Barrie, Shirley (Canada)

Shirley Barrie was born in Tillsonburg, Ontario, and graduated from the Universities of Western Ontario and Carleton. She went to London, England in 1972 and with Ken Chubb co-founded and was Associate Director of the Wakefield Tricycle Company and the Tricycle Theatre until 1984. It was during this period that she began writing plays for radio and theatre for young and family audiences. In Toronto in 1989, she founded Straight Stitching Productions with Lib Spry, and won two Chalmers Awards and a Dora for Straight Stitching and Carrying the Calf, two of the plays she wrote for the company. Her adaptation of Hansel and Gretel was produced by Geordie Productions in Montreal. Her award winning one-act Revelation is one of a series of short plays that have been produced and published widely. She has also developed scripts through the collective process, and written several plays about fascinating women from history. Beautiful Lady, Tell Me... was produced by 4th Line Theatre in 2007 and she is currently writing Queen Marie, a play about the great comic actress, for 4th Line.  With Emil Sher she co-edited Prepare to Embark:  Six Theatrical Voyages for Young Audiences for Playwrights Canada Press.

For more information visit www.shirleybarrie.ca and follow @shirleyplays on Twitter.