Brad Fraser (born June 28, 1959 in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

) is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter and cultural commentator.Gaetan Charlebois and Anne Nothof
"Fraser, Brad"
''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'', June 2, 2019. He is one of the most widely produced Canadian playwrights both in Canada and internationally. His plays typically feature a harsh yet comical view of contemporary life in Canada, including frank depictions of sexuality, drug use and violence.

Career

Fraser's most noted early play was ''Wolf Boy'';Ray Conlogue, "Wolfboy proves a real howler". ''

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 ...

'', April 5, 1984. first staged in Edmonton in 1981, its 1984 production in Toronto by

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 ...

was later noted as one of the first significant acting roles for Keanu Reeves. Fraser first came to national and international prominence as a playwright with ''

Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love'' is a 1989 stage play written by Canadian playwright Brad Fraser. Set in Edmonton, Alberta, the comedy-drama follows the lives of several sexually frustrated "thirty-somethings" who try ...

'', an episodically structured play about a group of thirtysomethings trying to find their way through life in Edmonton, while the city is haunted by a

serial killer A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more persons,A * * * * with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. While most authorities set a threshold of three ...

. Written while Fraser was playwright in residence with Alberta Theatre Projects,Martin Morrow, "Playwright braced for controversy". '' Calgary Herald'', January 11, 1989. it was a hit at ATP's playRites '89, and became his national and international breakthrough. Coming three years after the 1991 Robert Mapplethorpe controversy in Cincinnati, ''Poor Super Man'' inspired international headlines when the board of directors of Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati temporarily canceled the production because of its anticipated obscenity. After a public outcry, the production was reinstated. ''Poor Super Man'' opened without incident. Fraser also has written two films, ''

Love and Human Remains ''Love and Human Remains'' is a 1993 Canadian film directed by Denys Arcand and based on Brad Fraser's stage play ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love''. Fraser also wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation. The film version ...

'' and '' Leaving Metropolis'', which were both adaptations of his plays;

Denys Arcand Georges-Henri Denys Arcand (; born June 25, 1941) is a French Canadian film director, screenwriter and producer. His film ''The Barbarian Invasions'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Film in 2004. His films have also been nominated three f ...

directed ''Love and Human Remains'', while ''Leaving Metropolis'' was Fraser's debut as a film director.Valerie Fortney, "Playwright undergoes rogue reversal: Brad Fraser's Bad Boy vitriol makes way for seasoned artistry". '' Calgary Herald'', October 3, 2002. He has also written for the television series '' Queer as Folk''; was host of his own television talk show, '' Jawbreaker'', for PrideVision; and for a period of time wrote a biweekly column for the Canadian gay magazine '' fab''. His most recent play, ''Kill Me Now'', premiered in 2014. As of 2021, two film adaptations of ''Kill Me Now'' were in development in Canada and South Korea.

Richard Burnett Richard Burnett, also known as Bugs Burnett, is a Canadian writer, editor, journalist, and columnist. He is known as an often controversial fixture of the Montreal media, with his writing sometimes attracting attention internationally. His colu ...

"The rage of Brad Fraser"
''

Fugues In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

'', May 4, 2021. A memoir by Brad Fraser, ''All the Rage,'' was published by Doubleday Canada in May 2021.

Awards

Fraser won the Alberta Culture award for best full-length play in 1989, for ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love''. He is a two-time winner of the

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 ...

, in 1991 for ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love'' and in 1996 for ''Poor Super Man''. He won the Genie Award for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 15th Genie Awards for ''Love and Human Remains''. Fraser won

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

's ''Evening Standard Award'' for ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love'' in 1993. He is a two-time nominee for the

Governor General's Award for English-language drama The Governor General's Award for English-language drama honours excellence in Canadian English-language playwriting. The award was created in 1981 when the Governor General's Award for English-language poetry or drama was divided. Because the awar ...

, receiving nods at the 1995 Governor General's Awards for ''Poor Super Man'' and at the 2016 Governor General's Awards for ''Kill Me Now''.

Personal life

Fraser is openly

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

, and his plays often focus on

LGBTQ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

storylines. In 2003 he became the executive story editor on Showtime's '' Queer As Folk''.

Plays

* ''Wolfboy'' - 1981 * ''Mutants'' - 1981 * ''Rude Noises (for a Blank Generation)'' - 1982 * ''Chainsaw Love'' - 1985 * ''Young Art'' - 1987 * ''Unidentified Human Remains and the True Nature of Love'' - 1989 * ''Return of the Bride'' - 1989 * ''The Ugly Man'' - 1990 * ''Prom Night of the Living Dead'' - 1991, with Darrin Hagen * ''Poor Super Man'' - 1994 * ''Martin Yesterday'' - 1997 * '' Outrageous'' - 2000, musical with composer Joey Miller * ''Snake in Fridge'' - 2000 * ''Cold Meat Party'' - 2003 * ''True Love Lies'' - 2009Liz Nicholls, "Brad Fraser's funniest play comes home; Acclaimed playwright realizes a dream at Citadel". '' Edmonton Journal'', April 3, 2011. * ''5 @ 50'' - 2011 * ''Kill Me Now'' - 2014

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fraser, Brad 20th-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Canadian dramatists and playwrights Canadian male screenwriters Canadian columnists Canadian gay writers 1959 births Living people LGBT film directors LGBT screenwriters Best Screenplay Genie and Canadian Screen Award winners Canadian television talk show hosts LGBT dramatists and playwrights Canadian male dramatists and playwrights Canadian male non-fiction writers Canadian television writers Film directors from Edmonton Writers from Edmonton Canadian memoirists LGBT memoirists 20th-century Canadian screenwriters 21st-century Canadian screenwriters 20th-century Canadian male writers 21st-century Canadian male writers 21st-century LGBT people