Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia

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Ferguson, Trevor

Playwright and novelist, born in 1947 in Seaford, Huron County in Ontario, and raised in Montreal from the age of three. He left high school before graduating and worked at a variety of jobs across the country. He is the author of eight novels which are published in more than twenty languages. His first play, Long, Long, Short, Long, was produced in English by infinitheatre in 2002 at Monument National in Montreal in 2001, and mounted a second time in French under the title Le Pont with Theatre Jean-Duceppe at Place des Arts in 2005. The English title of the play refers to the blasts of a train whistle. It is set in 1967 in a train car that is home to five disparate (and sometimes desperate) men, employed in the building of a railway bridge in northern British Columbia. It is the first English play in history to be nominated by l’académie québécoise du theatre for a Masque award for best text, and has been published in both English and French (in the same book) by Pleine Lune in 2006.

His second play was Beach House, Burnt Sienna, produced by infinitheatre and Village Theatre West to commemorate the tenth anniversary of VTW. His third play, Barnacle Wood was produced in 2004 also by infinitheatre. All three plays were directed by Guy Sprung

Zarathustra Said Some Things, No? was produced Off-Broadway in 2006 by the Bridge Theatre Company of New York City, in association with infinitheatre, and directed by Robin Paterson. In this play Adrienne and Ricky, a young Canadian couple living in Paris, have entered into a suicide pact. They meet on their high balcony at sunset, and under the burden of their decision, they relive their lives through storytelling, elaborate mind-games, mock group therapy sessions, personal attacks, shared secrets, and intimate, sexual, cruel and even humorous moments. As critical truths surface, so does a tenacious life-force, a willingness to live despite themselves. Critics have called it: “a challenging new play, rooted in everything from Strindberg to Jean Genet”; and “both a chillingly intimate, R-rated portrait of a pair of psychological self-flagellants and a Stoppardian cyclone of words.”

Trevor Ferguson lives in Montreal with his wife, Lynne. He is involved in television and film projects and teaches creative writing at Concordia University. He is past-Chairman of the Writers' Union of Canada, and has been the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and Red River Community College in Winnipeg. He is the creator and Artistic Director of Celtic Chorale, an ensemble of Celtic musicians and a classical choir.

Last updated 2009-04-01