''My Own Private Oshawa'' is a theatrical play written and performed by Jonathan Wilson, which premiered in 1996.Vit Wagner, "Growing up gay in Oshawa". ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. The newspaper is the country's largest daily newspaper by circulation. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part ...

'', July 10, 1996. A one-man show taking place aboard a

GO Train GO Transit rail services are provided throughout the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area (GTHA) and the Greater Golden Horseshoe. The GO Transit rail fleet consists of 90 MPI MP40 locomotives and 979 Bombardier BiLevel Coaches. In , the system had a ...

in which Wilson is travelling home from

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

for a visit, the show is performed as a monologue about his childhood experiences as a repressed and closeted gay kid, and the impact of his more flamboyantly gay friend Gordon on his sense of self. The ultimate purpose of the trip, to attend Gordon's funeral following his death of

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

, is revealed only at the end of the play. The play was staged for the first time in July 1996 at the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was one of the major hits of the festival; due to its popularity, it was later remounted by Tarragon Theatre in the fall. The Tarragon production received two

Dora Mavor Moore Award The Dora Mavor Moore Award (also known as the Dora Award) is an award presented annually by the Toronto Alliance for the Performing Arts which honours theatre, dance and opera productions in Toronto. Named after Dora Mavor Moore, who helped estab ...

nominations (Small Theatre division) in 1997, for Outstanding New Play or Musical and Outstanding Performance by a Male (Wilson).

Film adaptation

In 1998, the play was optioned by producer

Sandra Faire Sandra Faire ( Allard; died February 27, 2019) was a Canadian television producer and philanthropist. She created music specials for Canadian entertainers such as Anne Murray, and was executive producer of ''So You Think You Can Dance Canada''. ...

for adaptation as a theatrical film. Directed by Allan Manson, the film directly introduced the plot point that Wilson was an actor performing ''My Own Private Oshawa'' as a stage show, but was primarily structured as a conventional narrative with a multi-actor cast rather than being performed exclusively by Wilson. Its cast included Shaun Majumder,

Martha Chaves Martha Chaves is a Nicaraguans, Nicaraguan-Canadians, Canadian comedian, actress, activist and playwright. She performs Stand-up comedy, standup in English, Spanish, French and Italian. She is a regular in the comedy circuits in Canada, the U ...

Gavin Crawford Gavin Crawford (born 2 April 1971) is a Canadian comedian and actor, best known for ''The Gavin Crawford Show'' and ''This Hour Has 22 Minutes''. He currently hosts the panel show, '' Because News'', on CBC Radio One. Early life Crawford was b ...

, Lou Eisen, Brigitte Gall,

Ed Sahely Ed Sahely is a Canadian actor who is best known for his role as Possum Lake business entrepreneur Murray Woolworth on the second season of ''The Red Green Show''. Career Sahely spent seven years performing and writing with The Second City and re ...

and Christopher Peterson. The film was screened at the Columbus International Film & Video Festival in 2002, but was not widely distributed until being broadcast by

CTV Television Network The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...

as a Pride Week special on June 25, 2005."CTV Celebrates Pride Week with Debut of My Own Private Oshawa, June 25". '' Canada NewsWire'', June 20, 2005.

References

External links

*{{IMDb title, 1392204 1996 plays Canadian LGBT-related plays Canadian plays adapted into films Canadian comedy-drama television films Canadian LGBT-related television films 2002 films 2002 LGBT-related films LGBT-related comedy-drama films Films shot in Toronto Films set in Toronto HIV/AIDS in Canadian films 2000s Canadian films CTV Television Network original films