Sky Gilbert
(1952 - living) Canada
Playwright and theatre director
Born and raised in the US, Gilbert travelled north to study drama at York University, and the University of Toronto in the 1970s. He co-founded Buddies in bad Times Theatre, dedicated to the production and stagingof innovative and political gay/lesbian drama, and led it from 1979 to 1997.
Through it, he helped launch the Rhubard Festival of new plays, and other initatives. In 1994 the company took over a disused theatre close to the heart of Toronto's gay/lesbian commercial centre, thereby creating the largest lesbian/gay theatre in North America. He resigned his position as Artistic Director in 1997 in order to concentrate on writing.
Gilbert is poet, actor, novelist, and drag queen. He is a prolific though uneven playwright, his works including Drag Queens on Trial (1985), The Dressing Gown (1989) and Play Murder (1995). His work The Whore's Revenge (1990) and Suzie Goo (1992) have received Dora Awards, prestigious Canadian awards for theatre. Gilbert is frequently on stage himself, and often directs his own plays. Off stage, he sometimes adopts the persona of "Jane", wearing dresses and skirts closely hugging his large-frame figure.
Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001 - et alii
Website: http://home.istar.ca/~anita/index2.htm
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