O Canada! Why we love our neighbour to the North...
...(and Brad Fraser in particular)
by Steven Patterson
Steven Patterson has performed both Off- and Off-Off-Broadway in NYC, and regionally with such theatres as Kaliyuga Arts (which he founded with his husband, John Sowle, in 1986), South Coast Repertory, Capital Repertory, TheatreWorks, Lexington Conservatory Theatre, Chenango River Theatre, Centenary Stage Company, Depot Theatre, Contemporary Opera Marin, and the Oregon, Orlando, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Utah, and Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festivals. A few of his favourite roles have been Lear, Prospero, Michael Williams in Henry V, Austin Wiggin in The Shaggs: Philosophy of the World, David in Poor Super Man, Judi Boswell in How to Pray, The Creature in Frankenstein, and Jean in Beauty, a one-man show inspired by the life and works of Jean Genet which he created, performed, and toured with internationally for four years. He currently resides in Catskill, NY.
In a recent column for Xtra, Brad Fraser stated that he finds himself reading a lot of young-adult fiction because most “old-adult” fiction doesn’t really concern itself with things like plot and character anymore. Gotta say that pretty much sums up why we find his plays such a tonic. So much of the critically-acclaimed new work my husband John and I see in New York these days tends to evaporate the moment we step out onto the street once the performance is over. Never an issue with Brad’s plays. More than any other playwright working at the moment, Brad sends audiences into the lobby at intermission eager to get back to their seats to find out “what happens next??” And not just because his plots are so thwacking good, but because he’s also given us such wonderful, complex, multi-layered characters and put them in situations where we truly care about what’s going to happen to them. Lemme step back a few years.
