Playwrights to speak Jan. 17 in D.B. Clarke

The general public are invited to an appearance by two well-known Canadian playwrights on Jan. 17.

David French and Hrant Alianak will read from their plays and take part in a discussion on the early years of Theatre Passe Muraille, Factory Theatre and Toronto Free Theatre from the 1970s to the present.

David French is one of Canada’s most popular playwrights. The Mercer plays, about a Newfoundland family (Salt-Water Moon, 1949, Leaving Home, Of the Fields Lately, and Soldier’s Heart), have received hundreds of productions around the world, including Broadway.

His other plays include the backstage comedy Jitters, the pool-hall drama One Crack Out, the comedy The Riddle of the World, the thriller Silver Dagger, and adaptations of Ostrovsky’s The Forest and Chekhov’s The Seagull.

Hrant Alianak made his debut as a writer in 1972 at Theatre Passe Muraille with Tantrums. Other plays include his Gangster trilogy, Night, Passion and Sin, as well as The Blues, The Big Hit, Lucky Strike and The Walls of Africa. He formed his company, Alianak Theatre Productions, to produce plays of his own choosing.

The reading and round table take place Monday, Jan. 17, from 10 to12:30, in the D.B. Clarke Theatre of the Hall Building. Robert Astle is the organizer.