Ken Garnhum is a Canadian playwright, performance artist and theatrical designer.[1] He is most noted for his performance piece Beuys, Buoys, Boys, which was a shortlisted finalist for the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play in 1989,[2] and his play Pants on Fire, which won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award in 1995.

Career

Originally from Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island,[3] Garnhum worked in art and theatre in Charlottetown before moving to Toronto in 1981.[1] His other plays and performance pieces have included Building a Post-Mortem Birdhouse,[4] How Many Saints Can Sit Around? (1987),[5] Twenty Minute History of Art (1987),[6] Surrounded by Water (1991),[1] The Incredible Red Vase (1991),[7] one word (1997)[4] and The Hermits (1998).[8]

In 1992, Beuys, Buoys, Boys was included in Making Out, the first anthology of Canadian plays by gay writers, alongside works by David Demchuk, Sky Gilbert, Daniel MacIvor, Harry Rintoul and Colin Thomas.[9] Pants on Fire, one of the early AIDS-themed plays in Canadian literature, was the first play Garnhum wrote after himself being diagnosed HIV-positive in 1993.[10]

He has also regularly worked as a set and costume designer, both on his own shows and for other playwrights;[4] he garnered Dora Award nominations for set design in 1994 for a production of The House of Martin Guerre,[11] and for both costume and set design in 1996 for Gloria Montero's Frida K.[12]

References

  1. ^ a b c "Surrounded by Water: Will Garnhum walk on water this time?". Toronto Star, January 4, 1991.
  2. ^ "And the Dora nominees are...". The Globe and Mail, May 13, 1989.
  3. ^ "Writer feels strong pull of P.E.I. home: Ken Garnhum uses past family generations as the starting point for many of his works". The Guardian, March 15, 1999.
  4. ^ a b c "Garnhum returns with his challenges for the ear and eye: Writer, performer, designer mixes literary allusion, inventive sets". Toronto Star, February 6, 1997.
  5. ^ "One-man show a search for grace through art". The Globe and Mail, January 30, 1987.
  6. ^ "New slant on art history". Toronto Star, April 20, 1987.
  7. ^ "Tarragon opens doors". The Globe and Mail, April 13, 1991.
  8. ^ "A plague of success". Toronto Star, December 3, 1998.
  9. ^ "Book symbolizes gays' advances". The Globe and Mail, June 4, 1992.
  10. ^ "The art of the positive". The Globe and Mail, August 1, 2000.
  11. ^ "Miss Saigon leads in race for Doras". The Globe and Mail, May 18, 1994.
  12. ^ "Harbourfront Centre tops Dora list: Captures 23 nominations, Canadian Stage is second with 17". The Globe and Mail, May 17, 1996.


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