BIOGRAPHY Vern Thiessen is one of Canada’s most produced playwrights. He has written for stage, radio and television. His stage plays have been seen across Canada, the US and Europe, including Shakespeare’s Will, Apple, Einstein’s Gift, Blowfish, The Resurrection Of John Frum and Vimy. Thiessen is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Elizabeth Sterling Haynes Award for Outstanding New Play, The City of Edmonton Arts Achievement Award, the University of Alberta Alumni Award for Excellence, The Canadian Jewish Playwriting Competition, and the Governor General’s Literary Award, Canada’s highest honour for playwriting. He has also been shortlisted for the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. Thiessen received is BA from the University of Winnipeg and an MFA from the University of Alberta. He has served as Playwright in Residence at Workshop West Theatre (where he founded he Playwrights Garage program), and the Citadel Theatre in Edmonton. He is a Past President of both the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Writer’s Guild of Alberta. He currently divides his time between Edmonton, AB and New York City. Study Playwriting with Vern Thiessen ONLINE COURSES NOW AVAILABLE! Click here for details NEWS!! Apple opens October 25th at the New Jersey Repertory Theatre Vimy opens October 22 at Eastern Front Theatre in Nova Scotia Rich, a new musical written with Olaf Pyttlik, premieres at MTYP in Winnipeg on November 19th. Click here for info and downloads: www.richmusical.com Bird Brain opens this fall at: Quest Theatre in Calgary; Lorraine Kimsa Theatre for Young People in Toronto; and Theatre Wrede in Germany. A reading of Thiessen’s newest play A More Perfect Union will be held October 25th, 2008 at Epic Theatre Ensemble. Thiessen has been commissioned by the E.S.T./Sloan Foundation to write a new play called Lenin’s Embalmer’s. Apple is currently running in three productions in Poland, translated by Hanna Szczerkowska. The most recent is a major production in Warsaw at Teatr Komedia. Einstein’s Gift received its French language premiere t L'Uni Théâtre in Edmonton this spring, translated by Manon Beaudion. Shakespeare’s Will has been optioned for the West End and Broadway by Tony Award-winning producer Chase Mishkin and Susan and Leonard Nimoy. Playwrights Canada Press has published two new books Vern Thiessen: Two Plays (apple and blowfish) and Vimy..