Kirk Dunn
Kirk Dunn was born on Amherst Island, grew up in North Bay, ON, graduated from York University’s Theatre Performance Programme in the ‘80s, and is a writer, actor and fibre artist whose recent work has been exploring the intersectionality of writing, acting, and knitting. Kirk has written for TV and the stage, with his TYA shows The Lost Land and Derek the Viking both winning StoryBook Theatre’s playwrighting competition. Since 2019, Kirk has toured nationally and internationally with The Knitting Pilgrim, a play he wrote with his partner, Claire Ross Dunn, chronicling his experience hand-knitting three huge tapestries in the style of stained-glass windows exploring the commonalities and conflicts between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam—a project that ultimately took 15 years to complete. Kirk and Claire’s new play, Spycraft, follows the exploits of a 50-year-old Canadian female Allied operative in WWII who stitches coded intelligence into her knitting while spying on the Nazis in occupied France. Supported by a Canada Council grant, the play is set to premiere at Stirling Festival Theatre in November 2025, and tour across Ontario thereafter. Next up is a fun and fast-paced two-handed Carol’s Christmas Carol which Kirk and Claire are currently writing and will be available to perform in 2025.