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About

Brian Quirt

Brian Quirt is a dramaturg, director and playwright. He is Artistic Director of Nightswimming, a Toronto dramaturgical company that has commissioned 30 works of dance and drama, and Director of the Banff Centre Playwrights Lab. With more than 25 years experience as a dramaturg, Brian has worked with many of Canada’s leading playwrights. As a director, his credits include premieres of these Nightswimming commissions: Anita Majumdar’s Fish Eyes Trilogy (2014/15 national tour) and Same Same But Different (Theatre Passe Muraille/Alberta Theatre Projects), Carmen Aguirre’s Blue Box (2012-2014 national tour), Anosh Irani’s Bombay Black (Cahoots Theatre and tour), Judith Thompson’s Such Creatures (Theatre Passe Muraille), Andy Massingham’s Rough House (national tour) and Richard Sanger’s Whispering Pines (GCTC). He has created seven of his own plays, most recently Why We Are Here! (with Martin Julien). His plays include the 2009 Summerworks hit Lake Nora Arms (adapted from Michael Redhill’s book with Jane Miller), Blue Note (with Martin Julien; Harbourfront Centre), The Death of General Wolfe (Theatre Passe Muraille), and adaptations of Jane Urquhart’s The Whirlpool (Tarragon Theatre), and the Iranian play Aurash (with Soheil Parsa; Modern Times Theatre in Toronto, Iran, Columbia, Cuba and Bosnia). He has been Interim Artistic Director of the Great Canadian Theatre Company, Company Dramaturg at Factory Theatre, Dramaturg at the Theatre Centre and Dramaturgical Associate at the Canadian Stage Company. He is a Board member and past-President of the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, a two-time recipient of LMDA’s Elliott Hayes Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dramaturgy, and has been nominated for three Dora Awards, two for Direction and one for his adaptation of the Aurash.

Books by Brian Quirt