2007 (19th Annual) Playwriting Competition winners' bios & photos


2009 Winners Photos & Bios (21st Annual) Winners: Edward Kuhn / Ron Fromstein / Jessica Anderson Finalists: Robin Mathews / Sherryl Melnyk / B.D. Miller / Chris Morley
2009 Winner - Full Length (no photo available)	Edward Kuhn - *Tamarack* We are grieved to report that Mr. Kuhn passed away on Thursday, October 1st, before the announcement of the winners in this year's competition. Ed Kuhn was an accomplished poet, playwright, songwriter and Jazz musician. He wrote at least 32 stage plays, three full-length musicals and countless poems. One stage play in particular, Satin Doll , won two distinguished awards and had a run On-Broadway. His full length musical Majic was produced at the Historic Hedgerow Theatre just outside Philadelphia, Pa. He was composing poems up until the day that he died. Ed was a previous finalist in Theatre BC’s Canadian National Playwriting Competition in 1998. Our condolences go out to Ed’s family and his many friends.

2009 Winner - One-Act Ron Fromstein	Ron Fromstein - Dianne & Me Ron started off as an imporvisor with the now defunct ACTS (All Canadian Theatresports). He then moved to Vancouver and began writing more seriously. Along the way he has been a four-time winner/finalist of the Toronto Fringe 24 hour playwriting competition and been co-winner in Theatre BC's Canadian National Playwriting Competition (2006, 2007). His 2007 winning play, Black & Blue, was a hit at the recent ACToberfest 1-Act Play Festival in Creston, BC

2009 Winner - Special Merit Jessica Anderson	Jessica Anderson - My Purple Wig Jessica is currently a writer at heart and a waitress by trade. She got her first taste of playwriting at the age of ten when her short play, Murder and Other Problems, was produced by her classmates and she’s been writing ever since. She attended Etobicoke School of the Arts where her one-act play, Waking Up, received two Sears Drama Awards for Excellence in Playwriting and Outstanding Achievement in Playwriting She holds an honours B.A. in drama and English from Queen’s University and is a graduate of the Algonquin College Scriptwriting program. Her short film script, Jailing Julie, was a finalist in the Brookstreet Screenwriting Awards in 2008. She also enjoys the administrative aspect of the arts and has worked for companies such as Arts Court in Ottawa and the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga. My Purple Wig was workshopped as part of the Hothouse Play Reading Series and was also short listed for the RBC Tarragon Under Thirty Playwriting Competition. She currently resides in Oakville where she is at work on her next play.

2009 Finalists (in alphabetical order)
2009 Finalist Robin Mathews	Robin Mathews - A Field of Flowers After some years away from playwriting, Robin Mathews returns with the play A Field of Flowers. His first play produced was a half-hour radio drama. Over some years he wrote plays both for children and adults. Several of them were staged. During the 'dry' years- as far as playwriting was concerned- he wrote and published poetry, short stories, cultural and political commentary...and more. He is included in the latest anthology of BC Poetry, ROCKSALT (2008). Born in Smithers, BC, he has lived for short periods in the US, England and France, but has spent the largest part of his life in Canada. Presently he lives with his wife in the Commercial Drive area of Vancouver's East End.

2009 - Finalist Sherryl Melnyk	Sherryl Melnyk- Millicent's Pothole Sherryl Melnyk grew up on a farm in Manitoba with an eclectic family who have unwittingly provided much fodder for her writing. She currently teaches English at Bow Valley College in Calgary. In 2001 she graduated from the University of Calgary with a Master of Arts Degree in English Literature. She has published an essay entitled “Landscape My Body,” the short story “One Brown Smartie”, and a short documentary for CBC called “Mom Leaves Home.” Sherryl lives with her very poorly trained but greatly loved pug Sasha.

2009 Finalist B.D. Miller	B.D. Miller- Kobyła Playwright and fiction writer BD Miller lives in Regina. His two-act comedy, The Scarborough Four, won Regina Little Theatre’s national playwriting competition in 2001, was a mainstage production the following year, and was anthologized by Playwrights Canada Press. His one-act comedy Dumpster Diving premiered at the 2003 On the River’s Edge Festival and was published later that year in North by North Wit: An Anthology of Canadian Humour. His fiction has appeared five times in Storyteller, Canada’s short story magazine, and has been broadcast on CBC Radio. He is currently completing his first novel and working toward an MFA in Creative Writing through the University of British Columbia.

2009 Finalist Chris Morley	Christopher Morley- The King's Disposition Chris has written screenplays and plays for many years. He co-wrote GLORY with Lawrence Dane which was optioned by Canart Films, Bomac Batton and John Eckert Productions. Chris’s original screenplay BRAIN DRAIN has been optioned by Owl Communications and Caber Films. He developed a television series premise for TV Ontario entitled THE SECRET CIPHER and won a competition to adapt SHOWTIME as a one-act play from the short story by Phil Morimitsu. The play was produced in Los Angeles, Minneapolis and Washington DC by Eckankar; this was followed by the full length sequel which was produced in Orlando Florida the following year.

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