Thiessen set to return to Workshop West
Playwright will be theatre’s new artistic director
Award-winning Canadian playwright Vern Thiessen is the new artistic director of Edmonton’s Workshop West theatre company.
Thiessen, lately living in New York, is best known for his drama Einstein’s Gift, which won the Governor General’s Award for Englishlanguage drama. Other wellknown works include Vimy, Shakespeare’s Will and Lenin’s Embalmers.
The 50-year-old scribe is coming back to the city specifically for the artistic director’s position.
“My wife (novelist Susie Moloney) and I had been thinking of returning to Canada for the past six months. There were several opportunities, but Workshop West was the one I was most excited about. I have commitments in New York, Toronto and Vancouver over the summer, a number of outstanding commissions from other theatre companies that I will be working on periodically over the next few years. That said, I have a lot of homework to do over the summer.”
A former playwright-in- residence at the Citadel Theatre and former drama instructor at the University of Alberta, Thiessen was born in Winnipeg but has lived previously in Edmonton, where he won a City of Edmonton Arts Achievement Award. He also served previously as Workshop West’s playwright-in-residence. In New York, he was an associate artist at Epic Theatre Ensemble.
He replaces Michael Clark, who left Workshop West abruptly in February. The theatre company focuses on the development and production of new Canadian playwrights and their plays.
Thiessen expects to hit the ground running, with the position beginning Sept. 1.
“I will be helping manage the current, pre-selected season, programming the Canoe Festival, consulting with the playwriting community, leading classes, running play development workshops, fundraising, doing community outreach and planning for next season.
“There will be a series of announcements as the season progresses about new community partners and fresh programs that I will bring online. I think people will see a Workshop West Theatre that is more playwrights-driven, and that those writers will have deep connections to very specific communities in Edmonton and the surrounding area.
“It’s an honour to be running a theatre that gave me my start.”