Layne Coleman is a Canadian actor,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

and theatre director, most noted as a former artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille. Originally from North Battleford, Saskatchewan, he first became prominent as a cofounder and artistic director of the

25th Street Theatre Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash tha ...

in Saskatoon in the 1980s."Coleman, Layne"
''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', June 22, 2015. He briefly stepped in as interim artistic director of Theatre Passe Muraille in 1991 following the departure of Brian Richmond, holding the role for about a year before he was succeeded by Susan Serran in early 1992; he stepped in again as interim artistic director in 1997 after Serran left, and was named the permanent artistic director the following year. Coleman established an early success when

Michael Healey Michael Healey is a Canadian playwright and actor. He graduated from the acting programme at Toronto's Ryerson Theatre School in 1985. His acting credits include the plays of Jason Sherman (''The League of Nathans'', ''Reading Hebron'' and ''T ...

's '' The Drawer Boy'', the first play he booked for the theatre, went on to become one of the most critically and commercially popular Canadian plays of the decade. Coleman held the role with Theatre Passe Muraille until 2007. In addition to 25th Street Theatre and Theatre Passe Muraille, he has also directed plays for Factory Theatre, Canadian Stage and the National Arts Centre.

Acting

Coleman’s stage roles as an actor have included productions of '' Lips Together, Teeth Apart'' and '' Oleanna'' at Canadian Stage, ''The Life and Times of Mackenzie King'', ''Inquest'', ''Adult Entertainment'', ''The End of Civilization'' and ''

Escape from Happiness ''Escape From Happiness'' is a play by Canadian playwright George F. Walker."Escape a race to the punchline". ''Toronto Star'', February 23, 1992. It was first produced in July 1991 in New York City, and was first produced in Canada at the Factor ...

'' at Factory Theatre, '' The Ecstasy of Rita Joe'' for the Western Canada Theatre Company, ''Goodness'' for Volcano Theatre and ''Heaven Above, Heaven Below'' with Theatre Passe Muraille. He has also had supporting or guest roles in the television films '' War Brides'',Ned Powers, "25th Street director stars in CBC drama". ''

Saskatoon Star-Phoenix ''The StarPhoenix'' is a daily newspaper that serves Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, and is a part of Postmedia Network. The ''StarPhoenix'' puts out six editions each week and publishes one weekly, ''Bridges''. It is also part of the canada.com ...

'', September 19, 1980. ''Ready for Slaughter'', ''Best of Both Worlds'', ''A Matter of Sex'', '' The Marriage Bed'', '' Glory! Glory!'' and '' Giant Mine'', the television series ''Harvest'', '' Night Heat'', '' Street Legal'', '' E.N.G.'', '' Wind at My Back'' and '' This Is Wonderland'', and the theatrical films '' Humongous'' and ''

Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe ''Abraxas, Guardian of the Universe'' is a 1991 science fiction film Science fiction (or sci-fi) is a film genre that uses speculative, fictional science-based depictions of phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science, such as ...

''.

Writing

As a playwright, his plays have included ''Blue City Slammers'', ''Tijuana Cure''Robert Crew, "Layne's play sadly misses Carole". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', March 13, 2009. and ''Highway 63''. Coleman cowrote the screenplays for the film adaptation of '' Blue City Slammers'' (1987)"Blue City hits a bland slam". ''

'', April 29, 1988. and '' The Shape of Rex'' (2013), with the latter film serving as his own directorial debut.

Awards

He received several

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

nominations for his performances in ''The Al Cornell Story'', ''Public Lies'', ''As I Lay Dying'' and ''The Walls of Africa''. He has won two honorary Doras, including the George Luscombe Award for mentorship in 2005 and the Silver Ticket for outstanding contributions to the development of Canadian theatre.Richard Ouzonian, "Write-in vote for Evil Dead Dora upset; Musical is favourite of city's audiences though it wasn't one of the jurors' picks". ''

'', June 26, 2007.

Personal life

He was married to writer Carole Corbeil;"A very personal family drama"
''

'', October 4, 2008. his theatrical play ''Tijuana Cure'' is about her treatment for and death of cancer. Their daughter, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman, is an actor and playwright.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Layne 20th-century Canadian male actors 20th-century Canadian male writers 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian male actors 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Canadian male film actors Canadian male stage actors Canadian male television actors Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male screenwriters Canadian theatre directors Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Male actors from Saskatchewan Film directors from Saskatchewan Writers from Saskatchewan People from North Battleford Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Canadian artistic directors