Featured Member — Dan Bray

Each month we interview member playwrights to share their work, stories and inspiration with the community. We recently spoke with Dan Bray (he/him), a multidisciplinary artist living in beautiful Kjipuktuk (Halifax). Dan has been fortunate to work with several of Nova Scotia’s finest companies and theatre schools — as a playwright, director, educator, actor, dramaturg, and more.

As Artistic Director of The Villains Theatre, he has written, directed, and adapted over 20 shows, including Hansel und Gretel in: der Garten von Edible Horrors: a Terrible Parable, Zomblet, Knight of the Bat I, II & III, and Observatory Mansions. Most recently, his mystery Deepwater received the national Playwrights Guild of Canada Drama Award and the Robert Merritt Award (“Outstanding New Play by a Nova Scotian”), and was a Semifinalist in the Risk Theatre Modern Tragedy Competition as well as First Runner Up for the Jenny Munday Atlantic Canadian Play Award. In 2023, he received an East Coast Music Award nomination for Dinostories (“Children’s Entertainer of the Year”), and his work has been performed across the Maritimes, as well as in British Columbia and Ontario.

Dan sits on the board of the Bus Stop Theatre Cooperative and the Halifax Fringe Festival. He is the ongoing co-producer of the TNS Merritt Awards, and he received his MA from the University of Toronto’s Centre for Drama. For more info, check out his website!

Tell us how you got your start writing plays.

Whenever I’m asked this question, I always think back to this time in Grade 3 where a group of my classmates and I were tasked with creating a skit about the Three Billy Goats Gruff. But instead of rehearsing, the other kids spent the entire time bickering over which of them would get to play the goat who finally bests the troll. When it was time to perform, we had accomplished nothing — but rather than admit this to the teacher, I stood up and (as the self-appointed narrator) extemporized the entire play, casting roles on the fly and putting a little spin on it (I remember the teacher appreciating an ad lib which mentioned that the troll agreed to fix the bridge — and what else do we do this for if not external validation?). The surge of god-like power coursing through my tiny 8-year old body was an intoxicating high that I have been chasing ever since.

Later, when I was in Grade 12 and attending high school in Windsor NS, I had a great English teacher (shout-out to Dr Steven Van Zoost!) who told me about Eastern Front Theatre’s “Kids on the Waterfront” playwriting competition. I wrote a little comedy and was one of the four finalists selected from around the province, which meant that my script got a performance with professional actors (many of whom I’ve worked with since!) in a real theatre (in which I have since performed!) for a real audience. And let me tell you, the surge of god-like power coursing through my tiny 17-year old body… well, you know the rest.

Where do you take inspiration for your work, and what is your process for crafting an idea into a play?

I am inspired by everything, from classical literature to things I see on Instagram. I am fascinated by ghost stories, fairy tales, urban legends, and true crime. The potential for inspiration is everywhere: the secret is to identify and appreciate whatever it is that makes you feel that “spark” — the thing that makes you go, “Oh, that’s kinda cool, I’ll add that to the list.” I should mention, I also keep a list. The list is full of names, unique words, puns (it’s mostly puns), historical figures/anecdotes, and such, and I keep it handy on my phone where it lives as this ever-growing document. I don’t show the list to anyone else, and whenever something makes me feel that spark, I put it onto the list. And then later when I’m feeling stuck, I go back to the list and pray that one of those sparks still sparks. They usually do!

The second thing I’ve learned is not to judge the quality of these sparks. Every idea has its own charge, even the bad ones. And if it is a bad idea, you can work at it. I often cite (and shamefully I do not remember who originated this quotation, sorry!) how you can edit a bad page, but you can’t edit a blank page. To that end, I am a big advocate for overwriting. Don’t think about the quality of your writing. Don’t think about the logistics (budgets, actors, produce-ability). If you write something that feeds your spark — that excites you as a writer or an audience member — that’s going to translate. It will make people want to produce or read or watch your play. I try to save all that unhelpful judgement until I’m starting the second draft, which is dedicated to identifying the thesis of the first, overwritten version. Subsequent rewrites are focused on ensuring that the play is always connecting back to that central idea. And I don’t have to worry about “killing my darlings,” because anything I’m sad about cutting just goes back onto my list!

