Department of English

In what we hope will be the first of several collaborations, the English Department and the Ryerson Theatre School brought together its two artists-in-residence, Judith Thompson and Drew Hayden Taylor, for an informal discussion on March 27.  The topic was “The Art of Adaptation.”  Thompson and Taylor, both award-winning playwrights, each explained their processes for adapting others’ works as their own, the challenges of adapting their own works to other media, and their discomfort at seeing their own work adapted by others.  The discussion provided a fascinating insight into what constitutes the “essence” of a literary work, and on how stories are retold, appropriated, and revised.

Judith Thompson, the artist-in-residence at the Theatre School this semester, is a celebrated playwright, director, screenwriter, actor, and producer whose plays include The Crackwalker, Lion in the Streets, Perfect Pie, White Biting Dog, and I am Yours.  Her awards include: Officer of the Order of Canada, 2 Governor General Awards, Toronto Arts Award, 2 Chalmers Awards, Walter Carsen Performing Arts Award, and the Susan Smith Blackburn Award for a Woman Writing in English.

Drew Hayden Taylor, the artist-in-residence in the English Department, is an Ojibway from the Curve Lake First Nations in Ontario.  His career has included stints as a stand-up comedian at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.; as Artistic Director at the Native Earth Performing Arts Company in Toronto; and as a journalist, short-story, novelist, television script-writer, and documentary-maker.  His plays have seen over 70 productions and have won countless awards.