Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Dufresne, Guy
Playwright born in Montreal, Quebec in 1915; died 1993.
He began writing for the radio, including an adaptation of Louis Frechette's play Félix Poutré. In 1945 he won the first Radio-Canada literary competition with a short radio play, Le Contrebandier. From 1947 to 1955, he wrote about 200 scripts for the series Le Ciel par-dessus les toits, on the religious history of Quebec.
He then began writing for television, providing scripts for several series, including Cap-aux-Sorciers (1955-58)), about a sea captain and his family; Kanawio (1960-61), about the Iroquois and Mohawks at the time of the founding of Montreal; Septieme Nord, about Montreal physicians during the same period; Les Forges de Saint-Maurice (1972-75), about Quebec's early 18th century shipbuilding industry.
Among his stage plays are: Le jeu sur la presqu'île (premiered in a park in Montreal in 1950); Le Cri de l'engoulevent (Comédie-Canadienne, 1960, dir. Jan Doat and Gratien Gélinas); Docile (Comédie-Canadienne, 1968); Les Traitants (Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 1969).
Guy Dufresne also wrote for film.
Source: Pierre Filion. "Dufresne, Guy," The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre. Eds. Eugene Benson and L.W. Conolly. Toronto: Oxford UP, 1989.
Last updated 2020-08-12
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