Artist Statement, Don Druick

As a playwright, my principle artistic practice is the writing of plays. My settings are varied; both contemporary and historical. I also translate plays from both French and Italian. As well, I have written opera libretti and radio drama.

I love the limitation of the stage. I love the magic of words. I love the collaboration inherent in the theatre world. As a playwright, my job is primarily to provide both narrative and dialogue material to actors - to provide a context for their artform. What actors do is more than half the final experience. For example, actor Richard McMillan in 2003 won the Dora Mavor Moore Award for his performance in my one-man play, THROUGH THE EYES.

The themes of my plays are varied but can be loosely grouped:

• Individuals and their relationships to the social institutions which define their world.
• The artistic voice and its relationship to political power.
• The collective madness of society. War, greed, unkindnesses.
• The mystery of love.

I am always interested in genre theory and in the structural formulation of narrative. MARK; MY WORDS is the natural continuation of these ongoing preoccupations.