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Norm Foster
Norm
Foster was born
in Newmarket, Ontario on St. Valentine’s Day. Raised in Toronto, he
attended West Hill Collegiate Institute and then went on to study Radio
& Television Arts at Centennial College in Toronto and then Confederation
College in Thunder Bay. Upon completion of his studies, he began a radio
career that would span 25 years and which would take him from Thunder
Bay to Winnipeg to Kingston and finally to Fredericton, New Brunswick.
It was in Fredericton in 1980 that Norm was introduced to the world
of theatre.
Foster fell in love with the
theatre right then and there, and two years later he penned his first
professionally produced play, Sinners. It was produced by Theatre
New Brunswick and directed by Malcolm Black, who would also direct Foster’s
next effort, the highly successful, The Melville Boys. The
Melville Boys would go on to be produced across Canada and in the
United States, including a well-received run Off Broadway in New York.
It would become Foster’s signature play, and the one which would bring
his name to the forefront of Canadian theatre. Since then, Norm Foster
has produced an astonishing output of work. Nearly forty plays in all,
including The Affections of May, the most produced play in Canada
in 1991.
He has also written a musical
with composer Leslie Arden (The Last Resort) and three musicals
(Jasper Station, Race Day & Sitting Pretty) with composer
Steve Thomas.
“Acting is great fun,
but writing is my first love. A lot of people out there like the
‘idea’ of being a writer. The romance of it. The notion that we
all sit around in cafes and talk about our writing with other writers.
Personally, I would rather do it than talk about it. The actual process
of writing is what excites me. Creating a world from the ground up and
populating it with characters I’ve pulled out of my head. This is
why I rarely set my plays in real cities with place names we recognize.
I want the audience to imagine these locations right along with me.”
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