Your plays are often comedies and adaptations with fantastical twists; what appeals to you about these types of stories, and is there any advice you’d offer to other playwrights who want to write comedies or adaptations?

For me, the most important thing to keep in mind when writing a modern play is: who is the play laughing at? Are you punching up or punching down? For example, a lot of my work are send-ups of Shakespeare, and I think what works about that sort of comedic adaptation is that writers like Shakespeare sort of deserve to be “punched down upon.” Now, before y’all come at me, let me explain. I’m a huge Renaissance drama nerd myself and a lot of my career has been dedicated to celebrating the work of not only Shakespeare but also his contemporaries. But Western audiences/artists have this notion that Shakespeare is perfect, timeless, beyond reproach. By teasing Shakespeare, however, we are reminded that he was just a normal guy trying to sell tickets. I think my comedies actually make his work more accessible — especially for young people who are told that his plays are sacred. It also gives me the opportunity to commentate on issues that were widespread in Shakespeare’s day — fascism, misogyny, pseudo-science — and which are still rampant today. I think taking the piss out of Shakespeare is maybe the only way of properly humanizing him, which in turn actually makes his legacy all the more impressive.

I have one final thought about writing comedies for the stage. Years ago, I worked in a jewelry store and after showing a customer some of our lower-end items (which were naturally the things I personally would have been more likely to buy, what with my being a playwright) my manager told me, “Don’t sell with your own wallet.” By that, she meant, “You don’t know how much money that guy’s got. Imagine he’s rich. Go wild!” Oddly enough, I always think of this lesson in capitalism whilst writing plays. I truly believe playwrights should not concern themselves with such paltry considerations as “who could afford to do this?” or “how could anyone actually stage this?” Those are designer/director woes (and part of the fun of being a designer/director!). As a comedic playwright, my job is to tell as entertaining a story as possible. So leave the practicalities to the rest of the team; those sorts of logistics can always be figured out, regardless of budget. Besides, another great thing about writing comedies for the stage is that if you can’t afford to do something expensive, chances are the cheaper option will be even funnier!

You were the recipient of the Drama Award at PGC’s 2024 Tom Hendry Awards for your play Deepwater! Can you share how Deepwater came about, and what winning the award meant to you?

I started Deepwater about 8 or 9 years ago. I was still a very young playwright who — up to that point — had only written a couple scripts, most of them one-acts. I had certainly never written a mystery, let alone one that sought to subvert traditional notions of closure and structure the way I wanted Deepwater to. The play was rewritten again and again and workshopped with so many different voices until I not only felt that I had lost the play entirely but that I really hated it. I nearly gave up on it so many times, and in fact the only reason I ever finished it was because we had set a production date and I couldn’t bear to let the team down.

I remember watching the preview performance and thinking, “Well, writing plays was fun. Wonder what I’ll do after I resign in disgrace…” But the response was — unbelievable! Since then, Deepwater won the national PGC award, two provincial awards, and was named semifinalist in an international writing competition as well as runner-up in an Atlantic-Canadian competition. Any level of validation is so rare in our line of work, and this amount of validation is frankly overwhelming — especially for a project as ambitious and unconventional as Deepwater. It has taught me that big risks yield big rewards, and to not be content pigeonholing yourself (that looks weird typed out…).

Winning a drama award for my first full-length drama has also completely transformed what I thought my career might look like. It has offered me a rare sense of hope and possibility in a field that is usually fraught with uncertainty and rejection. I also had so many wonderful collaborators help me with this play (including my partner-in-theatrical-crime, Colleen Arcturus MacIsaac; my director, Burgandy Code; and my dramaturge, Jackie Torrens). They all invested years of their lives helping me bring Deepwater into the light, so it has been really special to have this opportunity to celebrate their contributions. It takes a village.

As well as a playwright, you are a director, visual artist, children’s book author, and more! What has been the most challenging role to take on, and is there any art form you haven’t worked with yet that you would like to try?

