Nicolas Billon (born March 22, 1978) is a Canadian writer. He is best known for his plays ''

The Elephant Song ''The Elephant Song'' is a Canadian stage play by Nicolas Billon, first presented in 2002 and since performed across Canada and around the world. There is also a film adaptation of the play, released in 2014. History ''The Elephant Song'', by Can ...

'', ''

Iceland Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...

'', and ''

Butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...

''.

Biography

Nicolas Billon was born in

Ottawa Ottawa is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

and grew up in

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 ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, 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, ...

. He is the son of Johanne Archambault and writer Pierre Billon. ''The Elephant Song'', his first play, premiered at the

Stratford Shakespeare Festival The Stratford Festival is a Repertory theatre, repertory theatre organization that operates from April to October in the city of Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Founded by local journalist Tom Patterson (theatre producer), Tom Patterson in 1952, th ...

in 2004. His second play, ''The Measure of Love'', was produced there in 2005. A member of the inaugural

Soulpepper Soulpepper is a theatre company based in Toronto, Ontario.Keith Garebian"Soulpepper Theatre" ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'', November 4, 2010. History Soulpepper was founded in 1998 by twelve Toronto artists aiming to produce lesser-known theatri ...

Academy, Nicolas's version of

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

's '' Three Sisters'' was produced at Soulpepper in 2007, directed by László Marton. He also co-created ''BLiNK'' with the other members of the Academy for the

Luminato Festival The Luminato Festival, Toronto's International Festival of Arts and Ideas, is an annual celebration of the arts in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, launched in 2007. In its first decade, Luminato presented over 3,000 performances featuring 11,000 artist ...

. In 2009, Billon joined the

Tarragon Tarragon (''Artemisia dracunculus''), also known as estragon, is a species of perennial herbaceous plant, herb in the family Asteraceae. It is widespread in the wild across much of Eurasia and North America and is cultivated for culinary and medic ...

Playwrights Unit. That June, his adaptation of

Molière Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, ; ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the great writers in the French language and world liter ...

's ''The Sicilian'' was one of the hits of the

Toronto Fringe Festival The Toronto Fringe Festival is an annual theatre festival, featuring un-juried plays by unknown or well-known artists, taking place in the theatres of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Several productions originally mounted at the Fringe have later been ...

. A few months later, his play ''Greenland'' opened at the 2009 SummerWorks Theatre Festival. It was a critical and audience success, and won both the

Now Magazine ''Now'' (styled as ''NOW''), also known as ''NOW Magazine'' is an online publication based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Through most of its existence, ''Now'' was a free alternative weekly newspaper. Physical publication of ''Now'' was suspended ...

Audience Choice Award and the SummerWorks Outstanding Production Award. Later that year, Billon was voted one of the Top 10 Theatre Artists of 2009 by Toronto's ''Now Magazine''. Billon was a finalist for and won the 2013

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the governor general of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by the ...

for Drama for ''Fault Lines''. His play ''The Elephant Song'' was adapted into the 2014 film '' Elephant Song'', directed by

Charles Binamé Charles Binamé (born May 25, 1949) is a Quebec director. He was born in Belgium and came to Montreal with his family at a young age. He joined the National Film Board of Canada as an assistant director in 1971, but soon left for the private sec ...

and starring

Bruce Greenwood Stuart Bruce Greenwood (born August 12, 1956) is a Canadian actor and producer. He has starred in five films by Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan and has been nominated for three Canadian Screen Awards, once for Best Actor for '' Elephant Song'' ...

Xavier Dolan Xavier Dolan-Tadros (; born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian filmmaker and actor. He began his career as a child actor in commercials before directing several arthouse feature films. He first received international acclaim in 2009 for his feature ...

, and

Catherine Keener Catherine Ann Keener (born March 26, 1959) is an American actress. She has portrayed disgruntled and melancholic yet sympathetic women in independent films, as well as supporting roles in studio films. She has been nominated twice for the Academ ...

."TIFF 2014 to screen Xavier Dolan and Denys Arcand films"

CBC News CBC News is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC ...

, August 6, 2014. His screenplay garnered both the 2015 Canadian Screen Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and the 2015 WGC Screenwriting Award for Features & Mini-Series. Billon's play, ''Butcher'', premiered at

Alberta Theatre Projects Alberta Theatre Projects ("ATP") is a professional, not-for-profit, Canadian theatre company, founded in 1972 by Lucille Wagner and Douglas Riske, currently based out of the Martha Cohen Theatre in Arts Commons, in Calgary, Alberta Alber ...

in October 2014. The play deals with the theme of justice and features several characters who speak Lavinian, an

invented language A constructed language (shortened to conlang) is a language whose phonology, grammar, orthography, and vocabulary, instead of having developed naturally, are consciously devised for some purpose, which may include being devised for a work of ...

created by two linguists,

Christina Kramer Christina Elizabeth Kramer is Professor of Slavic and Balkan languages and linguistics at the University of Toronto and Chair of the university's Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures which is part of the Faculty of Arts and Science. ...

and Dragana Obradović, specifically for the play."Learning Lavinian: professors create a new Slavic language"
/ref>

Film

Feature films

* '' Elephant Song'' (2014)

Short films

* ''Hyperlight'' (2018) * ''How Tommy Lemenchick Became a Grade 7 Legend'' (2016) * ''A Kindness'' (2012) * ''The Exit'' (2010)

Theatre

Plays

* ''Butcher'' (2014) * ''Faroe Islands'' (2013) * ''Iceland'' (2012) * ''The Safe Word'' (2011) * ''Greenland'' (2009) * ''The Measure of Love'' (2005) * ''

'' (2004)

Adaptations

Stevenson Stevenson is an English language patronymic surname meaning "son of Steven". Its first historical record is from pre-10th-century England. Another origin of the name is as a toponymic surname related to the place Stevenstone in Devon, England. The ...

's ''Treasure Island'' (2017) *

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; ; /524 – /455 BC) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek tragedy, tragedian often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek tragedy is large ...

' ''Agamemnon'' (2016) *

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

& Steffin's ''Rifles'' (2014) *

Euripides Euripides () was a Greek tragedy, tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom any plays have survived in full. Some ancient scholars attributed ninety-five plays to ...

' ''Iphigenia at Aulis'' (2010) *

's ''The Sicilian'' (2009) *

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

's ''Three Sisters'' (2007)

Collaborations

* ''I'm So Close'' (2010) * ''BLiNK'' (2008)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Billon, Nicolas 1978 births Living people Writers from Ottawa Writers from Montreal Governor General's Award–winning dramatists Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian male screenwriters Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian Film Centre alumni 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian screenwriters Screenwriters from Quebec Screenwriters from Ontario