embarks on a quest to find out who anonymously returned a library book that is 113 years overdue. A clue scribbled in the margin of the book and an unclaimed dry-cleaning ticket then take him on a mysterious adventure that spans the globe and the ages.
Rick McNair (1942–2007), was a Canadian basketball player and coach. He was the former Director of Theatre Calgary and the Manitoba Theatre Centre and the founder of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival. Born in Amherst, Nova Scotia, he died in Winnipeg, Manitoba on January 31, 2007.
Tony Nardi is an Italian-Canadian actor, playwright, and theatre director based in Toronto, who has performed on stage and in film and television.
Kenneth Brown is a playwright, actor, director and producer who has been active in theatre since 1971. He is an author or co-author of the following plays:
Theatre of United Kingdom plays an important part in British culture, and the countries that constitute the UK have had a vibrant tradition of theatre since the Renaissance with roots going back to the Roman occupation.
Black Watch is a play written by Gregory Burke and directed by John Tiffany as part of the first season of the National Theatre of Scotland.
Suzie Miller is a multi-award winning Australian/British playwright, librettist and screenwriter. In 2022, Miller makes her West End debut with the production of her play Prima Facie produced by Empire Street Productions and directed by Justin Martin. The play opens in April 2022 starring Jodie Comer in her West End debut.
Playwrights Guild of Canada (PGC) is a registered national arts service association mandated to advance the creative rights and interests of professional Canadian playwrights; promote Canadian plays nationally and internationally; and foster an active, evolving community of writers for the stage. It was founded in 1972, and it continues to be active today, championing the rights and "role of the playwright in the creation of vibrant Canadian theatre."
The Cheshire Unicorn is a theatre production company based in Toronto, Ontario. Founded by playwright Melissa Major in 2002, the company produces experimental theatre by Canadian artists. In addition to Melissa Major who writes, directs, and performs for the company, founding members include performers Emily Andrews and Justin Bott, producers Timna Bellari and Veronica Campbell, designers Scott Penner and Emily C. Porter, musicians Jamie Drake, Eric Patterson, Lily Ling and Jordann Zaza, and playwright Laura Burns. While the company primarily produces full-scale plays and musicals, it produced three cabarets in 2008, and curated two art shows in 2007.
Harry Rintoul was a Canadian playwright and theatre director. He was best known for his 1990 play Brave Hearts, which was noted as one of the first significant gay-themed plays in Canadian theatre history to be written by a heterosexual writer, and one of the first ever to address gay themes in a rural setting outside of the traditional gay urban meccas of Toronto, Vancouver or Montreal.
Jennifer Wynne Webber is a Canadian writer, actor, dramaturge, journalist, and television producer currently living and working on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Her most well-known work to date is her play With Glowing Hearts: How Ordinary Women Worked Together to Change the World about Canadian miners' wives in Kirkland Lake, Ontario who were galvanized into becoming labour activists. Their role in the labour strike of 1941–1942 was crucial in changing Canadian labour laws to require employers to recognize and bargain with unions. Originally, the play was commissioned in 2016 by Elizabeth Quinlan at the University of Saskatchewan to create an original work based on the role of women in Canada's labour movement, which was one of Quinlan's areas of research.
 |
