Sunny Drake
Playwright and theatre creator Sunny Drake talks about why he makes theatre.
Sunny Drake is a playwright, theatre creator and performer. His inventive works have been translated into four languages and presented to a wide range of audiences in 59 cities across the world. Sunny is currently a playwright-in-residence at the Stratford Festival, and has been awarded numerous other residencies including: the National Arts Centre’s Collaborations (2018-current), Theatre Passe Muraille (2018/19), Nightswimming (2018), Factory Theatre’s Natural Resources (2017), Yaddo (New York, 2018), Playwrights Theatre Centre’s WrightSpace (2016), The Arctic Circle onboard a tall ship in the high arctic (2019) and Djerassi (2019). He was a finalist for the K. M. Hunter Theatre Award (2018). Touring highlights: Buddies in Bad Times Theatre (Toronto), San Francisco International Arts Festival, Espace Libre (Montreal), Northern Arts & Cultural Centre (Yellowknife & Fort Smith), Brisbane Powerhouse (Australia), Nuovo Cinema Palazzo (Rome), The Basement Theatre (Brighton, UK), and three times in the USA National Queer Arts Festival. Men Express Their Feelings premieres in Calgary with Downstage Theatre in Feb/March 2020. He recently received a Canada Council composite grant towards the development of five of his new works – he is the first individual to receive this grant which previously has been awarded only to companies. His wide range of audiences have spanned international arts festivals, elderly ladies in regional theatres, and queers in underground warehouses. Sunny was commissioned by the Playwrights Guild of Canada, PACT and ATFC to write the 2019 World Theatre Day message for Canada. Sunny was born and grown in Australia and has lived in Toronto since 2011.