I think the most challenging role I’ve had to take on is actually that of a producer. My god am I tired of begging the government and sponsors for crumbs and hoping that a show will just break even. I’ll never understand why it’s the arts that keep getting slashed… but then again I guess there is a lot about modern government that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but I just think living in a time where people are not only hungry for real experiences but also consuming content 24/7, it should be easier to convince people that live theatre is where culture happens! That it’s not all overstuffed classics and incomprehensible performance art, but rather a platform for exciting, dynamic, unpredictable, and accessible new work. Anyway.

That said, I have not reeeeally done much screenwriting and — AS SOMEONE WHO CONSUMES CONTENT 24/7 — I can’t help but wonder what that experience is like, specifically working in a writers’ room to develop a series. I think that would be such an interesting experience, and one that compliments my ability to write quickly. While I have never been a big fan of hectic, impersonal, profit-driven film sets (I much prefer the cozy, communal vibes of Nova Scotian theatre spaces), I would nevertheless savour the opportunity to develop stories and characters that live and evolve over the course of several seasons.

What are you working on next?

I’m currently getting ready to direct my horror-comedy Zomblet for a community theatre in Antigonish, NS. Zomblet is a send-up of Hamlet, only it swaps out the ghosts for zombies; it is simultaneously very literary and very silly, and it was a lot of fun the last time my company (the Villains Theatre) staged it in 2019. I am especially excited to work with Theatre Antigonish because I love community theatre, since I feel they often embody what I love most about working in theatre: the community (hence the name). (Plus, Antigonish has some of the best volunteers and audiences in this province!)

I have also recently received funding from Arts Nova Scotia to develop my next big script, which will be a comedy that combines the stress of the recent elections with a similarly polarizing Canadian pastime: pickleball. My hope is to create a topical and entertaining script which will be of interest to audiences and theatres (especially summer theatres) across the country! To keep up to date with what I’m working on, you can also check out my website: www.brayowulf.ca!

Do you have any favourite Canadian plays, and/or which artists are currently inspiring you?

My latest Canadian play obsession is a comedy entitled All Our Happy Days Are Stupid by Sheila Heti. I first learned about this script in Jordan Tannahill’s book of essays, Theatre of the Unimpressed, in which he describes the rocky journey of this “unproduceable play.” AOHDAS went on to national — and international — acclaim, despite being structurally-puzzling, logistically-challenging (big cast/all those things producers love to complain about/etc.), and narratively-nontraditional. This play is so fresh, so funny, so bizarre, so utterly unforgettable. It eschews all the “well made play” tropes and reminds modern audiences of what new Canadian theatre can accomplish if you’re willing to be weird enough. If you’ve ever felt dispirited as a playwright, this is the script for you (and I would recommend reading it alongside Theatre of the Unimpressed for the full story behind its journey to the stage — just so inspiring).

To that end, I’ll mention that I’m a big fan of Jordan Tannahill — especially Concord Floral and Botticelli by Fire. As someone who often works in adaptation, I find his way of reimagining and recontextualizing ancient stories to be extremely exciting. Some other plays I have recently read and enjoyed are Mad Madge (by Rose Napoli), Wildfire and The Shoe (both by David Paquet) — all three are bizarre and brilliant new works that showcase the depth of Canadian talent. And I must give a shout-out to my favourite Canadian script, Vigil (by Morris Panych). So hilarious, so very very dark, and a twist that would make M Night Shyamalan blush. Just unreal.

Keep up with Dan through his website, www.brayowulf.ca, or that of his theatre company, the Villains Theatre.

Find Dan on Instagram @brayowulf

And find Deepwater and other award-winning scripts for sale through PGC’s online bookstore, the Canadian Play Outlet.

Disclaimer: Playwrights Guild of Canada (“PGC”) is a national arts service mandated to engage and grow an active Canadian writing community. We promote Canadian plays around the world to advance the creative rights and interests of professional Canadian playwrights for the stage. The views of our members are their own. The opinions of PGC as an association remain neutral.