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Jason Sherman

JASON SHERMAN

  (1962 - )
Nationality:    Canadian
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    Kensington Literary Representation  represented by Michael Petrasek

Critically acclaimed playwright Jason Sherman's plays include An Acre of Time; It's All True; Patience; Reading Hebron; the Retreat; and Three in the Back, Two in the Head. He has received Canada's Governor General's Literary Award for Drama (and been nominated three other times) and the Chalmers Canadian Play Award (twice, along with three other nominations). Dubbed the enfant terrible of the Canadian stage, his work is uncompromising, challenging, and driven by an unerring sense of dialogue and theatricality. His plays, always political to some degree, encompass characters rarely seen in today's Drama, characters who face the tough questions, the big issues, and the difficult journeys many Dramatists shy from. In the words of the late Canadian theatrical legend, Urjo Kareda, "the theatrical vitality of Jason Sherman's plays stArts from the sheer size of his central characters: the size of their desires, the size of their imagination, the size of their intelligence." He is a member of Writers Guild Canada

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below is a list of Jason Sherman's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         Acre Of Time         After The Orchard         Bear, The         Brian Quirt         Brothers Karamazov         Copy That         Enemies         Equity Rules         It's All True         La Ronde         League Of Nathans, The         Merchant of Showboat, The         None Is Too Many         Old Business         Patience         Place Like Pamela, A         Poetics         Reading Hebron         Remnants         Retreat, The         Three in the Back, Two in the Head         To Cry Is Not So
Acre Of Time

Acre Of Time
A surveyor uncovers the history of an acre of land near the Ottawa River, A barren rectangle that contains the memories of all who passed through it, from the last native hunter to the first white settler. But the one person she most wants to bring back from the dead remains the most elusive - her daughter.

Notes:
Based on the novel by Phil Jenkins

1st Produced:
Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, On     2001

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Guild of Canada,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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After The Orchard

After The Orchard
-

Notes:
Inspired by "The Cherry Orchard" by Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Adapt Or Die" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2006   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Bear, The

Bear, The
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
Du Maurier Theatre Centre, Toronto     03 Sep 2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: ""Adapt Or Die" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2006`   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brian Quirt

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Rehearsed Reading At Playwrights Workshop,Toronto     1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

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Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Brothers Karamazov

Brothers Karamazov
-

Notes:
Based on "The Brothers Karamazov" by Fyodor Dostoevsky

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Adapt Or Die" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2006   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Copy That

Synopsis:
The writers room on the television show "Hostages". Peter, white is in charge then there is Colin a black novelist, Maia just out of film school biracial and mostly ignored and ridiculed by the men and Jewish Danny an experienced script writer. Their first draft is rejected by producer Elsa. She wants the lead police officer to be a man not a woman. The script is redone but Elsa rejects it again. Colin takes Maia home and is stopped by the police and beaten up. Next day he thinks this will make a good script idea

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Taragon Theatre, Toronto     2019

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Enemies

Enemies
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Maxim Gorky

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: ""Adapt Or Die" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2006`   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Equity Rules

Synopsis:
A woman is told that she must strip as part of her audition

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Snappy Shorts At the Tarragon" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2005   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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It's All True

It's All True
New York 1937. Art and politics collide when the government padlocks the doors of the theatre non the opening of Marc Blitzstein's, "the Cradle Will Rock". the director, Orson Welles, marches the actors and most of the audience down Seventh Avenue and finds another theatre, and in one brilliant stroke makes theatre history. As much a play for our times as it is about an historical event.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, On     1999

Organisations:
Necessary Angel Theatre Company

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama. - - Gay/Lesbian, historical characters

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  5            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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La Ronde

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Arthur Snitzler

1st Produced:
Baillie Theatre, Toronto     26 Mar 2013

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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League Of Nathans, The

League Of Nathans, The
the League of Nathans re-unites three friends from Canada at a synagogue in Spain. their childhood "league" had its own rituals, including a search for God using flashlights in the night sky. Now, Nathan Isaacs has become a boorish businessman, wisecracking about the Spanish locals, yet straining to recapture the spirituality and mysticism of the League's night-time meditations; Nathan Abramowitz, wellspring of the group's youthful questioning, has given up on synagogue; Nathan Glass, who hated being recognizably Jewish as a child, has become an unapologetic settler on the West Bank. their re-union brings all three lives into sharp focus, contrasting their individual choices and beliefs. A multi-faceted examination of how loyalties can be shared even though one's values refuse to be uncritically aligned, the League of Nathans forces an audience to confront itself.

