Michael MacLennan

Michael Lewis MacLennan (born June 5, 1968) is a Canadian playwright, television writer and television producer,[1] best known as a writer and producer of television series such as Queer as Folk and Bomb Girls.

Michael MacLennan
MacLennan at the Bell Media Prime Time TV Program Showcase in 2014
Born
Michael Lewis MacLennan

(1968-06-05) June 5, 1968
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Alma materUniversity of Victoria
Occupation(s)playwright, television writer, producer
Known forQueer as Folk, Bomb Girls
WebsiteOfficial website

As a playwright he is a two-time nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama, and the only playwright to win the Herman Voaden Playwriting Competition twice.

Career

Born in Vancouver, British Columbia, MacLennan began his career as a stage actor.[2] In his first theatre role at age 13, he was cast to play a woman, and later in his career he produced a short performance piece about his fear at the time that his parents would see the play and realize that he was gay.[3] He moved to Victoria in 1986 to study English at the University of Victoria.[4]

His first full-length play, Beat the Sunset, premiered at the Victoria Fringe Festival in 1993.[5] It was later staged in Vancouver in 1995,[6] winning MacLennan a Jessie Award for outstanding emerging playwright[7] and the Theatrum National Playwriting Competition.[8]

His second play, Leaning Over Railings, premiered in 1995.[8] His 1996 Grace won the Theatre BC National Playwriting Competition,[9] and has been produced across Canada and internationally. During this era, he also wrote a number of short one-act plays, including Wake No Clocks[10] and Come On!.[11]

He then began to study screenwriting at the Canadian Film Centre,[4] although he continued to write plays during this time.[12] He won the Herman Voaden Playwrighting Competition in 1998 for his play The Shooting Stage,[13] and in 2001 for Last Romantics.[14] Both plays were later nominated for the Governor General's Award for English drama, The Shooting Stage at the 2002 Governor General's Awards[15] and Last Romantics at the 2003 Governor General's Awards.[16]

He began his television career as writer and story editor for Sullivan Entertainment's television series Wind at My Back, Anne of Green Gables: The Animated Series and Super Rupert.[4] He then became a writer and co-executive producer on Queer as Folk, writing 14 episodes over four seasons.[17] Concurrently with the final season of Queer as Folk, he co-created and produced the Citytv dramedy series Godiva's in 2005.[18]

In 2006, he created a theatrical adaptation of Douglas Coupland's novel Life After God,[19] resulting in Coupland inviting him to write and coproduce the television series adaptation of Coupland's novel jPod.[20]

He was cocreator and executive producer of Bomb Girls, which premiered in 2011.[21]

His other credits as a writer and producer have included The Guard, Being Erica, Flashpoint, Bitten and The Fosters.

Plays
  • Beat the Sunset (ISBN 0-88754-549-1)
  • Grace
  • The Shooting Stage (ISBN 0-88754-640-4)
  • Last Romantics (ISBN 0-88754-676-5)
  • Life After God

References
  1. "Canadians in the closet". The Globe and Mail, April 5, 2003.
  2. "Overlooked gem deserves full houses". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 17, 1994.
  3. "Coming out inside". Victoria Times-Colonist, August 6, 1995.
  4. "Musing on a Queer Career". Victoria Times-Colonist, July 2, 2003.
  5. "AIDS drama one of Victorians' best ever". Victoria Times-Colonist, December 2, 1993.
  6. "Sunset is best when its colors are subtle". Vancouver Sun, May 6, 1995.
  7. "Winners waltz twice with Jessie awards". The Province, June 12, 1995.
  8. "Cruise-ship boors inspire playwright". Victoria Times-Colonist, February 22, 1995.
  9. "Victoria playwright wins national award". Victoria Times-Colonist, September 25, 1996.
  10. "Art gallery marks AIDS Day". Victoria Times-Colonist, December 1, 1993.
  11. "Gay plays ring true for straights, too". Vancouver Sun, July 3, 1997.
  12. "Shooting Stage's young talents hit target: Ambitious, complex production is by turns funny, disturbing". Vancouver Sun, April 24, 2001.
  13. "What happens when the Shaw meets gay theatre?: The result is a Winter Fling". National Post, December 11, 1999.
  14. "Voaden playwriting winners announced". Kingston Whig-Standard, June 9, 2001.
  15. "Mistry sidelined by Canada's literati: Lesser-known writers nominated for Governor General's Literary Awards". Ottawa Citizen, October 22, 2002.
  16. "Literary award short list reveals quirky choices; Governor General picks are mostly unexpected titles Awards veteran Margaret Atwood still makes the cut". Toronto Star, October 21, 2003.
  17. "Queer fear". Victoria Times-Colonist, March 21, 2005.
  18. "CHUM makes a deal with the devil for homegrown drama". The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2004.
  19. "Changing their city from backdrop to star". The Globe and Mail, October 30, 2006.
  20. "CBC has a winner in jPod". Toronto Star, January 8, 2008.
  21. "'Making pies to making bombs'; Drama looks at lives of women during wartime". National Post, December 29, 2011.
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