John Murrell biography

John Murrell

At Writers Theatre: Memoir

John Murrell is one of Canada's most literate and technically accomplished playwrights. He has served as playwright-in-residence with Alberta Theatre Project, as Associate Director of Stratford Festival, as a dramaturg at Theatre Calgary and as head of the Manff Centre School of Fine Arts Playwrights' Colony. His Memoir premiered at the Guelph Spring Festival in 1977 and has been translated into more than fifteen languages and performed in more than thirty five countries including the former Soviet Union. Memoir ran for three years at the Theatre de L'Oevre in Paris and was subsequently broadcast on French television. His play Waiting for the Parade was aired on CBC radio and television. His play Waiting for the Parade was aired on CBC radio and television, and has been produced in London, England and Sydney, Australia. Murrell was honored with the Chalmers Canadian Play Award for his play Farther West in 1986. Also recognized as a major translator/adaptor of foreign language classics, he has worked on translations of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya and The Seagill, Ibsen's The Master Builder, Machiavelli's Mandragola, and Sardou's Divorcons.

[Bio as of November 1996]