We know Daniel MacIvor as one Canada’s greatest playwrights. He’s also a performer, and filmmaker who divides his time between Toronto and Cape Breton. He has been the recipient of a Governor General’s Literary Award, the Siminovitch Prize for Theatre, a New York Obie Award, and a GLAAD Award. His plays include Never Swim Alone, In On It, His Greatness and The Best Brothers which have been translated into French, German, Czech, Spanish, Japanese and Portuguese. He has worked on commissions for the Wexner Centre at the University of Ohio, A Beautiful View, the National Theatre School of Canada, You Are Here, Mulgrave Road Theatre Marion Bridge, the Canadian Opera Company where he wrote the libretto for Rufus Wainwright’s Hadrian, and the Stratford Festival where he continues to develop Walker Rhodes, a new musical with Steven Page.

Daniel’s most fruitful partnership has been with director Daniel Brooks (23 June 1958 – 22 May 2023) with whom he created seven solo performances for international touring. The style of these pieces, and much of his other work, is minimalist and meta-theatrical. Marion Bridge is his most performed play, and it is wholly unlike his solo work. More on that is my next newsletter. His most important solo plays may be Here Lies Henry and Monster. These were performed last month at Factory Theatre in Toronto. Here Lies Henry has been admirably performed here by Justin Quesnelle. I saw it twice.

Photo Credit: Sam Santos