Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.02.2002, Qupperneq 4

4 • Lögberg-Heimskringla • Friday 1 February 2002
The purpose ofthis column is to encourage
and enable people of Icelandic descent
throughout North America to exchange
information about their careers, in a “this
is what I do” format. Contributors will be
invited to provide photos.
This column recognizes people of
Icelandic descent who have made or are
Acting Writer Brian Drader
David Jón Fuller
WlNNIPEG, MB
Brian Drader characterizes him-
self as an acting writer. Trained
as an actor at the University of
Winnipeg, he travelled a lot in his early
career. But when he discovered his first
love was writing, he settled back in
Winnipeg.
Recently he won theatre bc's
National Playwriting Competition,
Special Merit category, for his play
Prok. On April 6th and 7th there will be
a stage reading of the play at the New
Play Festival in Kamloops. He says "It
is an opportunity to give profile to the
piece, as artistic directors are invited to
the festival." He also receives a cash
Four
Seasons
CONSULTINGy
Robert Cornelius
robert@fsc-inc.net
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shopped.
Brian's view of theatre is that "In no
other medium do you feel things so
much and laugh so much. Everyone in
the room is alive, and the extremes of
human emQtion — sorrow, compassion,
joy — are expressed and felt. If any art
is the parallel of a church, theatre is."'
And with that passionate sense of the
theatre, he continues to work as an actor
and writer. Winnipeg audiences have
seen him perform in such roles as a
young man confronting an old flame
who doesn't remember him in Harry
Rintoul's Brave Hearts (Theatre
Projects, 1992) and Crossland in Bruce
McManus's adaptation of A Doll's
House (Prairie Theatre Exchange,
1998). His acting credits, however,
range across Canada, with professional
theatres from Ontario to British
Columbia. Recently, he starred as Tom
in The Glass
Menagerie at Prairie
Threatre Exchange.
Brian has also
made his mark as a
writer. He began writ-
ing plays in 1989 with
Steven Mclntyre for
the Winnipeg Fringe
Festival. Mind of the
Iguana was an early
hit, recently remounted
in a tenth anniversary
production. Other
plays include Tuck
Tuck at Alberta
Theatre Projects, and
The Fruit Machine,
which premiered at
Theatre Projects
Manitoba in 1995. One
of his recent plays, The
Norbals, about a dys-
functional family
spread across Canada
convening for what
could be their last
Christmas together,
won the Herman
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now making significant contribution to the us bio notes and a photo. Ifyou don’t have
Icelandic/North American community. bio notes available, let us know and we’ll
Please let us know if there is someone spe- arrange an interview.
cial you know who should be featured. Send
Actor Brian Drader is naturally drawn to writing.
Photo conrtesy ofBrian Drader
Voaden National Playwriting competi-
tion in 1997. It went on to a full profes-
sional production at PTE in 1998, and
was subsequenly published by Scirocco
Drama. Other honours include the
Drama Prize at the National Screen
Institute for Iris and Nathan in 1996,
and being shortlisted in theatre bc's
National Playwriting Competition for
Bubba and the Peter Eater in 1997.
Recently his play Prok about Alfred
C. Kinsey and his wife Clara, enjoyed a
run at Theatre Projects Manitoba. "The
serendipity of doing The Glass
Managerie at the same time is just kind
of mindblowing for me sometimes," he
said, "because of course Glass
Menagerie is a memory play too."
Brian adapted The Fruit Machine
for the screen and it is in production
with Buffalo Gal Pictures in Winnipeg
and Len Pendergast in Toronto. "We're
well down the pipe on that one, we're
just putting the polish on it." When
asked whether he prefers writing for
one medium or the other, he says, "I
really enjoy film because it is new and
it's exciting and it's a very different way
to tell a story. I still am much more
comfortable in theatre, and if I just kind
of leap in there and start writing, that's
what I'm naturally drawn to."
Brian is the son of Edward and
Alice (Paine) Drader. His Icelandic
connection is his matemal grandmother,
Teddy Marteinsson. She is the daughter
of Runólfur Marteinsson, a Lutheran
minister and principal of the Jón
Bjarnason Academy and Ingunn
Sigurgeirsdóttir. Brian spent many sum-
mers with his grandparents at the tuber-
culosis sanitorium at Ninette, and one
summer, when his family was moving
from a farm in Dunrea to the town of
MacGregor, they all stayed there for the
entire summer. He describes his family
as close and says that he has an "intense
interest in family and relationships,"
which fuels his writing.
1111
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