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Drama Canadian

The Writer

by (author) Norm Foster

Publisher
Playwrights Canada Press
Initial publish date
Nov 2020
Category
Canadian
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780369101372
    Publish Date
    Nov 2020
    List Price
    $15.95
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9780369101396
    Publish Date
    Nov 2020
    List Price
    $10.99

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Description

Donald Wellner knew success when he wrote a hit play thirty-five years ago, but now he’s recently separated, living in a small apartment, and promising that he’s trying to start a new script. His fortysomething son Blake is a travel writer with commitment issues who pops by between trips to try to hold his family together and prove his worth. Over seven years, Donald experiences the onset of dementia, and father and son become both closer and farther apart. This story of familial bonds provides delightfully comical and satisfyingly sentimental clarity in those small moments that will last forever.

About the author

Norm Foster was born in Newmarket, Ontario on St. Valentineâ??s Day. Raised in Toronto, he attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and then went on to study Radio and Television Arts at Centennial College in Toronto and then Confederation College in Thunder Bay. Upon completion of his studies, he began a radio career that would span twenty-five years and which would take him from Thunder Bay to Winnipeg to Kingston and finally to Fredericton, New Brunswick. It was in Fredericton in 1980 that Norm was introduced to the world of theatre. Foster fell in love with the theatre right then and there, and two years later he penned his first professionally produced play, Sinners. It was produced by Theatre New Brunswick and directed by Malcolm Black, who would also direct Fosterâ??s next effort, the highly successful, The Melville Boys. The Melville Boys would go on to be produced across Canada and in the United States, including a well-received run Off Broadway in New York. It would become Fosterâ??s signature play, and the one which would bring his name to the forefront of Canadian theatre. Since then, Norm Foster has produced an astonishing output of work. Nearly forty plays in all, including The Affections of May, the most produced play in Canada in 1991. He has also written a musical with composer Leslie Arden (The Last Resort) and three musicals (Jasper Station, Race Day, and Sitting Pretty) with composer Steve Thomas.

Norm Foster's profile page

Editorial Reviews

“The play is comic in the broadest sense of the word since it is so alive to the ironies of life and it views human life with such compassion. Over the years Foster has been pushing the boundaries of the kinds of plays he writes. The Writer has an undeniable air of greatness about it.”

Christopher Hoile, Stage Door

“An insightful and moving exploration of a unique father/son dynamic that is touching, laugh-out-loud funny, poignant and sad all at once.”

David DeRocco, GoBe Weekly