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John MacLachlan Gray, OC (born John Howard Gray; 26 September 1946) is a Canadian writer-composer-performer for stage, TV, film, radio and print. He is best known for his stage musicals and for his two seasons as a
satirist This is an incomplete list of writers, cartoonists and others known for involvement in satire – humorous social criticism. They are grouped by era and listed by year of birth. Included is a list of modern satires. Under Contemporary, 1930-196 ...
on CBC TV's '' The Journal'', as well as an author, speaker and social critic on cultural-political issues.


Bio

Born in Ottawa,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...
, and raised in
Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...
, Gray obtained a B.A. at Mount Allison University, and an M.A. at the
University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks among the top thre ...
. While attending the latter, he founded Tamahnous Theatre, and served as its director from 1971 to 1974. He then joined
Theatre Passe Muraille Theatre Passe Muraille is a theatre company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Brief history One of Canada's most influential alternative theatres, Theatre Passe Muraille ("theatre beyond walls") was founded in 1968 by director and playwright Jim Gar ...
in Toronto, Ontario, where he began writing and composing for the stage. His first musical was "18 Wheels," about truck drivers.


Plays

In 1978, with
Eric Peterson Eric Neal Peterson (born October 2, 1946) is a Canadian stage, television, and film actor, known for his roles in three major Canadian series – '' Street Legal'' (1987–1994), '' Corner Gas'' (2004–2009), and '' This is Wonderland'' ...
, he wrote and composed ''
Billy Bishop Goes to War ''Billy Bishop Goes to War'' is a Canadian musical, written by John MacLachlan Gray in collaboration with the actor Eric Peterson. One of the most widely produced plays in Canadian theatre, the two-man play dramatizes the life of Canadian World ...
'', which appeared on
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
in New York City in 1980, produced by
Mike Nichols Mike Nichols (born Michael Igor Peschkowsky; November 6, 1931 – November 19, 2014) was an American film and theater director, producer, actor, and comedian. He was noted for his ability to work across a range of genres and for his aptitude fo ...
, and in London's West End. It has since been performed in over 150 independent productions in Canada and the United States. The play appeared on television in a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
- CBC co-production, and in a German version, ''Billy Bishop Steig Auf''. ''Billy Bishop Goes to War'' was the winner of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award in 1981, the Governor General's Award for Drama, and the 1982 Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award. In 2009, Peterson and Gray returned to their roles at Soulpepper Theater in Toronto, in a re-mounting where Bishop tells his story, wearing pajamas and dressing-gown, near the end of his life. Directed by Ted Dykstra, the production received rave reviews, and continues to be performed at Soulpepper and at other venues across Canada. In 2010, the play was shot for CBC Television in partnership with Strada Productions, directed by Barbara Willis-Sweete.


Musicals

Gray has written and composed six other musicals including ''18 Wheels'', ''Rock and Roll'', ''Don Messer's Jubilee'', ''Health'', and ''Amelia: The Girl Who Wants to Fly'' (2011). ''Rock and Roll'' won a Dora Mavor Moore Award in 1982, and became an award-winning feature video entitled ''King of Friday Night''. Gray's most recent musical is ''TheTree. TheTower. TheFlood'', three Bible stories for the age of information, commissioned by CBC Radio Drama.


Newspaper columnist

In the late 1990s, Gray became a newspaper columnist, contributing weekly pieces on cultural politics to the ''
Vancouver Sun The ''Vancouver Sun'', also known as the ''Sun'', is a daily broadsheet newspaper based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The newspaper is currently published by the Pacific Newspaper Group, a division of Postmedia Network. Published s ...
'' and ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
''. In the early 2000s he contributed a column to ''Western Living Magazine'' called "O For the Love of Dog," in which he wrote about his dog Gus.


Novelist

Around that time he abandoned the theatre in favour of the novel – in a series of thrillers set in post-modern Vancouver, mid-19th century England and the United States before the Civil War. As with ''Billy Bishop Goes to War'', Gray casts an ironic contemporary eye on imagined historical events. He is the recipient of a Golden Globe, and the Governor General's Medal. In 2000, he was made an Officer of the
Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...
for "his contribution to Canada's cultural landscape". He holds
honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...
s from Dalhousie University and Mount Allison University. John Gray lives in
Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, British Columbia with his wife Beverlee. They have two sons,
Zachary Zachary is a male given name, a variant of Zechariah – the name of several Biblical characters. People *Pope Zachary (679–752), Pope of the Catholic Church from 741 to 752 * Zachary of Vienne (died 106), bishop of Vienne (France), martyr an ...
(a musician and actor) and Ezra ( a visual artist).


Bibliography

* ''Billy Bishop Goes to War'' – 1982 (with Eric Peterson) * ''Dazzled!'' – 1984 * ''Local Boy Makes Good'' – 1987 * ''I Love Mom: An Irreverent History of the Tattoo'' – 1994 * ''Lost in North America: The Imaginary Canadian in the American Dream'' – 1994 * ''A Gift for the Little Master'' – 2000 * ''The Friend in Human'' – 2003 ** in German: ''Der menschliche Dämon.'' Transl. Edith Walter.
Heyne Verlag The Heyne Verlag (formerly Wilhelm Heyne Verlag) is a German publisher based in Munich, which was founded in Dresden in 1934 and sold to Axel Springer in 2000. In 2004 it became part of Random House. Heyne was one of the largest publishing houses ...
2005 * ''White Stone Day'' – 2005 * ''Not Quite Dead'' − 2007 * ''The White Angel'' - 2017


Awards, Selected

*Governor General's Medal *Los Angeles Drama Critics' Dramalogue Award *Gold Award, New York Film and Television Festival *ACTRA Award (Nellie), Best Production, 1983 *Canadian Film and Television Award *Silver Hugo Award, Chicago *Rocky Award, Banff Television Festival, Best Variety Production *National Magazine Award *Dora Mavor Moore Award (2) *Western Magazine Award (6)


References


Gray
entry in
The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; french: L'Encyclopédie canadienne) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with the support of Canadian Heritage. Available f ...


External links


Records of Tamahnous Theatre are held by Simon Fraser University's Special Collections and Rare Books
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gray, John Maclachlan 1946 births Living people 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian male novelists Canadian people of British descent Canadian television personalities Dora Mavor Moore Award winners Governor General's Award-winning dramatists Mount Allison University alumni Officers of the Order of Canada People from Colchester County Writers from Nova Scotia Writers from Ottawa Canadian satirists Canadian male dramatists and playwrights 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers