Name Norm Foster Role Playwright | Education Confederation College | |
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Books The Melville Boys, The love list, On a First Name Basis, Ethan Clay, The foursome | ||
Norm Foster (born February 14, 1949) is a Canadian playwright, considered to be Canada's most produced playwright. Foster discovered his talents as a playwright in Fredericton, New Brunswick, while he was working as host of a popular morning radio show. He accompanied a friend to an audition, and landed his first acting job, as Elwood P. Dowd in Harvey, without ever having even seeing a play. Intrigued with the theatre, he set his pen to paper and wrote his first play titled Sinners.
In 1983 and 1984 Theatre New Brunswick mounted the first professional productions of Sinners and Foster’s next play The Melville Boys. In the years following, TNB introduced My Darling Judith (1987), The Affections of May (1990), The Motor Trade (1991), Wrong for Each Other (1992), and Office Hours (1996).
An extremely prolific writer, Foster has had more than fifty plays produced on professional stages. Other well-known plays include The Love List, The Long Weekend; Bedtime Stories; Kiss the Moon, Kiss the Sun; Storm Warning; Skin Flick; Outlaw; Hilda's Yard; On A First Name Basis; Old Love; Mending Fences and Here on the Flight Path. Frequently compared to American playwright Neil Simon, Foster pens plays that are known for their humour, accessibility, and insight into the everyday tribulations of life. Foster's work is frequently produced by theatre groups across North America, and as far away from his home in Canada as Canberra, Australia. Beginning in June 2016 The Norm Foster Theatre Festival will open in St. Catharines, Ontario and will celebrate the work of this Canadian playwright.
In December or 2016, Mr. Foster was named an Officer in The Order of Canada.