About

Brian Drader is a writer, dramaturg, actor, and artistic administrator. He has acted in over seventy professional theatre productions across Canada, as well as numerous films, television projects, and radio dramas. His plays have been produced in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Awards for his writing include the Herman Voaden National Playwriting Award (1st place, 1997, for The Norbals, 2nd place, 2017, for Happy), the Philadelphia Brick Playhouse New Play Award, the Lambda Literary Award for Drama (USA), nominations for the Governor General’s award and the McNally Robinson Book of the Year, and short-listed for the Playwrights Guild of Canada Tom Hendry Drama Award. Published work includes The Norbals, Prok, and Liar (Scirocco Drama), and Curtsy and To Be Frank (Signature Editions). A short film, Iris and Nathan, won the National Screen Institute Drama Prize. Commercial engagements include writing the audio components for Indiana Jones and the Adventure of  Archaeology (with Jodi Essery) and video components for Star Wars Identities, both touring museum exhibitions (GSM project/Lucas Films/National Geographic), dramaturg for Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson One at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, and dramaturgical support for the 2017 revamp of The Canadian Museum of History in Ottawa (GSM project).

Brian served as the Director of Playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal from 2004 to 2017, and is now the Executive Director for the Manitoba Association of Playwrights, as well as a contract teacher at the University of Winnipeg.

For a summary of Brian Drader’s plays, please visit Playwrights Guild of Canada