Notes:
Winner of the Chalmers Canadian Play Award

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Orange Dog Theatre

1st Published:
Scirocco,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Merchant of Showboat, The

Synopsis:
A black politician confronts the producer of a racist play

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Guild of Canada,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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None Is Too Many

Synopsis:
An adaptation of the book by Irving AbElla and Harold Troper about Canada's refUSAl to admit Jewish refugees into the country before, during and after WWII

Notes:
-

1st Produced:

Organisations:
co-production with the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre

1st Published:
Playwrights Guild of Canada,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  5            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Old Business

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
Original Playwright - Anton Chekhov

1st Produced:
Du Maurier Theatre Centre, Toronto     03 Sep 2002

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Adaptation

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Patience

Patience
Sherman's hero, Reuben, is a man who, like David Mamet's Edmond, finds his life in freefall. More or less simultaneously he is deserted by his wife, sacked from his job and confronted by the death of a brother. As Reuben reels around Toronto, everything conspires to point up the empti ness of his life: an old friend lectures him on the vanity of materialism, a showtune-singing rabbi exposes his lack of faith. And, even when salvation seems to come in the form of reunion with an old flame, it turns out to be a chimera. - Billington, Guardian

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Tarragon Theatre, Toronto, On     1998

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Hushion House 2000    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  3            Other:  doubling

Further Reference:
-

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Place Like Pamela, A

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Walking Shadow Theatre, Toronto     1991

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Poetics

Synopsis:
Should a newspaper be honest in its reporting of the Arts?

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Contained in: "Snappy Shorts At the Tarragon" published by Playwrights Canada Press 2005   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Short play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Reading Hebron

Reading Hebron
Dr. Baruch Goldstein killed 29 praying Muslims at the tomb of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. In Reading Hebron, Sherman probes this intensely volatile event. How do an oppressed people become an oppressor? How complicit are those who stand on the sidelines? And how can the state of Israel be guilty, when it is simply defending its right to exist? With black humour, excerpts from the official inquiry, and culminating in a surreal Passover dinner where the guests include Noam Chomsky and Goldstein himself, Reading Hebron shows the fallacy of interpreting the massacre as the act of a lone gunman. Regardless of where you may stand, as a participant or observer, for or against either side, this play is a potent reminder that no issue is simple, or isolated, and truth is always more complex than governments, media, and interest groups will make it.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Under The Umbrella Festival At Theatre Centre, Toronto     1995

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  2            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Remnants

Remnants
Joseph has risen to be advisor to the Prime Minister. A boat full of Jewish refugees has come ashore and Joseph is sent to send them away but he finds his brothers are amongst the refugees

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Retreat, The

Synopsis:
A film producer is drawn to a script telling the story of a 17th century mystic, and then falls for the writer

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Toronto     1996

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  3            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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Three in the Back, Two in the Head

Three in the Back, Two in the Head
the action in Three in the Back, Two in the Head surrounds a fictional scientist and weapons designer, Donald Jackson, an idealist who believes by creating a missile defence shield, he is working for peace. When, after a lifetime of work, the West rejects his "Snowman" system, he flogs it to the highest bidder, "rogue states" and all. As the play begins, Donald has been killed under shadowy circumstances in Europe, and his son, Paul, travels to CIA headquarters in an attempt to learn the truth. What ensues, in a collage of 14 layered, time-shifting scenes, is a deeply chilling probe of personal and political loyalties, state and individual morality, leading to the inevitable and biting conclusion that strength is the only weapon for survival, and all of us are complicit in keeping it that way.

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Angel Theatre, Toronto     1994

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
Playwrights Canada Press,    

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  4            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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To Cry Is Not So

Synopsis:
-

Notes:
-

1st Produced:
Theatre Smith-Gilmour, Toronto     1991

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

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