Photo credit: Caroline Mangosing
Marie Beath is an award-winning Filipino-Canadian playwright, writer, and theatre maker.
Her work has been presented across Canada and internationally. She is best know for her plays Prairie Nurse and The Waltz . They are part of The Prairie Trilogy, a multi-generational triptych of plays spanning fifty-years, set in rural Saskatchewan. The third play, The Cottage Guest, is in development. All three are commissioned by The Blyth Festival.
Her other plays include The Best Friend Blanket Fort Show [Young People’s Theatre], The Making of St. Jerome [Next Stage Theatre Festival, Dora Mavor Moore Award nominated], Mind Over Matter [Convergence Theatre], and Novena [UnoFestival Victorial].
She is the 2024 Senior-Playwright-in-Residence and a two-time alumnus of The Playwrights Lab at The Banff Centre For Arts and Creativity. Marie Beath has developed work in the playwright units of Cahoots Theatre Company, Tarragon Theatre, Soulpepper Playwrights Circle and The Factory Theatre. She was the Playwright-in-Residence at fu-GEN Asian-Canadian Theatre Company, Project:Humanity and The Blyth Festival.
She has been commissioned by Prairie Theatre Exchange, The Blyth Festival, Young People’s Theatre and The Stratford Festival. She is published by Playwrights’ Canada Press and Scirocco Drama.
She was a writer for the series Topline on CBC Gem, earning her a 2022 Canadian Screen Award co-nomination with series creator Romeo Candido for Best Writing. Her radio work includes audio dramas of Prairie Nurse and Novena for CBC Radio and writing for the CBC show Outfront.
AWARDS AND ACCOLADES
2023 Voaden Prize for Playwriting Competition Honorable Mention for Common: A Trilogy
Co-nominated with Romeo Candido for 2022 Canadian Screen Award for Best Writing/Web-series for the CBC Gem Series Topline.
The Waltz was named The Globe and Mail’s Critic’s Pick and included in its Top Ten Toronto Productions of 2022.
2022 Recipient of The Playwright Guild of Canada’s Tom Hendry Award for New Drama for Common.
Common: Parts I and II long-listed for The UK’s 2019 Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting.
Directing and dramaturgy credits include URU by Julia Lederer [Humber College], Reverend Jonah by Paul Ciufo [Blyth Festival – nominated for a Governor General’s Award], and Future Folk by Sulong Collective [Theatre Passe Muraille].
Performance credits include Through The Bamboo [Toronto Fringe Patron’s Pick], The Age of Arousal [Factory Theatre], The Monster Under the Bed [Young People's Theatre], Schoolhouse [The Blyth Festival], Conservatives in Love [Next Stage Festival, Toronto and New Stages Theatre, Peterborough], I Met a Bully on the Hill and Andrew's Tree [Theatre Direct Canada].
Outreach and education work includes Cahoots Theatre Projects/Crossing Gibraltar, Children’s Peace Theatre, The Paprika Festival, Theatre Revolve, Theatre Passe Muraille, Roseneath Theatre and Young People’s Theatre. Marie Beath spent two seasons as Director of the Blyth Festival Young Company, two seasons as Co-Director of Youth Programs at Nightwood Theatre and two season as Associate Artistic Director/Associate Artist at Theatre Direct Canada. She spent five seasons as the Program Director for the Play Creation Unit at Carlos Bulosan Theatre. She has taught at Humber College Theatre Arts Performance Program and Randolph College for The Performing Arts. She has served on several arts juries including Summerworks, The Playwrights Guild of Canada, The Toronto Arts Council, The Ontario Arts Council and The Manitoba Arts Council.
She is a member of the Playwrights Guild of Canada and the Canadian Actors' Equity Association. She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from Toronto Metropolitan University [formerly Ryerson University].
Marie Beath lives in Tkaronto, from the Mohawk word meaning “the place in the water where the trees are standing”, colonially known as Toronto, Ontario, Canada. As a settler, she gratefully acknowledges the honour and privilege of being a storyteller on the traditional territory of many nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee and the Wendat peoples and is now home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples.