David William Fennario (born David Wiper, 26 April 1947 – 16 September 2023) was a Canadian playwright, best known for ''

Balconville ''Balconville'' is a bilingual play by Canadians, Canadian playwright David Fennario. It is a two-act drama that is considered to be Fennario's best known play. ''Balconville'' was the first bilingual play in Canadian theatre history, and about ...

'' (1979), his bilingual dramatization of life in working-class

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, for which he won the

Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area. The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...

. A committed Marxist, Fennario was a candidate for the

Union des forces progressistes The Union des forces progressistes (, UFP) was a left-wing political party in Quebec, Canada, active from 2002 to 2006. History The Union des Forces Progressistes (UFP) was formed in 2002 out of desire to unite Québec's leftists into a politic ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and for

Québec solidaire Quebec is Canada's largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, New Brunswick to the southeast and a coastal border ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

. He has been the subject of two

National Film Board of Canada The National Film Board of Canada (NFB; ) is a Canadian public film and digital media producer and distributor. An agency of the Government of Canada, the NFB produces and distributes documentary films, animation, web documentaries, and altern ...

documentaries, ''David Fennario's Banana Boots'' and ''Fennario: His World On Stage.'' His pen name, "Fennario," given to him by a former girlfriend, is from a

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

song, "Pretty Peggy-O." Fennario died on 16 September 2023, at the age of 76.

Works

*''Without a Parachute'' (1972) (journals) *''On the Job'' (1976) (play) *''Nothing to Lose'' (1977) (play) *''

'' (1979) (play) *''

Joe Beef Charles McKiernan (4 December 1835 County Cavan, Ireland – 15 January 1889, Montreal, Quebec, Canada), known commonly as Joe Beef, was a well-known Irish-Canadian Montreal tavern owner, innkeeper and philanthropist. Biography Charles McK ...

'' (1984) (play; based on the life and times of

) *''Doctor Thomas Neill Cream'' (1988) (play) *''The Murder of Susan Parr'' (1989) (play) *''The Death of René Lévesque'' (1991) (play) *''Gargoyles'' (1997) (play) *''Banana Boots'' (1998) (play) *''Condoville'' (2005) (play) *''Bolsheviki'' (2010) (play) *''Motherhouse'' (2014) (play)

Electoral record

, - , - , -

References

External links

Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia articleLiterary Encyclopedia articleWatch ''David Fennario's Banana Boots'' at NFB.ca
1947 births 2023 deaths 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Writers from Montreal People from Verdun, Quebec Anglophone Quebec people Canadian socialists Québec solidaire candidates in Quebec provincial elections Union des forces progressistes (Canada) politicians Canadian dramatists and playwrights in French Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers {{Quebec-writer-stub

Works

Electoral record

Further reading

References

External links