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 June 5, 1968 Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada |
| Alma mater | University of Victoria |
| Occupation(s) | playwright, television writer, producer |
| Known for | Queer as Folk, Bomb Girls |
| Website | Official 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
editBorn 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
edit- 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
edit- ^ "Canadians in the closet". The Globe and Mail, April 5, 2003.
- ^ "Overlooked gem deserves full houses". Victoria Times-Colonist, April 17, 1994.
- ^ "Coming out inside". Victoria Times-Colonist, August 6, 1995.
- ^ a b c "Musing on a Queer Career". Victoria Times-Colonist, July 2, 2003.
- ^ "AIDS drama one of Victorians' best ever". Victoria Times-Colonist, December 2, 1993.
- ^ "Sunset is best when its colors are subtle". Vancouver Sun, May 6, 1995.
- ^ "Winners waltz twice with Jessie awards". The Province, June 12, 1995.
- ^ a b "Cruise-ship boors inspire playwright". Victoria Times-Colonist, February 22, 1995.
- ^ "Victoria playwright wins national award". Victoria Times-Colonist, September 25, 1996.
- ^ "Art gallery marks AIDS Day". Victoria Times-Colonist, December 1, 1993.
- ^ "Gay plays ring true for straights, too". Vancouver Sun, July 3, 1997.
- ^ "Shooting Stage's young talents hit target: Ambitious, complex production is by turns funny, disturbing". Vancouver Sun, April 24, 2001.
- ^ "What happens when the Shaw meets gay theatre?: The result is a Winter Fling". National Post, December 11, 1999.
- ^ "Voaden playwriting winners announced". Kingston Whig-Standard, June 9, 2001.
- ^ "Mistry sidelined by Canada's literati: Lesser-known writers nominated for Governor General's Literary Awards". Ottawa Citizen, October 22, 2002.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Queer fear". Victoria Times-Colonist, March 21, 2005.
- ^ "CHUM makes a deal with the devil for homegrown drama". The Globe and Mail, June 2, 2004.
- ^ "Changing their city from backdrop to star". The Globe and Mail, October 30, 2006.
- ^ "CBC has a winner in jPod". Toronto Star, January 8, 2008.
- ^ "'Making pies to making bombs'; Drama looks at lives of women during wartime". National Post, December 29, 2011.