Obsessions and lifelong loves permeate Maureen Hunter's Transit of Venus as the eighteenth-century astronomer, Le Gentil, charts the heavens for Venus and the realm of his heart for his young fiancee. Le Gentil puts off marrying the young and wilful Celeste as he travels around the world in his attempts to plot the course of Venus across the sky, only to be undone at every turn by weather, war, and misfortune, and to find upon his final return a woman undone by his absence and ready to set her own course. Spanning eleven years in the lives of Le Gentil and Celeste, Hunter's play explores issues of faith, solitude, and the human spirit.

Maureen Hunter is one of CanadaÂ?s most accomplished playwrights. Her work has been produced extensively on CanadaÂ?s major stages, as well as in Britain and the U.S. and has been nominated for two Governor General*#146;s Awards, two Dora Mavor Moore Awards (Outstanding New Play) and the Elinor and Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. Her plays include Atlantis, premiered in English by Manitoba Theatre Centre/Theatre Calgary in 1996 and in French by Theatre de la Manufacture, Montreal, in 1999, and Transit of Venus, which received its Canadian premiere at MTC in 1992 and in 1993 became the first Canadian play ever staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company of Britain. It received its U.S. premiere in 1998 at the Bershire Festival, Stockbridge, Mass. Other plays include Vinci, Footprints on the Moon, Beautiful Lake Winnipeg, and I Met A Bully on the Hill (coâ??written with Martha Brooks). Maureen lives in Winnipeg, where she is currently at work on a new play, Wild Mouth, set in Saskatchewan in 1917, and a libretto of Transit of Venus for Manitoba Opera.

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