Michael John Hollingsworth (born February 5, 1950) is a
Canadian playwright, theatre director and experimental
multimedia art
Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to tradition ...
ist.
[Gabrielle H. Cody and Evert Sprinchorn, ''The Columbia Encyclopedia of Modern Drama, Volume 1'' (p. 622). Columbia University Press, 2007. .] He is best known for ''The History of the Village of the Small Huts'', a series of 21 historical plays dramatizing and satirizing
Canadian history.
[Michael Hollingsworth]
at The Canadian Encyclopedia.
Born in
Swansea
Swansea (; cy, Abertawe ) is a coastal city and the second-largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Swansea ( cy, links=no, Dinas a Sir Abertawe).
The city is the twenty-fifth largest in ...
,
Wales, Hollingsworth moved to
Toronto, Ontario with his family at the age of six.
After studying fine arts at
York University, Hollingsworth's first play ''Strawberry Fields'' was produced by Toronto's
Factory Theatre in 1972,
and his second, ''Clear Light'', was produced by Toronto Free Theatre in 1973.
In 1976, he collaborated with
Deanne Taylor to launch VideoCabaret, an experimental theatre company which was one of the first in Canada to integrate
multimedia techniques such as
video and
live music
A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variety an ...
.
Early shows produced by VideoCabaret included Taylor's ''The Patty Rehearst Story'', ''The Bible As Told to Karen Ann Quinlan'', ''Nympho Warrior'' and ''Where's Fluffy'', Hollingsworth's '' '' and ''Electric Eye'', and adaptations of
Aldous Huxley's ''
Brave New World'' and
George Orwell
Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903 – 21 January 1950), better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English novelist, essayist, journalist, and critic. His work is characterised by lucid prose, social criticism, opposition to totalitar ...
's ''
1984
Events
January
* January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888.
* January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...
''.
Following the
Repatriation of the Canadian Constitution in 1982, Hollingsworth began to write ''The History of the Village of the Small Huts'', beginning with ''Part 1: New France'' in 1985;
''Part 2: The British'' followed in 1986.
These two shows each consisted of four distinct
one-act plays dramatizing individual personalities from the eras, while later plays in the series — ''The Mackenzie Papineau Rebellion'', ''Confederation'', ''The Red River Rebellion'', ''Canadian Pacific Scandal'', ''The Saskatchewan Rebellion'', ''Laurier'', ''The Great War'', ''The Life and Times of Mackenzie King'', ''WWII'', ''The Cold War'', ''Trudeau & the FLQ'', ''Trudeau & the PQ'' and ''The Life and Times of Brian Mulroney'' — have each been standalone works.
He has won two
Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award
The Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award was a Canadian literary award given to Canadian plays produced by any professional Canadian theatre company, and having performances in the Toronto area.
The prize had a monetary value of $25,000, and wa ...
s, in 1986 for ''New France'' and in 1995 for ''The Life and Times of Mackenzie King'', and a
Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play The Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in Toronto theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to prese ...
in 2004 for ''Confederation''.
References
External links
VideoCabaret
1950 births
20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights
Artists from Toronto
Canadian male dramatists and playwrights
Canadian multimedia artists
Canadian theatre directors
Canadian video artists
Living people
People from Swansea
Welsh emigrants to Canada
Writers from Toronto
20th-century Canadian male writers
21st-century Canadian male writers
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