Joan Burrows
Joan Burrows came to playwriting just as her 30 year career as an English and Dramatic Arts teacher was reaching her retirement date. Her first play, Staff Room, (following the adage “write what you know”) was produced and awarded both the ACT-CO and Theatre Ontario Awards for Outstanding Production in 2004. She followed with The Photograph (ACT-CO award for Best New Canadian Play 2008) and her next play Willow Quartet, produced in 2012, was transformed into a musical while workshopped with the Sheridan Music Summer program, produced in 2018 and nominated for the Tom Hendry Award in the new musical category. Her other plays which have been produced in Canada and the U.S. include Gloria’s Guy, Four Hours, and Persons of Interest. She received the Richmond Hill Artist in Mid-Life Career Award in 2020 and she remains actively involved with the New Play Development Program at the Alumnae Theatre organizing yearly writing intensives for other evolving Canadian women writers.