I thought I’m never going to get away with a 15 minute embalming scene at the end of act one without a couple of yuks.
Upstage Contributor Stephanie Breton spoke with playwright Vern Thiessen about his play nominated for the 2011 Governor General’s Literary Award. Below is an abridged version edited by Estelle Rosen, CharPo editor-in-chief.
UPSTAGE
Congrats on the GG nomination for your play Lenin’s Embalmers. The announcement will take place on Nov. 15. Is it nail biting time?
THIESSEN
I’ve been on both sides of the table. Last year I was on the jury that decided the winner. I’m thrilled to be nominated but the statistical probability of winning that award a second time is unbelievably low. There’s only two people in 50 years that have won it twice in the drama category, so I’m not counting my chickens.
